♪ announcer: c-span is your unfiltered vw government. funded by these television companies and more, including media,. we believe if you live here or herer anywhere you should have access to connection. announcer: mediacom supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, givi y a front row seat to democracy. ♪ announcer: next on washington journal we cover your headlines and take your phone calls live. also rep brett guthrie discusses the biden administration's

covid-19 response and the house republicans health care agenda. and later democratic representative john larson of connecticut talks about social security and entitlement reform. ♪ host: good morning it is wednesday, february 1, 2023. we began to a -- today with a new report of americans living paycheck-to-paycheck. today nearly two third of americans more than half of those making hundred thousand dollars a year say they barely make in's meet each month. so let us know how your paycheck -- how far it goes. phone lines are by income level this morning. if you make under $30,000 a year

it is (202) 748-8000 -- you can also text us at text (202) 748-8003 if you do that please include your name d where you're from you can also catchp with us on social media and on facebook it facebook.com/cspan. you can go ahead and start calling in now. we have the lending club and the headline on that report. even $100,000 plus more americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck. here the numbers from that. some 64 cents of all u.s. consumers won 16 million people are living paycheck-to-paycheck up 3% from 2021. of that group, 8 million earning

$100,000 plus they are living paycheck-to-paycheck. and the majority of those inspect high inflation to continue from the next two years. -- expect high inflation to continue for the next two years. that is getting a lot of attention and even more attention at a time when federal officials watching wage increases and pay among americans. this is today on wall street journal worker pay cooled as the lead -- last year as the lead on that can story. there is a slowdown of 1.2% in the third quarter according to the labor department yesterday. compensation gains slowed in the second half of 2022 after touching the highest reading since the series began in 2001. that officials said they are

watching the figures closely for signs that wage inflation might have but the report likely won't change their quarter-point rate raise that is set for today which is a step down from there rate raise in december. we are most inspecting a quarter-point raise but we will know for sure this afternoon. there is a focus on wages and what america's -- americans are making. we want to know if your paycheck is keeping up with your cost of living. if you make under $30,000 a year it is (202) 748-8000 . if you make $30,000 a year up to $100,000 a year you can call at (202) 748-8001 and if you make over $100,000 a year you can call in at (202) 748-8002. this is west virginia republican sherry -- shelley moore capito

discussing the squeeze going on by the biden administration policies this is what she had to say. >> we have mortgages over 7%. any wage increases we see across the country is totally -- are totally wiped out by the increased cost of goods. when you see the cost of energy, even though it has slightly come down most recently, it is still many, any more times expensive than it was -- many more times expensive than it was before the biden administration. and you go to the grocery store may approximate in your mind what you're going to spend. whether you have a family of two or a larger family with younger children where you would have a bigger budget. but you have in your mind what it will be. and every single week, it is always more, it creeps up to, --

two dollars, three dollars, four dollars, five dollars, and before you know it it has double. our inboxes are filled by those in west virginia or the mother of young children she is opal night because she cannot figure out how will i pay for food and how to keep the house? we have one guy that is paying more for food then he is for his mortgage. but he's also trying to help his neighbors pay their heating ills because it skyrocketed so much. every day americans every working american everybody who buys food and pays for gas of the tank and pays for a house is feeling the squeeze. the president needs to address it. i hope as john kuhn said he addresses it in his address next week.

host: that is shelley capito -- shelley moore capito and we are asking you on washington journal if your paycheck is keeping up with the cost of living or if you are living paycheck-to-paycheck. shelby is in bluffs city, tennessee. you are up first miss morning -- this morning. thank you for calling. caller: hi, good morning. before -- i am on social security and it does not keep up with this inflation. even when he, the president says he is going to increase the amount on our income of what we receive, it really does not balance hardly much more because the medicare it keeps going

up. it is to me like a slap in the face. i worked hard all my life and my spouse about 17 plus years ago and been i had to take early retirement due to health issues. so, you do not know what is going to happen. in the meantime. i wish that they would consider, the president and congress would consider, lowering the medicare cost. i did not care if it is just an half of the medicare cost a month, that would help us. the people on social security that just depend on it. because we are obviously struggling. and it is a shame that there is a lot of money that i think is spent in the government for a

lot of things when we are suffering as americans trying to make in heat. --ends meet. i used to be middle class and i consider myself low class now. they say you can get extra help but i cannot get extra help on it. if you are over the limit even a dime over the limit you cannot get extra help matter what they say. i hope that congress and the president here would consider lowering the medicare cost for retirees. thank you. host: thank you for the call from tennessee. thank you for telling your story. this is lori from indianapolis.

does your -- income keep up with their expenses each month? caller: thank you for what you doing for being up early. no, actually, i -- it does not. i do not blame president biden, with the lady we just heard i do not know what her plan as i would love to hear what she is doing. i know during the pandemic everything up. i know i've seen a 3% increase in my paycheck which is ridiculous and i do not know why exxon -- i just read that they made $55 million in profit. i also do not understand why my taxes actually have not gone down just like the big corporations that do not pay -- they pay zero.

that does not make any sense why i have to pay so much taxes win people with a lot more revenue can deduct. i used to be able to deduct my home office which i no longer can and that was something the republican congress actually did. and a lot of us with home businesses no longer do that. so, i think it is something i look forward actually to this congress to do something about it. so president biden is one person, the congress is several people, so no, the paycheck is not enough income. thank you. host: frederick, maryland. good morning you are next. caller: good morning. yeah. i'm speaking for a lot of people out here i'm making less than $30,000 and yeah, what else can we keep doing? host: where do you see your

biggest increase in expenses if you live from paycheck-to-paycheck, what is the hardest place to cover? caller: groceries i would say. i do not really have a mortgage right now i do not pay rent i kind of have this little storage unit and [laughter] it makes do for now but much expenses and groceries. i buy like, i do not buy junk, so the price on that has been crazy. host: and what has happened with your paycheck over the course of the pandemic a lot of this focuses on the inflation during the pandemic, has your paycheck gone up? caller: yeah, actually the paycheck has gone up. the company i work for luckily decided to pay for gas. that is good.

but other than that, it hasn't -- it was enough for some, but i am still honestly rocking no insurance. so if i were to pay that i would be dipping into my savings. like either i get to save or i pay insurance on my vehicle and it is like oh my got up got to save something. if anything happens, like, you know. host: and what line of work are you in? caller: construction. host: thank you for the call. mel in rail and, ohio. that is the line that makes under $30,000 a year. go ahead. caller: thanks for having me on c-span this morning, sir. i am a 74-year-old retiree and i have a small pension, social security, and my wife and i watch our spending habits very

closely. the food is -- the cost of food is something to be very careful with. but my beef is my cable provider. i am under a contract and i live out in the country and everybody who has been harmed by broadband and how fortunate is today it is not a luxury it is a necessity in life anymore to have your license and do all these functions it will be on a feud -- computer. -- on a computer. and they just raise the prices. i have a $12 increase in january. this month, they are jacking it up 25 more dollars. i got the computer which my wife uses more than i do, but cable, there is nothing to watch on their on the -- i'm on the basic

tv. and we have the house funds which work well, but i contacted the attorney general in my state trying to get productions for senior citizens and the comcast unit and some states have it for senior citizen discounts and go higher. host: where israel and, ohio? caller: it is -- where is ray land, ohio? caller: -- pennsylvania has a discount for senior citizens and we do not. i contacted my senator's office we got in touch with the fcc and i got a response from comcast

from two people saying they told me to go jump off a cliff. it is ridiculous. this company. this morning, i turned it on my news station channel to which is pittsburgh and channel for which i watch. they are no longer on cable they took them off as of today. so, it is frustrating to pay way over $200 a month and there is nothing to watch. host: that is mel in rail and, ohio -- in rail and, --rayland, ohio. let us take the next caller. caller: i'm 68 years old and i fluctuate on my income i'm still working but i draw social security which is about $20,000. i live the cheap i have an old house i bought and fixed it up.

i bought it on tax sale really cheap and fixed it up i go out and cut wood and earned wood may be $500 a month at most to heat this place. it was a cold year this year but i work myself like i say and i don't know, sometimes i make pretty good when you're a maid about 100,000 dollars but i ended up turning around and buying a bulldozer and all of that stuff and i actually do not pay a lot in taxes because i have fuel cost and everything else and i am getting old enough now that i do not work as hard as i used to either. i used to work in asphalt and that is how i was able to save up money to buy all this stuff. i saved up money and kept putting it in the bank. and i got interest on the money in the bank and i had it out up and i had enough money to quit my job and buy equipment.

and on taxes i am what they call a passover, on social security i and up paying both, i pay my 642 and i pay my employer as well. that is most taxes i have to play -- pay social security anymore. it was a crazy world. i do not see where biden thinks 400,000 dollars is a lot of money. it is a lot of money in my opinion. i don't know, nobody knows how to manage money. i've never had a credit card and it is getting hard to get stuff without having one nowadays. but anyway, i survive and i got money in the bank. actually, i have a pretty good chuck of money in the bank over 100,000 dollars but i do not pay interest on it. host: thank you for telling us about a. south dakota you mention heating cost as part of what you were talking about there.

a story on that front and other increases in family -- prices that families are paying this is from usa today households that received energy assistance this season rose to 6.2 million that is the largest one-year increase to 2009. and the highest rate of total applications since two thousand 11 according to that national energy assistance directors association. it is monitored by that group. other places where families see increases in prices and grocery prices they rose 10.4% annually in december and rent rose seven point 5% while overall inflation increase by 6.5%. the story, take a look at how far behind americans are when it

comes to electric bills and gas prices and heating. the total amount that families are kind nationwide is 16.6 billion if you add it all up. that is from usa today if you . we have a caller from the line under $30,000 a year. good morning. caller: i make around 12,000 dollars a year. and that is what i make. and it cost me every month to do things that i have only enough just to go through the rest of the month. i have only around $300 and maybe just a little bit over that. and the rest of the stuff is costly. i have a gas bill, i have also had a nash it was the new bill

where we just had [indiscernible] that was another one i had and then we have this one from the bank, and wells fargo, and patient input i mean transport. i will let you speak with my representative. please. host: we are just hearing your story thank you for telling us about your story in virginia we had to martinsburg, west virginia this is eric on the line that makes between $30,000 a year at $100,000 a year good morning. caller: good morning thank you for being on c-span i love you guys. i make more than -- about $40,000 a year. and i guess the thing i think is getting lost in the conversation

is the fact that the prices are going up, especially for food from what i can see. and i think a lot of these places are just saying shareholders and i do not think they have to raise the prices but for some reason, they are just through the roof. i go to my local grocery store and prices are going up all the time. i am managing ok on what i make i recently got a $.50 per hour raise from my boss. host: what line of work are you in? caller: you would consider it environmental. we clean commercial properties and pick up trash, basically. host: and the rays you got is --

have you gotten other raises during the pandemic question mark when is the last time you got another raise? caller: the last phrase i got was about two years ago it has been about -- blast raise i got was about two years ago. and we are seeing is essential workers -- were seen as essential workers throughout the pandemic we were working. but unlike some of the other industries we never received extra hazard pay or anything on top of our normal pay. so. yeah, i ran my household and i try to keep everything lean and keep the lights on and keep the water running. everything extra i try to just, you know, if i don't need it, i don't buy it. host: thank you for the call. martinsburg, west virginia it is

about 7:20 on the east coast this is the plan for this morning the house and senate coming in at 10:00 eastern we will take you there on c-span and also on c-span two for the senate when they come in. two members of congress joining us this morning republican brett guthrie republican from kentucky. and also representative john larson democratic from kentucky -- from connecticut. and we will discuss the future of social security and the meaning of president biden set to meet with kevin mccarthy and we will find out what they talk about we expect to hear comments from him and the speaker after the meeting. a busy day in washington and on capitol hill. yesterday the president of the united states was in new york to talk about transportation issues and infrastructure issues we talked about them all week long

yesterday focusing on a $300 million grant for the hudson river tunnel project. this is a little bit of president biden talking yesterday in new york. >> for too long we have talked about building the best economy in the world, but to have the best economy in the world, you have to have the best infrastructure in the world. people do not build factories that are rail stations, ports, or access to highways, they do not attract businesses unless you have good infrastructure and create thousands of good paying jobs. for most of the last century our economy led the world by a significant margin because we invested in our people, ourselves, research and development in america. we should invest 2% of our gdp in research and development. that is what we did four years

ago. it is time to -- down 2.7%. along the way it stopped. we used to be number one in the world in research and development and now we rank number nine the united states is number nine and china's number eight. now they rank number two. we risk losing our edges the nation and china and the rest of the world is catching up for decades the back of -- backbone of america has been the middle class and it's been hollowed out. many manufacturing jobs moved overseas because labor is cheap over there. we exported jobs and imported their product. made up the corporate bottom line which did not help many americans when jobs moved overseas factories at home closed down. once thriving cities and towns became shadows of what they used to be and they lost a sense of self-worth along the way area windows towns were hollowed out,

something else was lost. pride, self-esteem, incentive, self work -- worth this is part of trickle-down economics. of saying we will help them and maybe -- help the wealthy and may be able trickle-down to everyone else. host: that is president biden in new york yesterday and back in washington today with a meeting with speaker mccarthy later at 3:15 this afternoon we are asking you today if your check is keeping up with your cost-of-living the phone lines are split by income level. kevin, on the line that makes between 30000 and $100,000 a year. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i make about $61,000 a year as a public employee. i do not live far from work i have a short commute.

i can tell you where things have been costing a little bit more here lately. last year, my gas company that i use gas heating in my home that is the only gas that i use in my home is for heating purposes and that was owned by centerpoint energy last year. and some utilities -- summit utilities has taken it over. and this time last year my heating bill was $40 up to $60 a month now it is $200 per month and i do not understand exactly what summit is doing differently or why the gases -- gas is more costly. the $200 heating bill in the month of december is a warm month. arkansas is a low cost-of-living state so the inflation is not really hitting me that hard yet, but i can tell you this, i'm not going to be making any big purchases anytime soon.

that is for the foreseeable future. i do not understand what the deal is with summit utilities with the merger corporations. i can certainly tell you that congress does not do anything about it. the last thing that they will do is regulate our economy to make it more fair. instead, what our government will do is make it to where corporations like some utilities can gouge us whenever they have the chance. i appreciate you taking my call have a good day. host: your numbers for your household are on the high side but they track with the national numbers back to the usa today story looking at utility bills this winter natural forecast is rising 14.5% or more than an additional $100 a month on bills. the home heating oil is inspected to rise the most from last year up 25 9% or nearly 500 dollars more than the 2021 and

2022 winter heating season. again, the headline of the usa today story even with the mild weather people pay more for their energy bills. one more call here scott, thank you for making -- waiting in illinois those that make under $30,000 a year. go ahead. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes, sir. caller: ok. i am 68 years old and i only get 650 dollars a month from social security if you do the math it is $9,000 a year. when we were young we would eat beans and weenies and now that i'm in retirement i'm eating that again. i've been working since i was eight years old with a paper run there was a woman on my route that used to cry with her clutch purse to pay $.40 a week for the

newspaper. she would cry every time i collected it this was at a time where the paperboy had to collect money. i heard her all the time it was hard for her to pool 50 cent out of her purse and i decided as an eight-year-old not to charge her . i delivered her paper for four years and never collected a penny from her. but i just wish the people would handle their money better and treat each other with a little respect. you know what i mean? it is like -- i drive a 25-year-old vehicle everything is paid for i never went into debt over anything. it seems like me that everybody wants to -- it seems to me like everybody wants to go into debt. but i've never seen -- follow a hearse yet. thank you. host: that was the last color in the first set of washington

journal there is plenty to talk about this morning to congressman joining us the first is representative brett guthrie of kentucky. and later we will hear from connecticut democt representative john larson on the issues of social security. stick around. we will be right back. ♪ announcer: fridays at 8:00 p.m. eastern we bring you both tv where authors are interviewed by journalists, legislators, and others on their books. this week community organizer author of the great escape retells the story of how a group of men from india injured the u.s. as guest workers only to be trapped in forced labor. he is interviewed by one of our senior fellows.

watch on fridays at 8:00 eastern on c-span. >> the state of the union is strong because you, the american people, are strong. >> president biden delivers the annual state of union address outlining his priorities to congress on tuesday his first speech since republicans one back control of the house -- won back control of the house. that begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern tuesday on c-sn you can also watch on c-span now, or online at c-span.org. preorder your copy of the congressional directory for the 118th congress. it has bio and contact information for every house and senate member. information on the president's cabinet, agencies and others scan the code on your screen for

early pre-ordering of your copy for the spring. plus shipping and handling. it helps support nonprofit operations at c-span.org. >> washington journal continues. host: we are joined by kentucky republican brett guthrie. -- went into effect during the covid pandemic. buys it necessary to end the declarations and why now? guest: the white house started moving forward after the bill came -- gained traction yesterday. what we are saying is covid is not over we still have covid cases and we have to be vigilant in protecting ourselves. but we have 12 continuing declarations of emergency. we three years into the pandemic it is almost as if the pandemic is over covid is now endemic.

and once the emergency is declared by the health and human services that gives the executive branch certain powers and authorities that we think needs to be approved by congress. do not need to govern our country by -- for three years in a row. an example of that some of these we need to keep emergency certification of health care workers but examples win this came into effect this was both administration secretary azar declared the emergency and that set off things like the president was able to have the defense production act to get respirators in the right place. and getting president trump to shift that ship off the shores so there would be additional hospital ships for citizens of new york and new jersey. that is what those emergency powers are for and president biden use those so that vaccines could be distributed further. but now that we are three years

into this, we need to get back to normal. we had the bill. the night that it was debated in the rules committee the next day on the floor president biden announced that he will and the emergency declaration on the 11th and we think the effort to move the bill forward brought the white house to the table and there is a lot of work to be done. covid is still here and some of the mitigation situations need to stay in place we've asked the health and an services secretary for a year to produce a plan. if one exists, we do not know it yet. but the president has set a date which is may the 11th and that means the majority of the house are working with our policies on the other side -- and we all need to work together to make sure on may 11 that we have the flexibilities that are needed and that we undo the covid

requirements that were there purely because of the emergency. host: you said there is emergency powers that need to stay in place are there emergency powers that have been misused in your mind? guest: well for instance telehealth needs to stay in place. we have people in kentucky that are some distance from their physician once they go see them and they follow-up for checkups we allowed them because of covid just for routine care to be exposed to someone -- they were able to do this through telehealth and other types of programs. we think that that could stay in place people still struggle to get to the doctor why not keep that in ace? however, we do know in the v.a. -- keep that in place? however, we know in the v.a. world, there are some services that hopefully the justice department will go after them.

to set up telehealth, call in, and get your scription there was really no service and over taking advantage of that. those are things we need to take care of. and another thing is if you show up in a hospital for covid the hospital gets a surcharge which is an additional supplement which was needed early on because covid first -- we did not know where it was going to go. hospitals had isolation wings they treated covid patient differently now that it is come endemic and people are still going in the hospitals, and they are still treated in -- for flu and those other things. we want to unwind those things but there are some things we need to keep in place which is health care work is, and the difference would be instead using emergency powers in the executanch, it would be debated on the floor of cs and hopefully by may 11 we will

hat stays in place. host: we have a statement f the white house which is the statemen from president biden with a plan to endealth emergency in may. and asked on the floor yesterday the white house saidung the public health emergency the medicaid program has operated under special rules to provide extra funding to ensure tens of millions of verbal americans keep their medicaid coverage during the global pandemic. and congress enacted and orderly wind down of these rules to ensure patients do not lose access to their care unpredictably. and the state budget still face a radical cliff. this would cause confusion and chaos in a critical wind down due to this uncertainty tens of millions of americans could be at risk of losing their health insurance and states could be at risk of losing funding. guest: i can show you the

documentation if you would like we have sent in april work last february saying we cannot continue to operate under emergency situations and we need a plan of exactly what you're talking about. we need a and we can move forward on this a how do we unwind this emergency and attain flexibility and have the -- not have a situation we talk about. and if there's a plan on this we did not know it. were trying to move forward. in the house they said they would pass this and they said ok let's put this as an end of the emergency on may 11 and there will be opportunities that we have between now and then a but we relish the work that we have that is what we are here for. we are willing to work with them to make sure that we keep in place let needs to stay in place and stops of the emergency powers that need to -- do not need to stay in place. host: and title 42 the pandemic

our allowing border patrol to send back to -- migrants that were allowed to cross the border what happens with that under your legislation or in may if that is the time the emergency powers come to power? guest: those are completely separate issues. what we are saying is that covid still exists we need to prevent covid from coming across our borders and into the country we know there are other variants that could be out there. we want to keep them from coming into our country. we believe we are intellectually honest to say you're in the post-pandemic in our country let's get back to the regular and sit down and figure out the x abilities we -- the flexibilities we need to keep in place. but we think title 42 should stay in place. the president said we still have an emergency and pandemic,

however i will lift five -- title 42 i do not think that was intellectually consistent but we feel our position is also -- it does not address title 42 in our bill. that is for someone else to decide but we are also having trouble because of the fentanyl crisis coming across the border. if there's not an emergency health issue coming across the southern border then perhaps the title 42 after may 11 could stay in place unless the president decides otherwise. i think it should because we still see covid come across the border but we should keep it in place because of the fentanyl crisis. that is one of the biggest killers right now of our young people. host: we have a republican as our guests. if you want to have a conversation you can use the phone lines republicans (202) 748-8001 republicans --

independent (202) 748-8000 -- democrats (202) 748-8002 . we have a subcommittee of health and chair -- we have the subcommittee and decide -- besides what we talked about all the pandemic what is your process moving forward in the coming weeks and months? guest: fentanyl is our top priority. it is killing our young people. we absolutely have to deal with it coming across our border. today the very first hearing have the fictional act and its -- the fennel -- fentanyl

analog. it was not scheduled. and they said it was because of racial social justice in the past and very different groups that they were trying to say there were too many people in jail. and we do need to deal with the groups of people in jail and other issues such as that but it people were sailing -- selling fentanyl, we have to do with -- deal with that. there was a situation in west virginia a colleague of mine had the bill bringing this before the committee now. he is no longer in congress but we are bringing this up today we had two cities in the town of west virginia with 3000 people that just delivered with prescriptions over 2 million of opioids and -- what our bill today does if you are a pharmaceutical distributor

distributing that pharmacy has liability because what happened is that the pharmaceutical distributor said everybody is showing up with their prescription and the pharmacy has a prescription to bill. and it is up to the medical board for preventing these prescriptions from getting out. but we are fulfilling our orders and what we are saying is when you have these patterns that are obvious to anyone that you are supplying a bill -- a pill bill we will hold you accountable for that. and we will do this with fentanyl and also moving forward we will work bipartisan i talked with other members on the other side of the aisle. most of this is judiciary, but the energy that commerce has is enforcement. so scheduling into noel, holding our -- fentanyl, it is clear

they are shipping access drugs to another community. we also have the export act. we need to deal with this in helping people through recovery. five years ago there was a monumental bill with a recovery series across kentucky that came into place and it was really helping. were looking at things -- and bills that have been passed and things that may have been effective and how we can change the legislation to make sure that it is effective. host: we have yours on the line linda is up from michigan. lying from democrats. linda, you were up. caller: good morning he keeps saying that covid is endemic. 550 people died yesterday. it is currently the third leading cause of the death in the u.s.. that is nowhere near endemic.

the other thing i wanted to mention is about fit noel. -- fentanyl. most victims from people crossing the river that is known. and i think the public health crisis is that so many young people are addicted. the mexicans and colombians or chinese are not coming across the border and shoving this down the throats of our children. what is happening is they are addicted and where there is a market there will be a drug. i think the public health crisis needs to ask the question of why are so many of our young people particularly in kentucky you have a major problem and you know it and the core states where you have no medicaid expansion and things like that. people are sick and they get addicted and they end up overdosing because they have no life.

that is a public health crisis. guest: kentucky does have medicaid expansion and i can tell you that kentuckians are happy be. i'm sorry that you're not in your state. but president biden agrees with me that we need to get out of operating under emergency order and get to regular we are moving forward with that. i have been to the border there are drugs coming -- i have not -- i went to the el paso zone and stood with border patrol people and they said one of the biggest thing they find is people ringing fentanyl across the border. what they told me is that the number of people crossing the border is overwhelming. if there's 100,000 there are about 80 they get through. the where they come the more they get through. and you are right about the

ports of inter-with things particularly like cocaine and you will see pictures of where they taken vendors out of the car or even engines out of the car and they have batteries or parts that they can put cocaine in the car. so what border trooper stroll -- what border patrol told me is you can put fentanyl in a water bottle in a migrants pocket and send them across the border. it is a numbers game. what they send to the cartels they are evil people and they are taking advantage of the migrants. if you listen to the story of what border patrol will find going on with the migrants traveling through it is a horrific situation. we do have a demand problem that is why we want to work in a bipartisan way on the support act to make sure that we have the recovery services in place. i want to invite the caller to come and visit kentucky it is a beautiful place with wonderful

people and we are not miserable. host: we are taking a caller from north carolina next. guest: good morning i have a quick question. i guess back in the 70's and 80's, this is something i talked about with my friends. in the 70's and 80's where cocaine was a big thing, a lot of black people went to jail because of that they were targeted and now, it diction is considered to be a condition, a disease. so i'm just looking about how it has changed over time. now it seems like a lot of people who are being affected are white people, middle-class white a lot of my friends feel like that is one of the reasons why there is such a focus on addiction and rehabilitation now. my question is what are you

doing for the people that have been affected by drugs in the past? i think that is one concern of colleagues who talk about the disproportionate effect of fentanyl on different communities. so i am wondering what have been destroyed because of -- wondering what we are doing for the people whose lives have been destroyed in the past because of drug addiction. guest: that's a very thoughtful reaction and question. i do not know why they reacted in the 70's and 80's in that way but we have to have a two wrong roach where we have a police approach to make sure the people that are selling drugs do not belong on our streets, having said that, a lot of were looking at the racial makeup -- and

that's what you're talking about the social aspect -- social justice aspect of it. the support act when it first came about, i sat in a committee hearing with a friend, people think we all go at each other and probably nobody has a different philosophy we were talking about living in kentucky in a booming town. you can come see us if you like but living in chicago was bobby rush and he brought the point almost exactly as you made them. he said i am not here to say we should not have the support act it just looks like we are late to the table when it was endemic in my community people in my town did not react in they are seeing people show up at the emergency room. that is something i remember sitting there and thinking he is right he is absolutely right we should be taking up these issues with whatever community it is happening in.

and we need to have prison reform and to look at justice reform and make sure that the people that are in jail are trying to sell drugs. trying to be pushers of drugs. others need to have access to recovery. that is why we work on both of those today. i do not know why they are acting the way they did in the 70's and 80's but i can tell you that i have two children that live in chicago and i want chicago to have as much services as their home town in kentucky. host: this is david out of fort washington, maryland. good morning. caller: good morning i will go straight to the problem and what i think it is it is the people. the people do not want change. the responsibility lies with the individuals that uses the drugs. i believe the politicians will

say whatever they think is going to get them elected in office. but change comes from the people. blame it on race, economics, all those that came before us in the country did not have what is available today. we are a facilitator for people to have excuses now. i do not know how you feel about that as a congressional representative. but i would like to comment on that. the people are the ones that have to change. guest: thank you for that when i first came to congress i was in the criminal -- i would have been strongly on the criminal justice side and if you will do anything that criminal justice committee needs to handle it. and i've learned a lot on this committee. i was talked with -- talking

with my colleague bobby rush and i learned a lot to spend time going to recovery centers and there are people that are addicted and there is a disease there are a lot of people that want to get off of drugs and get caught up in it. it devastates families we have a lady today in our community -- committee. and we have one a few weeks ago that talked about families in. seeing that. it will be and all of the above approach but you are right for someone to be successful cover he has to be something they want to do. and i always ask their story and why they are doing what they want to do and i had a guy say that he was in a recovery center in kentucky laying on the floor in an abandoned house and he looked over and there was cold he'd said that a rat was pulling at and he played tug-of-war for a pizza slice with a rat and he

looked at himself and thought i did not have to live in this situation but he needed help to get out of it. he went to a recovery center in kentucky. i do not know, i've never had this issue for myself so i do not know what will out of a full two stick with recovery reform i know that there are families that they tried to will it on their child and it is difficult to do. but we will have the services available and i talked yesterday with a colleague on the other side of the aisle and we will make sure what is working and what is not working. a lot of the tax dollars spent over the last five years we want to make sure they are changing lives and making people better3 . and that's what i want. everybody wants to find a piece of the rock they want to have

success for their families and move forward to have the better for the next generation of their life. and finch is essentially -- fentanyl is essentially coming from other places across the border. and that is what the recovery bill will be. host: congressman republican brett guthrie joining us and this is a caller to discuss this. caller: good morning thank you for taking me. i would like to ask him in reference to the emergency bill will they touch our medicare or medicaid? i am concerned about that because i am now 87 and i worked at least 45 years of my life and i know there are people living with their social security and they are just about passing on

it. i am just wondering what will happen a medicare, medicaid, and for drugs and things we have to take. especially shots like the flu shot. if i have to pay for a flu shot that cost about $90 i would not be able to do it and it means i would not get a flu shot. guest: ok i went to college there and that is a great state. thank you for that. our build is not deal with beneficiaries and benefits to medicare. part of the emergency does provide money or testing and other things for covid testing and covid vaccines and that is what we will debate between now and may 11. we need to make sure that people that have access to the flu shots have support. but i would say my father was on medicare does not get a free covid shot. we need to figure out how to

move this forward. a father can afford to get his test and covid shot but he is on medicare. he's covered by medicare moving forward but there are certain people in your situation that paid into medicare and where not touching any of that to the beneficiaries only where it relates to covid. so you should not see any difference in your health care. i will tell you that people certainly in the position you are in i would not support taking away anything that you have had in your position moving forward people in my father situation they go to cvs or walgreens and go buy a covid test. and we do it with taxpayer money but certainly we will debate this over the next few weeks and it will have to be bipartisan. what ever the end is as we move the pandemic to the endemic side, that will be have to be passed through the house and senate and signed by the

president the solutions will have to be bipartisan. this situation you're in we are committed to taking care on. host: continuing debate over the debt ceiling over the next few months it seems like the president is meeting with the speaker today at the white house as the caller was talking about, medicare entitlement programs and social security as republicans look to find ways to cut the federal budget should the entitlement grams be part of the conversation? -- programs be part of that conversation? guest: that is off the table from the debt limit discussion but our department has a lot of influence on social security obamacare. -- social security and medicare.

not only are we protecting medicare, we know that we have to save medicare because the daycare trust fund is going to go bankrupt, within this decade we are going to have to save medicare. it is unfortunate, the money should have stayed in medicare so we could protect benefits the lady from new york just described instead of spending it on other things. host: one last call from your home state of kentucky, this is james with representative guthrie/ . guest: how is it in your county? caller: it is cold. it is a beautiful state.

we don't have very good infrastructure way out in the county. well, i am almost in -- that county. we are not getting any internet service and you have just about got to have it. the only way to get it now is to buy it over the satellite and it costs too much. guest: right. caller: i called on a cell phone. the cell phone is pretty good. but our landline is real poor. my wife is disabled and needs to have her landline. so i wanted to make you aware of that. i love the state, it is beautiful and think you have done a good job -- guest: thank you, i will, john

mack. that county judge and -- comment on that. the county judge and hancock county, we are working on getting an infrastructure bill passed forward and we are working to make sure we have an opportunity in your area. you had a new judge before, the mayor of owensboro, i know you are outside of the city limits but we all talked about that area and how it needs to be covered better particularly as you get to hancock county. this is exactly what we talk about. i know we have a meeting with one of your providers this week. we are going to work to make sure we can help move that forward. it is important and that ties into health care. it is a little off subject but if you're going to have telehealth, you have to have access to the internet, good telecommunications so you can move forward. we are working to see that we

resolve the situation you are describing in your community. host: congressmen, you have a big day ahead and we will let you get to it. congressman brett guthrie is the chair of the subcommittee on health, republican from kentucky, thank you for your time. guest: thank you. host: later we will talk to published in john larson a democrat from connecticut about social security and -- congressman john larson, a democrat from connecticut about social security. but next is our open forum, our phone lines. the numbers are on the screen for republicans, democrats and independents. we will get your call after the break. ♪ ♪ >> book tv. every suny on c-span two, features leadinguthors

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republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. some topics we have talked about, congressman george santos , the republican from new york. he is stepping down from his house committees cannot voluntarily as pressure mounts during his time in congress. he indicated according to the usa today story that recusing himself from the committees may be a temporary move and he would return to the position once his legal and ethical reviews have been resolved. he " voluntarily" stepped aside according to someone from the chair, and his resignation from the committee comes a day after he met with speaker kevin mccarthy. you saw the picture there of the

congressmen being trailed by many reporters on capitol hill as he has been since the start of the 118th congress. one more thing to notice, an 18 month investigation i the liberal media watchdog the columbia journalism review has delivered a major black eye to the new york times and others their stories about trump and russia, finding quote serious flaws with their coverage, and the collusion with moscow whatever substantiated. a former new york times reporter said his investigation for the columbia journal review said they found -- they follow their own rules about using anonymous sources and failed to attempt to prove the links between trump and russia.

columbia journalism review was critical of the intentionally vague descriptions of anonymous sources, such as quote government official or american official which were used to mask congressional leaks. the review of this say that new york times used a catch all descriptor, person familiar with, more than 1000 times. they say they were frustrated by the lack of transparency from journalists whose work he was reviewing. quote "i reached out to more than 60 journalists and only about a dozen was bonded. not a single -- responded." they talked about the columbia journalism review at a front page story from the washington journal review about it.

for our open forum, patrick first in maryland, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for accepting my call. the congressman who was just on really summed it all up which is nothing but kicking the can. what concerns me, one was that the older woman that originally was talking about medicare and social security is absolutely correct and her response that she wanted from the congressman was a total kicking of the can. another thing that really bothered me is when they were talking about let's start suing pharmacies. this is a very dangerous thing. what you are doing is you are stating your a physician and you can be able to diagnose and prescribe whatever pain medication a patient needs.

and if the pharmacy says i'm not going to prescribe it, then you are going to essentially say that pharmacies are going to have to control -- have the control of what it physician is going to prescribe to a patient. to say that let's kick the can and go on to pharmacies, that is crossing a dangerous road. and last but not least, i would say that the older woman made a very significant comment in terms of sentinel -- fentanyl and what we are going to do about it. i believe more money should be put in toward prevention. because you have to have a consumer in order to consume a product. it's host: that was patrick in maryland, this is in west

virginia, our republican line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i am a 71-year-old disabled retiree, and because i'm single and after i do my social security formula to figure out how much to pay federal income tax on my social security, i ended up paying over $4000 on my social security benefits, federal tax. that ain't right. you should never be taxed on your social security in my opinion. but because of that, i worked hard all of my life, i've got good pensions, and just because i'm single, i still have to pay $4300 a year on my federal income tax. in my opinion, when you have worked all your life, your social security benefits should not be taxed. on top of that, in the state of west virginia, i still have to count for my adjusted income.

it cost me more money like that. host: on the issue of social security, in about 45 minutes we will be talking a lot more about that with congressman john larson from connecticut. stick around for that and for all of our viewers, calling in for open forum, about 45 minutes left. i want to turn to emily brooks of the hill newspaper, house reporter joining us via zoom. good morning to you. it's guest: good morning. host: we know the president's meeting with speaker mccarthy, it is at three clock p.m.. what do we know about this meeting and how both sides are framing how this meeting will go today? guest: well, the biggest topic of this meeting will be what the president and speaker mccarthy tell each other about the debt limit. and spending. this has been a pretty public posturing battle between the

white house and speaker mccarthy leading up to this. we have only until about the start of this summer until congress needs to act to raise the debt ceiling. to avoid default. so speaker mccarthy, he wants commitments and concessions on cutting spending in order to raise the debt ceiling. but the white house and democrats of course want to raise that without these commitments. they don't want that to be tied to anything. they want assurances that congress and the house will vote to raise the debt ceiling. so the white house has put out a memo this week, asking for speaker mccarthy to state what exactly he wants to cut, what the budget should be. they want a commitment that he will support raising the debt ceiling ultimately no matter what happens and speaker mccarthy has countered, saying this is the possibility of the president to raise the budget.

let's see what your budget is and we will bring in our thoughts and negotiate. what spending that could be up for debate is unclear right now. speaker mccarthy says he does not want to touch social security and medicare as part of the debt ceiling negotiations. host: on that memo, speaker mccarthy with a tweet yesterday: " mr. president, i received your staff memo, i'm not interested in political gains, i'm coming to negotiate for the american people." are we expecting to hear from the president and the speaker after today? how will this go? guest: we don't know exactly what they will say afterwards. both of them i'm sure will have thoughts about how the meeting went, we are not sure if it is going to be contentious or more of the start of a series of talks that are sure to happen as

both sides negotiate on the debt ceiling here. we will see afterwards how it goes. host: to focus on some of your other house coverage for the hill newspaper, they are covering it today on c-span3 9:00, the house judiciary committee holding a hearing on border security, the first hearing of president biden's efforts on border control. what preview have you done and what are we expecting to get from that? guest: the biggest thing is this is going to be the first introduction we are getting to a new chairman jordan, a way of presenting the house judiciary committee and how republicans are approaching congressional oversight and investigations altogether. the witnesses for this judiciary hearing on the border are going to include a man whose son

died from fentanyl overdose. talking about the border trade of drugs, and local county sheriffs are going to talk about the impact of the border. we will see exactly how it goes. but this is called part one of the hearing on the border situation. we are not exactly sure how many there could be. there are many republicans in the house who are calling for impeachment of homeland security secretary alejandra mario gotze -- alejandra mallorca. it's that would go through this committee. host: that is about 9:00 on c-span.org and the video app. one other hearing we are covering today, 10:00 a.m. eastern is the house oversight hearing on pandemic fraud. guest: yes, this is the

committee that will be the other top investigatory committee for house republicans led by chairman james comer. this will be probably not the highest profile topic for the committee. they are also conducting investigations into president biden's family business dealings, hunter biden and things like that. so that is going to be the spicy is part of what this committee is doing. -- spicy asked -- spiciest part of what this committee is doing. but comber -- comer did say they are going to dig into the pandemic. spending issues, the ppp loan program, he thinks this will be looked back on in history in the same vein as bank bailouts after the quote great recession.

so this is good to be digging in. host: one of the reporters from the hill newspaper, you can find her at thehill.com. and at emily brooks nears. thank you for your previous. dr. open forum. any political issue you want to hear about, carry in eugene, oregon has been waiting on our line for democrats. good morning. guest: it's good morning. i would like to bring up to the viewers the latest a scandal with our supreme court. that is concerning misses roberts. yes, chief justice roberts wife, jane sullivan roberts who left the law firm when her husband became chief justice. she has been making millions of dollars placing in commissions,

placing lawyers at firms, some of which have business before the supreme court. i think it is pretty obvious that the supreme court cares nothing about ethics. we've got ginni thomas who called for biden to be impeached during the january 6 insurrection that took place. i don't know. i'm really discouraged. i think that this kind of stacking and placement of your kind of people, it is a power grab that i'm absolutely disgusted with. and the very fact that the supreme court makes our laws and clarifies our laws and yet they

are just a dark and not ethical judicial part of our government, i'm disgusted with it. host: i got your point. here's a story from the new york times from the reporting from yesterday at the supreme court's ethics question. there were a thousand business times that chief justice wife jane sullivan roberts -- some of this before court, letters sent to congress claim that make present a kong -- conflict of interest. this is rhonda, sacramento, independent. caller: good morning, thank you. i have been a long time c-span and here we are. we are back on that merry-go-round. we have assault weapons problem,

trying to ban gun violence. then police reform, again we are talking about it and the problems at the border. this seems like déjà vu. over the years that i have been watching c-span, it seems like we are discussing the same things over and over and over again. now they are going to be talking about voting soon. biden and harris, they wanted us to vote for them. they mentioned the border. they mentioned gun violence. they mentioned police reform. and has anything been done? no. they were the reason. that is why i changed from being a democrat to independent. here we are. we are on the verge to vote. and these three important issues are on the merry-go-round.

george floyd, michael brown, you name it. stefon clark. zuckerman o. -- here in sacramento. these people had problems with the police departments and the reform commode, it was talked about for maybe a couple of months and then it dissipates and no one is talking about it anymore, john. thank goodness for washington journal because at least it gives us the opportunity to vent. and people talk about you've got to be woke. let's wake up to these important issues. host: that is rhonda in sacramento. this is jerry, rosebud, arkansas, republican. good morning. caller: yes, i would like to say several years back the gas people came and opened up this gas bill north of little rock. there were layers of natural gas and when they open that up they were planning on putting all of

the big trucks at all of the truck stops that would be easy on natural gas and that would make gasoline come down and there would be plenty of it and plenty of diesel for farmers, their tractors. for some reason they said now, this bill would last 100 years, all of the big trucks and natural gas, would make gasoline in every thing else get real cheap. they're coming in here now and closing the wells down. there are four layers of shale and each is full of natural gas that would run all of the trucks in america for 100 years, they said. now they are going to electric big trucks and it costs a lot of money i guess to buy all new trucks. it would not cost much to have the diesel trucks run on natural gas.

and they said natural gas is clean energy. host: that is jerry in arkansas. kathleen in dayton, ohio. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm hoping that c-span, which was one of the outlets prior to the invasion of iraq, where coming up on the 20 year mark, and c-span did a good job of having former head weapons respect or -- inspector for the iaea on quite a bit, as well as others questioning the validity of the so-called intelligence of the bush-cheney administration. i'm hoping you guys start covering the run-up to the invasion's and understanding the efforts that the mainstream media mostly manufactured consent in the american public.

there were millions of us who protested based on what we are hearing from scott, former cia middle east analyst, and others. many of us were questioning the validity of the intelligence. i'm hoping you guys cover where have all of the iraq war hawks gone? we know bill kristol is on tv all the time, david is on morty joe. the rumsfeld debt come out know cheney and bush are hunkered down in their multibillion-dollar world. and do a program on how many iraqi people died, were injured and turned into refugees, who is in control of the oil in iraq right now, anyway. just really cover as you did again prior to the invasion, way more so than many other outlets,

cover the run-up to the invasion. host: thanks for the invasion, scott ritter with when he won videos indices been library, including many around the time of the invasion and the years afterwards. scott ritter is available at c-span.org, just type it in the search bar at the top of the page. chip in colorado, good morning, you are next. democrat. caller: hi there. i wanted to address the fentanyl issue. it strikes me that kids and adults wanted so bad. they wanted so badly, even knowing they might get some poison back drug and die from it, they still take the chance. what we have to realize is there are lots of people who need something to help them with their physical pain and their emotional pain.

that we have cracked down so much on letting doctors prescribe drugs for those issues , that people turn to illegal drugs from the street. anybody who is getting fentanyl for example, a lot of people do for physical pain, anyone who is getting it from a doctor and a legit pharmacy and it has been made in a pure way, they are never going to accidentally overdose. they would never even one time accidentally overdose if they got the drug from a doctor, from a real pharmacy. but our efforts to stop people from getting drugs is what is causing people to accidentally overdose. because they buy them illegally on the streets and accidentally get something 1000 times stronger than they thought. host: that was chip in colorado, this is jerry, grand rapids, michigan. independent. caller: i'm calling because of

this information coming out in regards to documents, confidential commence. host: classified? caller: secret documents that should not be out with the president and vice president. my thought is this. if that information is coming out and these other governments are against us, and hey, all you need to do is possibly get into the president's area, or the vice president, or check with other presidents and vice presidents and see what they have, than our military secrets may be out and governments are able to tap into things that we don't even know about and now we have a situation where our natural dutch national security is affected. --national security is affected. host: the latest on classified

documents, there was a think tank founded in mid-november after his aides discovered a small cash of -- cache of ossified documents. it is not clear if the search was done with his lawyers after the first batch was discovered turned up any additional ones from the eight years as vice president. on november 20, they discovered some with personal and political memorabilia at his house in delaware. his lawyers in the white house and the justice department and the white house client to comment. the latest in a series of as the new york times puts it, piecemeal revelations about the biden team's discovery of government documents. alex is next in tampa, florida. republican. good morning. are you there? one more try, alex in tampa,

florida. caller: is this me? host: that is you. caller: i am calling about what mr. biden said about the jobs and stuff in the united states. and everything. he don't know that behind him, we are not stupid. that he has let three and a half million farmers in here, what you think they're going to do? they're going to take the jobs. it's and nobody else has got any. host: that is alex in tampa, florida. in salem, north caro -- winston-salem, or carolina, mcgrath, good morning. caller: everybody is talking -- but they are not talking about

the trump invasion on the capital. they want to get around everything and throw everything on president biden. do it on trump. get this right. that becomes later on. we need to get trump and let him be responsible for what happened. whenever you get on something else, they go after him. it is not right and they know it is not right. and i've got a problem with these guns. they are talking about the women not having babies. you want us to have the babies, but you don't want to get rid of your guns. how are the guns more important than these children? it is something the republicans like to do, guns, controlling women and controlling everything else. it is not right. when president biden came here,

he did exactly what he said he is going to do. get the student loans, anything he has tried to do to help the democrats has been totally cut. he went in there and -- to do exactly what he said he was going to do. host: this is ken in lancaster, south carolina. independent. morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes sir. caller: there are so many gullible americans. the united states is trillions of dollars in debt, but we continue to let millions of immigrants into this country with no skills and most of them males. joe biden, donald trump as well, the documents in his home -- the war in ukraine escalates cannot

we have seen the tanks and $100 billion in aid. the country is falling apart. you got technology going to wipe out millions. we've got grocery stores -- you can go pick up anything you want. so this country is heading to a digital currency, a new world order. just like the old days. it's host: this is russell, rock hill, republican. caller: good morning. i would love to talk about the balance of power in the senate. the republicans actually have the majority. there are three independents, angus king, bernie sanders and kyrsten sinema, they have an eye behind their name. not a d. so there are 49 republicans, and

three independents. so the majority is the republicans in the senate. they should have control of the senate. thank you very much. host: diane, kalamazoo, michigan. are you with us? stick by your phone. it is (202) 748-8002 four republicans, (202) 748-8000 free democrats, -- free democrats. any political issue you want to talk about, you are here to do so. anthony, a democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for all you do. to give context, richard cheney prior to coming to the vice

president role, he was cooking the books. the dissolving of the ussr presented an accounting conundrum with the industrial agency in the military apparatus as we know it. anderson collapsed under the fraud to moot --fraudulent accounting. dick cheney was being indicted for having cooked the books at kellogg, halliburton. he rose to power by embezzling money to enron. he was poised. host: we are bringing this up today why? because of the upcoming anniversary? caller: i just think we are a

warmongering state for profit and i think the war profiteers have infiltrated the government to the point of insolvency. you see the trillions of dollars that we are in debt, everybody i know is broke. where did all of this money go? it went into the memory hole of the military industrial congressional complex and the revolving door of special interests in washington, d.c.. so much money flows in and out of the hands of these oligarchs and now they are selling protections the world over. why was hunter biden taking diamonds and money from russian oligarchs? why was he running for this, not unlike enron, and they also contributed money to these campaigns? they are buying the elections, stealing democracy and undermining it by having their fingers on the switch. host: got your point.

nate in las vegas, a republican, good morning. caller: good morning, americans. first of all, vice president cheney is one of the greatest americans we've ever had. we were so lucky to have him at the helm even at the time and he may have done some bad things but we were lucky to have him. but my point is this. joe biden is destroying the republic. we're watching it happen in front of our own eyes. with the corrupt media and also controlling the schools, the democrats have basically -- they are just destroying our constitution. they are destroying the people who actually came here and established this great republic. and over the years, it has been torn away bit by bit. what is going to eventually happen is we are not going to have an america anymore. when trump said america won't be around in 10 years, he was

right. if we don't start understanding our past, we are a nation boarded blood. -- born in blood. we are americans. we don't ask, we take. some people may not like that. i don't care. i would like to see the media that we have, all of you, start to understand that you need to start being fair and decent and stop with the lies. stop the not reporting what needs to be reported. start being independent factfinder, but you are not. you are a wing of the democratic party which is out to destroy america. host: did you see the report from the columbia journalism review looking at the media coverage of russia and trump? did you catch that report we talked about at the top of

segment? caller: i just tuned in. the point is what you tried to do with trump is unlivable. host: you might be interested, columbia journalism review, their criticism of the new york times and other pulitzer prize-winning media organizations for their coverage of the trump-russia saga. caller: if that is coming out, that is great. maybe you guys are turning a corner. were going to turn a corner on biden eventually. host: got your point. naples, florida is next. joe is an independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i like c-span, i watch it every morning. could c-span institute a policy of when someone calls in muck you ask them their occupation and they could say i am a retired schoolteacher or i am a retired truck driver or

whatever, or i am a truck driver? host: what is your occupation? caller: i am a retired broker and i farmed. it's the big problem in this country is the people who are in congress, representing us are not of the people. they have never done anything. you have a few that have been doctors, a few that may have been farmers. but for the most part, all they have done all their life is make promises they have not kept. and that is why the country is in such bad shape. because these people are working from selves. if you would look at the occupation of the people that call in, and you know who the liberals are, who the conservatives are. and if you see the muscular class people in this country,

they tend to be conservative. if you don't show up to work for six months, i will miss your show, but i will still eat. but if the truck driver does not show up to work for six months or the farmer does not plan his seeds or the butcher does not cut meat or the guy in the bucket truck that climbs the power line who puts the electricity back on after an ice storm, if he does not show up, this country stops. host: that is joe in naples, florida. about 20 minutes left in our open forums. keep calling in. one thing we want to focus on is the federal reserve. they will be back in the news today and to take us through the announcement we are joined by an economics reporter with politico, joining us via zoom. good morning to you. guest: good morning.

host: remind us what the federal reserve open market committee is and with a deal. guest: when you hear about the federal reserve raising interest rates, the group of people who make the decision is this committee. it is a group of about 17 people although in any given year only about 12 of them are voting members. but yeah, that is who -- they meet roughly every six weeks and decide what to do with interest rates. today they are expected to raise rates again. host: by how much this time? guest: buy a corner of a percentage point, which is more of a standard rate hike. you may know that over the last year or so they have been going aggressively in raising interest rates in order to combat inflation. for a while they were doing three quarters of a percentage, three times the standard and last time they downshifted to half a percentage point. this time they are expected to go back to standard hikes because they are expecting that they are getting close to where

they can maybe stop and hold rates. but we will see today what their signal is for the rest of the year. host: that is what we also find out at these announcements. not just the day of, but telegraphed down the road. how have market conditions changed, what are we expecting for future hikes after this expected quarter-point interest rate hike today? guest: sure. investors are hoping that the fed is going to pause soon. you may know that the stock market over the last year has been volatile and gone down as a result of the fed raising borrowing costs. and they are restrained in how much they are going to go up until the fed stops. but because inflation has been cooling, it is on a downward trend, investors are hoping that the fed may pause as soon maybe even after this meeting, they will probably do another hike at least at the next meeting in

march and they may pause after that. host: why is a pause good for investors? guest: so if you think about what raising interest rates does, it raises the cost of debt. if you think about how that feeds into corporate profits, their debt may become more expensive every time they have to borrow money, particularly if they have revolving debt like a credit card that might change over time. basically, if they know specifically where the fed is going to hold borrowing rates at least for the time being, may be cut later this year although there is a question whether or not that's going to happen, that makes it easier for them to see what corporate profits are going to be and theoretically it will be higher because investors don't have to worry about is this debt being even higher. host: since we are talking about the debt, let's talk about the

debt ceiling. does the fed have to -- have a role to play in these debt ceiling negotiations? what is happening in the coming months? guest: they are definitely a key player although they try not to play any political role. the fed is known as the fiscal agent for the u.s. government. what that means is the u.s. government bank account is the federal reserve. when they make payments, the fed is their bank. the fed makes payments on their behalf. they are sort of intimately involved in this question of how do we handle a possibility of going past the date, where the u.s. government has no -- no longer has this obligation, the question is how it is going to play out legally at first, what the fed tries to stay out of it on the clinical side but logistically there -- they are intimately involved. host: victoria, before you go,

it is the first of february which means we are getting a jobs report on friday. what are we expecting? guest: we are expecting to see still positive job growth. a little lower than the 200,000 net jobs, which is slowing of a pace but still surprisingly positive given how quickly rates have risen. we talked about how interest rates and rate cost for companies makes it more expensive to potentially keep workers. the unemployment rate may start to go up later this year but so far the job market has been resilient and it's it is still a steady rate of job growth. host: 8:30 a.m. eastern is when these come out, the first friday of the month. guest: exactly. host: a politico economic

reporter, easy to find on twitter, thanks so much. guest: thank you. host: back to phone calls, about 10 minutes left in open form, any policy want to talk about, it is your time. robert in chattanooga, democrat. caller: i've got a question. what is the new world order? host: what do you think it is, when people say that on this program, what are they talking about? caller: bush was the one that started talking it, and i have heard in other places but i don't know what it is. host: robert in tennessee. this is gregory in clearwater florida. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i appreciate c-span for being there and giving us the opportunity to give our input. i have been in florida since

1985. a registered republican. and i really don't understand mr. desantis and his viewpoints and what he is really running for all of the things in pushing this agenda. i call him aggressive ron and i want people to know that not all floridians and not all floridian republicans agreed with regressive ron. host: who would you like to see as a republican nomination for president? caller: right now i don't see anybody that really interests me. the former governor from ohio is the one that i voted for in the primary. years ago. i forget his name. he is the one i would probably choose. host: a story on ron desantis in today's washington times,

rushing off trumps criticism pointing to his gubernatorial win in the 2022 election, owning by more than 19 points in 2022, the former president taking credit for the governor's rise. that is the headline. it comes to the republican nominations for 2024, this story from the washington post. nikki haley, former united states ambassador, governor of carolina repairs to announce that she will run for president and could release her plan as soon as this week, positioning herself to be the first declared republican challenger to donald trump one other prospective candidates have slowed their moves, the video strategy described by multiple people set to drive attendance and enthusiasm for an in announcement event in the coming weeks. that is reporting from the washington post. this is albert in oxford, massachusetts. independent. good morning. caller: good morning.

i have a question. two questions. first, you were talking about running for the presidency. i believe that liz cheney should be running. and also the republicans -- the republican from massachusetts that just left. i'm trying to think of his name. charlie baker. he would make a hell of a good president and so would liz cheney. from my end of it. i have a question on social security. they want to do away with social security. what are people supposed to live on if they do away with social

security? host: do you think they are going to do away with social security? do you think it will go away? caller: that is what the republicans want. they want to do away with social security. even trump said that. you are talking about millions of people here in the united states. what are these people supposed to live off of? host: mccarthy and president biden are set to meet today to talk about the debt ceiling and this issue of spending cuts and concerns about cuts to social security and medicaid have come up as part of that discussion. it's this is the washington post, speaker mccarthy has said social security and medicare are quote off the table, every other program, including money for the military should be scrutinized for spending cuts and we have heard president biden saying he

wants a clean debt ceiling raise, is not looking to negotiate spending cuts. we'll see what happens, they are set to meet today at 3:15 p.m. eastern time. june in ohio, mccright, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to make a quick comment about a man several people behind about the immigrants. if it wasn't for a lot of the immigrants that we have in this country, a lot of them come from these countries that are devastated with terrible atrocities, i just think that no president -- i am a democrat. no president has really gone -- got any kind of idea what to do about this. but for people to put these poor people down, they come to this country and they do jobs that my own kids would not do.

i have to say, we have to have some empathy for these poor people. and their workers, compared to a lot of people in this country. that is all i have to say. host: a republican from new jersey, good morning. caller: yes. how come we can -- can't impeach him right out to get rid of those? host: you want congress to impeach the president? caller: yeah, yeah, we can get rid of him and then we the people will vote some buddy in there. not pelosi in those things. my dad is talking about it now. i don't know why he is yelling -- i know why he is yelling at the tv now.

-- i want the prices down. i went shopping for myself. $300. that's all got to say. host: that is from new jersey. about five minutes left in our open forum, or time to leave the discussion on washington journal. a couple of programming reminders today. in five minutes on c-span3 you can watch the house judiciary committee, the hearing on u.s. border communities. you can also watch it at c-span.org and the free c-span now video app. at 10:00 a.m., the house comes in, at 10:00 a.m. in. you can watch on c-span and c-span two respectively. you can watch a house oversight committee hearing on pandemic fraud available on the c-span now app and the news conference we discussed a little earlier with victoria, federal reserve

chairman jerome powell speaking at 2:30 p.m. eastern. you can watch that at c-span.org and the free c-span now video app. all available in your hands if you download the app. this is patsy in zürich, democrat. caller: good morning. i am a 77-year-old retired schoolteacher and i love our country. i am a black person and i have seen black policeman beat up the young black young man and they are having his funeral today. i heard last week that congressman that said we have left and right. he said we are right and wrong. in a couple of things that we learn as we start our profession in our lives, two things not to speak about our politics on the job and religion. so when they bring up religion, they cut us down and shut us up and say this is that since this

is the open forum, we came to america for freedom. freedom of screech -- freedom of speech and freedom of religion. we can talk about policy, every day all day long on tv. since it is an open forum, i heard sharpton stay -- reverend sharpton said today is going to speak at the funeral, he does not know where we should go and why this is happening in our society. we've always known there is an open law that we can get rid of black men and it does not make any difference whether you are black or white, a policeman, they just shoot us down because we are of no consequence to them. we work for this country, to build this country, but i want to say this one thing. god asked satan, he said what you doing? he said i'm going into the world

creating havoc and confusion. we don't turn to god, we turn to liquor, drugs, gossip, anything that tears us apart and separating us. host: that is patsy, in new jersey. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i was in russia about three years ago. if you protest in russia, they come at you with straight faces and they beat you down. you go into any country where you are a christian, you are persecuted right away. you take america out of the mix, israel out of the mix, they are apostates themselves. it is all going to come to the end. the missile is going to fly. pompeii was right, china is going to have a war with those and we are going to have a military confrontation that the american people are going to lose heart over. so you better get yourself together and think about what

you're going to do with what is left of this country while joe biden destroys it wonderfully. thank you. host: alan, mississippi. republican, good morning. caller: good morning. i'm 87 years of age and i've seen a little bit of the world. i just wanted to make it to the democratic people -- about social security. the speaker of the house has categorically said he is not going to cut social security in any way, shape or form. the democratic politicians that keep putting this statement out on the television are completely misleading the nation, the people of this country.

they are not going to cut social security. i just hope that sinks in two a lot of people who are completely misguided. thank you for taking my call. i wish you all a very good day. host: that was alan in mississippi. our last color of this segment of washington journal. more discussions -- caller of this segment. more discussions about social security next, democrat from >> live sunday on in-depth, lance morrow will be our guest. mr. morrow is the author of many books, including the soon to be published, the noise of the

typewriters in the take on the profession. join in the conversation th your phone call, facebook comments, texts and tweets. >> c-span is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington live and on-demand. keep up with white house events, the courts and more from the world of politics all at your fingertips. you can also stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal -- "washington journal". c-span is available now on the

apple store or google play. >> the state of the union is strong because you the american people are strong. >> president biden delivers the state of the union address outlining his priorities to congress on tuesday. his first speech since republicans won control of the house. watch live coverage of the state of the union beginning at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now our free video app or online at c-span.org. friday eight p.m. eastern, c-span brings you afterwards from both tv, a program where nonfiction authors are interviewed by journalists and others on the latest books. this week, community organizer,

author of the great escape retells the story about men becoming trapped in forced labor. watch afterwards every friday at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span. "washington journal" continues. host: senior member of the house committee. one who has joined us over the years to talk about a tell of programs, social security. in this season of state of the union, how would you describe the social security program right now? rep. larson: it is fine because of the contributions that have been laid. guest: congress has not done anything in 50 plus years to enhance the program and improve the benefits.

a loaf of bread costs $.72 in 1971, the last time social security had a major expansion of benefits. while it is sound and people should understand this is taking credit in the united states, because of the neglect on the part of congress, there has not been an increase. that needs to be changed permanently, so that seniors and individuals who have disability are on the program are able to get financial backing they need. host: expanding or enhanced the benefits of social security is about $1 trillion a year? about in 21 5% in gdp.

why is it expanding if we are not enhancing or expanding the program itself? guest: 10,000 baby boomers a day become eligible for social security. they represent the largest group. at 10,000 becoming eligible day, social security of congress -- if social security and congress does nothing, every year congress delays do something -- delays doing something it gets harder to make up the difference. harder in terms of the costs because social security needs to be paid for. a point i always make. i think one your listeners understand. social security is not an entitlement plan.

this is a earned benefit. all they need to look at their federal insurance contribution. some like to call it tax. it is federal insurance contribution whose, yours. i think citizens know this and they understand it is a earned benefit they are at a gasp when they learned that congress has not done anything in over 50 years to enhance the program. we have 5 million people, 5 million fellow americans that get below poverty level checks from social security. having worked and paid into the system. 5 million, predominantly women of color, none the less it is 5 million americans in the poverty level. 12,000 800,000.

how do you live in under 12,800? host: do you take speaker mccarthy at his word when he said that cuts to social security are off the table when it comes to what may happen here in a negotiation about the debt limit and possible spending cuts? host: we know that president trump -- unfortunately, i hope the speaker is correct. social security should not be held hostage by the debt ceiling. overly their negotiations today proved to be fruitful. i think with the president is going to ask in that what i think everyone should ask speaker mccarthy, where is your plan. when they produced this document, 154 republican signed onto, they adopt a plan and call for 21% across the board and

also 20 separate little cuts. they have not produced a plan. a member from texas who was in the chair, he was not allowed to bring his and forward. he was able to balance social security by making cuts. i think the republicans first and foremost, we hope because nobody needs to be put through this anxiety. nor should the nation for like we are on the president's of the fall -- precedents of the fall. a lot of republicans have come to me personally and say, we really need to get this done. i say, fine. give us your plan. bernie sanders just announced another plan along with elizabeth warren in the senate. there's going to be no shortage

on the democrat side. we need to see a plan. host: you have a plan. social security. guest: it expands social security. it expands benefits that need to take place. i mentioned before, 5 million in this country who are living below poverty level checks from the federal government. this bill says, no one who paid into social security throughout their lives can retire into poverty. the new threshold for a minimum of social security will be 125% over the poverty rate established by the government. that will immediately lift up 5 million people, as well as enhancing benefits that have not been done for 50 years, including what is actually based on what the aarp calls, the

expenses that seniors occur. but the legislation says is, whatever is greater in terms of the need for the senior, that will be the cola as established under this legislation. people are continuing to work out of necessity. making sure -- which impacts 22 states specifically and impacts people who are teachers, firefighters, police officers as well. long overdue in time to focus on it. host: we are with us until the bottom of the hour with best. 930 time eastern. 930 eastern.

enhancements costs money. how do you pay for it? guest: thank you for asking that. currently, social security is capped, annually it rises. the current rate is $147,800. anything made above that is not taxed. what we have said is, let's lift the cap. people over 400,000, who make over 400,000 a year. that is about 6/10 of 1% of the nation. when it does is generate the revenue. why should a billionaire not pay the same thing a person making 30 to $50,000 a year. the american people see this as fair. it is an enormous amount of money that it raises.

it allows us not only to provide sovereignty, but it also allows us the opportunity fundamentally to strengthen america's number one poverty program for the elderly. of the most successful governmental program we had in terms of not only protecting the elderly, but the number one program for children. number one used by veterans, especially in the area of disability. host: did we always have a cap? guest: we have always had a cap. there should not be a cap. i'm sure way back when to get the folks to compromise who may have been reached. we just celebrated 83 years

since a -- received the first social security check. it has never missed a payment. you don't have to go to the great depression to explain this in more. all you have to do is go back to 2008 and 2009. when people watch their 401(k) become 8101 k -- 101 k, that is a lesson that during that same period, social security never missed a payment. host: just wanted to show viewers ida getting that first check picture. democrats. good morning. caller: hello. i personally believe that the new ai artificial intelligence

stuff is going to put millions of white-collar jobs out. i am curious how you will continue to fund social security if we lose a significant portion of our white-collar jobs? guest: i will say this, as president biden has done several times. this is a sacred trust between the american people and the government. it is the full faith in credit in the united states government. i do think we are going to become more productive as the nation and continue to produce more revenue. from that standpoint, we also have two make sure we just discussed lifting the cap. i believe initially by lifting the cap of people making over

400,000, the infusion of dollars into the system allows us both to expand services that people desperately need, but then also make sure that the program is solving into the future. host: congressman larson with us the next 15 minutes. congressman, this is laura in madison, virginia. republican. you are on with congressman larson. caller: i have two issues. one is on ssi, supplemental health security income, which is actually run by social security and the impact that ssi has become a retirement program for the world.

any illegal immigrant who comes here is eligible for supplemental, which includes medicaid. the other issue is, we have two get honest of the finding of social security, especially when -- there are billions of dollars that are in the suspense file for people who are misusing social security numbers. fica is going in there. guest: thank you for your call.

the first big question was related to ssi. ssi is administered by the social security administration. it is a separate account the trust fund is in. your question i believe has to deal with immigrants. there are a number of people who work here in the country and pay fica tax and receive no benefits. we have not had immigration reform, which we desperately need and also have a path forward to people to becoming citizens to receive the benefits and also pay in supplemental benefits that ssi pays out, even though it is administered through social security. host: amherst, massachusetts. rachel in independent. caller: thank you for taking my

call. i am hearing feedback on my phone. this is going to be confusing. i'm going to try to get my statement and question across quickly. ssi is what i the hash on my concern today is a letter that came from social security from the transitional assistant that oversees the snap program in massachusetts. your extra money from covid for your food ebt is going to be stopped. this is your last increment coming up. after this, nothing. but is a 10% decrease in my entire income for the month. it is going to be a little catastrophic, i think my for me, but the whole demographic.

i wonder what we as a group can do to forestall this catastrophic loss. we all have expenses that ebt does not cover. we do not cover our food expenses anymore with just ebt. we have to spend money. guest: i agree with the caller leaning to change. we have to stabilize social security and make sure it is into the future. make sure we are providing the benefits so people can live on. you are talking about ssi, which is a different program. nonetheless, i think you made a very valid points in terms of

congress needing to look at this to see what happens when people are in transition. why so and why are all of these things related. look at covid, this is a global pandemic which has taken hold -- hold on the entire world. who is the group most impacted of the united states? slightly more than one million people who have perished over covid, over 750,000 of them are over the age of 65. also, the people over age 65 are impacted the most by inflation because they are on a fixed income. without the resources being available, people are going to continue to struggle. i think on several funds, understanding the impact on a person like yourself and what congress needs to do in terms of him enhancing benefits so that the wealthiest nation in the

world, a nation that can afford to give 83% of the tax cut of the nations wealthiest 1%, we want to be able to take care of the people who are living on assistance. the average social security payment for a male is 18,000. for a female, close to 14,000. this is what they need to sustain themselves. i agree with the caller. we are hopeful because there's a lot of interest on social security that we are able to get something done with respect to that. also, put forth the notion of looking at ssi and what needs to be done for people in your state . i am not just talking about massachusetts as your current fiscal state.

host: the caller was talking about how the extra snap benefits came during covid. republicans have not shown an interest in this. do you think there's a need in this country today for more pandemic assistance? more covid response money from the federal government question would you push that in congress? host: it has got to be in a targeted group. who is the most impacted? people over the age of 65. that is the same group, 66 million social security recipients. there has not been an enhancement in 50 years. it will be great if we can come on c-span and talk about it. but if congress actually votes -- something, they are still

going to be this disparity of wealth and a disparity of retirees in our country. host: this is rhonda. democrats. guest: you have mentioned that 750 thousand people over 55 have perished with covid. caller: that is money the government is no longer putting out for social security. the funds for social security, are they being used for other means other than social security? guest: excuse me. that is a frequent question we get asked. they are in the trust fund. they are not used further i think what gets confusing, the social security administration manages ssi, which is a entirely different program and necessary,

but they are separate things. money is for social security that is deducted out of fica from the treasury into the trust fund. host: this is a j. line for republicans. about five minutes left. caller: good morning. what good thing i can tell you is that listening to what you are saying is, you want to spend a lot money. i cannot believe you. even now you are talking about, we are just going to spend a lot more money and we are going to tax more but we are going to raise the tax revenue. this whole thing has never worked. it has not worked, otherwise we will not be in the situation we are in right now. i would say the social security system is the most successful system ever instituted by the united states government.

caller: for the viewer, find another agency, whether it is the pentagon or any other agency, finding any other private sector industry that operates with they call insurance language, a 99% loss ratio. social security is administered with less than 1% of the costs going to the agency responsible for making sure that people get their pension payments, people get their spousal and dependent coverage and disability. this is americans number one anti-poverty program for the elderly. it is america's most popular program as well, which is why congress needs to come together and make sure that we continue to enhance this.

it is not just a question of not harming social security and medicare, congress has enacted in more than 50 years to enhance the program. the program meets enhancement. your fellow americans, someone like yourself as well are going to find you will need this program in order to sustain yourself as you go forth. it is an insurance plan, not tax plan. host: have you had any early conversations with chairman jason smith about the legislation? guest: he approached me yesterday and told me he wanted to sit down and talk. that is a good sign. of the have expressed an interest. i think they got off on the wrong foot colin for holding

social security and of the american economic system hostage about raising the debt ceiling in the economic chaos that would cause. they said their purpose was to go after the entitlement program after social security and medicare. former president trump coming out this week and saying, do not do this. all of a sudden, we have seen a little bit of change. i can only speculate on that. i do not know whether it did or not. they are scrambling because they pre-much were out there prior to the election. this is a blueprint to save america. it this is the budget that the republican house study group

opposed. it contains in here what they want to do with social security as well. the republican spending committee, it is their document. here it is in writing. certainly, we have heard of senator smith's program, senator scott's program. there is major concern on the part of congress, -- made it a point in his opening remark to say, we're prepared to sit down and work with republicans on a multitude of issues. one thing will not stand for is caps to social security and medicare from a population that desperately needs it and where it desperately needs enhancement. i think that also has something to deal with that as well. host: one last call.

andy has been waiting in new york. independent. caller: it is a pleasure to have you. i am so tired of conservative republicans every time a democrat takes office as president. social security is directly connected to renewable energy, the consumption of energy is what drives every economic structure. if we tied at least to me 5% of the trust fund directly, the prophet -- the profits we can take that. the southern states have overflow in producing oil and gas. i think it will be great if the congressman from my area got

together in solving these issues we have with social security. guest: what we need to do is come together and solve the issues. i think this is what frustrates viewers. people want to see what is intuitively obvious, the need to take the nation's number one insurance program, number one anti-poverty program and make sure that that is solid. what makes viewers edgy is when they hear all of the discussion about cuts or pending programs etc., it only adds to the anxiety that people are going through during this pandemic and inflationary time. coming together is actually what is required and heightened by some of the things we hear. viewers like yourself, all across the nation, you need to hold people accountable.

you need them to put forward their plan for what they would do. the american people can see this. they will get to weigh what one proposal is versus the other proposal and then have another opportunity to vote on it and have people more accountable. host: john larson is no stranger to c-span viewers. you can also catch up on the floor of the house. we always thank you for stopping by. guest: i appreciate it. host: up next, 30 minutes before the house comes in, we will go back to open forum until the gavel falls. (202) 748-8000 four republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independence.

start calling in now and we will get your calls after the break. >> both tv every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discsi their latest nonfiction books lance morrow joins us to talk and take your calls on american culture and politics, he is the author of several books and the soon-to-be published the noise of typewriters. at 10 p.m. eastern, community organizer, author of the great escape retellshe story have a group of men from india entered into the u.s. as workers, only to be trapped in forced labor. watchable tv every sunday on c-span2.

find a full schedule on your program guide, or watch on my any time both tv that work. -- book tv.org. >> there are a lot of places to get political information, but only at c-span do you get it straight from the source. c-span is america's network, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word, if it happens here or anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. powered by cable. listening to programs on c-span just got easier. tell your smart speaker, play c-span radio and listen to washington journal daily at 7 a.m. eastern. text washington today for a

fast-paced report of the story of the day. listen to c-span anytime. tell your smart speaker, play c-span radio. c-span, powered by radio. >> "washington journal" continues. host: click five minutes before the house coming -- about 25 minutes before the house comes in. we will take you there live when they do come in. the senate is in this morning as well. today, also a very high-profile meeting set to take place between president biden and speaker mccarthy. 3:15 p.m. is when we are expecting that leasing. 230 -- that meeting. also go to c-span.org and the video app for a full slate of

hearings today. a busy day on capitol hill. i hope you stay with us all day and all morning long. that is where we are ending our program today. let us know what is on your mind , what political issue you want to talk about. julia out of baltimore. democrat. you are up next. george in massachusetts. caller: thank you for taking my call and being a awesome program. i wanted to mention a couple of things and so many other things to talk about. i cannot understand -- is going to take will have congress. why can't they have the will? the democrats give up cpi. the democrats lift the cap

. you cannot collect until you are 64 years old. they will not cut any benefits. i do not know why they can't do something like that. all the best to you. have a great day. this is dorothy out of illinois. host: good morning. republican. caller: larson did not say the truth. remember when al gore borrowed from the railroad millions of dollars from their plan, that has yet to ever be returned. when you do not return it, that is stealing. social security is the same thing. democrats and republicans have borrowed from social security and they have never paid it back.

the millions of dollars. if they repay that, it might sustain that longer. i do not like the fact that they lie that they have borrowed from it. they did not repay it. they are stealing it. when it comes to social security for illegals, even though they pay in it, they are not american citizens. in 2005 there was $350 billion. i do not know with the price is today for aid to illegals. they get that for years. host: where did you get that number from, dorothy? caller: the various documents at the government office of washington dc. years ago i went through. i had all of those little emailed addresses and various things. at that time, the total came to 350 billion in 2005 for the various different kinds of aids

that we were aiding illegals with. host: what kind of office did you go to? and why did you decide to do that? caller: in washington dc. there are so many others as far as their addresses. you can go in and see each thing that is paid to an illegal in total for a year. host: this is barbara in texas. democrat. caller: the thing that bothers me about the social security -- ssi for disabled people is all of the attorneys promising to get benefits for people. i personally met a young woman in her 20's who told me she was on disability and she sounded very intelligent and able to work. for the rest of her life because some attorney help her get --

well, she said she was -- it am drawing a blank. it was not a physical disability, it was a learning. she said she had a learning disability. for the rest of her life every month she is going to get a check for being disabled. you see these ads on tv constantly attorneys saying we can get your stability benefits. i have a disabled son and he did not need a attorney, he had medical records to prove that he was permanently disabled. i never filed for disability for him. he is an adult now. there's so many fraudulent claims for disability going in through these attorneys. c-span had -- not c-span, congress had hearings and they were carried on c-span exposing all of these attorneys that are

in this scam. nothing has been done about it. i do not understand how that continues to happen. i have talked to elderly people who instead of getting regular social security just before they filed, they were able to claim they were disabled because they had had an operation and because of typical old age element -- ailment. those are not true disabilities. host: this is a deborah. independent. caller: i wanted to bring up everybody talking about how payroll taxes do pay for medicare, social security, medicaid. plus, federal tax deductions are on every payroll check for every employee of the united states. i also wanted to mention, yesterday truck schumer was talking about police and firing

emts and all of that, that they are at jeopardy of federal funding. truly, my property taxes pays for police, fire, emts, 911, i do not even know why that was mentioned by chuck schumer. then we talk about roads and bridges and all of the funding for that. every time you fill up your tank, you are paying gas taxes for roads and bridges. i wonder why they continue to bring up these issues at jeopardy, federal funding when these are all funded locally. police, fire, emts, 91 11, payroll taxes pays for medicare, medicaid. the gas tax is when you fill up your gaza pays for the roads and the bridges -- fills up your gas

pays for the roads and bridges. host: let us another topic that gets played play in military taxes appeared that is one place that taxes go. do you think that is a good place to look for spending cuts? caller: the federal taxes also come out of the payroll tax. that is a separate tax based on the people, how large they are and so on. i am talking about directly growth off of payroll taxes. host: got your point. diane. arkansas. republican. good morning. caller: this is my first called in to the three years. thank you. mr. larson was not completely truthful when he said that the

trust fund is safe. it was proven there is no trust fund for social security. there just is not one. anyhow, i kind of want to put on a happy face. are you there? host: yes ma'am. caller: i am on social security. i am 88 years old. i am on medicaid. we are doing just fine. there is a holland living in a senior complex. i get my prescriptions filled. we are not out here -- i live in a senior complex. i get my prescriptions filled. we are not here starving on social security. i think the democrats are very good at saying every few years

that the republicans are going to do away with social security. that just is not true. thank you. host: diane in arkansas. this is patrick in ohio. democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a very pleasant tier union member. -- i am a 30 plus year union member. that is my issue with the republicans, they are so misinformed. most of them have never gone a day without food or worry when their next meal is. the republicans constantly attacked and want to take away our social security and our medicare and medicaid. my favorite moment in politics is when john mccain went up there, thumbs down.

gave us covert relief. as soon as the democrats gave it to them, every republican said, we got you. not one of them voted for him. the republicans, i do not know where they come up with this stuff. if you can show me one bill that has helped the common working man in the last 50 years, i would love to see it. i am from ohio, i see this guy jim jordan on refusing to answer questions even with reality. how does someone -- why don't someone higher private eyes? the gentleman knew what was going on and yet he is walking away scott free. the democrats in ohio have to strategize. we are crushing china with the chips. the republicans wanted to destroy the union. try never put together a infrastructure bill. our gas and taxes pay for some

stuff. you need federal funding for big infrastructure projects. host: this is dale in palm bay, florida. caller: good morning. i have a couple of quick takes. for borrowed social security. i am also wondering if one penny additional gas tax will help out the social security. i thank you very much for taking my call this morning. host: independent. good morning. caller: how are you doing this morning? let's see. a couple of things. they talked about one joe biden. when covid came around he shut down all the world.

jobs came back from when people quit working. jobs were already there. people could not work. host: this is mary of durango, colorado. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a couple of things appeared republicans and keep doubting saint reagan's policy, however if you are thousands of working folks, like me that get penalized with cpl because he tagged us as double dippers. yet, wealthy pay absolutely no taxes. are people who understand that gas wells are owned by foreign companies. the keystone pipeline does not

benefit the united states one bit. thank you. bye-bye. host: marianne, republican. good morning. caller: i just need to talk about two things. the trust fund, you do not borrow from a trust fund are, yet they have been borrowing from the trust fund. it has not been paid back. the major thing i want to talk about is of the hamilton program that has just been started for digital currency, the feds are trying it out in 12 links. biden has a executive order to change our dollar over to digital currency, like the chinese, or we will not have any control of our money and they can decide how much we have in our account, if we keep it or not and if they do not like the way we vote, they can take it

away. this is true here and i just wanted to bring it up. i do not know how anyone else is not talking about digital currency. host: where did you see that story? caller: it has been all over the news. it is out there if you want to look. host: here's a story out of minnesota. this is from the wall street journal. tim walz signed legislation under state law, making minnesota first steps to enact first steps following the court's decision overturning roe v. wade. individuals have a right to make their own decisions about their own productive health, including whether to get an abortion. that news this week out of minnesota. this is john in palm beach,

florida. independence appeared go ahead. t. . . caller: go aheadcaller: i have been looking at the social security stuff this morning. all of these people tell you we borrow the money. it is well-funded is what i mean. it all of this talk about social security is kind of cray cray. host: this is paul in yuma, arizona. caller: good morning. i hate calling on the first of the month. the discussion this morning on these programs that are designed for the people, social security,

unemployment insurance, food stamps, every social program in america was voted against by republicans. every single one. if they have never voted one program is strictly for working people of america. the guy from ohio headed down perfectly. the last 70 years they have never passed the bill for the workers that did not include a huge tax cut for the rich. that is about all i got to say. host: 30 days is what we say around here. we will talk to you in march. this is ralph in washington dc. good morning. independent. caller: i am a independent.

if you are hard-core republican or i am hard-core democrat, i do not think too much of your intelligence if you cannot defend your own arguments. once again get $130,000 a year in income, you stop paying social security. you are exempt. then they exempt other special benefits where people receive when they are welcome, they do not pay any social security tax. there are thousands of changes in corporate tax law. more than half of those pages are loopholes. butterfly companies like amazon have no taxes. host: on social security specifically, congressman john larson was on talking about raising the cap new hit $400,000

to have social security have those taxes start applying again once you are past the cap. do you think that is a fair thing to do? caller: i do. there's another thing i would love to see. just because you pay capital gains, one year i made nearly seven figures, i wish i buy 30,000, i was a engineer but i did some really good investments. i was shocked i was paying less taxes then i was when i was working as a engineer. why are we giving an exemption for people who make their living on investments, while the guy who goes out there with a shovel and pick and it in an office, 50 hours a week, why are they not exempt from social security taxes? it is a rigged system. one last point. national geographic had a grap

h years ago which shows the amount of payroll taxes have been increasing. it went from 35% to 45%. at the same time, taxes for capital gains and stuff like that has been reduced by half and corporate tax has been reduced by half. the system is out of kilter and we need to get back to where it should be. host: lauren. in the craft. -- democrat. caller: we need to leave social security alone. if anything, we are being taxed on the social security. in middle-class is being heavily taxed much more than the rich. furthermore, we need to release the wage -- raise the minimum wage. u.s. congress has refused to raise the minimum wage of 14 years. that means someone is making 7.7

5 an hour. they are paying more percentage of taxes than wealthy are paying . corporate taxes need to be returned to us. we need to support the middle class, the working class. we are still being choked by the tax systems that are allow rich people to not pay their fair share of taxes. host: what is a fair minimum wage? are you still with us? we will go to frank in north carolina. good morning. caller: i have a story for you that will shake your will. i am a retired navy, a fellow employee, also with worker's

compensation in 96. my workers comp is being reduced by social security, which is illegal because the people had put me on this said i am on --. my workers comp has been offset in 2000. host: have you talked to your member of congress? who have you talked to to try to fix this problem #caller: i was unable to reach anybody in congress. i have contacted both senators and both represented as of north carolina. i cannot reach them. i get their representatives.

they will not send the forms. they will not send them. they will not get them in their. right now i am back behind $250 a month. host: thanks for sharing your story. dave in new york. caller: i wanted to share a story. it was about people killed by the police last year. they were either trying to run over the police officers with their car or they were either trying to grab the gun, when they do that, they get shot. they act like police want to go and shoot people. you cannot have it both ways where people are trying to run

over cops with their cars, and then when they get shot, they say police brutality. it does not work that way. comply or die with the police. host: democrat. good morning. caller: the lady that called in about the story of people not having enough -- they can't afford what they get on social security. that woman does not know she is talking about. i'm on -- moved from new york city to delaware. i only get $11,346 a month. try living in new york with that. if it was not for senior housing and my social security, i would be in the streets. thank you very much. host: the house coming in just a

minute or so. we will keep taking your calls until they do in our open fo rum. caller: good morning. i am 89 years old. i have never seen the money for social security go to where it was supposed to go. they have spent and on thousands of other things. that is why we have this problem. i want to warn people for one more thing. watch out for what happens to the brains of our children, with marijuana now being legal. host: this is ed in maine. good morning. caller: there was somebody just on a second ago asking about what the fair minimum wage should be. i could give you that in about a

second. 1977 i was a machine operator for the u.s. government. i was making 732 in our. give me a number before i lose you. host: a number on, wage. it is cap to be 3.5 times what it is currently -- it has got to be 3.5 times what it is currently. host: we will be back here tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. eastern, 4 a.m. pacific. we now take your life to the floor of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the