♪ host: speaker kevin mccarthy and president biden yesterday held dueling public remarks on the

debate over raising the nations that limit escalating the standoff between the sides with weeks to go before the nation could default on its debt. speaker mccarthy on the house floor unveiling the spending cuts he wants to see and any proposals to raise the nation's debt ceiling. we want to know from you should spending cuts be included. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats 202-748-8000. independents 202-748-8002. you can join us on facebook at facebook.com/c-span. also in a text with your first name, city and state. 202-748-8003. or you can join us on twitter with the handle @cspanwj. speaker mccarthy spoke moments before the president did at a union training center in

maryland. here is the speaker on the spending cuts he wants to see. [video clip] >> i'm proud to announce we are introducing the limit stay grow act of 2023 varied this responsible legislation will be led by our budget chairman jodi ernst. it would responsibly raise the debt limit into next year and provide more than four point $5 trillion in savings to the american taxpayer. now here is how we do it? first we limit government spending. our plan would return discretionary spending to pre-inflationary. fiscal year 2022 levels. and then limit the growth of spending to 1% per year. these are the same levels we had just four months ago. i did not hear a single democrat

complain about that level of spending. the spending limits are not your county and, of they are responsible. federal spending exploded in the past two years and democrats controlled all and that does not include the trillions of covid era spending. but limited government spending will reduce inflation and restore fiscal discipline in washington. if washington wants to spend more and will have to come together, find savings elsewhere just like every single household in america. host: the speaker yesterday on the floor. over in maryland president biden traveled to a union training center and here's what he had to say about the speakers plan. [video clip] pres. biden: republican congers been threating to default on the national debt. that took 230 years to accumulate overall.

unless we do what they say. they say they're going to default unless i agree to all of these notions they have. default. we would be worse than totally responsible. it would mean cuts in social security, medicare, higher interest rates things are credit cards, car loans very working class, middle-class, seniors would pay the price. the entire economy would be at the risk. america has never defaulted on our debt. the last of administration alone increased the national debt by 40% in four years yet every single year they passed the debt limit. every single year. in a speech to wall street the speaker failed to guarantee you would be the first speaker not to default on the debt. if he fails the american people will be devastated, not just 10

or 20 years from now but today. the speaker likes to quote his hero ronald reagan who i knew when i was a senator. he didn't quote everything reagan said. he said debt ceiling threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on social security, benefits in the united states. especial responsibility to meet this obligation. he goes on to say it means we have a well-earned reputation of reliability and credibility which set us apart from the rest of the world. that's what ronald reagan said. donald trump seeking to increase the debt limit while he's doing what he's doing. he said i can't imagine anybody ever even thinking about using the debt ceiling as a negotiating wedge. i guess he did not know the new republicans he bread. america is not a deadbeat nation. we meet our obligations and i

made it clear to the speaker about how we should proceed. no one should do anything to jeopardize the full faith and credit of the united states. instead of making threats of default if i don't go along with what i will -- what they want which would be catastrophic for the country. take default off the table. let's have a real serious detailed conversation about how to grow the economy, lower costs and reduce the deficit. host: president biden yesterday responding to the republican proposal to make spending cuts calling them wacko notions. here's where republicans would like to see in any sort of debt raising deal. raise the debt ceiling into 2024 by 1.5 trillion or whichever one comes first. reduce spending through the fiscal year 2022 ash to the fiscal 2022 levels. that could amount in 132 billion

dollars in spending cuts. and limit future spending growth to 1% annually. it would recover $90.5 billion in unspent covid-19 funds. work requirements for federal aid recipients occluding raising the limit for work requirements from 49 to 55 and clawback irs funds for the new 80,000 agents, a block student debt cancellation and perform energy committing and revoke clean energy tax credits. that the legislation the house recently passed. mike in ohio. let's go to you. and independent, what do you think? should cuts be part of the negotiations? caller: of course. come on. we the people have been in trouble for a long time and they are expecting us to cut back. we have inflation running out of control. let me tell you how we can take care of this problem.

we cut that building right behind you 10% across-the-board. we've got agencies that are doing two to three things at different agencies. things are out of control. our industrial complex that keeps wanting more and more money, they give us a price on a certain item and the next thing you know it's over cost run and we are just shoveling money. immigration. close the border. close the border. we are spending hundreds of millions on immigration. close the border. host: mike said spending cuts should be included in ending proposal to raise the debt ceiling. joe in georgia, a republican. what do you think? caller: love your network. we've got a cut spending. it must be cut. we are having big things happening.

this saturday, the georgia gang every sunday. he's good to be talking. host: let's stick to the topic. sharon in maryland, a democratic caller. caller: thank you for taking my call. i was thinking this spending cuts we already have inflation that so high for the american people and its things are just not right right now. it is out of whack. you know these republicans, they are just in chaos. there can bring this country down. it's not right what they are doing to the american people. i know they spending a lot of money but i don't want to see our country default it on our debt. it's can have an effect on everyone. and what about the lower-class or middle-class people but are not making that much money.

i just don't understand this country how it's working. one thing i know, i have to pray and my prayer is the only thing that keeps me afloat. i thank god for that. host: saying no to spending cuts. she does not want to see the possibility of a financial crisis if we fault on our obligations. the speaker says he will bring this bill to the floor next weekend according to recording -- reporting he feels confident he has the votes, all republicans -- the republicans he needs to pass this legislation. eric in massachusetts, independent. caller: good morning. i do believe spending cuts have been long overdue. we are way over budget obviously . i am a government employee

myself, i work in the department of defense. i went to -- went through what they call the sequester. they had no problem cutting my pay literally right off the knees by 20%. it wasn't a long time, but they cut it right off. and no one really had an issue with it. if we cut welfare for instance 1/10 of 1%, the democrats would've been out of their minds. they would have been apoplectic about cutting that small amount. but they cut me off 20% for that small timeframe luckily. however, i will also say this. we are dumping millions of people into our country and i guess that we need labor force to come in and do certain jobs but i don't feel these people

are all gainfully employed. i do feel it's going to be a drain on our system and that has to be addressed somehow. host: john in new york, republican. what do you say on this debate? caller: i would say yes. the problem is spending cuts are always a matter of political necessity, but also practical applications. we don't have any specific proposals from speaker mccarthy about the spending cuts he's talked about and i think we have to harken back to the words of the great greek philosopher aristotle who stated the happiest way of maintaining human life is define a balance. i fail to see on both sides,

particularly the republican side of any hint of really come to a mean or an average thing. host: hang with us because i'm going to get to that possibly some middle ground. but first you said you did not hear any specifics. let's listen to the speaker on the floor yesterday talking about spending cuts and cost savings as part of the proposal. [video clip] >> the pandemic is over. house republicans have already passed a bill to officially end the pandemic. president biden signed into law just last week. our bill would actually clawback billions of dollars of unspent covid money that has sat for the last two years. the are tired of politicians who use covid as an excuse for more extreme inflationary spending.

now if this money was authorized to fight the pandemic but was not spent during the pandemic, it should not be spent after the pandemic is over. our proposals also reveal biden's army of 87,000 -- repeals bidens army of 80 7000 irs agents. that will save taxpayers $70 billion and it will protect the families, the small businesses from weaponizing the irs. it will end the green giveaways for companies that distort the market and waste taxpayers money. goldman sachs just did an analogy is that analysis and they say the savings from ending these green giveaways are as much as $1.2 trillion. we would prohibit president biden's student loan giveaway. that will protect the 87% of

adults without student loans for paying the loans of the 13% who do. host: the speaker yesterday giving some details about republicans push for including spending cuts in any proposal you heard him give some numbers there. here's the washington times report this in the bill cuts federal spending by $130 billion for the upcoming fiscal year and limits future budget growth to 1%. it rescinds president biden student loan forgiveness program and 90.5 billion dollars in unspent covid relief. it would also repeal major portions of mr. bidens $739 billion climate change law including $70 billion in irs funding and $369 billion in green energy tax credits. let's hear from president biden as we said.

the two key players in this negotiations were giving dueling speeches yesterday. one right after the other end here is president biden talking about the proposed spending cuts and saying these are critical programs that americans rely on. [video clip] >> telling the billion dollar companies to stop stashing profits off the coast and shipping jobs overseas. i didn't hear any of that, did you? instead he proposed a huge cut two very important programs. that many hard-working middle-class americans count on. all the while officials are pushing for more tax giveaways and overwhelming benefits for the wealthiest americans and biggest corporations. it's time -- this time it is worse than ever. let's be clear.

the plan has details, mccarthy comes along and delivers a speech with not a plan. in some sense it's pretty simple. for example he talked about limiting spending. look at what he did not say. he didn't tell you how much he wants to cut, of the house leading republican proposal would cut critical programs and so-called discretionary spending by 22%. that would mean cutting the number of people who administer social security and medicare meaning longer wait times. higher cost for child care, higher cost for housing especially for older americans and those with disabilities, veterans. leaving our brave warriors to get checkups and mental health services and treatment and substance disorders out in the cold. tens of thousands of people

suffering from opioid epidemic would be denied treatment and even recovery. that cut undermines rail safety, border security, clean air. look it up. talk about defunding. they don't like the fbi. it's outrageous. think about it. defund the fbi. republicans in congress have introduced a bill that could take food assistance away from as many as 10 million kids, 4 million children. and put them at risk of going hungry. the wealthiest country in the world. the congress ports cuts in medicaid the could lead milk -- lead millions to cutting their

health care. do these painful cuts actually help the deficit, do they reduce cost? the answer is no. host: back to your calls. john in maryland, democratic caller. are you for including spending cuts or no. caller: i was listening to the president and everything he said right there. this might be the richest country in the world but we have some of the most political economic people i've ever seen and heard because what's amazing to me if people would stop listening to fox news and pay attention to something else it's a possibility they might be educated. when he said the magic thing, that trickle down theory that's robbing the people at the bottom and those tax cuts trump gave four years he was in there. the military spending that's being done, the tax havens that

are there. it's amazing how the american people just do not listen but listen to one person, one entity but don't go searching for the truth in other areas. host: it sounds like from what you said that you would be willing to see some spending cuts for the pentagon's budget. caller: we are still paying for the vietnam war. we are still paying for the iraq war. we are still paying for the invasion of afghanistan. we american people all the stuff that's going to ukraine, that's our tax dollars. 's -- host: as a democrat though you're sounding like republican on the ukraine spending. caller: no. what i'm telling the american people whose money is paying for that so they will know why the money we think it is so high. the republicans are allowing the

business to gouge the american people tapping with the economy. this started years ago. gouging the american people. host: wondering if there's some middle ground there. the problem solvers caucuses come up with a plan. the bipartisan problem solvers caucus released its own debt limit framework and say this is a backup if speaker mccarthy and president biden cannot, together with a deal. the problem solvers proposal endorsed by a super majority of the group 64 members calls for suspending the debt limit for the end of this year to allow lawmakers time to complete the fiscal 24 budget and appropriations process. the proposal called for creating an external fiscal commission. commission lawmakers set up to evaluate military -- the fiscal

commission would recommend measures to stabilize long-term debt by the end of 2020 congress provided it expedited authority to act on the recommendation by february 28, 2025. the problem solvers did not specify what controls they are seeking but the amount should be enough to increase the debt limit through february 25 to align with implementation of the fiscal commission recommendation. there is a backup plan. wondering your thoughts on that as well. alex in maryland, and independent. caller: good morning. there's a couple of things that are really great. i would say i've only been really paying attention to this is probably the latter end of the bush era and it seems this discussion happens over and over. we have to do something about

spending and we have to cut somewhere, we just don't. you played a clip a bit ago about president biden talking about how we've been growing the deficits for 200 years. right or wrong that should stagger everybody. if we cannot get ourselves under control with what we've been building -- building debt for centuries. that should be indicative of a problem to say the least. i would also suggest in addition to spending limits or cuts from budget proposals, the manner in which the government spends money there's an issue. i'm sure you are aware of this, with the elements of the government are incentivized to spend all of the money they get because they will get their budgets cut the following year if they do not. the government will rightly

assume you didn't need the money so we can spend the somewhere else. it's a common practice throughout the government particularly i would say in the department of defense in my experience, that something we do all of the time. so folks saying we need to cut the dod, that's a possibility. if we are honest with ourselves that this requires people that are dealing with our money in the department of defense be good stewards of taxpayer money. if you do not need it, you need to be willing to give it up. what i'm trying to say is there's a lot of different ways that this can be done to impact the deficit and the amount the government spends it is not just as much negotiations but it's in the way we practice our fiscal responsibilities with taxpayer money. host: you mentioned the history of the debt ceiling fight. alan writes today in the wall street journal, a formal --

former federal reserve member from 1994 to 1996 as a vice chair. says biden does not need congress to avoid a debt ceiling crisis. this is what he writes today. the national debt ceiling is a numerical limit set by law. prior to 1917 act of congress the treasury needed congressional approval for every new issuance of debt. world war i made that cumbersome to state -- say the least so they switched to an overall limit on borrowing which is been raised numerous times since then. the budget enacted each year acquires more borrowing than is allowed congress typically limits -- raises the limit without much fuss. the federal budget is usually in deficit requiring the treasury to borrow more each year. so why should we have a debt ceiling at all? this seemingly obvious answer is to create fiscal discipline must be wrong because only one other advanced nation, a denmark, has

such a law. others do not because it is a wacky idea he writes. hasn't the u.s. government already breached the ceiling. technically but not legally. the treasury secretary has postponed the day of reckoning by employing a variety of accounting gimmick's old extraordinary measures. allowing to borrow for the retirement accounts of federal workers. don't try that if you are running a company but it's legal for the federal government. more to the point, she has warned such legal gimmicks may not last past june. we need a longer lasting fix. alan goes on in the wall street journal piece writing solutions to -- averting what could be a major economic calamity are legislative which is the current hyper-partisan environment probably makes it out of the question.

we could join all other nations but denmark by abolishing the debt ceiling thereby ending this problem forever or congress could recognize the laws of arithmetic by making a higher debt ceiling accompany any legislative budget deficit automatic or it could do what it normally does and raise the debt ceiling again. such solutions would be simple if there was even a whiff of bipartisan goodwill the congress since there is not the country may need a non-legislative solution. mr. biden may soon say to conflicting -- face two conflicting laws. the form or direct to pay all the government's bills in full and on time. the latter will say you cannot. the president could seek a nonlegislative solution, it is the 14th amendment he writes. that states that the validity of the public faith of the united

states should not be questioned. if taking on -- designing other legitimate claimants must be stiffed? you can read more in the wall street journal this morning. tim in michigan, republican. good morning to you. what do you say. spending cuts as part of this or just a clean debt ceiling limit, just raising it in a clean way? caller: i think to be honest with you i believe the american people are so bombarded with all this information about how many trillions and how many billions and how thousands of dollars going out the window and the debt ceiling like you just read the whole thing about it, if our

debts don't get paid we get our stuff taken away from us. so basically the american realizing this and they are actually affecting the way the economy is working right now. we are seeing all the stuff our government is doing and we wanted to stop. in order for us -- we want some of this back. that's what's causing all of this conflict is believed. the democrats say one thing, or the republicans say the other. we are all in this together with all this stuff but really we are not because we are all separate. we all have to take care of our families. we can worry about how many trillions of dollars are going out. we don't even see that money. we don't see it, we do not care about it.

we just have to take care of ourselves. host: let me ask you this. in these spending cuts the republicans want to see, do you think that impacts the average american or who do you think it impacts if there are these spending cuts? caller: these spending cuts don't really impact any of us because we have to go to work to make a living. if you don't go to work or if you are on retirement or this and that, of the social security deal was a farce. they have to pay us that otherwise we would have an uprising in this country and it's about coming to that because of all the rhetoric that's being thrown around about oh they want to cut, they don't want to cut. they do. we are not to cut this. we will spend more money. host: i'm to go to perry in fort

lauderdale. what do you say in this debate terry. caller: you've got one of the smartest tv stations in america for politics. but you get the dumbest callers. you don't play around with the debt ceiling. let's remember something. republicans gave away double trillions in tax cuts predominantly to the richest americans. that's why you have the debt issue you have. president obama -- the only reason his numbers were higher was because he took the bush tax cuts and put them on the books. they don't want to take a cent away from the richest people. they just want to pay from the poor people. unbelievable.

thank you. host: chance in minnesota. independent. what's the name of the town again? caller: laverne. honestly with the debt ceiling it's kind of like when you give an allowance to a kid. they don't do their job you don't give them their allowance. if i don't work and do my job i don't get paid. these guys keep spending money over and over again on both sides left and right and it's like when do we say enough is enough. i used to be a republican and now it's like i see down the middle.

if not for the constitution or declaration of independence you have no business running a government. it's ridiculous. john adams and george washington both described parties and the push left to right divide the country even more. when it comes to the debt ceiling, stop paying him -- paying them their wasting money left and right on both sides. host: part of the proposal from the speaker was requiring work -- new work requirements for those that receive snap benefits and other federal programs. the proposal comes from or a publican who writes that he is behind what the speaker put forward on the house floor in a statement saying he was especially grateful speaker included so many republican main street caucus priorities in his plan. listening to the speaker on the floor wednesday on the gop plan to tighten work requirements for

aid programs. [video clip] >> it would also help lift millions of americans out of poverty. right now there are more job openings then people looking for work. that's in part because the biden administration has weakened some of the very work requirements that then senator joe biden previously supported. our plan ensures adults without dependents earn a paycheck and learn new skills. by restoring the common sense measures, we can help more americans are in a paycheck, learn new skills, reduce child work poverty and rebuild the workforce. it will also protect and preserve medicare social security because more people will be paying into it. >> speaker mccarthy on the floor announced he said this bill will

come to the floor next week. roll call is reporting it is -- he is confident it will pass. in those remarks called on the president to negotiate over the debt ceiling sing the republicans want to see some spending cuts. we are president biden yesterday saying he calls them wacko notions. here's more on the president warning the speakers plan would only hurt america's working class. [video clip] >> massive cuts in programming you can count on. massive benefits protected for those of the top, all the tax cuts go to the top not the bottom. the threat of defaulting on america's debt for the first time in 230 years, we've never defaulted on the debt. who do you think will hurt the most? you. hard-working people, the middle class. but the super wealthy or

powerful but working folks. host: your turn to tell us where you are on this debate. you agree with republicans there needs to be spending cuts or with the white house that they should not play around with the nation's economy and just have a clean debt ceiling raise. ronald in troy, north carolina republican. caller: good morning. i was calling in. it's never get to be the same. until they get him out of here. he needs to be impeached. ever since i've seen the news show seeing talking in the house . caller: what about the debt -- host: what about the debt limit. caller: that's what's wrong with this country.

they ruined our country with all the spending. host: missoula, montana. democrat caller. caller: hello. good morning everybody and happy for 20 to those who celebrate. about the debt ceiling i think we need to basically tax more and stop going to war. we means test all of social programs. spend more money on social programs by means testing people rather than letting people get into the programs in the first place. if the workers realize they could own the means of production and take control of this country again like they did back in the 1910s we could be so much better if we just wake up. host: mike in appleton, wisconsin. independent. caller: good morning, america.

this issue is really about how bad it is to overtax as it is to overspend. state taxes in south carolina are 2.5 per cent. in new jersey state taxes are 11.5%. what in effect happens over time is the federal government is subsidizing taxes states that under tax and do not provide. you see this during a crisis whether it be a hurricane, a flood, a pandemic, etc.. the states without the infrastructure, without the education, without these services that they should have, of federal government has to come in and supplement their failure to raise and spend taxes. responsibly. it really is an issue. the whole debt ceiling issue is

really a tax and equity issue. my suggestion to these people in washington that can't seem to get an agreement is you equalize state taxes. you pick a rate, if it's 10%, 12%, 8%, whatever it is and if you are under that we charge a federal surtax to equalize the taxation in states. to stop the discrimination and the stupidity of this imbalance that we carry and have carried for some time now. sadly most of that winds up in corporate hands versus individual households. this inequity, the federal government has to address that and equalize and normalize taxation per state and we will not have any true equity amongst

the states until we do. that really is sort of the solution of all of the above. there's a lot of rhetoric going around that is just nonsense. it really is a tax and spending issue at the state level. we have to solve it. have a great day. host: michael in north carolina. republican. caller: good morning. i would like to say i only watch when you guys are anchoring the show. it's a tough question this morning and have been thinking of how i could answer and all i can say is we cannot cut medicaid and medicare and those benefits. i know my republican colleagues

will disagree with me when i say that we should cut some spending but i don't see where we will be able to do that. host: why not? caller: because we have so many baby boomers and pre-baby boomers who are on social security and we need those money for people on medicaid and medicare and the country is having trouble feeding its children so we need more food stamps. i know my republican colleagues probably disagree with me and i'm a strong republican. i consider myself a reaganite. we can cut spending and defense. can't cut medicaid and medicare. i think the middle class is hurting so we just cannot cut taxes i don't see where it's possible.

thank you for the time. >> democratic caller. david, what do you say. >> my theory is we need to have a debt limit and reduce spending cuts because this gentleman here before you was talking about you can cut for these people. you can cut some of them. some of the people can't get out and work. and they need to work instead of getting free handouts. in the state of west virginia our governor has went and he's get a lower the tax rate in our state it is getting so much better. if that's the case why can't these other states do the same thing. they can get people in their in office they can do the right thing. mccarthy is doing the right thing but bob's not listening to him. he wants to spin and we can do this. i just turned 65 and my dad taught me you had to learn to

spend in your means. >> democratic lawmakers are backing the president up. here is don in a tweet. a quarter of u.s. debt was accrued under trump when kevin mccarthy was in leadership. they passed the tax cut for the rich and did not pay for it. mccarthy helped trump raise the debt limit three times with no demand. he should just raise the debt limit. rick in crawfordsville, indiana. caller: how are you doing. host: good morning. we are listening. i hope that mccarthy cuts the rates and dutch democrats just like to spend money and money. i hate to be rude. i'm can speak the truth. i don't think they care for our country. to my opinion i think a lot of

them don't like what's going on. why don't you just go to china or russia. if you guys want to be communist but we are going to stay american. thank you for your time. >> joe in texas, independent. >> good morning greta. it is imperative that some limits be put on this spending. everybody seems to think we have is a crisis of not enough services and if you actually look at what the government receives in receipts. the government receipts were $5 trillion. i remember way back when lyndon johnson introduced the budget and it was a big deal when it went over 100 billion. that was a long time ago. the spending is -- the country

has to get back to spending the money efficiently. we can provide the services. we can provide medicare, we can provide medicaid. we can provide social security and we can do the other things, but we have to do it with the resources. >> edwin, new bern, north carolina. democratic caller. caller: let's educate the public right now. i work 48 years for the federal government. most my time is spent in finance. let me tell you. if john kasich or bill clinton call your line they would tell you right off the bat democrats, aoc, walking -- hakeem jeffries you need to put a bill on the floor for pay as you go. you don't start a program unless you can pay for it. in doing that across the board. when john kasich was in charge

of the budget committee. they had a balanced budget. what i can't understand is we take all this money for everyone working and everybody talks about social security is not part of the budget bill. it has a $4 trillion surplus. you can cut every program for the government that helps people as you can control military spending, medicare, medicaid. you're going to have problems and this is the way to go. i wished to the democrats would put a bill on the committee on the floor to have a pay act. that way you don't start a program unless you can pay for it. >> j in ohio, republican. >> good morning. i think when i listen to the news and i see we are sending trillions to ukraine and of

course with our open borders, i assume we are spending millions on health care and housing and transportation. when i look at this large numbers i cannot believe that there isn't somewhere that we can look at our budget and start cutting something somewhere. because of this horrible economy we are living in right now. and i was actually doing very well. i saved all of my money and whenever i got a raise i put it my 401(k). when biden got in office i lost five years of that income. so naturally i had to look at my budget every month and i had to decide where i was making the cuts in order to survive this economy we are in right now. i believe the government can do

the same thing because there is i know a lot of wasteful spending and government. i don't believe in cutting the programs that help the elderly or help the disabled but there are cuts that can be made. i wish that the democrats would at least get together and talk, have serious talks and find ways to do that. >> you mentioned there must be cuts in transportation department and other agencies that you mentioned. happening on capitol hill today the transportation secretary is going to be testifying about the budget. we also have the labor secretary nominee testifying about that agency. we will have coverage of the hearing on c-span3, on c-span now and on our website

c-span.org. you will also see transportation secretary is going to be testifying there. you go to our website for more details on the coverage. there's also the energy secretary who will be testifying about the departments role that she leads and the budget there. we will have coverage of those two secretaries along with this new nominee here on c-span. you can find the details on c-span.org. paul in fort dodge, i/o up. >> i think we need to make some cuts. only in a couple of areas. it would be in defense and education and the first defense comes in the form of regulation or quality control. for example we have bases all over the world for think well

over 100 and do we need them in some places? the military wastes more money than any other entity in the whole country. think of all those wastes in afghanistan and iraq. and also for the money we give to other countries all over the world. i don't have the list in front of me. why do we need to give $2 billion. >> paul how do you respond when people say that's less than 1% of the budget in foreign aid part of it you're talking about. >> that's true but what i'm saying is if this military waste we would have to raise anybody's taxes this by having some regulatory control over it. i can talk more on defense.

but going to education as far as i'm concerned with -- what they are doing for kids is disgraceful. host: i'm can move on to danielle in new hampshire. democratic caller. what do you say on this. clean debt ceiling or spending cuts included. >> so i think there's a lot of areas that can be cut that aren't social programs. there are subsidies that go to oil companies. there subsidies that go to these huge companies that are profitable, that we could be using that money for the instead. i feel like the government has been trending towards corporations and benefiting them instead of the people. and there's a lot of areas we can redirect the budget and keep

education and social security, medicare and medicaid, food stamps. we can keep all of that and make the corporations pay their fair share and not even adjust the tax rates, just stop giving corporations that are hugely profitable money from the government. they do not need it. >> david in wyoming, republican. caller: good morning. how are you. host: good morning. caller: i will tell you i think this is very simple. we got out of 20 years of war and yet we get the military raise. that's a discussion we are having. someone who need food stamps should have to work to eat. are we just monsters. or we should get rid of the education system when it's clear from these callers we need more

education because there are some people have no sense. i think what we should do is lift the cap on social security, expand our programs. we have a country that suffering and we need to do a better job of taking care of each other. it doesn't matter if it's republican or democrat, whatever. >> you are a republican. you are calling on the republican line. caller: but i believe -- i'm a good christian. i don't think -- if you want some food you better work first. let's help people, let's meet them where they are at. host: yesterday on capitol hill the senate agricultural subcommittee on food and nutrition held a hearing that we covered with a talked about this debate with local people talking about how food stamps work where they live.

they also had someone who was a recipient of food stamps talking with the senators about the program. if you're interested, go to our website. senator federman led that hearing. the second thing is we've heard from republicans and democrats today, a handful pointing to the pentagon's budget. it sounds like there's a middle ground there. from the american perspective. >> i think that's absolutely right. how did we just get out of afghanistan after 20 years in the military needs a raise. how does that even make sense. why don't we take some of that money and help some people who are struggling, homeless people everywhere. there's homeless veterans everywhere. we are either good people to take care of their citizens or we can pretend to be christians and let's face it, jesus was the

original socialist. i don't like socialists but i love jesus. >> this is what republicans are proposing. raising the debt ceiling into 2024 to 1.5 trillion. reduce spending to the fiscal 2022 level which amounts to $130 billion in spending cuts for 2024. limit future spending growth to 1% a year and recover unspent covid funds which according to the newspaper reports would come to $90.5 billion in unspent covid-19 funds. new work requirements for recipients of federal aid cleaning raising the federal -- the age of those that have to work for these benefits from 49 to 55. clawback irs funds and reform energy committee and revoke clean energy tax credits.

bill in pennsylvania. independent. you are next. >> thank you. i've been trying to get on for a long time. i would like to see the budget cuts to get the ceiling debt. we need to start somewhere because it's not to be long before just the interest we are paying will be equal to debt that we have with the military budget. we have to start somewhere to try to save this country for our children and our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren. i'm 73 and i would like to see us work together. i guess joe biden only thinks about the next election. we need to think about way down the line on the future because china and brazil and russia, they are working to change the monetary system should be a disaster for this country and

the world. i guess that's about it. >> going to hear from michael in silver spring maryland. what do you say. >> it sounds like we are arguing about crumbs. and go back to reagan. every tax cut that benefit the rich, the wealthy and the corporation. we need to repeal. they are not paying anything into this. this is middle and more middle-class arguing about the crumbs. and every time you hear mccarthy speak, everything, he's tax cuts, no. our government and meeting the needs financially for 330 or 40

million people is too small because it's been cut, it's been cut. and the only ones that have benefit is the rich, the wealthy and the corporations. and they do not pay into this obligation. it's me and it's you and we are back and that's where they want us to be back and forth the people who are peons who are paying just a smidgen and you've got like that young lady was saying. to profitable companies, the oil industry who are making billions and then we are going to give them money from the government and not a word from any republicans to say cut that, it's done, it's over. with what you're earning off of me and you going to the gas pump.

we are arguing about crumbs. >> david who is in wilson, wyoming. >> thanks. i've been watching the show for decades. i'm a republican. i have conservative values. in 1955 if you made $1 million on your tax return you got taxed 91%. do i advocate that, no. but we need to tax rich people. our wealthy are so wealthy. billionaires increased their wealth by a third after the pandemic. regular people are hurting and i get it. they are struggling but there are taxes on being poor. it is very rough. a quarter of you guys -- a quarter of our debt now is due to the trump tax cuts on corporations and rich people and we are subsidizing those people. plus the pentagon needs to be trimmed. i grew up, my dad was a 31 year

army colonel. i grew up on army bases in the 70's. it was a much different world. today officers are getting paid really well and they have curry -- good careers to look forward to. but the troops are not doing well. they are on food stamps and their wives are working. i've seen a lot of good points today. our education system has been cut and cut and many states are not producing the intelligent workforce that we need to compete with the world economy. the one good thing is the american dollar isn't going anywhere. unless we do something stupid like default on our debt and credit. the dollar, we are doing really well. we have resources, we are hurting but inflation in turkey is like 90%. europe is having way worse

inflation. we are doing good. this dominion lawsuit i think fox news has done more to divide our country than anything and i think this is a good step forward. thank you for letting me speak. this has been an honor. host: we will leave the conversation for their now but coming up, we will talk to members of congress over the battle on the debt limit and other congressional news of the day. a first, jennifer mcclellan of virginia and later, republican representative carlajimenez of florida. yesterday, we learned that robert f. kennedy, jr. decided to throw his hat in the ring for president. an anti-vaccine activist, usa

today notes that robert f. kennedy, jr. launches this unlikely presidential bid backed by 14% of bidens voters. here is a look at what the son of the 1968 presidential candidate said during his announcement yesterday. [video clip] >> the revolution started two years before. it started when the brits pass an oppressive law raising the taxes on tea. this was what the british government made in collusion with the india east company. they own shares and most of the aristocracy own shares. it was their plan to impose the tax on to english merchants but exempt the brits from the tax so

they could undersell everybody and they would make a profit for their shareholders. of course, the americans responded and they don't the tea into the harbor and that's when the british sent that trip over here to quell the rebellion. that rebellion was in part against empire. the spirit was a fury that the, what -- colonists had against the corrupt merger of state corporate power. [applause] >> i've come here today to

announce my candidacy for the democratic nomination for president of the united states. [applause] >> my mission over the next 18 months of this campaign and throughout my presidency will be to end the corrupt merger of state and corporate power [applause] >> that is threatening to impose a new kind of corporate feudalism in our country to

commoditize our children, our purple mark -- our purple mountain's majesty, our children and their people with chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs and strip mine air assets and hollow out the middle class and keep us in a constant state of war. [applause] >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us from capitol hill is going is congresswoman jennifer mcclellan. she was sworn into represent the fourth congressional district of virginia on march 7 after winning a special election to replace the state congressman. thank you very much for your time this morning. let's start with the debate over the debt limit. how do you respond to speaker mccarthy yesterday saying any proposal needs to include cuts. guest: i think we have to have

the debt limit raise. it's about paying our bills, not going forward and it would be irresponsible to tie them together. under the last president, we raised the debt limit three times without tying it to any appropriations decisions and we need to do that now. host: how do you respond to the callers? we heard from republicans and democrats this morning that said they were ok with spending cuts when it came to many of them mentioning the pentagon. guest: we need to keep those discussions separate and we can have them in the discussion. we need to make sure our armed forces have the resources to keep us safe, but i think that's a discussion that needs to happen in the appropriations discussion and not the debt limit discussion. host: i want to get your reaction to the pre-and yesterday, delaying his decision on access to this abortion pill

until friday. guest: i'm very concerned about the original texas decision. this pill has been used for over 20 years and i think the sooner the supreme court can rule on that case and overturned the lower court decision, the better we will all be in any uncertainty around any drug the fda has approved, there is uncertainty around those decisions. i think the supreme court needs to restore the authority of the fda and remove that uncertainty. host: drug companies have mobilized against the court ruling, claiming they threaten fda authority. what are the implications for the agency's regulatory control? guest: if any judge can simply pick and choose what they want

to look at to undermine any fda decision, no matter how long ago it was taken, flies in the face of the discretion we give error agencies. the fda has looked at the safety and has been in use for over 20 years and i think the texas court ignores the science and the records the fda looked at. if that stance, any decision made by the fda but any agency would just be overturned by one judge host:. does congress have any power to intervene here? guest: i don't know that we do in this case but we can respond with legislation going forward. host: can the biden administration do anything? guest: i've been looking into that and i think the president is looking into that and he has outlined they intend to ensure

the system remains approved so we will see what happens but hopefully, the court will overturn the texas decision and we will get back to normal. host: i want to invite our viewers to join in this conversation to ask about the topics we just talked about. host: congresswoman, before we get to the calls, you sit on the health -- house armed services committee and what to do learn about the document leaked? guest: there was a classified briefing last night on that but i cannot disclose what was said there but i will say that it is

concerning that the pentagon is looking to see exactly what happens and if any steps need to be taken. it's unclear whether the protocols were not followed. i will be closely monitoring the results of that i know the justice department is looking into whether any laws were brought -- were broken. we are waiting to see what happened but in the meantime, let's make sure the classified documents and information is safe and will not be disclosed going forward. host: of those disclosures, which do you have the most concern about. guest: in general, there is still some uncertainty about which ones are we -- are real and which ones have been

doctored so i'm not comfortable commenting on that. in general, we are working with their allies to alleviate any concerns they have and i'm not sure we are ready to say any more than that right now. host: let's go to mark in malone, new york, democratic caller. caller: my biggest concern is when you talk about corporate welfare, white are we not talking about loopholes? where would that put us if we did away with all the loopholes? guest: i agree that any loopholes need to be closed and we should look at all of them. i don't know the dollar amount that goes with that but i think that's something we need to look closely at. host: jeff is next in massachusetts, democratic caller. you are on the air, go ahead. caller: can you hear me? host: yes i can. caller: instead of using taxes

to pay off the debt, use the money making machine to print money. host: you are talking about just printing more money? caller: yes. guest: i am not sure of printing money is necessarily the answer. i think we need to be responsible with making sure we are meeting the needs and the needs of our constituents and do so in a weight that does not cause additional problems. i don't know that we could just print more money right now but we need to look at everything. host: our next call comes from new jersey, republican caller. good morning. caller: good morning, i think

there should be another tax. i am a veteran of two wars, iraq and afghanistan and if you look back in history, the citizens have volunteered and been drafted and we had been building this nation up which is why we are where we are today. they continue to raise the debt ceiling and it's not fair to the average person especially the elderly on a fixed income. they don't make much struggling day by day but i'm proposing a new plan that everybody should participate in a new tax bracket. fixed income people shouldn't

pay a cent but there's over 380 million citizens in the u.s. everybody that gets a paycheck should donate one dollar. if you make over $50,000 per year, it should be $10 and if you make $60,000, it should be increments of five dollars and if you want to give more when you pay income tax, then you can if you are very rich. host: let's see what the congresswoman has to say. guest: i want to thank you for your service and i think it's important we remember the question about raising the debt ceiling is not about what we will pay going forward, it's about paying our bills for what we have already spent. i think that's with that question is about. what we spend going forward i think is a separate conversation

and i think all proposals need to be looked at and i think your suggestion is less complicated than our current tax system, but we need to keep those conversations separate. host: we will go to alabama, brandon, and independent. caller: thank you. talking about people on limited incomes, i am a disabled person and i draw around $18,000 per year and i would be happy to donate a dollar a month or more than that. everyone should take a part of that new matter what tax bracket you are in. that should be something we put on our forms. that something we can all add our contribution to that so they can be supported.

it could last. it would not even affect or raise our debt ceiling. it would balance it out. host: congresswoman mcclellan? guest: the debt ceiling question is not about what we will pay going forward, it's about are we going to pay the liability we already have. as far as our tax policy, everybody needs to pay their fair share. right now, the wealthiest 1% are not paying their fair share. that is putting the burden on people like you and people who are paying more of their take-home pay to taxes. i think any tax reform going forward needs to ensure everyone is paying their fair share and that includes the top 1% who currently are not. host: you were sworn in just over a month the go, becoming the first black woman to

represent virginia so what does that mean to you? guest: it was an incredible moment and sometimes i pinch myself to realize that i really am here and working in congress. i stand on the shoulders of not only my own ancestors who really struggled and had to fight just to be able to vote. now to represent virginia, the birthplace of american democracy but all -- but also the lace of american slavery, it shows me we've come a long way but it also means i have responsibility to make sure we continue that progress so i'm not the last and we continue to address some of the lingering inequities that was caused by both slavery and jim crow that my family experienced and i bring that unique perspective to a building that was literally built by some of my ancestors.

it's incredible and an honor and i thank the voters of the fourth district of virginia to represent them. host: we were watching the video of you being sworn in on the laura misa how excited your two kids were. how are they adjusting to this new life? guest: they are adjusting just fine. i did it backwards, i got elected to the virginia house of delegates and then got married and had kids. they are used to their mom being in public service. i think they are very excited about me being in the u.s. capital and they want to spend their spring break in d.c.. they are excited and proud but to them, i'm just mom and they make sure i stay humble. host: reflect on your first 100 days. what has it been like? guest: it's been a whirlwind but it's also been a joy. i set on the armed services committee and just sitting in that room sometimes i reflect on

how my moms and others all served during world war ii but they were cooks because they weren't allowed to be anything else. to sit in that room and make sure all of our servicemen and women have what they need not only to keep us safe but have a good quality of life including my niece and her husband, it's an incredible honor to work with and call colleagues and friends, people i have followed and watched on television for a long time is really exciting. host: who or what shape you as a democrat? guest: my parents, i grew up listening to their stories. they grew up during the depression and during jim crow and the more i studied history, the more i came to understand that government at its best is a force for helping people and they saw that with the new deal and the great society. government at its worst is a

form of oppression to help some and they saw that with jim crow. that sparked an interest in me to make government a force for good. at 11 years old, i didn't think i would end up being here but here we are. host: carol in texas, independent. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call and thank you for c-span. i just wanted to remind everybody that it's the responsibility of the congress to raise the debt limit and i don't think joe biden gets to vote on this until a bill is laid on his desk. the other thing i was going to ask -- it seems like kevin mccarthy wants to go right to the white house and i wanted to ask the representative, has kevin

mccarthy come to the democratic caucus and tried to negotiate? he needs at least 218 votes to get anything passed. he only has 222 members. has he come to you all to try to negotiate instead of making an end run to the white house? guest: thank you. you are right, congress has to make that decision and i think when speaker mccarthy outlined his proposal, that was his first step i hope in a negotiation. you are right, he will need democratic support and i think -- every other time we have had to make a decision on the raising the debt ceiling, it was done in bipartisan fashion. i am hopeful that will happen this time. but i also think he right now has to have negotiations in his own caucus and i hope he puts

the needs of the country above the needs of his party. host: john in georgia, republican. caller: yes, do you know how much percentage of the total income taxes collected that the top 1% pay? guest: not their fair share but i don't know the exact dollar amount but compared to the other 99%, they are not paying their fair share in comparison to everyone else. caller: they pay 43% of the total taxes. the top 5% pay almost 64% of total taxes paid in the top 10% pay 74% of all taxes collected. what is their fair share? guest: when you look at the percentage of what they pay in taxes compared to everyone else in the bottom 95% it's short and

the burden falls mostly on the backs of those less able to pay and that's not fair. to me, if they pay their fair share, you need to look at what they pay in taxes in comparison to the rest of their income like everybody else. caller: if 50% pay 2.3%, once again, what is their fair share? politicians use that as a catchall phrase. guest: i have answered that question in my answer is the same. you have to look at the percentage of their income and what they pay in taxes and him much tax burden they have compared to the people who are less able to afford it. host: john in temple hills, maryland, independent, go ahead. caller: good morning.

what is her obligation to the black community? it's beyond this hr 40 thing. where she stand on representations and the black anti-hate crimes against black americans? does she support immunity for police officers? these are specific things to what's her stance on reparations? joe biden says the declaration should be for indian heritage as well. that's what he says. not just for black americans. host: let's get an answer. guest: as a member of the congressional black caucus and a member of the virginia legislative black caucus for 18 years in virginia, i have been focused broadly and specifically

on addressing inequities in our system that date back to slavery and jim crow. one of my last bills that i passed in virginia to extend a scholarship for those who were shut out of their schools during resistance to their defendant because decisions made by government impacted generational wealth, whether it's in education, transportation, housing, health care and we need to address the inequities. that's the broad answer to your question. i'm qualified immunity, my record is clear in the general assembly. i voted to end immunity for police. i believe if someone -- of a police officer or a government official violates someone's constitutional rights and as result, they are injured or killed, they should be held responsible. if you look at my record in the general assembly, that will be a good preview of what i will

focus on here and that includes addressing inequity in all of our systems. host: plainfield, illinois, michael, good morning, independent. caller: good morning and don't cut me off because i resent the fact that you tried to shape this conversation a little too much in my opinion. let's talk about fairness. yes, the top 1% pays 42 point whatever percent in taxes but they get 99% of the benefit of this entire government worldwide. when the bank in california failed, immediately, the government stepped in and covered all of their deposits. they are not paying their fair share. we need a net worth tax in this country.

that tax should be applied on any holdings that someone has over the entire planet. if they want to invest their money in some foreign country, and let that foreign country give them tax credits against what they owe us. we have protected them. we have coddled them. that's why they drafted me into vietnam, to protect the people with money, not the poor people. that's what we need in this country. host: congresswoman? guest: i want to thank you for your service and thank you for sharing your opinion with us today. i agree we need to make sure our tax system is fair, that it is raising the funds to help us meet the needs of all americans including those whose needs are the greatest.

host: douglas, chestertown, maryland, republican. caller: good morning, i'm happy to listen to this congresswoman. i like some of her ideas. however, i got into this late so i didn't hear much about her capital debt limit spending but i heard her say we should pay for what we have already spent rather than think about the future. i think that's a great idea. however, my comment would be that we have increased our debt since 2000 by at least $20 trillion. the democrats ideas that we can spend our way out of it. she should know that doesn't work given a study of history. i go back a couple of calls, i am not in the 1%. i would be happy to pay more

even as a middle-class person. what is fair and not even you will give me that percentage because you don't know. you just want to control it. i'm sorry about that but that is fair, thank you. guest: first of all, i want to be clear that i think the decision on raising the debt limit should be a separate decision and a separate conversation from our spending plan going forward. we have seen over time where we have been able to reduce the deficit and i think that is something we can talk about and look at going forward but we need to pay our bills that we have already incurred. if we don't, it will have a devastating effect on the economy. if you look at the individual tax burden on people, they should not have to pay a majority of their spending on

taxes more than other people. we need a tax structure that reflects the more you have, the more the tax burden should fall on you rather than on people who have very little. i don't know what the exact percentages right now. i just got in congress and i'm not on the appropriations committee and i'm not in the room making those decisions. u.s. for my opinion and i believe -- you asked for my opinion and i believe the finance committee makes those decisions and we will make sure that our tax structure is fair which means you are not overburdened if you made less money than the top 1%. that is still my view going forward. host: congresswoman, thank you very much for joining us this morning. guest: thank you very much. host: you can always go to

mcclellan. house.gov. we will take a break and republican congressman carlos gimenez will be with us next on the debt limit plan. we will be right back. ♪ >> fridays at 8 p.m. eastern, c-span brings you afterwords from book tv. this week, the drexel university law professor shares his book, a minor revolution, where he argues america is failing its children morally, socially and economically and is interviewed by a journalist and author.

watch every friday at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> book tv returns to the los angeles times festival of books lie from the university of southern california, featuring more than 35 authors over today's. on saturday, coverage includes discussion on slavery and viewer collins on j edgar hoover and the los angeles times executive editor. on sunday, our coverage continues with two more authors on gun violence and talkshow post will take your -- and a talkshow host will take your calls live on the air. watch live this weekend at 1:30 p.m. eastern on tv on c-span2. to see the full schedule, visit our website, book tv.org. >> the very first president to

attend the white house correspondents dinner with calvin coolidge. i just -- i had just been elected to the white house senate. >> washington's premier black tie event is saturday, april 29 so watch c-span's live coverage from the washington hotel including red carpet arrivals of journalists, politicians and celebrities. this year's headliner is the host of the daily show and president biden is expected to speak. the white house correspondents dinner, april 29 on c-span, c-span our online at c-span.org. >> to public corporations, cbs and viacom seem to be controlled by the same man, sumner redstone. is the subject of a book called unscripted. error guest as a reporter from the new york times with his

co-writer starting in the preface of the book this way -- the drama that unfolded may have occurred at viacom and cbs but the recent drumbeat of greed, backstabbing, plotting and betrayal at the upper level of american business and society has hardly in confined to one or two companies or one wealthy family and its hangers on. viacom and cbs merchan late 2019 and this company is called paramount global. >> the book unscripted on this episode of book notes+ which is available on the c-span now mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> "washington journal" continues. host: back on capitol hill, we are joined by congressman carlos gimenez of florida, a

republican, first elected in 2020. thank you for being here. let's talk about the debt limit. you heard from your leader yesterday proposing spending cuts to any raising of the debt limit. where are you on this? guest: i am with the speaker. i saw the plan which is simple and plain for the american people. i would support the speaker in that plan. we need to start to reduce government spending. we cannot continue on this same path. we have over $31 trillion in debt which we are piling onto her children and grandchildren and stealing from their ability to provide services for themselves in the future and that's not right. host: you have a slim majority in the house to what was the reaction from the republican conference and are you confident the speaker has the votes to pass next week? >> even though i am on the whip team, i am not the leader.

they will have to counsel themselves. i believe the best majority of republicans will be fine with this plan. it's simple and easy to understand. there are things there that the vast majority of americans will support so in the income i think we will get the votes to pass it. host: president biden said this plan would hurt the average working person in this country, that it's going to benefit the wealthy and hurt the poor americans. guest: one of the things we want to do is take back the credits for electric vehicles. who is buying them? those are well-to-do folks buying electric vehicles and we are giving them billions of dollars in tax credits. i don't think that's hurting the working class. if we want to give energy independence back to the united states, bring energy costs down that will help the middle class

and the biden administration is strangling the middle class. host: you sit on the china select committee. last night, the committee conducted a wargame simulation between the u.s. and china. tell us about this. what did you learn and why did you have this type of conversation? guest: we need to understand the adversary and what could happen if we actually had conflict in taiwan. i think the lesson i learned -- i didn't learn it there but it reinforced if that's the best thing to do to avoid a conflict in taiwan with the communist chinese party? the way to do that is through strength and we need to make sure we give taiwan the net weapons that it needs and the systems that it needs in order to demonstrate to the chinese communist party that it's not going to be an easy undertaking and there is no guarantee of success. what i also learned is the

chinese communist party like math a lot. our experts believe that mathematically, they believe they will have superiority and a good chance of success. we can never let them get to that point when mathematically they believe that to be true. host: you said the best option here is to avoid conflict. what did you learn about what could happen to our u.s. military? guest: i learned there is no easy victory here. would we attain victory? i think we would the best thing is to avoid war, not to have a war and you avoid war through strength. you don't show weakness. you hope war will never happen and when you do that, you tend to avoid war because the other side understands that what they

want to do will not be attainable and it needs to be done through diplomacy. peace through strength, i learned that a long time ago especially with president reagan. he was right then and is right now. we need to make sure that taiwan has the weapons and the systems it needs to demonstrate to the chinese that it's not easy undertaking and it's not a guaranteed result in so we need to do right now to avoid conflicts in the future. host: this hearing was held behind closed doors. was it classified? guest: i don't believe it was. there was a lot of people in that room so wasn't classified. wargames are done all the time. this was not one at a high level. there were things discussed but not something that you or i couldn't see. host: the reporting this

morning, colonel showing that from this war simulation, you are looking at over 3000 troops that could be killed with damage to work craft from the united states. is that what you learned? guest: that's something we already knew. this is not going to be an easy task. the chinese have been building up their military at an unprecedented rate. they are imposing economic power on the likes of the soviet union. this is a completely different adversary and we face during the last cold war with the soviet union. they were third-rate economic power with the second rate military. the chinese will have a first rate military but they are also a first rate economic power so they can put the power behind their military. that's why we need to start to

decouple from china and the chinese communist party so that we don't continue to strengthen their economy to the detriment of ours and strengthen their military against the detriment of ours. these are things i knew that this will not be an easy conflict or easy victory. it would be protracted but there are losses on both sides of the best thing to do is to prepare for a war and strengthen our defenses so that chinese will decide it's not a good gamble and that war is avoided. that's what we really want to do. host: you were one of doesn't of bipartisan members of a group that met with the taiwanese president recently. what is taiwan asking for? guest: they are asking for further military aid to make sure the aid that's been approved by congress gets to them.

i think there is a level of frustration that some of those systems that were approved by congress in the military aid approved by congress hasn't gotten to them quick enough and we need to pressure the biden administration to get that done. she also asked to see if they can manufacture some of those weapons themselves. there is some hesitation to that but some of the less sophisticated systems could be allowed to be manufactured there in taiwan so they can help protect themselves. host: mike in huntington, indiana, you are up first with the congressman. i just wondered, they always talk about cutting social security and stuff. caller: why don't they talk about the corporate welfare? host: congressman? guest: the plan we have does actually nothing to social

security or medicare. the plan that we have reduces discretionary spending in fiscal year 22 levels and limits the caps on growth to 1% per year. there is no threat to social security or medicare in the speakers plan that's why i support it. host: what about corporate welfare? does it exist and where is it? guest: that's a great term but we need corporations and businesses driving america. we need to incentivize corporations to invest more in the united states many to incentivize corporations to come back from the far east and either get them back into the united states themselves and stake our supply chain or prove the quality of life in central and south america.

so much dependence on the united states on supply chains coming from the far east especially china. i don't believe in corporate welfare but i believe in incentivizing them to produce more. host: maryland, democratic caller. caller: good morning. i agree with the statement about the tax breaks for electrical vehicles. that is quite elitist. as far as corporate, they don't pay people enough wages which is why people are suffering in america for low wages. lastly, the inconsistency of the republicans as it relates to budgetary matters and holding the country hostage to the debt ceiling, it shows that you pick and choose your righteous

indignation positions because you rate -- raise them under trump three times so that's why people don't trust republicans. i used to be one but the inconsistency now is just too much. host: let's take that point, the republicans raise the debt limit under president trump. it was without these negotiations. why now? guest: in the last two years, the biden administration and the democrats have increased our debt by trillions of dollars on unnecessary spending and we cannot complete debt going down that path. the american people need to be in control. they've seen the wasteful spending and the insane energy policies the biden administration has. they've seen prices of everything going up. talking to the caller, we don't

have enough money because of the inflation for the last year because of the insane biden policies. we want to reduce inflation and reduce energy costs and put more money in working people's pockets. i think this is the right thing to do and that's why we are proposing this and we are negotiating. there is a negotiation that needs to happen. the president may not want to have it but he has to deal with the house. what we've asked for is very reasonable. i would hope the president would start to negotiate with the house and the senate as well and weaken -- and we can stop this wasteful spending. the level of the wasteful spending, put more pockets and just put more money in the pockets of the american people so they can have a better quality of life. host: they say a quarter of the

u.s. debt was accrued under former president trump. guest: i became a congressman in 2020. the only president i've known is president biden. in the last two years, we have spent additionally trillions of dollars. we cannot sustain that level. we need to bring it back down and that's what i'm here to do. host: we are talking with congressman carlos gimenez of florida. rick, republican, you are next. caller: can you hear me? host: we can. caller: good morning. to balance the budget, foreign aid, i have this report in front

of me. [indiscernible] i'm a hard right republican and you have my support. we don't put a cap on foreign

aid and that's why we have a problem. thank you c-span and america for listening. host: he packed a lot in there. guest: i got the gist of it that foreign aid and we need to look at who we are giving the foreign aid to. o.is it going to the right person to do the right thing? this congress will look at that as well. host: he sounds like he is watching what congress is doing. he referenced the congressional research service. guest: it was hard to keep up with him. i got the gist of it and yeah, there is something else we will be looking at. we have to look at all the discretionary spending. that's only a small part of it. not a small part but a minority part of the entire budget of the united states of america.

those programs like social security and medicare are mandatory. we are talking about the discretionary side. foreign aid is on the discretionary side. i'm sure they will put a magnifying glass on that so it goes to good causes. host: on the mandatory side of the ledger, how concerned are you, or are you, that people are not willing from both sides of the aisle to talk about addressing the solvency of the drivers at our debt, medicare and social security? guest: that's something we need to discuss. at this point, we are not going to be discussing reductions of medicare or social security benefits. we need to look at other ways to get around this. the focus is to pass this plan

which starts to reduce our spending on the discretionary side. there is still a lot of wasteful spending and government we need to get under control. there were things we shouldn't be involved in like giving tax credits to electric vehicles for rich people to get electric vehicles. that's billions of dollars. i think we start there and then move on. host: anthony in chicago, independent. caller: hi, good morning. representative, how are you? i wanted to know specifically where are you targeting this wasteful spending that is contributing to the debt? in my lifetime, the two most significant contributors to the debt have been iraq and afghanistan. i understand the pentagon budget goes up significantly every single year but they can't even be audited. now we are gearing up and rattling her sabers to go to war with china it sounds like.

i would urges all for peace, collaboration and cooperation with china and have -- and spill not one more drop of blood for the bourgeoisie. guest: i agree that peace comes through strengthen it we show weakness, we will be inviting a conflict which turns into bloodshed. we need to strengthen our military and we need to upgrade our weapons systems. we have been laying for some time. the ukraine were has shown that our supply chain for munitions were abandoned and we need to restart them. there are weapon systems we need to upgrade. the chinese are making tremendous strides in that. if we want to prevent a war, we need to be strong. that's one area we need to increase our spending is in defense spending. it's a lot cheaper to prepare

and be strong and avoid war than actually going to war. that's what we will try to do. host: california, democratic caller. caller: good morning. i am curious about your visions about the first amendment. does that also include [indiscernible] let's say hypothetically, i'm an agnostic myself but hypothetically, i am an atheist, a transgender black whatever you want to say. there is fanatical people who want to infringe upon my rights. isn't it the government's responsibility to make sure that i have the same rights as other

people no matter what. guest: you have the right to speak your mind and i believe in freedom of speech and freedom of religion. nobody should be imposing what they want on you. by the same token, you should be able to speak your mind. and not be afraid of some kind of retribution. the lesson maybe in the workplace where you don't have freedom of speech. i am here in congress and i

understand those freedoms and i will fight to protect those freedoms. that's what america was about and is about and should be in the future. when did you come to the united states? i was born in cuba some time ago. it was 1954. the revolution was in 1959 than in 1960, i came to the united states with my father -- it was actually my mother and grandmother and my grandmother was irish-american and my sister we ended up staying with their uncle in a house of 21 people. there were three families in one house. my father owned a ranch in cuba and ended up starting to work as a bellhop in the seville hotel in miami beach my mother was a secretary for orkin

exterminating company and they came with $10 in their pockets and with that, they started building a life and give my sister and i in education and helped me through my life. their son became a firefighter come a fire chief and city manager, a county commissioner, the mayor of miami-dade county and now i congressman. and what other country can you do that? it gave me opportunities. the freedoms of this country is what we came for and that's why i will fight to protect those freedoms for my children and my grandchildren and your children and your grandchildren. that's the only reason i ran for congress. host: clinton, mississippi, republican, you were next. caller: thank you so much. good morning.

i am republican but i have an electric car and it bothers me when you keep saying electric cars are for the rich. i make less than $50,000 per year but i love my electric car. thank god for that tax credit. the fact is, we had to transition. i believe the science. we need to do something to stop demonizing electric vehicles and the tax credit for them. that's the reason i went electric. i got a little bit of a tax credit. the other thing is, i am down in mississippi. it is so impoverished down here and the idea of doing work requirements literally so people can have food in the richest country in the world? that's why i can't find anyone who's republican anymore.

anyone under 50 thinks we are demon monsters. if we are really christian, we have to act that way. guest: in order to get snap and other benefits, you should be required to work like we did in the clinton era. i fully support that measure. as far as electric vehicles, they are 20, 30, $40,000 more expensive than normal vehicles. when i go out to the middle class and poor neighborhoods in my city, i don't see electric vehicles. i only see them in the rich areas. you are an exception and that's great but most of the people driving those electric vehicles are not like you. most of them driving electric vehicles, i know a lot of them, they are not for and they don't need a tax break and it should

not be the poor or middle-class class that are subsidizing your choice. your choices to go electric, god bless you. i have friends that have electric vehicles and they love them. i have nothing against electric vehicles, but the middle-class should not be subsidizing them. host: would you be open to or does this proposal by republicans on the debt ceiling allow the states to waive the work requirements if their unemployment level is high? guest: i don't believe so. it something i have to read. i read a synopsis of all the requirements. there are exceptions. if you are a parent or you are pregnant or you have disabilities, those are some of the exceptions. i don't believe so and if there are, unemployment rates in those states should have a training program or some requirement that

you are actively pursuing were seeking employment in order to get those benefits. i go to grocery stores and the people at the checkout come to me and they are upset that key people getting these benefits that in their minds should not get them. they see them driving mercedes or something like that. they are without a doubt not needing assistance in their minds. there are abuses here we need to stop those. one of them is work requirements. to get assistance, you should also be pulling your weight in society and getting a job and paying taxes. i agree with that provision. host: the house is about to gavel in and we had to say goodbye but thank you for your time. guest: my pleasure. host: we will take you now to the house floor as they gavel in early this morning for their legislative