charter communications supports c-span as a public service. along with these other television providers. giving you front row seat to democracy. coming up, c-span's washington journal, punch bowl news: discussions the week ahe in congress. insight news kimberly loewen talks the 2024 presidential race. washington journal starts now. host: washington journal march 27. one of the words you may

frequently hear this year during debates is the term woke. it has been heard during speeches from former president trump and governor ron desantis. a recent usa today term says most americans view the term in a positive light. our next interview, about the term woke. what it means to you. (202) 748-8000, for democrats. (202) 748-8001, for replicants. (202) 748-8002, independents. if you want to text us, (202) 748-8003. you can post on facebook and twitter and follow the show on instagram. a few weeks back usa today took a term at the term woke and did a plan. taking a look atoweople

responded to it and what they thk means to them. you can find it online. a part of that poll presented a few weeks ago. presidential hopefuls vowing to wage a war on the home -- on woke. the poll finds majority of americans find the word as a positive attribute, not negative. 51 percent of those surveyed say the term means "to be informed, educated on and aware of social injustices." 39% say the word for -- the word reflects what has been the gop definition, over politically correct. police other words. and it also highlights independents 45 percent saying the term woke leaves to be aware of social injustice, not being

over politically correct. americans understand to be welcoming to be entombed to justices -- to injustices around us. that is what usa today has to say about it. for the first hour, we turn to you as far as the term itself. what it means to you. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you want to text us, you can do that at (202) 748-8003. several of you posting on our facebook page. steve foxx saying to me, woke is a person or any organization afraid to express their artist a or stand for what they feel for

fear of any kind. adding it is a race card that gets shut down whenever a person feels they want to shut you up. san miguel from facebook saying, to him it means being smart and aware. ralph saying, "extreme political correctness that leads to confusion, such as the definition of a woman." post at facebook.com/space -- c-span wj. with republicans on the parental rights bill was the term woke. this is republican brad aaron been in florida talking about

the bill evoking the term woke. here is a part of his comments from last week. [video clip] >> should parents have the right to be involved in their child's education? that is the question before us. 72% of americans have answered yes to that question. parents should be and want to be involved in their child's education. according to numerous studies, students who have involved parents have better behavior, better grades, that are attendance and develop a lifelong love of learning, which is the key to long-term success. but today i american parents are fed up. largely because they have experienced two years of school closures, misguided covert policies, disastrous remote learning and curriculum focused

on what is woke, rather than what is essential academic instruction. host: that vote last week you can still see on our website at c-span.org. on independent, marilyn line, jeff started soft. on the term woke and what it means to you. caller: i first heard the term. spike lee mentioned it in a college graduation speech. he mentioned, stay woke everybody. i think he was talking about racist issues coming up or reemerging. it is interesting because it suggests being aware. the right obviously is woke because they are challenging. it has become a term to teach

somebody racism. the connotation has gotten all turned around. host: jeff and marilyn starting us off. we will hear next from dave in pennsylvania, republican lineup. the term woke, what it means to you. morning. caller: i have a lot of democrat friends. i try to keep my opinions open. i would like to say, woke people see to say information being leaked on these tiktok videos or evidence that is available to them that goes against their belief system. like our government is lying to us. that is what we call being woke, aware, awake of what reality is. i couldn't find one conversing. that hasn't turned out to be true.

and asking questions doesn't make anyone a joke or awoke. sometimes the only entertain your own side. it is a shame people was a different opinion than you are listing you. i am the smartest man i know because i know know nothing. if we try losing the ego, maybe we cannot get a better idea of where we are wrong and how we can share opinions. being woke is aware there are not see in ukraine. russia is concerned with these bio labs. host: dave in his omega. jerry joins us from tennessee, democrat line. your next up. caller: does woke mean protecting women's rights,

protecting social security? i don't really understand the whole thing about it. but if we can do that, i think we are in good shape. host: as far as what you in -- as far as what you expect it to mean, do you have any thoughts on that? caller: i really do not understand it. some people say it is good, some people say it is bad. i really don't know the whole thing about it. could you do a show sometime what it means for people losing their social security? host: thanks for the suggestion. this usa today poll follows up taking a look at the definition and what people think about it. republicans 60% to 14% say being described as "woke" would be an insult, not a compliment. 32% agree.

democrats, 46% saying woke would be an insult, not a compliment. 25 percent saying woke would be an insult, not a compliment. across party lines, one informed say they don't know enough about what the term means. whether it is a compliment or a slur. our last viewer brought into the conversation, we are asking what it means to you. what you think it is. if you don't have a clear definition, you can say that too. (202) 748-8000, democrat. (202) 748-8001 comment republicans. (202) 748-8002, independents. caller: from everything i have read and i have seen and experienced, it is a pathological obsession with all

things superficial, identity politics and race identity and orientation. that is fine if people want to be this way or that way. it is a complete aggregation of the concept of things like character, behavior, their value system, your moral code that you live by. what is your conscience. what kind of conscience do you have in terms of living your life. you don't need all this acknowledgment. anyone over the age of five should understand slavery was terrible, segregation was terrible. there is nothing to acknowledge because we already know all that. at least nothing if somebody left tells me it starts with acknowledgment first. no it doesn't, i am one -- i am

not going to acknowledge anything. everyone knows that. obviously slavery was awful. saying that word, acknowledge it has happened. i wasn't a part of it. no one who was alive today was a slave. no one who was alive today was a slave owner. sure, it is awful but we are past it. the focus needs to be on character and behavior, just like martin luther king said. not the color of your skin, the content of one's character. that is really all that matters. there is an easy answer to all these things about so-called injustices. always strive to do what is right and always follow your moral code. and do the best you can. host: let's hear from kimberly and las vegas. democrats line. caller: hi, how is it going?

it is really early. i actually just got up. i always turn you guys on to see what the topic is. it amazes me that this topic is, it is kind of crazy. this is a word, this is why people should understand what words mean and where words come from. this word does not calm, it is not what these republicans think that it is. it has nothing to do with critical race theory, the word basically comes from back in the 20's, 30's it comes from a blues song.

i am a 50-year-old plus woman. i listen to hip-hop music. from the beginning. this has been in our vocabulary in hip-hop forever. because it came from people who were before us. we have been using the word. the word basically means that you will are staying aware of your surroundings. a lot of people have been lynched. a lot of people have been missing back in the south. it is a word for us to use it to basically say stay aware of your surroundings. it was brought back because of the trayvon martin, michael brown, stay aware, stay awake.

it is not what these people are saying. it is a good word for us because it is something to warn us. it is a warning. host: that is kimberly in las vegas. let's go to los angeles. that is where eric is. independent line. caller: good morning, pedro. thank you for taking my call. woke is bad. it is all wrong. with the last caller said is completely wrong. it is a term hijacked by the radical left. obviously the term could refer to being awakened and aware of your surroundings and what is going on in the world. but it has been hijacked. it is for them to push their radical left agenda and push down people's throats the whole

transgender issue, things that everything is leftist. the term is bad. it is not host: good. host:eric in los angeles giving us his thoughts. you are welcome to do the same. (202) 748-8000, for democrats. (202) 748-8001, for republicans. (202) 748-8002, for independents . the new york times took a look at this term as far as the definition and how it is used under the section of that story you can find online. what is woke? the aftermath of barack obama as -- young progressive hope and change have given way to the change will start racial equality or climate change. the study makes opened a space

for a new left. young progressives started to reach for more ambitious politics. triumph of the obama coalition gained the confidence to embrace ideas that would have been unimaginable in the bush era. a decade later this is everywhere. the bernie sanders campaign calls for medicare for all. regarding socialism and the new deal on race. the black lives matter movement, national anthem and defund the police. there has been the #metoo movement and the sharing of preferred pronouns and more. more on woke and why it matters. a recent column there. give your thoughts on what you get from the term. jerry in virginia. republican line. hello. caller: what woke means is contrary to nature and contrary to common sense.

everybody knows the climate has been changing for millions of years. to suggest that man can control the climate, that is woke thinking. homosexuality, everybody knows that is not natural. host: jerry and broadway, virginia. the same piece takes a look at how republicans take a look at this term. they add that at least for now, the establishment of the base share the fight against woke for two reasons. one of the reasons, the left is far enough left, room to side with the right while keeping one or both themes. there is a path for its surprising bash. without alienating donors. they add that anti-woke policy animates elite conservatives as much as the populace base. woke is most prevalent in liberals in new york or washington. in the young and higher education. its rise by the highly educated

conservatives. that is from the peace you can find online. we will go to hawaii. democrat line. hello. caller: hi, thanks for having me on. the term woke is what that girl from nevada, kimberly said. that is what the term means. i listen to all these other callers and i love how they like to weaponize the word the same way they weaponize the word to snowflake. if you look up the meaning of the word snowflake it goes back to the civil war. it is people who prefer white skid. they are calling anybody on the left a snowflake. they weaponize the word to use it against to fit their agendas. it is so silly. god doesn't make mistakes. so when all these people are complaining that you are woke about being gay or transgender, they are calling themselves christians, that doesn't make

any sense. if they realize god doesn't make mistakes and wake up, maybe they should become woke. all that really means is waking up and seeing what is going on around you. seeing all the inequalities, seeing all the things that are happening in our country and our world. there is nothing wrong with the word. it is being weaponized constantly. they are finding ways to weaponize words that they should be. there are so many things to worry about rather than what snowflake needs are woke means. what they choose to find these terms and attack on it. and twist it to their own narrative. because it is so silly. kimberly >> 100% right. all they have to do is google it. it believes to be aware. look to see what is happening. see how everything is going on in this world and what can we do to fix it instead of fighting with each other. we should be fixing get and talking to each other. host: maui, hawaii joining us

for this conversation. the lines are open. (202) 748-8000, for democrats. (202) 748-8001, for republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. on our independent line, this is bernard in elk grove. caller: interesting topic. it means all those things that although people said. it is like when #metoo movement started. women standing up to the system and standing up to men. people don't like when you stand up to the system and to the men and the people who run the system. the opposite of being awake or woke is being asleep. these people in the establishment want you to bury your head in the sand and be oblivious to your surroundings. they don't want you to be aware.

just let me run everything and you just don't worry about it. it is like desantis is saying. that guy is awake. he is woke. he graduated magna cum laude. he was not in an ivy league school being asleep. he is awake. he is aware. now he is saying it is a class thing. i can be woke. let me run everything. people that is beneath me and poor, go to sleep. let me handle this stuff. that is what he is doing. attacking anybody that wants to stand up to the system and try to learn and the aware. and grow. host: bernard. i invite you to stay with us in our 8:30 segment this morning. we are going to be joined by kimberly leonard. she is with the insider. the discussion centering around

political ambitions of florida governor ron desantis if he enters the race for 2024 related issues. 8:30 eastern standard time. if you're interested in hearing more from our guest on that. you heard earlier for republicans during the debate over the parent bill of rights bill. this is from democrat alexandria acosta cortez in new york. same topic, different perspective. brings up the term woke. here she is. [video clip] >> before they claim this is not about banning books and not about harming the lgbtq community, let's look at the impact of similar republican legislation that has already passed on the state level. look at these books that have already been banned due to republican measures. the likes of roads apart -- the life of rosa parks. this is too woke by the republicans. salm of solomon is unacceptable to republican politics. 40% of band books have reported

significantly addressing lgbtq issues. to talk about government reach and freedom, this is a republican bill asking the government to force the outing of lgbt people before they are ready. and talking about the rights of parents in this gallery today. the national parents union is here saying don't do this. i have a letter i would like to submit where they are asking the republican party to keep culture wars out of classroom. our children need urgent and aggressive -- the american library association coming out against his proposal. we talk about progressive values, i can say what my progressive value is. that is freedom over fascism. host: that was from the debate

over the parental rights bill. you can see that full debate on our website at c-span.org if you are interested in hearing various members debate it. the term woke coming up several times during that debate in conversation. a viewer on twitter says "woke is narcissism, entitlement for hate that doesn't have the same ideology." joe lewis texting us saying, "i have never known anyone who calls himself woke but i have encountered people who use it as a slur towards those of us who respect people and strive for equality for all." text us. you can do it at (202) 748-8003. if you called in the last 30 days, hold off from doing so today. gregory in maryland. republican line. hello. caller: hello, good morning, pedro. thank you for taking my call. i believe woke means to be

aware. when i first heard the term, it was a joke that i was not woke. i wasn't aware of how we arrived in this position in history. unfortunately i think my side has hijacked the term to be anything that involves diversity, equity or inclusion. there are a lot of things that i may not agree with that are happening in the rules and other places. but unfortunately the term has been made somewhat negative. i don't think that is fair. to the people that see it as just educate yourself, use different sources and the aware of what is going on and how we got here. because if we don't look at

history, it is going to repeat it so. unfortunately people want to make comments. every knows that everybody knows about slavery. everybody does in and they don't know how we got here and the different rings, institutional racism and things like that that are still here. thank you so much for taking my call. host: gregory in fort washington, maryland. let's hear from catherine in illinois. democrats line. caller: good morning. woke to me means wake up. not on every subject, but i am 76. i had a life where i was surrounded by white people. i actually thought black people were inferior. but i have mike woke moments through my 30's and 40's and 50's and 60's.

about three years ago i had a woke moment where i had an african-american or black man come in and do some wonderful work for me. we were talking about god and he said, did you know jesus was black? that hit me like a ton of bricks. how could jesus be black? and i googled it, i researched it. and sure enough, jesus was a black man. and with easter coming up in two weeks, that was a woke moment for me to accept him as a black man and to be equal. and that is what i wanted to say today. i was shocked when he told me that. all you people out there who are looking for a woke moment, think about jesus being a black man. host: catherine in illinois talking about that woke moment of hers. add yours to the mix of the conversation as we go on. ruth in kentucky. independent line.

caller: good morning. i am a leftist. i wanted to say being woke to be means being gay and trans is ok. being woke means that black lives very much matter. being woke means keep your hands off of my uterus. abortion is health care. and being woke means we realize there is a probable in this country with our law enforcement. we need to demilitarized law enforcement. that is all i wanted to say. and i want to give a shout out to my dude morgan freeman. host: we will continue on for the half-hour. (202) 748-8000, for democrats. (202) 748-8001, for republicans.

independents, (202) 748-8002. social media lines are open as well. as well as text, (202) 748-8003. the website the covers military issues and military views talks about this idea of wokeness. a story posted says top military leaders say no evidence diversity policies have harmed recruitment or readiness. and the troops value inclusion despite repeated criticism of woke policy by right wing officials. general david berger both commented on the issue and interviews with the fins one. brown said the air force is building a team for every service member, no matter their background. lawmakers argue wokeism is causing recruiting woes.

on the "readiness, neutrality closed quote -- "readiness, neutrality" -- the website you're welcome to do so. randy in kentucky, republican line. caller: good morning. god's rainbow has seven colors. the lgbtq has the number of man, it is only six. wokeism is pure evil. people talk about trump and things he did with a female. but yet there is no biblical saying that says -- there is an old biblical saying that says

you will choke on an act of swallow a camel. racism, there is only one definition of racism. that is if you believe in evolution or creation. evolution says they are not very far evolve. creation says all man is equal in the eyes of god. this stuff is evil. thieves will not enter the kingdom of heaven. host: that is randy in kentucky. let's hear from dan in alabama. mccright line. caller: i walked past the television and i saw the subject. and i just smiled. i am happy you covered it because i'm interested to hear what folks are saying. i am a 50-year-old male. i have heard woke.

i remember the word as a child. it just simply meant being aware. as of their -- as a veteran, it is a word i am familiar with. being aware. if you are on post, it is notice what is going on. that is what it is. the gentleman from maryland who called on the republican line, he said it right. someone weaponizing a simple word. everyone should be aware. it should be will void of party line. when i hear the word aware, now, it is like what i hear my grandmother try to use a word we will call up-to-date. she is starting to be cool but she doesn't understand she is just repeating it. it is amusing to me that has been weaponized when everyone should be aware. that is a conversation. but i am glad you are having it. but it is amazing to hear what folks have to say. going back to the gentleman from

maryland, he has it right. one party is just weaponizing it for their own agenda. and that is a shame. host: dan and alabama. this is terry from new jersey. independent line asking people what woke means to you. hello. caller: it is simple to me. it means being aware and understanding the realities that are facing us today. it doesn't mean we agree with everything. this is a relay act -- a reality that we are living today. host: that usa today survey about 1000 people surveyed for this. full -- 56% of those surveyed means the term means to be informed, educated on and aware of social injustices. that includes three force of democrats, a third of republicans sharing that sentiment. 39% saying the word reflects

what has become the republican definition to be overly politically correct and police others words. that is the view of 56 republicans -- 56% of republicans. raising questions about whether campaign policies that announced as woke kurt reduce the -- put them in opinion of the general public. caller: if you look at the college campuses. you look at people like charles murray or heather mcdonnell giving the speech about some issue. it is not the members of the young republican chess club the come to break wind and threatened them. it is usually these young snowflakes.

usually democrats are the younger version of a modern-day red guard that will allow anybody to come on and messed with their ideology. woke, everyone says be aware. it is the opposite with the white liberal. white people i grew up with on the east coast, the white liberal is more asleep at the wheel in a multicultural drink state because they can afford to live that way because most white people still practice white flight. whites live segregated lines. especially white liberals. from martha's vineyard to a robust pennsylvania. me, i have worked with different racial groups from costa rica to somalians. i have been through a lot of racial tension, conflict.

i have awakened racial conscience through my life experience. any white guy who goes down the dark alleys or the country roads or goes to the lunch truck and you are the only white guy that speaks english, you are going to awaken. you are going to understand what we are facing. host: let's hear from liz in georgia on the democrat line. caller: my blood started boiling when i colored this caller from california saying this is some leftist agenda. he was right about one thing. the word has gotten hijacked. it has gotten weaponized by white republicans. african americans, i am in my 70's, woke simply means stay alert. be conscious.

don't let your guard down. it is slang. but it has turned a weapon as many people have said. that seems to make it into something negative. but that is what normally happens in this country. anything african-americans come up with themselves gets changed into something negative. people, stay woke. be aware. host: liz, can i ask you a question? you said stay aware. in your mind, stay aware of what your mind? caller: a good example is when we tell our young black males who get stopped by police, put your hands out the window. make sure you show your license. don't go for anything. it is that kind of awareness. that is staying awake. host: liz in jonesboro, georgia. we have invited you to spend the hour with us on the phone lines.

you can text us. post on social media. patrick from twitter saying, "when it comes to disapproving is a racial or social injustice, especially in a way that seems unreasonable or extreme." from twitter saying, "anti-values, anti-truth, opposed to the foundation of the usa." she makes the comparison of barack obama to transform the united states. look at the result, he says we are rapidly crashing. that is some of the ways you can give us your thoughts. on facebook, facebook.com/c-span. on twitter, it is at speech sent -- it is that c-span wj. -- @c-span wj.

caller: if people would look at the internet and type in dr. martin luther king last sunday sermon march 31, 1968, his sermon and the topic is, the first thing after he congratulated everyone there, he says we must remain awake. it is 47 minutes long. it is worth listening to. it doesn't matter what background you come to. but it explains a great deal about dr. king. host: theodore there. cindy from facebook saying, when it comes to how she sees it, " informed caring, educating and willingness. understanding we all need to learn about past events and

history that has not always been honorable and sympathetic about that." another viewer off of twitter saying woke means blindly accepting lives or facing persecution by the lefti st mob. you can reach out through social media, text and through the phone lines. mark in lancaster, california. republican line. caller: good morning. the term woke is in the past tense. as far as people making up the word. it is a real word. but weaponized is a whole another joke. people who use that. it is pretty simple. it goes back to sunday school. the first lesson in the bible. woke to me, i know better than

god. that is why god cast his number one angel into the lake of fire. in my mind that is what it comes down to. host: in some other news aside from the topic we are talking about, keep calling if you want to comment on those things. but to give you a sense of other news happening, out of israel, workers launched a nationwide strike monday threatening to parallel -- paralyze the economy against the prime minister who has claimed over did it share you flights international airport flights were grounded. israel's largest trade union group called for 8000 members in health, transit, banking and other fields to stop work. the main doctors union announced

its members would also walk off the job. the associated press reporting that out of israel. several stories this morning. a look at what is happening in mississippi after those tornadoes. more severe weather coming to mississippi. killed 26 people. governor tate reeves said hundreds of people have been displaced in those storms the throw through -- that flow through mississippi and more reporting on that coming out of mississippi. in georgia, democrat line. lisa. tell us what woke means to you. caller: it means awareness. it means consciousness. it means being alive, being aware.

when fox news viewer base call in, look at fox news and sean hannity, tucker carson and it has been proven that these people believe one thing but they come out and they tell their viewers something different. ignore -- knowing when somebody is lying to you. that is being woke. the black congress guy, i believe his name is donald. when he stood beside marjorie taylor greene and you go to the jail with this person to visit people that have been locked up for the insurrection. a lot of these people who have been locked up our white supremacy who don't even like you. who hate you. and you stand beside marjorie taylor greene and go to the jail and visit these people, you are

a walking dead man. i don't know who raised you. host: candace in brooklyn, new york. independent line. hello. caller: good morning. it is funny, yesterday there was a marathon of mod squad episodes. the first episode i saw was about a teacher being run out of town because she was teaching sex ed. that episode was in 1970. we are doing the same thing that was done 50 years ago. we just had a holocaust survivor speak at a board meeting about books that say you cannot erase his history. you cannot say woke is turning away history. woke for us, i am black, woke

its being aware and knowing your history and what happened in the past. you cannot erase rosa parks from the books and say she committed a crime because she didn't sit in the back of the bus. the law was you couldn't sit in the front of the bus because you were black. you cannot take that out of the books. we are woke to what you're trying to do. it is to cover up the history of what has been happening and what has been going on. you are making up noise to erase history. you did it, you try to do it 50 years ago and it you are doing it now. a professor just spoke at another board meeting and he stated ruby ridge tormentors when she tried to enter the school in arkansas, you don't want those pictures. we are woke to georgia when a black man cannot go jogging in the morning without being chased

down. host: janice in brooklyn giving us her thoughts. on the independent line in florence, south carolina, this is george. hello. caller: good morning. woke to me means being aware of what is hidden in plain sight. people misuse the word. i don't think it is a white or black things. we are going to speak about race, i think being woke as a black man specifically means being aware of what is hidden in plain sight. what does it mean on these commercials when you look at an hiv or in aids commercial or any tv platform and you see black men being gay, a black man being

abused or a black man being on drugs. it is never a stand black man. it is almost like they are trying to confuse us with the world. host: jason in florida. republican line. good morning. caller: i am a republican. i believe with the last caller. i think he was a democrat. some of these republicans and democrats are getting confused. being awake and woke is the same thing. when it comes to these transgender issues, i am a gay man. i live in florida. i am a republican. and a man is a man. a woman is a woman. those things don't change. when i talk about woke people, that is what i talk about. people demanding i call somebody

by a different gender when they are not. it is in the dna. i love c-span. i am looking at you right now. there is a lot of misunderstanding. some of these callers don't understand what we're talking about. i appreciate what the last caller was talking about. that is what we all need to talk about. host: dorothy in baltimore, maryland. democrat line. hello. caller: hello. woke to me is being aware. i am going to give you three quick examples. i have never seen a police officer actually kills someone without reason until videos came out. we also george floyd being killed on video. we saw police killing people -- shooting people while they were

handcuffed on the ground because of video. i heard about it but i had never seen it. i saw it so i became woke. we all saw january 6 and lifetime. all over the world it was broadcast everywhere. you could see it. yet, people are going to say it didn't happen because took her carlsen show them something. that is sleep. we all seen it. i heard donald trump on tape trying to get someone to steal vote. i heard him talking to michael cohen because they recorded it, paying off stormy daniels. i heard it. it is real. the right wing will tell you, no, he did not do it. no, january 6 didn't happen. i have police in my family. i love good police. but bad police are doing wrong things. but the right don't even think they supposed to be punished. woke is like everybody say. aware of what is going on and not being able to be led through

falsehood. i was a judge at the election. i worked the polls. there is never a pole in this united states of america that don't have an equal amount of democrats and republicans working that pole. you are not going to be able to steal vote, putting them in the machine, dragging them from under the table. host: thank you for that. the caller did mention the investigation currently still going on out of the manhattan district attorney's office looking at former president trump and possibly an indictment coming on that front. part of the sunday shows discussion with oversight discussion with james comer talking about the investigation what he thinks of it and the jurisdiction he has on it. here is a part of that conversation from yesterday. [video clip] >> this is not a local

investigation. this is a federal investigation. he is investigating a presidential candidate, not to mention former president of the united states for a federal election crime. that has no business being litigated in a local district attorney's office. he says he is not going to cooperate will congress. unfortunately for mr. bragg he does not have the luxury of determining whether or not he can comply with congressional request. he crossed over two levels of government from the local level to the federal level to try to prosecute something that clearly if there was a reason for prosecution it should be done by the department of justice on the federal level. >> well, he is investigating which of violation of state crimes. >> even at that, let's just be honest here. this is about politics. this is a presidential candidate.

when you look at what we believe the manhattan d.a. should be, it is to fight crime. that is one of the biggest issues in new york. we saw that in the midterm elections last november. host: expect to watch that. the course of this week, congress in one more week. stay close to our website at c-span.org and our app at c-span now for events that happen in and around washington. on this topic of what the term woke means to you, langley in st. petersburg, florida. independent line. hi. caller: good morning, pedro. this is a prime example of why history that involves black people is important. the phrase woke was first started by a blues finger name huddle william ledbetter. he had written a song. for those unfamiliar with the

scott borough boys, do yourself a favor and google that. after having written said song, which involves nine young black men who were accused of writing a white woman. he had written that song and after having written that song, he would perform that song in venues with black people. after performing said song sheet -- said song, he would say to black people, stay awake to the violence that would be perpetrated against them. that is the genesis of said phrase. made for black people to be aware of violence predicated upon them by white americans. that is the genesis. all these other branches going to this, going to that, that is in fact the genesis. it is why history that involves

black people is extremely important. for everyone going on and putting their definition of what it means to them, that is the genesis of why that phrase was first uttered. host: let's hear from diane in st. louis, missouri. republican line. caller: what that last man said, i have been hearing all these black people grab on to the wokeness, which is fine at what their sense of woke means. but today, wokeness is trying to control what you say. what you do, how to work, what you eat and work. these are white people mostly protesting and being what they say woke. i find it really hard when i see

these black people. and i understand what they are saying about it. but the wokeness today is brought to you by a bunch of white people that want to control what you do, what you say. host: a couple of things to watch out for today, analysis of the 20th anniversary of the iraq war taking place at american enterprise institute today. featuring the former national security advisor will stop that will start at 10:00. you can see that on c-span two. watch on the mobile app at c-span now. you could also watch at c-span.org. later on this morning at 10:15, the national league of cities will host a conversation about the impact that federal legislation has on local government. live coverage of that, 10:15 on

our main channel c-span. on the app and c-span.org too. it will tell you a little bit about what is going on as far as the house and senate. that website is c-span.org, if you want to follow along there. sam in manchester, michigan. democrat line. hello. caller: good morning. woke means to me you have been bankrupt several times. i am awoke to that. tax evasion, i am awoke to that. sexual predator with tiktok's, i am woke to that. a liar, can play tennis and golf. insurrection. tried to steal the election, fake school college, fake charity. meeting with putin with nobody there but just him and putin and

whoever else. we don't get to hear any of that. if republicans cannot find their candidates, then we will be seeing a one party system. host: sam in michigan. out of ghana, africa, political reporting, vice president, will harris. her first trip in africa. the goal is resetting relations between united states and the country she is scheduled to visit. china has gained economic foothold on the conference -- on the economy. encouraging more businesses to invest in african nations. she arrived on sunday. she is the fifth top bite and administer official to visit africa this year. there is more there at politico if you want to see that reporting. a couple more calls on the topic. from tom in battle creek, michigan. independent line. caller: hi, thanks for taking my call.

one thing i noticed as a somewhat partial observer, higher education seems to place an emphasis on the negative aspects of american history. emphasizing those aspects, they shortchange all the wonderful contributions this country has made it to human history. if you go too far presenting aspects of u.s. history that are very negative, you give a false impression of the overall history. the united states is a great country. it is founded on principles which have perhaps fallen short of their high aspirations, we are attempting always to achieve those aspirations. and always constantly have this drug with the negativity.

it seeks to undermine the achievements it is a false narrative. you need balance. on the left, they are not interested in balance. they are interested in promoting a view which will ultimately lead it to disintegration of the american ideal. host: this is from tina in orlando, florida. republican line. caller: all this is is sewing division. that is all it has done since it started. it puts the vaccinated against the unvaccinated, republicans against democrats. it just so's division. host: ok.

tina in orlando, florida. finishing off this hour of your calls. thanks to all of you who participated. what is coming we are joined by max cohen to talk about the week ahead of the things laying out in the house and senate and washington. later on, insider kimberly leonard on the potential for florida governor ron desantis entering the 2024 presidential race if he decides to run. those conversations are coming up on "washington journal." ♪ >> 100 years ago, these names were in american newspapers on many days, jess smith, rafe stinson, burton wheeler.

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continues. host: joining us now to talk about the week ahead in congress is max, and with punch bowl news. thanks for coming back on the show. guest: thanks for having me. host: as far as how much time congress has, what are they looking at? guest: until thursday they will be in and then they will leave for april recess. nothing too pressing coming up there but in a couple of months, we have the debt limit situation which will likely come to a head sometime in the summer. that's the general timeframe. host: in the short term, the house is set to take up energy legislation they introduced a couple of weeks ago. remind with the house is proposing on energy legislation3 guest: house republicans, it is their top legislation, hr one which show significance, plan to unleash american energy.

it's a direct response to president joe biden and the democrats they say are hampering american energy production and want to ease the permitting process and make it easier to drill on federal land and state lands, all of the above approach, making it more difficult for the president to cancel an energy plan. host: as far as the elements of hr one, it would pmote natural gas experts and perttg related to exports and repeal the democrats methane fee and not allow states to block projects. as far as what spread risk did this report, or all republicans on board? >> guest: it's our understanding this will be ready wide republican support is nothing too out of the mainstream.

last week, the parents bill of rights had five republicans voting against it but i don't expect any republicans to vote against this energy package. in terms of demo rats, chuck schumer has said it's dead on arrival in the senate to don't -- so don't hold your breath on this getting past. host: any senate chances or could they agree on some elements of this proposal? guest: there was some talk of permitting reform last august. there is never enough consensus among democrats and republicans and they are repeating republican and democratic plans. the permitting reform probably has the best chance to reach some sort of compromise. as we saw last congress, that is a challenge to get across the finish line. host: you mentioned the passage of the parental rights bill last week. it will probably go nowhere in the senate and chances are the

energy bill will do the same. what's the point they are making on this? guest: they want the majority and they want to say to their voters that we are doing something. we promised we would reform the way americans deal with energy. gas prices, costs and cost-of-living, an essential point of the republican economic when his we need to lower inflation. they want to unleash energy so as a messaging bill. in a divided government, it's a message. host: a messaging bill on parents rights and energy this week. what other messaging bills can we expect in the next couple of months? guest: for now, this is the low hanging fruit. we will see more fights in the future over immigration and border security. those bills are not a slamdunk. gop leaders have had to postpone

a markup on border security/immigration package. that's now being postponed to after the april recess. the republicans are passing their signature proposals and they want to know they have the votes. after the april recess, we will head down to the harder work including immigration and then they will turn to government spending and the debt limit. host: max cohen is with us until 8:30 a.m. you can call us and talk to him. you can text us as well. we sought republicans meet in orlando last week to talk about these presentations. what's the mood among the caucus? guest: one of the main takeaways i had is they are in a good

mood, they are in the majority. in the first week of january, we saw elongated speaker speeches. kevin mccarthy was flanked by his leadership team. there does not seem to be widespread anger or disapproval among the never kevin group. things are going better for mccarthy. there is a widespread optimism that they have the majority and the chairmanship and sending out subpoenas. i would caution that the easy stuff has happened and have a harder stuff happens. they have to negotiate the spending deal with president biden. there may be warning signs ahead. host: we saw the president call for republicans to release their budget in light of him releasing his. we're republicans on that? guest: president joe biden was late on his budget and

republicans have an opportunity. they will say they are in no rush. there seems to be some discrepancy among the house committee chair and speaker mccarthy. the house said they will release a term sheet. and republicans might not want to raise the debt limit. a little bit of confusion. we will hear that more clarity hopefully. they said it's a complex process that will take a little while. we can expect a counterproposal in the coming months. host: also a list of demands, what kind of things are they looking for? guest: republicans want to return spending two fiscal year 2022 levels. that would equate to around a $130 billion that and that's the big conversation. they want the white house to agree to cut federal spending.

the white house and democrats are responding and saying that would amount to cutting money for working families, veterans and seniors. we will have to see the republican proposal. they say they can cut waste. host: this is from phoenix, arizona, our independent line. go ahead. caller: a good show as always. i would like to see them focus more on stuff like still -- like social security and they need we have the banking problem, it gets at some of these issues and those are two off the top of my head instead of focusing on the past administration.

they were trying to force the green new deal and electric vehicles. the whole woke agenda which in some ways is good but most places it's a negative. i wasn't too fond of mccarthy going into it but i think he's doing well and looking good and i think they should focus on stuff we can control. there's the whole woke agenda and pushing electric vehicles and stuff. they need to pump the brakes and focus on stuff that's relevant and things that need to be addressed. host: thank you. guest: the social security issue you mentioned will be central to these talks. republicans are claiming they don't want to cut medicare and social 30. if you watch the state of the union, that was one of the central teams that republicans

want to cut these programs and we saw the republican response and they said that's not true. the coming fight will be over how you get these type of budget cuts that republicans are calling for without touching entitlement programs like medicare and social 30 which constitute a large portion of the budget. host: as far as the actual conversation, when is the deadline for the debt ceiling? guest: it's a nebulous deadline. the administration doesn't know exactly when the treasury department will run out of extraordinary measures that it's taken to avoid a default. janet yellen has said it will be sometime around june. that number can change. we expect a summer type of deadline, june/july. host: we heard about the initial conversation between the house bigger and president biden. to what extent are any conversations happening between the two men and their staffs about what to do about how to

resolve the budget issue. guest: mccarthy has been public that frustrated with president joe biden. there was optimism and they agreed to meet again and since then, there's been nothing. mccarthy said biden needs to call me up. i'm available and biden says i need to see your budget first. it might be concerning after the initial meeting. i expect there not to be another meeting until the republican budget comes through. host: this is the democrats line. caller: how are you doing? i think the debt ceiling should be stopped. i think the $1.7 million the democratic party did should be what the government needs to work on. what the democratic party did

with nancy pelosi was -- when nancy pelosi was in control, everything should be taken back and replaced because all the democratic party wants to do is take people anddei them to diversity, equity and inclusion. that's all against the white people because joe biden believes all white people are against the government. host: we will leave it there. guest: you look at the republican talking points and i talked to jodey arrington at the republican to treat and he discussed the areas where he wants to cut funding. he mentioned diversity, equity and inclusion programs. he said there are a lot of programs that he thinks are not

necessary and that's the republican argument. they say the federal government is too bloated and they are focusing on programs they don't agree with. host: how do senate republicans look at what's happening on the house side? guest: we talked to senate republicans the other week and they said house republicans are in the majority and republicans are happy to take it back for now. that will change the closer we get to the debt limit deadline in the summer. republican see the still make continuing and they will get more concerned and may try to insert themselves. mitch mcconnell has said he will let speaker mccarthy take the lead here. that's their stance for now. i think that will change as this continues. host: this is a technical question -- house democrats, are they working with any house republicans? guest: this was floated earlier in the year and that's been shot

down. even the most moderate republicans in the house but there is a leader of the main caucus which is a senate pragmatic conservative group in the house. they said no republicans will support a clean debt limit height. -- hike. if there's going to be a hike, there will have to be corresponding demands for spending cuts. host: this is from tim in myrtle beach, south carolina, republican line. caller: good morning, how are you? i've got a quick comment and a quick question. i watched c-span. does anybody know what the true inflation numbers are? the guy was skewing it yesterday morning.

they said it was at 8%. i think at the top of it, it was closer to 10%. when they talk about unemployment and cutting social security and all that, does anybody know what the participation rate is since covid of march of 2020? nobody is accounting for the millions of people that have not actually going back to work since biden put $4 trillion on the street that was worthless printed money. does anybody have the real numbers on that? guest: the bureau of labor to sit six -- of labor statistics has the best numbers on that so you can go to their website. their job is to manage those numbers and keep tabs on this. it says inflation is running hot right now when we see that with

the federal reserve trying to raise interest rates to tamp down inflation rates. it's not at its peak. we seen the numbers go down in recent weeks but they are still high. unemployment is at a low rate. host: it's reported the treasury secretary and the appropriations committee are meeting in the events of what happened is for the banks a couple of weeks go will be a topic of conversation. what are senate members saying about these specific issues? guest: the committee chair and maxine waters have said they will hold hearings and there is a senate hearing this week on this very issue. i would not hold your breath for any legislation. we've done reporting that shows there is not a groundswell of support for new banking rez -- legislation at this point. they say the banking system is sound and these were perhaps isolated incidents but

generally, the banking industry is secure, there is no major reason for panic and expect the hearings to focus on what was going on at the silicon valley bank that because these specific institutions to collapse rather than a wider conversation. host: if you want to see some of the treasury secretary's comments from last week, go to our website at www.c-span.org to find out more. this is the independent line, hi. caller: mr. cohen, i wanted to know, the last time that i remember that they were talking about the budget, it was $73 billion to educate the illegal aliens coming into our country. i wanted to know because that was from kindergarten to

college. i want to know that's part of the budget as well and can't you cut some of that? guest: i cannot speak to that program. if you look at the question of education funding that's a state issue. i think public schools are available to any resident of the united states. host: to the larger issue of the southern border, what is the plan generally for republicans as far as legislation or hearings out of these committees? what is the status? guest: there has been some disagreement. this is the issue within the republican conference which is causing the most consternation. more conservative house republicans and moderate republicans are battling in the group led by tony gonzales is pushing back against what some

of the harder -- higher ranking republicans are opposing which would dramatically strip asylum in its current form. some of the republican say it's a step too far. there are 18 house republicans and districts that voted for joe biden and 2020. these biden republicans will not want to take a tough vote on immigration heading into a tough presidential cycle when they are up for reelection. this might split the conference and i think we are seeing some pushback and that has led to this initial procedural step on the legislation. host: from punch bowl news, this is max cohen. you can call him directly. what is punch bowl news? guest: we are a newsletter and launched in january of 2021.

we cover congress from all angles and focus on leadership and focus on fundraising, the politics of governing, that is our bread-and-butter for people who want to know more about what legislation can pass congress so reach -- so read punch bowl news. next is the republican line, hi. ray, in memphis. caller: how are you doing? i've listened to the calls and comments. basically, the federal reserve has been running a ponzi scheme for quite a long time in america and around the world. they practice what they call fractional banking. they are using people as legal tender instead of gold or

silver. that is the main crux of the problem. that's what people have been experiencing with the debt ceiling and people being in debt all the time. to resolve the problem would mean reducing the federal reserve impact or footprint on financing and the financial institutions as a whole. keep in mind that by them not using their own risky business, they are using depositors moneys and this is the biggest problem. i will hang up now and listen to the comments. thank you for listening. guest: the hope is that the federal reserve will have less

impact on the economy. we are seeing the federal reserve and its conversations whether to raise interest rates dominating stock markets and congressional attention. this is the main issue right now that people are looking at. how much will the fed raise or lower rates? the fed i think will have a central role. host: we sought sharp comments about the federal reserve leader. as for his general sentiment toward jerome powell, how would you describe that? guest: that's not a surprise but generally, powell received bipartisan support when he got promoted to another term as chairman of the fed. most members of congress are happy to let this play out and there might be some this is him here and there that they are raising rates to weekly.

on the democratic side, you also have the senate banking chair that consistently undermines jay powell. host: the weaponization committee in the house side is looking at the big tech issue. at a hearing this week, we saw the hearing on tiktok. what do the legislators want as far as new regulations? guest: i'm not quite sure there is a prime ask in terms of legislation. that committee is in investigative committee looking into what happened with big tech and is part of a wider push among conservatives. they want to look at content

moderation. the right alleges big tech companies, facebook, twitter, ogle, amazon, microsoft are in aged in practices which suppress conservative views. jim jordan is the chairman and issued subpoenas to chief executives of the big tech company saying they are biased against conservatives. host: the tiktok hearing last week prompted the democrat from new york. she posted on tiktok about tiktok. [video clip] >> why should tiktok not be banned? i think it's important to discuss how unprecedented of a move this would be. the united states as never before banned a social media company from existence, from operating. this is an app that has over 150 million americans on it. the arguments about banning

tiktok with respect to discussions around chinese surveillance and utilization of data that is tracked and norma's amount of tracking on u.s. citizens that is harvested by tiktok. they say because of this egregious amount of data harvesting, we should ban tiktok. however, that doesn't address the core of the issue which is the fact that major social media companies are allowed to collect troves of deeply personal data about you that you don't know about without really any significant regulations whatsoever. in fact, the united states is one of the only develop nations in the world that has no significant data or privacy protection laws on the books. host: why should congress focus on this when there were concerns about these other platforms? guest: we heard this from

representative jamal bowman. what's interesting is none of these democratic members of congress sat on that house energy and commerce committee. during a hearing with the tiktok ceo, there were no voices speaking out in support of to talk. the argument was seen among the progressive left to not single out tiktok. they said let's look at other companies like facebook and democrats would say there is russian situations when there is misinformation. i think it's falling on deaf ears right now. lawmakers want to go on record as banning tiktok. host: someone asked about twitter when the house will investigate the 500 pound hunter biden laptop. guest: there is a house oversight chairman that they are

looking into his family members and whether their business dealings and their personal activities means the president is compromised in a national security threat. that is a chief investigation and the laptop has been cited by numerous hearings that james comer has held. he said the laptop is real. one of the first hearings was about twitter files in the twitter censorship of the new york post story on the hunter biden laptop. i was a house republicans are already up and at it. host: the houses in this weekend they are on a two week break and come back in the first thing on the agenda will be? guest: not sure what the first thing will be but immigration will be top of mind and releasing the budget people are waiting for this. that's one of the central things heading into late spring and early summer that republicans will have to release. host: our guest is a

congressional report for punch bowl. thanks for your time. coming up, we will take a look at the potential politic future of former governor -- of governor ron desantis running for president in 2024. kimberly leonard will join us for that and later, the former fbi cir william isaac on the federal government's role in the bank crises in the level of response government has in protecting bank deposits. those conversations coming up on "washington journal." >> since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress from the house and senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings and committee meetings. c-span gives you a front row seat to how issues are debated

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is making the rounds. what is the stage of his interest for future political office? guest: governor ron desantis is certainly doing everything candidates who are interested in running for the presidency should do. he has his book tour going on, he spending a lot of time in early voting states and getting a lot of press and he still continuing to sign bills into law in florida because it's in the middle of a session. all of the stuff you are supposed to take he is taking and he's continuing to make his way to the top of the gop and still seen as trump's top rival. host: he has not formally declared so what's the message he is selling at this point? guest: governor desantis is helping people get to know him a little more. with his book, he was able to tell people a little about what he's about and where he grew up and what he was interested in. he is introducing himself and introducing his family because

even though he's done a lot of press around covid and some of the other policies, people still don't really know a lot about him. that provides an opportunity for him and provides an opportunity for his rivals. host: how so? guest: you have seen trump try to define desantis. he hasn't officially announced he's running and he not expected to announce until even june and he has the luxury of time. you've seen some of the attacks and from trying to portray him as a phony and someone who is hiding something. there is no evidence for those claims but you know trump, he's ready to get down in the dirt right away. host: even before political ambitions came up, is it fair to say that trump and desantis supported each other as far as what they were doing in their respective offices? guest: to a certain extent but

we created a timeline of their relationship trump actually endorsed desantis back when he was running for the u.s. house in 2012's was been 10 or 11 years now. at the time, trump had not entered into politics himself. desantis was the one in office and when trump decided to run, he didn't see to santa's offer any full support --. once he became president, use a dissent is really get behind his agenda and he introduced bills like the drain the swamp act so kind of following president trump's messaging at the time. trump then endorsed him when he wanted to run for governor and it did help with his notoriety and name recognition and he ended up winning. when trump is not reelected,

things started to fall apart. trump was not present anymore and desantis was governor and he had a foil in joe biden in the white house we saw him play that up. host: kimberly leonard is here to talk about governor ron desantis and his political ambitions. we've set aside a line for florida residents. you can also text us on that line. governor desantis winning reelection largely in florida, what are the mechanics as far as how he hopes to reproduce that on a nationwide scale? guest: what's interesting about him running his that he did not seek trump's endorsement. he was running on his own record. one of the main things that

desantis did differently that many republicans were not doing a number terms was he was running on a very specific list of accomplishments and promises. voters had the opportunity to say whether they agreed with those policies were not and that's in contrast to many republicans who were running an anti-democrat campaign. he was able to put his record out there in florida but he also tapped into many different communities that had turned away from the gop might be becoming more conservative now like the latino community. there were counties in florida like palm beach and miami-dade that are typically democratic majority counties. they went for desantis this time. i think there is a lot that's changing in florida because so many people moved here from states that dealt with covid policies differently. it seems they moved here and then they supported what

governor desantis had done especially as far as the pandemic policies. host: the governor did a recent interview with piers morgan about many different topics and he was asked about differences between him and former president trump. i want to play you a little bit of that interview. [video clip] >> i think there are a few things. the approach to covid was different. i would have fired somebody like fauci. i think he got too big for his britches and i think he did a lot of damage. in terms of my approach to leadership, i can get personnel in the government who have the agenda of the people and share our agenda. you can bring in your own agenda, you are gone. the way we run the government is no daily drama, focus on the big picture and put points on the board and i think that's very important. >> you haven't got sucked into

responding to any of the talk? >> i just don't follow it, i get attacked every day. to me it's kind of background noise, it's not important for me to be fighting with people in social media. it's not accomplishing anything for the people i represent so we focus on knocking out victories day after day. if i got involved in all the undertow, i would not be able to be an effective governor so i don't think it's something that makes sense for me. host: there is a bit of a contrast. put your own reporting into that on with the governor is saying. guest: i want to address one of the things he was talking about where he said he doesn't get caught up in the drama. that's the case. the desantis circle is very insular and the key things tight and keep things from leaking. it something that has worked so far. desantis has definitely been trying to get under trump's skin since he won reelection in florida.

he may not have been directly saying things like i have less drama in my administration or i'm a winner and he's a loser but he was doing things that already signaled a lot of the arguments he made in that interview. for example, there was a press conference at a roundtable about covid vaccine pessimism and it was at palm beach. that's very close to where trump lives. he was already working to contrast his covid policies with that of former president trump by sort of being -- sending a subliminal message. he held another press conference in which he had a dominion lawyer represent at a roundtable and he praised her abilities. that can under the skin of president trump. even though there may not be directed text similar to trump

where he makes these claims, he's definitely been working with little taunts and jabs. i noticed that because i'm in florida and i see how the governor operates and he's the one who's always cited on these issues. how he has balanced the fight has been different. it's only recently we have seen him become more vocal which is interesting. host: he use the phrase no daily drama. guest: absolutely, when trump was in the white house, there was a lot of back-and-forth. that will probably be true for whoever's in the white house. it depends on who you have surrounding you and what you do with staff when they leak information and so forth. the desantis operation is tightly held. having said that, there are still folks over the course of

his career, there probably people who have stories to tell about the time of the governor. those of the kinds of things that will be coming out during a primary. they could be drama fodder which is how it goes during an election season. host: kimberly leonard is here, brian, go ahead. caller: good morning. i will tie it in real quick. i served under 16 captains. i served at the highest level. i have served under gentlemen captains, all types. by far, the best cap mobile, the most serious who was right on course and everything -- i don't know that i would bring him home to meet my mom, he was hardline.

this is about leadership. if we could name one policy, one legal legislation or anything like that because we keep bringing up former president trump now with desantis. it's tied in. i have -- i am an independent. i'm independent minded high school so i don't get on one side or the other. i never have. it bores me. host:host: it's just childish. what's the question? caller: name one policy because you brought it up already, name one policy that overhaul that trump advocated for in the united states that was so bad it? i'm not talking about his style or anything else. host: we got the point, thank you. guest: voters have different

perspectives on what constitutes a good and bad policy and that's one reason why the nation is so divided. everything from the tax laws to immigration policy and so forth, there is a lot of division on those issues and those of the kinds of differences that show up when you have another presidential election and voters get the opportunity to weigh in and decide how they want the u.s. to be. host: this is a line for people from florida. caller: good morning. i want to let everyone know that me as a florida voter, i'm a staunch trump supporter in the way i see it is after everything trump has been through with the media, he deserves his other four years.

desantis will be a great leader in the future. i would vote for desantis because because i want them to be my governor but i also want him to be president in the future, thank you. guest: this is something i hear a lot from florida voters. i'm in florida as well. they sort of say hang on, is it really his turn and the delight let's keep governor desantis here longer. as a reporter, cover trump rallies and talk to a lot of voters and this is something i hear a lot. one thing i hear more when i go to other states is there are concerns among some republican voters that former president trump might not be electable because he lost in 2020. that's why you hear governor desantis saying call me whatever you want as long as you call me winner and he was trying to draw the contrast having said that,

it will be a very fruitful -- a very brutal time. we saw a fragment of how ugly it will get. host: talk about decisions the governor is making as governor and how that could affect things if he decides to run for president? guest: in terms of policies? host: particular with the parents rights bill and other things as well. guest: first of all, the legislature in florida just sent vouchers for all, school choice to the governor. that was something he wanted to do so basically anyone in florida who has kids can send their kids to a private or religious school instead of public school. there is an immigration measure, anti-illegal immigration measure this week -- making its way to the governor say he will try to run things in a similar vein as trump did, aggressive against

immigration. you do have policies being considered, some of the more controversial ones. the legislation is formally known as the parental rights and education act and is what radix call don't say gay because it limits discussion about gender identity and sexual orientation in the classroom. in an environment where families are very different than they used to look a while ago where you have same-sex parents and nine binary did binary teachers who might be gay. some of them are very nervous about what that will mean in terms of how they talk about their lives or how they talk about having regular conversations. that's something that has been more controversial. it's something they are looking to expand under this session. host: this is from randall,

ohio, democrats line. caller: hi, i just wanted to say that i disagree with governor desantis's statement about policy and dr. fauci. he was trying to get the word out about the virus. other than that, i really like governor desantis and i think he makes a lot of sense. i think he would be a better choice for republicans going forward in the future then trump. or possibly nikki haley because trump has been painted by all the things that have happened. i just wanted to say i

appreciated dr. fauci and all he did for the citizens. host: anything guest: guest: from that? the whole dr. fauci -- there are people that have different opinions on how he did as a leader of the country and his role is traditionally bipartisan and he was a big supporter of former president george w bush hiv initiative across the globe. he had been a public servant for a long time and there were some people who were grateful for his service to our country and what he did to help inform people and others see him as a bogeyman who had the country shut down and wanted it. he's going to be a punching bag when it comes to -- we've seen that with house republicans but probably in the forthcoming election, i wonder two years from now or 1.5 years, how much

people will still be thinking about covid policy versus how much they think about things like inflation if we have a banking crisis or recession or layoffs. that's why it's difficult to make predictions now about where priorities will be. so much can change in the course of a couple of months. host: shelby in tennessee, independent line, hi. caller: hi, i want to say that i hope americans do not forget all that trump did and from the beginning, i think he doesn't have all his ducks in a row. i think there's something wrong with him. something deeply wrong with him. he's a danger and i would like

to see, hopefully, before my life is over, a strong woman come in as president. it's way past time. give us a chance. we are strong, we are smart we don't take no bull. what we are seeing from republicans, i think they cut their own throat and mccarthy, that was host: host: a big mistake. we will keep it to that. guest: does she see herself supporting nikki haley? host: she is no longer guest: with us. guest:one of the things looking at polling now despite everything that has happened with former president trump, you still the leader of the party and still surging in the polls. some of the things that would destroy other politicians where they wouldn't consider having a future in politics, you see the opposite with trump. you see a rally around him and

that's probably one of the reasons he was surging in the polls last week because there was this expectation that he would be indicted similar to what we saw with the documents at mar-a-lago. with think people would step away and say this is too much but you see the opposite happening. if that continues, he is going to win the primary. we will see if it continues. host: let's hear from former president trump from his weekend rally. here's a portion of that. [video clip] >> he's been successful for decades. probably more successful than it is now. but when you get a man elected and there is no quid pro quo. remember those words? i made the perfect call with the ukrainian president. when you are getting a guy so we gets the nomination because he wins the election because -- two

years later, the fake news says will you run against the president? and he says i have no comment. i say that's not supposed to happen. i have no comment? i am not a big fan. host: we probably knew that going in. what about those comments? guest: if desantis runs, he is not officially declared but he sees it as a betrayal. usually, if there wasn't so much baggage around former president trump, you probably wouldn't have other republicans really enter the race. the fact that we are looking potentially at seven different people in the primary shows that there are a lot of republicans who believe they have a shot or trump has been weakened in some way. trump is like wait a minute,

this is mine. you would be typically deferential to the leader of the party. he has some resentment about that. he thinks that he made governor desantis and he is owed loyalty. we both know that there is no such thing as loyalty and politics. this is how it goes. we did a story recently on insider were we looked at jeb bush and marco rubio. they ran against each other in a primary and it's an interesting dynamic of the student becomes the master. you have folks run against each other who were allies and close and this is how it goes. most people assume that if you have someone who's ambitious and younger and wants to go for it, you should not assume it is theirs for the taking. host: you wrote a recent story about governor desantis talking about the death of his sister at the age of 30. his sister appeared at his

swearing-in is representative. talk about why that's important. guest: i've lived in florida for a year and a half. one of the things i notice about the governor is he doesn't really talk about his personal life very much. he often appears bubbly with his family. he has a beautiful family but he doesn't really open up very much about lessons my dad taught me or something my grandfather said. these are things you might see from joe biden who opens up and reads personal stories. when i read his book, i was eager to fill in the blanks of his life. i knew that he lost a sister when she was only 30 years old. he didn't even mention that in his book. he mentioned he had a sister but he didn't mention he lost her and she died of a sudden blood clot. it was tragic and he ended up opening up about it to piers

morgan. we included the clip where his sister was in town for his swearing-in to the u.s. house. these are the kinds of pieces that when you are in a primary and running for president, people want to get to know you and hear your personal story and they want to feel connected in some way. that's usually what voters gravitate toward. host: julie from rhode island, republican line, go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. i've heard you mention it a little bit but do you think trump trusted the people who were around him? everyone seems to have trump derangement. he's never been convicted of anything. they tried to indict him twice. they are trying to indict him now. do you think maybe he trusted

too many people? should he keep his eyes open more because he is not a politician? guest: i spoke to a lobbyist who says everyone knows in politics that at the doggy dog world and you sleep with -- it's a dog eat dog world and you sleep with one eye open. it's hard to know who to trust. politicians try to figure it out. one of the reasons desantis might have such a closed circle is because they worry about that. you never really know what can come out when you share about your life. my understanding is trump likes to pit people against each other sometimes. there is that aspect as well. he certainly feels like he should be the nominee and others

challenging him are being disloyal in some way and he especially feels that with desantis because in his mind, if he had never endorsed him for governor, desantis might have never been governor and he would not be launching a presidential bid this summer most likely. host: democrats line from alabama, good morning. jeffrey and alabama? caller: hello. i ain't got no question for that lady. i just have a comment. ron desantis will make a good governor. he's in the ryan and mcconnell can't so he will never make a good president. i am a democrat. i switched over from democrat to republican for donald trump. i do not have no desire for ron desantis and nikki haley can't get any more than five or 6%.

i do not listen to news people. i watched c-span i get my information straight from the horses mouth. the newspapers nothing but liars. host: we invited this person to talk about governor desantis. go ahead. guest: it's fascinating and what he just said, that's something the trump campaign definitely seems to be homing in on. all this time, desantis has billed himself as someone who supports president trump and someone who is like trump. you look at the headlines and they described him as trump without the baggage and trump with a brain. trying to show no, no, this is thestablishment. host: our guest rights for insider you can find her work at

business insider.com. kimberly -- kimberly leonard. thank you for your time. guest: thank you. host: later in the program we will hear fm former fdic chair william isaac and discuss the stresses of the u.s. banks. you can call (202) 748-8000 four democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independence. we will come back with the washington journal in just a moment. >> c-spanshop.org is your access to the federal government with the contact information for every house and senate member. and also state governors. it scanned the code onhe right to order your copy today or go

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anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. powered by cable. announcer: c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening on washington live and on demand. keep up with the latest proceedings of floor hearings, u.s. congress, campaigns, and more from the world of politics all at your fingertips. and stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling information for c-span tv network and span radio on a variety of compelling podcast. it is now available in the app store and google play. download it free today. c-span now your front row seat to washington anytime anywhere. announcer: washington journal continues. host: here is how you can participate in the open forum. democrats (202) 748-8000 ,

republicans (202) 748-8001 , an independent (202) 748-8002 . text (202) 748-8003. philip is in mississippi on the democrat line. go ahead. caller: what a wonderful thing to have the opportunity to talk to someone about this particular subject i've been interested in for over 20 something years. i try to warn people 20 years ago that this was coming about this woke phenomenon and the hatred of the country instead of loving each other. we are so focused on hating and doing wrong to each other so i feel like if you get a chance to look at this in my shoes you will get an idea of what i was trying to do 20 years ago when it comes to race relations in

america. host: andrews next. independent. caller: i want to discuss the topic of woke and what it means is nothing. some have used this to mean what is so-called left-leaning, progressive policy. i think woke is that people are aware of america's past and what we need to do to correct that. what i would like to see is for people to be aware for the government to make policy so that all people have equal opportunity. does what woke means to me --

that is what woke means to me. i have an idea for a topic. the china iran and saudi deal. i want to learn and see what guest you'll have or you know i would like to see that topic discussed if you all can. host: thank you for the suggestion. we have wally from ohio. democrat line. caller: hello. i would love to see former president trump and ron desantis were together i would love to see trump as president and this and dissented is as vice president. it would be a dynamic duo because one is conservative and trump is more of a business so they can get situations with the

different deficits. host: if i might ask you as a democrat why would you support that ticket? caller: i am not a democrat. host: ok i will stop right there. that's why we have a different phone lines. i understand that lines get crossed sometimes. but the committee chairman mark warner was indicating he was not satisfied with the intelligence community reaping of a classified documents found at the resident of former president donald trump and president joe biden. he and his counterpart were debriefed on the situation and want more information about the documents. he was on the sunday show yesterday and mark orner ask about the status of getting the information here is the portion of that from yesterday. >> is there anything you can and will do to compel the biden

administration to know more about what the documents are and turn them over to you? >> our interest from the intel side is not about handling trump, biden, pants, that is a criminal investigation. our job is to oversee the intelligence community. we do oversee some of the documents and we want to make sure they are in the right hands but we have a obligation to see the documents and make sure if there is potential compromise that it is mitigated. we took the first step and i am not satisfied. we have expressed that. it makes no sense to me that the equities on the criminal proceeding takes president somehow over our article one responsibility to oversee the intelligence community. we made that clear you may have

additional ways to put pressure on them but this is completely bipartisan. all democrats and republicans feel the same. we will try to press the justice department harder so we could do our job as well. host: roberto in california. independent. caller: good morning first time color how are you? host: thank you how about yourself. caller: pretty good. i have a question for 6-7 years now. i have not posted to anybody i wonder if anyone can answer it. president trump when he was president and i consider him a racist i'm sorry with those who disagree with that. before he got in someone in congress or somebody of that authority have been authorized harriet tubman to be opportunity

all or bill. and when it came to drop -- trump he set out will not have that happen on my watch. but now that he is gone i would like to see what would happen to replace andrew jackson on the $20 bill. thank you. host: this is nathan in the republican line. caller: it is nice to get in here. i'm a republican i voted for trump. the first time i voted against hillary clinton. the second time i voted for donald trump. i thought he did a very good job as president. but he has no filters. that is my problem. i've been married a long time if i get on the talked to my wife and she says she would like for them to say it like that and i don't think he has anyone in his

life that will say we are making an idiot of yourself or why would you say that. what convinced me a while ago as he made fun of john mccain were being captured and what he had to endure with the enemy and torture who would make fun of that? even the worst comedian libby bruce -- lenny bruce would not do that. he did a great job in office, trump did, but what i found in my experience is that he alienates an important constituency in any political party and met his women. he alienates women like no one i've ever seen. host: pennsylvania next democrat line this is thomas. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm 72 years old. when i was coming up during the civil rights era of the 60's, we

use the term stay woke my brother my sister referencing with regard what is going on in the country that we have to be aware of reading a bill between dashcam between the lines. now it is weaponized by those on the right. thank you. host: open forum and you can call on the line you can post online or text us text (202) 748-8003. mark in oklahoma at you are next up. independent line. caller: good morning. it has been over 60 years since president kennedy has been killed. host: mark, go ahead. keep going. caller: will they ever release his cia files?

host: that is mark in oklahoma. and there is a website out of new hampshire i believe and this is a story that is posted there recently saying during women's history month senator democrat of new hampshire is renewing her push to get harriet tubman on the $20 bill. it was introduced in 2015 it's been through three different congresses and three presidential administrations it may be 2030 before it happens. the currency is a reflection of what support society. it seems to me if we can put a man on the moon in a decade we ought to be able to put a woman on our currency in a decade. part of the delay is the treasury has a schedule for redesigning denominations and it can take years. counter proof paper bills. it goes from there the wmu our website if you want to see it for yourself. taught in california. -- todd in california.

independent. caller: i want to call about how i think trump what he does his best -- best is what all politicians and news media tries to do which is playing out the fear and hatred that people have them selves. he is evoking emotion dissuade them to vote and i think that is what is most disgusting about politics is that everyone just wants to get elected by just you mode -- in -- invoking emotion and people. and they don't care about the country i don't think they care about power and authority. for seems to be everyone's goal and trump does not hide and no one seems to care. host: marse rogers was on the

sunday show yesterday talking about a ban on tiktok with threats and the chinese communist party. here's part of the conversation yesterday. >> a lot of the push against tiktok is coming from competitors such as twitter and google. i get mark zuckerberg is not a warning -- a foreign adversary but i did not trust these companies with my data. there was a data breach by meta that expose those in iran and korea and others. i wonder if taking the apple way from 150 million americans why not comprise a company that does not allow anyone from china, russia, iran to access any user data? >> we need to do both we need to

address the immediate threat tiktok is ultimately the chinese threat of the chinese communist party accessing data. we need a policy on this and that is what ranking number alone and i have said we need to introduce this in congress. and whether it is this or other data brokers we need to restrict the amount of data they are collecting to begin with. host: wall street journal as story taking a look at pentagon and silicon valley firms as an arm supplier. it reads the push to attempt private capital comes in the midst of concern that the industry cuts consolidation i not lead to a few companies that rely on government funding to hamper innovation. and key technology by beijing's used -- according to pentagon

officials is not centered for the stanford university. in some places regime's capital in the tech sector has more than $1 trillion and china is organized like silicon valley and the pentagon is more like a automaker. he says that is not a fair fight. read more of that in wall street journal. north carolina republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i hope mr. president donald trump is listening. he needs to run his campaign without ron desantis. it is obvious that no one wants him to run. they hate him. they will vote for no one before they vote for him. when it comes to ron desantis if he were the lightning rod for the democrat party if he gets

the nomination, it will not have what it takes to fight the deep state. i live ron desantis and i really do not want donald trump to trash him anymore. the only reason he's not a lightning rod right now is because it is not have the denominator -- nomination. they are already digging through archives looking at girlfriends and college history and stuff like that it will all be ready. host: let's hear from and north carolina democrat. caller: yes good morning. individuals are calling in saying what a great job trump did. it's almost like the last year in office they forgotten. there were 6 million jobs lost millions of people died. he was one this is now the first

stimulus check. someone said biden did not permit a stimulus check. trump was the first one to send it out because of the condition that the country was in. the check had to be held up because they had to reprogram because he wanted to make sure his signature was on the check. i don't know why or where -- it's almost like they don't remember what happen when he was in office. when they say a great job that he is done. host: sandra republican. caller: i have a question. i don't understand why we are after trump so bad still the media is attacking him terribly when biden and his family

hillary and some of the others are some of the worst people to make crimes and nothing has been done about them. every time someone votes republican we are considered racist. when i was a democrat we voted. when my mother decided to change parties she sat down and explain to us that the democrat party was there to make you depend on them and to lie to you to get the boat. but they never did follow through the promise -- get the vote. they never did follow through the promise. trump was safe every time he was in office. but what has mine done? biden has done nothing but sell out every un-american is the united states to china. host: ok one more call from alan, illinois, independent. caller: yes, this is alan.

i wish that washington journal would have an evening addition of open for them because some of us don't get up that early in the morning. also, i wish that there would be a debate between actual people. host: ok. that is alan from illinois finishing on the open forum. thank you all to who participated. and we discuss with the former chair of fbi see william isaac to talk about the role of the bank and what role the government has been protecting bank deposits. that conversation is coming up next on washington journal .washington journal: 03/27/2023 ♪ announcer:nnouncer: hdred

years ago these names were in american papers, burton wheeler, and others. today the names can be found in a newsroom of crooked subtitled the roaring 20's tale of corrupt attorney general and the bards of the american scandal. david masters is the author. and masters the past seven years has hosted a television series. he works at the university of californiararyn los angeles. announcer: native masters on this word -- episode of footnotes plus mesh footnotes -- book notes plus. announcer: c-spanshop.org c-span's online store. shop apparel, books, honda accord, and accessories. there is something for every

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their documentary where's my data. watch the grand prize and the documentaries online at studentcam.org. announcer: washington journal continues. host: joining us is william isaac he served as the chair of the fbi see. he did that in 1985. we are here to talk about banking issues. good morning. guest: good morning. thank you for having me. host: thank you for joining us. how do you view the bank's handling of the situation a couple weeks back? guest: i think it was important they jumped in and acted promptly and decisively without letting this thing get out of hand. i'm not thrilled with the fact

that they are bailing out the largest depositors. in my opinion they should not have done that. that's something we've got to get over. we've been doing that a long time and i thought we reached a consensus in the country we would stop doing that so i would have handled that differently but all over -- overall i think that they have handled it well. host: there was a topic about if this is a bailout we are the president say it would not be a bailout why do you think it is? guest: a bailout is when somebody get something they were not supposed to get. the largest depositors are rich depositors who are part of the problem. in my view. anyway, the government decided to make them whole and we have a good system in place when i was

chairman to not have it happen and not have the effects of the bank failure. the biggest issue was small depositors is that they get made whole and all the credit that is denied to borrowers going forward: the fact that a lot of money -- going forward the fact that a lot of money -- we developed a system at the fbi see -- fbi c --fdci. with uninsured depositors we gave them a full insured amount. with the balance of the uninsured depositors and other creditors we estimated the

amount of the payoff they would get in the end and the fbi see history is that --fdic history is that they would usually get a sense of a dollar -- $.80 on the dollar. and usually not more than that. they could to get to the fed reserve banks and discount it and get money for it. that kept money in supply. excuse me that cap money in the local communities that let employers make their payrolls and all of that stuff. but it took disciplined largest depositors to be careful of what they are doing so we need that

market discipline. if we take that away, and bail them out all the time we will not have a disciplined banking system. i feel strongly that it is on the fdic to do that consistently. in the bank -- the fed can partner with the fbi seat -- with the fdic and on those receiverships allow us to keep money in the hands of the local community where it is needed. host: william isaac our guest. if you want to ask him about the role of the fdic the government protection of bank deposits. you can call and ask questions about that. (202) 748-8000 democrats, (202) 748-8001 republicans, (202) 748-8002 independents. text (202) 748-8003.

host: if you look at the information the fbi c provides about 4700 -- fdic provides about 4700 overseeing those. can you distinguish between the two of those? guest: i'm not sure what they mean by terminology but there are 4700 banks roughly in the country. when i was chairman of the fdic there were 30,000 so you can see how much we have reform. the banking system and how much it has changed. it was highly regulated after the depression. and state regulated strongly until somewhere around 19 -- 1990 -- 1980, excuse me. and them had to deregulated

because interest rates were so high they could not stay in business because they could not compete. the interest rates were so high they would lose all their deposits because we had interest rates cap for banks. we lost a lot of banks during the 1980's, 90's, and beyond. and we are now down to 4700. the fdic what they probably mean by the 3000 number is that fdic directly supervises state nonmember banks. and be fdic -- the fdic is the primary regulator of those banks. host: if i got the map right -- math rig it is over $23 trillion in assets. is that enough to cover any emergency that the fdic might face? guest: i don't know what the $23

trillion is. host: in assets. guest: oh ok. the fdic fund is around $150 billion it was 13 billion when i was chairman of the fdic. so it is larger but we had a lot of inflations of the fund relative to the deposits has not changed enormously probably it has changed some sure it has grown. but a lot of the growth is accounted for by inflation and deposits. i think the banking industry is strong and i do not expect there to be a massive crisis this time. i don't think we are out of the woods yet. i think we still need to watch what we are doing and be careful. the regulators have got to get their eyes on the bowl. the silicon valley bank was not properly supervised -- on the ball.

the silicon valley bank was not supervised. it never should have happened. host: first citizens bank is buying a large part of the silicon valley bank perch about $72 billion and it would be of the discount. does that move to consider more consolidation as far as business is concerned and what do you think about the idea of life: by the other? -- idea of one bank buying the other? guest: i think you ideally want to be able to replace it with another bank. so i think it is ideal. what you want them to do is put the bank out for auction and they clean up the problem and then they put it up for auction with other banks. and hopefully they can sell it which gives the fdic a profit on

the sale and that reduces its overall losses. and it brings the local communities and the competitor to replace the failed competitor. host: let's hear from rolen. roland in connecticut. republican then you are speaking with the former chair of the fdic. caller: thank you. good morning mr. isaac. we appreciate you going through turbulent times through the high inflation rates we had and also the first few years of reagan administration. but i do have a very deep concern that this was unprecedented. and i do not believe with having president biden state he was going to bail out fully the additional svb creditors. what i'm hoping is that doesn't set us up for a massive bank

failure and catastrophe where we freefall as a country. we are in big trouble with the banking system. if you have a response i would appreciate that. thank you for all we have done -- you have done. guest: thank you for your question and interest. i share your concern. when i was chairman of the fdic, all bucher, by the way is one of my heroes, one of the greatest people i've met. what a public servant he was. we dealt with the crisis. it was a big crisis. we lost 3000 banks during the 1980's. it was a big crisis. but he and i resolve the issues together. the ftse and fedco operating we cap don regan who was the

secretary of the treasury involved and informed. he did not make decisions though nor did the president. president reagan was not involved in deciding what to do about bank failures. he left that to the people who knew what to do. the fed and the fdic. and don regan did not interfere. he consulted with him about continental illinois. excuse me we did consult with him about that but earlier than that there was a bank failure that was controversial that was a bank in open will homa called -- in oklahoma called pin square. and we set explaining all the issues with him. it was controversial and we were going to do a deposit payoff. we were not going to bail anybody out. in the end after an hour or so of discussion don regan that she turned to me and said, bill, you

are in charge. you make the decisions and i will support what you do. it is your call. and i just wanted to give him a hug and a kiss because that is what he -- exactly what he should have done he should have left it to us with the deal i mean not to single myself out as a person but i was the chairman but for the whole fdic. he left it to the fdic to make the decision of how to handle it. he said you make the decision and let the chips fall where they may. that's exactly the kind of relationship the treasury and the fdic should have. i do not like where we are now. congress has gotten politicized and the president is involved in the secretary of treasury is involved. it is not a proper way to govern bank failures. host: i want to play you part of the speech of janet yellen and

about her assessment of the banking industry. i want to play a little of that and get your response to it. >> first, we work with the reserve in the sbic to protect both depositors and the resolution to silicon valley bank and signature bank. the steps we took were not focused on aiding specific banks or classes of banks. our intervention was necessary to protect the broader u.s. banking system. and similar actions could be warranted in smaller institutions suffering deposit runs imposed the risk of contagion. i believe that our actions reduce the risk of further bank failures. eber propose losses on the insurance fund which is paid for

-- it would propose losses on the insurance fund. host: as part of her assessment. what do you think? guest: i did not like it i do not like what she was saying. i don't know like -- i do not like the fact that she was saying it because the fdic and the fed reserve ought to be speaking for the banking system and the regulators who are trying to deal with the crisis. it would be nice to have some support from the secretary treasury and even the president that people were concerned to say something nice about what is going on. but it should not be the secretary of the treasury's role to be talking about what the fdic and the fatter going to do. the secretary -- and the fed are going to do. the secretary treasury is not engaged and -- they are politicians. the fdic is independent and the

fed is independent. these decisions ought to be made by experts who are independent from the political system. the fdic has a bipartisan board on purpose. the last problem we had in 2008 and 2010 where folsom was the secretary of treasurer and he took over he took charge. a proposed $750 billion bailout bill which was nonsense. they never should have proposed that. i think congress should not have enacted it. it was a terrible idea to dump $750 billion of troubled assets on the government. instead of letting the fdic and defend figure out how to deal with it. that is where this thing went wrong in 2008. i've said this all the time i wrote articles against it and testified against it.

i said the program was a terrible program and it was going to diminish the authority of regulators and cause a lot of needless expenses on the taxpayers. that is where we went wrong. we are still in that mode. the secretary of treasury should not be talking right now about this. at least certainly if not if she wants to be reassuring right now but certainly not talking policy and what needs to be done for the fed -- that is up to the fed and the fdic. i don't like it at all. she got it under the previous administration of think it was george bush, no, it was george bush and then obama who got involved. but when hank fulsome was secretary of the treasury george bush was the president and he turned it over to folsom. i thought i thought that was a terrible mistake.

we went off the rails they are and we are still off the radials -- rails of how you handle a banking crisis professionally, and independently. and do the best you can do in terms of what can be done. host: let's hear from max in north carolina democrat. caller: good morning c-span. my question is simple, if the current amount of issuance for fdic account is $100,000, is it not time to increase the amount? guest: thank you for the question it has been increased it started out at 5000 in 1953 and then it went from 10,000, is to 20,000. when i was chairman it was 40,000. and in congress decided they wanted to protect depositors up to $100,000. we followed along and protected them.

now, and 2008, the disastrous situation they increased it to $250,000 from 100,000 dollars and that is where it sits today. host: is it time for an increase? guest: i don't think so i think to $50,000 should be plenty. we are trying to protect -- $250,000 should be plenty. we are trying to protect everyday folks who do not have access to the information needed. were trying to protect and ensure -- for sure them that their life savings are secure. and with congress originally it was $55,000 and they believed it was enough now we are at $250,000 and that is a faster rate of growth than inflation. so anyway, i think to $50,000 is enough. -- $250,000 is enough.

and we have to stop this to protect -- stop protecting large depositors we got to stop doing that. i will have more coming out on that soon on that subject. host: this is jane, new york, independent. caller: aside from the issues that are important why are the deposits of the bank of china and the bank of india guaranteed by the fdic? guest: well all depositors are guaranteed. that is a mistake. it should not be that way. but i do not think it matters whether somebody is a u.s. citizen or a citizen of china or india or anywhere else or england or germany. if they are a depositor they are covered. and that is as it should be. host: we have a viewer who asked on a text this morning about where the fbi seek is the depositors and the person asked

as the federal reserve just print more money to cover it? guest: that is a lot of discussion around that issue. but where the fdic gets its money is from the bank assessments. but when thanks -- banks have deposits they pay deposit insurance premiums on those deposits to the fdic. every one -- dollar bet is in the fdic -- the fdic fund is assessed. and this is supplied by the depositors. host: this is a call from fred in pennsylvania. independent. caller: good morning out you for years and i do not really understand all the banking system but i wanted to give you guys a lot of credit because we

talked about it in the 80's and i know in philadelphia we had a bank called philadelphia savings fund society which is doing well. i understand you said you had 13,000 banks around and we are down to 4300. to me, i am not saying it is a problem but i hope we got the banking system back on track. guest: thank you for your kind remarks. there were two notable banks in pennsylvania notable to the fbi's -- to the fdic and to the public. there are a number of five banks i do not mean to highlight these two but they are special in the sense that they were in the fdic 's eyes. one was the pennsylvania bank which is the largest bank in pennsylvania and the old --

oldest nationally chartered bank. it was the best bank and then they loaded up on treasury securities way more than they should have had and -- at fixed rates -- and they made about that interest rates would not go up from there and that rates were at a peak and they lost that bet. he became chairman of the fed and president carter told him that he wanted to get interest rates and inflation under control and so paul who was a great american and i miss him he took strong action and he started decreasing rates and ultimately the prime rate went over 21%. one of the first casualties of that was pennsylvania. because they had a lot of fixed rate treasury loans and those were not going up but their

prices were going up but the yield on them were going down. and so, they were losing a lot of money holding all those fixed rate low rate securities. they failed. we had to rescue them. as they went out of business ultimately. and they lost fair board and the management lost fair -- they are jobs. when you look at that situation, what happened with silicon valley bank was identical. it's the identical bad move when one of the notorious bank failures was pennsylvania which already made those moves and we had already seen them fail and seen shareholders get wiped out in management get fired. why would you do the same thing again and why would regulators let up -- let them? and that really was a strange

thing for me to see that repeat of the 1979 failure of first pennsylvania. the other really notable bank in fdic's history was pfs who philadelphia savings fund supply -- ps f as philadelphia savings fund society. --psfs, philadelphia savings fund society. they were able to survive when other savings banks did not. we actually used psfs as a partner to take care of and take over some deals we had with respect to other banks that were not surviving. they helped us out by taking

over some of them. and they got paid by the fdic to do that. and i am forever grateful to psfs they are no longer with us unfortunately. but they did a group -- a good deed for the fdic and i appreciate it. host: a text from taxes saying will this not make risk more speculative to investment and that is bad, right? guest: if we keep on bailing out the largest depositors and making them whole, it will make things worse. i don't know why we don't learn that. it has been happening for a long time. for most of the fdic's history as a nation in the fdic -- the fdic as an agency has been

bailing out largest -- large depositors. to some extent we have bailed out shareholders and we've got to stop it.and we got to stop pampering management and boards of the directors to do that. the only way i know to do it is to stop -- there are several ways to do it but you can fire directors and officers and find them and bring lawsuits against them. really important, we have to get creditor discipline. we have to get large depositors to discipline banks. that did not happen in silicon valley bank and they had large, rich, sophisticated deposits. they knew better to have the money in the bank and at the same time, you don't want to crash the economy and be local community by wiping out all the depositors.

that is my we developed the fdic modified pail program -- pay off program. we did get the largest depositors and took some of their money and we left most of it with them. we let them have 80% of their money and family kept 20% because we thought that would be needed to payoff -- i lost my thought. my phone started to ring. we left them -- we let them have 80% of their money we kept 20% because that was our average loss in bank failures. 20% of the assets is usually where we wound up losing money. sometimes we made more money and

we got back more money than 80%. so, what we did, we allowed them to -- we paid them any additional money we collected when we got it. but they took a 20% hit and in order to keep cash in the local community, we arranged for the federal reserve to buy their receivership certificates. we gave them receivership certificates for 80% of their money. and the federal reserve banks would buy that. it is a slight discount. so those depositors and their local communities and employers to payroll accounts and that kind of thing were able to get most of their money up front through the vent reserve. the fdic could not do it because the funds are not that large but the fed reserve agreed to by the

receivership tickets at a discount. that is ideal way to deal with a bank failure. why we are not using it, i do not know. it surely could have been used at silicon valley bank and signature bank in new york. we've got to change this system. host: let's hear from the independent line in illinois. tom you are next for our guest william isaac. caller: good morning i have one question are the financial institutions using market rules to assess their financial health or are they still using the market fantasy rules they instituted in 2008? guest: [laughter] obviously you have heard me speak before. that has been a sore wait for me. in the great depression the one that is in the 30's when the fdic was formed. we did not have market accounting, we had i don't

remember what it was called -- i am not sure. but if you had put an asset on your books and it lost market value you had to write it down in order to market in the depression. and it is almost impossible to get out of the depression. because when you mark down the assets, to the market, because markets collapsed, banks were out of capital. they went broke. and banking doesn't work very well that way because banking -- what banking is all about is banks take deposits from consumers, businesses, so forth, and pays them a rate of interest. and then, it loans that money at

a higher rate of interest to people who need the money. and the banks look -- book is almost always mismatched. if you take short-term deposits from depositors and loaned it to people homeowners and alike. the homeowners and businesses needed for a longer-term they need to be able to count on it for a longer term. so if you make the banks move market to market when the long term money gets moved out, the bank goes group -- goes broke. depositors want their money and the banks cannot give it to them because it does not have it it is under a longer term. in 1938, the banking regulators, secretary of treasury, and be -- the sec agreed that we had to change the plans for banking.

some of the banks made a long-term investment it looks at that asset at what it paid for it and what it was worth at the time. and it doesn't write it down -- when the market changes. so if i pay $100 for a treasury bill and the market goes down and the treasury bill is now worth 70. you do not market down he keep it at the amount you paid for it. that really solved a lot of problems because the banks naturally have a mismatched look. and if they don't, they are not doing their job. they are taking peoples short-term money from people and making long-term loans to other people. and that is what they are supposed to be doing. if you force them to mark the assets for market they go broke. so, that rule has changed. and we stop, we looked -- booked

assets at cost. and did not write them down unless there was a permanent impairment in the value of the asset. so if you have a long-term corporate grande -- bond and corporation. the price goes down permanently market down. you say it is never going to be worth it anymore but if it is just pocket variations you do not require it to be marked down. they change that in that financial standards. they change that in conjunction with the sec. around 1991 as i recall. i was adamantly opposed to it wrote articles and it was right controversial -- quite controversial. and then we change that later, but not all the way. banks are still having to show

their market value losses and that is what spooks the public. you see hear people talking about all the time that the banks had bonds that were below market value. and they cite that and they get everybody nervous about the banks. of course banks are going to have issues from time to time when markets go down, but they have a job to do. and if they are doing that job we ought to let them do it and not punish them by announcing that they have a deficiency in the value of their government box. host: if you have the opportunity to advise congress on the white house and government overall what are the next best steps they should take not only to prevent what occurred about to prepare for the next time it does happen? guest: i write about and speak about that frequently. i am hoping we will get through this time. i do plan to write more and speak more and to hopefully have

-- i will go to congress and talk some more of done it before and i will do it again. we made a lot of bad moves in terms of legislation and regulation in the past 10 years. 20 years. yeah, 20 years is a better number. and we need to fix those things. one of them is that we've got to stop although market volatility that exists. another is that we've got to find ways not to bailout our depositors because we need them to discipline banks. another is that when a bank fails, we need to find better ways to get money back to depositors, large and small, more quickly. we do just fine with small depositors we are doing a miserable job with large depositors. the market has got to help us.

and we also need to improve our supervision of the banks. there were errors this time in supervision. probably errors every time in supervision. we need to fix that and have stronger regulation and i would say let's get the politicians out the bank failure business. the secretary of treasury and the president have no business. no political person has any business telling the bank regulators what to do. they are highly professional and highly experienced and they are good people they have a lot of integrity. they will call the thing as it should be called. stronger regulation. let's get the politicians out of the bank business. the secretary of the state in the president have no business, no clinical person has any business telling a bank

regulator what to do. they are highly professional, highly experienced, good people with a lot of integrity. they will call the thing as it should be called. i would be happy to hear from the politicians. i would like to hear their views in here were they have to say. they should not be taking orders from the politicians. the politicians should not be making decisions for them. if we do not do those things, we will always have these types of problems in banking. i do not know if we can eliminate banking problems. we are doing so far. host: this is william isaac, the federal deposit and corporation here to talk about the state of the banking as he sees it. thanks for your time and input.