humbled. thank you. [applause] house members are working on a number of science related bills to combat the and mall tranquilizer. the house will consider the republican border security and immigration bill. off the floor, congressional leaders are schedul to meet with president biden at the white house to talk about the federal debt ceiling. following c-span on updates. the hous in recess until 5:45. watch live congressional coverage. and talks on the debt limit

aiming to avoid potential default. republicans want spending cuts as democrats and the president insist on a clean debt limit increase. this meeting comes three months after the president and kevin mccarthy. c-span cameras will be at the white house to bring you the latest on the negotiations and any public statements. congresso discuss avoiding a default on the debt ceiling. estimated date of june 1. both sides have weighed out what they want, the president calling for a clean debt limit vote and

macarthur looking to get spending cuts before agreeing to a vote. for the next three hours, you can send your message to washington, d.c. on the debt limit. democrats call us at (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001 and independents (202) 748-8002. via text, (202) 748-8003. you can always post on social media sites at facebook.com/cspan and c-span -- and on twitter at @cspanwj. a couple of sources about what to expect later this afternoon when that takes place, 4:00 is the estimated time. stay close to c-span for any reaction outside the meeting before it occurs and after it occurs. when it comes to each side's thinking going into the meeting, democrats tell us they will push

macconnell and mccarthy to take a default off the table, congress must approve a clean debt limit boost immediately. they have said that is something they are not willing to do. in the last day or so, we've noticed a softening of democrats private positions and a new recognition they may have to accept some sort of deal. republicans tell us they believe chuck schumer and biden -- it does not have the votes to pass a clean debt limit increase. president biden is saddled with sagging approval ratings, so democrats have an incentive to make a deal. the issue is how either side -- house republicans argued they pass the bill and it is time for democrats to do something, democrats counter that republicans are holding the economy hostage when they do not control the presidency.

other reaction quotes a conversation with a pennsylvania republican or someone said it is hard to get everything you want in congress, but when you get 90%, you take it with a smile on your face. after months of doing nothing, will president biden finally relent? is chuck schumer going to come to the realization they are not going to let the credit of the u.s. be downgraded again because we did not take the correct action on spending? that is another republican viewpoint when it comes to what is going on with the debt ceiling. today, we will hear your calls and your message to washington on the debt ceiling. (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans and independents (202) 748-8002. the white house yesterday at a

press briefing articulating the position that president biden has going into the meeting. [video clip] >> mitch mcconnell has made it clear there is little room for the senate to be involved in negotiations over the debt limit , it has to be worked out between the president and the speaker. what does mitch mcconnell make of that approach -- what does the president make of that approach? >> this is something they should get to regular order in get to work on. we should not have house republicans manufacturing a crisis on something that has been done 78 times since 1960, this is their constitutional duty. that is with the president will make clear with leaders tomorrow. congress must avoid default without conditions. as they did three times before in the last administration, where democrats joined republicans come put their politics aside and made sure that occurred.

the president is not going to change course. we have been very clear that they need to do their job. >> the president has a good relationship with mitch mcconnell. his relationship with mccarthy is not very strong, they have not done this before. the fact that mitch mcconnell is taking a backseat, saying this is something that has to be worked out between the president and speaker, is that a problem? >> mitch mcconnell will be here tomorrow, he is joining the other three leaders with the president to have a conversation about how important it is for congress to do their job. he will be here to have this discussion. i will not speak for leader macconnell, i can only tell you with the president has said over and over again. when it comes to the debt limit, we should not default, we should not be a deadbeat nation.

we have never been a deadbeat nation. congress has always done the right thing and gotten this done. they are manufacturing -- house republicans are manufacturing a crisis. they should get back to regular order, which is dealing with the debt limit as congress must do. host: again, positioning from the white house leading up to the meeting at 4:00 this afternoon. both sides will likely go to cameras after the meeting is done, watch for that on c-span as it plays out. your message to washington when it comes to the debt ceiling, particularly the meeting that will take place later today. some of you posting on facebook before the show saying maga republicans, do not do this. you will be sorry. dems, do not cave. it has been a message sent by millions for decades, yet here we are with more to come. if the treasury met the $31

trillion coin, which is been a proposal, i believe problems will be solved. another viewer saying you do not need to cut anything and you do not need to increase taxes on the long-suffering middle-class. reduce wage fraud and abuse. that is just some of the positioning off of social media sites. you can call in on the message to washington when it comes to the debt ceiling. republican line in north carolina, good morning. what is the message you would send? caller: thanks for taking my call. cut some spending. it is simple. there's all kinds of ways that we do spending, reduce waste in government. i can go on forever with the list of how they could cut spending. to hear their representatives -- the press secretary say this is

a manufactured crisis -- that is beyond the pale. if anybody manufactured the crisis, it is the democrats and their spending. it is a very real situation that calls for a very real action and what needs to be done is cut some spending. host: do you think that action should be tied to debt ceiling talks? caller: absolutely. how many times have we raise the debt ceiling? many times with no real cuts in spending. now, we are in this situation. host: ray giving us his message. in florida, democratic line, roy. good morning. caller: as the other caller what

he does for a living, probably not working like the rest of us. good to see you, it is a pleasure. it's good in d.c. today. i point is you have to raise it. people need to get their social security and everything. hard-working people deserve it, it has always been raised. why do these people care so much about the debt anyway? when trump was in there, they raised it with no problem. this is the republicans message that they have right now, they do not want to do anything about guns, keep our babies from getting shot. they do not want to do anything about giving the mystic security and they want to keep taking from hard-working people. host: both sides would say the debt ceiling has to happen. as far as cutting spending, why not make that part of the discussion? caller: there are some areas that could maybe be cut. the problem with it is, you cannot take people's benefits if

they worked hard for those. people are disabled military, they count on those checks, some people live off of social security. who do they think they are? this is the perfect republican playbook. host: james is next in west virginia, independent line. caller: the republicans have done this before with clinton and obama, both times they got the president reelected. they are doing it again and i see biden getting reelected. host: as far as issues are concerned, where are you as far as the debt is going with discussions that take place today? caller: they need to raise it, then what they want to cut -- they are cutting the wrong stuff. we've got to have climate change work, we have got to have paid benefits people are owed.

host: when it comes to cuts, the new york times offers a chart on what could be affected department by department if the spending cuts republicans like to see are put into effect. they write the funding caps and house republicans republican bill would cut discretionary spending by an average of 18% over the next decade. of three major programs are left untouched, remaining areas we have to be cut by half. taking the idea every agency sees a cut, that means 18% cut across the board followed by veteran services, health and human services, the list goes down. if veterans health and defense are left off the table, the rising cuts, if the cuts are enacted, rises to 51%. the chart shows how it would impact various agencies,

starting with health and human services and working its way down. we will show you more of it as we go to the next call, this is clifford. three hours taking a look at your message when it comes to the debt ceiling. in alabama, democrats line. caller: good morning. i am not understanding this right here. the republicans, when trump was in office, they had no problem raising the debt. no problem. he understood that, he was not going to have it. they raised it. they only want to be fiscally responsible and democrats are there. the size of government should be needed by the -- should be the size needed by the people. it is crazy. they keep talking about cutting.

when it comes to the bottom line when the rubber hits the road, they are talking about programs that harm the middle and lower class. the size of government should be the size that people need. programs that help the poor, we should have those programs. the rich are doing well. we should not be penalizing the poor and the middle-class, the rich are doing fine. host: that was clifford in alabama, republicans in the house several weeks ago passed what they see as a starting point when it comes to negotiations over the debt limit and what they would like to see. part of the plan would raise the debt ceiling into 2024 but reduce spending, the fy 22 levels. it would limit future spending growth to 1% annually over the next decade, uncover unspent

covert funds, put in new work requirements for recipients of federal aid, clawback irs funds, block student debt cancellation and reform energy permitting and repeal green energy programs. just a sample of the limit save grow act that republicans see as a starting point in negotiations leading up to today's meeting with the white house at 4:00. speaker maccarthy is joining in with president biden as well as house minority leader and leaders in the senate. john in california, republican line. you are next up. caller: good morning. i hope everybody is enjoying the inflation we are enjoying from the government spending and affecting poor people especially. bidens plan will add a huge amount of deficit and the

republicans want to cut that in half. they both have deficits, they will both cause inflation. republicans will cause less inflation. whatever we do, everyone is complaining about trump. trump had 1% inflation, we've got 10% inflation. when you raise that on 1%, it is not that big of a deal. 10% is a big deal. host: are you comfortable with the idea of cuts being tied to a debt ceiling raise? caller: i want them to cut more. i want them to balance the budget, i want to get out of this inflationary spiral. start the cuts big-time. host: with no worries about the fall over the debt ceiling over this? caller: they should take the republican plan, it is a baby step but it cuts. just because it is going to reduce inflation, bidens plan will cause more inflation.

that is a simple fact. he spend a lot of money, you spend less money. spending less money will not cause as much inflation. host: your message to washington on the debt ceiling, that is what we are asking for three hours today. numbers are on the screen, choose the number the best represents you. if you want to post on social media, it is facebook.com/cspan and twitter @cspanwj. in missouri, independent line. caller: i just want to send a message to biden. go make a telephone call to obama and plan a fishing trip, go fishing. host: we will go to the debt ceiling, you called on that. what do you think of these discussions and what is your message to washington?

caller: that is what i am saying. don't worry about it, it is not your job. let them decide what they are going to do, go fishing. it is not the democrats, it is not joe biden. he is sitting there with his pen in hand ready to sign. then he said he would be willing to discuss the future budget. host: you think that would take place if it debt ceiling is passed with no cuts? caller: we've been talking about the bad things about china, they do not have a choice. they have to do something, do the right thing. host: the washington times has a chart from figures and the treasury department as far as

american debt is concerned. when you break it down, it says when it comes to debt holders 6.8 trillion is in federal programs, five .9 trillion for the federal reserve, 2.8 million locked up in mutual funds. state and local governments hold about 1.5 trillion and it goes on from there. when it comes to foreign debtholders, the top holder foreign debt is japan, $1.1 trillion followed by china, u.k., belgium, luxembourg, switzerland and so on. that is in the washington times this morning. your message to washington is what we are asking. this is an, democrats line. -- anne, democrats line. caller: i am a retiree on social security, my message to washington is do not negotiate on the debt ceiling.

negotiate on the budget. what is happening right now is the extremist republican held mccarthy's leadership hostage until they bullied him into getting what they wanted. now, they want to hold the entire nation hostage and bully the president until they get what they want. this is just wrong. you do not negotiate your debt. you negotiate your budget. host: why not have a discussion on spending as part of that if spending is the concern of both sides? caller: i do not think it is necessary or desirable to have that discussion in the context of paying debts that have already been incurred. that is desirable when you are planning your next budget. host: you think these conversations would take place outside of a showdown over the debt ceiling? caller: we are having a showdown

and having discussions, distinctions matter. of course there are discussions going on. but not negotiation. there should be absolutely no concessions regarding the debt ceiling and there should be a lot of debate with empirical evidence to come to a reasonable compromise on the budget going forward, especially revenues. host: when it comes to the revenues part that she brought up, the washington times highlighting new figures and estimates from the congressional budget office, saying uncle sam's tax collection was down 26% in april, compared to last year at the same time. according to estimates released monday by the cbo, it says since the start of the fiscal year october, the government collected 2.6 trillion for a

deficit of 928 billion. during the same period in 2022, it was just $360 billion. things were particularly bad in april with individual income tax due, but this year's revenue fell to six and 38 billion dollars, down substantially from 800 62 $4 billion. individual tax payments were down 36% in april. payroll and corporate income taxes are up. you can factor that into things that will be the underlying reasonings for discussion amongst democrats and republicans at the white house later this afternoon, 4:00 is the estimated time for that meeting. bonnie in virginia, independent line. caller: whether the -- excuse

me. negotiations on the budget happen in the context of a showdown or later, my concern is government spending. i have in front of me a chart about the 2013 -- the last one i have. the military spending is 60% of our tax dollars. not the gdp, but tax dollars. it is probably more now. after that, the most is 6% on health and human services. i am aware 20% approximately of the military budget goes to nuclear weapons spending.

according to the committee for nuclear policy, which i canvassed door-to-door for 3.5 years and the oak ridge environmental case alliance for another nine months -- host: what is the message to washington? caller: cut the nuclear weapons spending. 20% of the military budget is going to nuclear weapons, we can blow up the world 40 times over again. the consequences of a nuclear war would be terrible, especially since planning and preparing for a war that would cost mass genocide and environmental damage is against the 1949 and 1950 geneva conventions of which the u.s. is a signatory in article six section two states planning -- international treaties are the

supreme law of the land. host: we will continue on with your calls as we get your message to washington when it comes to the debt ceiling. we had a chance to take cameras out and about washington, d.c. at the national mall, talking to people as they were vacationing and getting their thoughts on what should be done over the debt ceiling. here is a bit of one person visiting washington and what she thinks. [video clip] >> i am from st. louis, missouri. my message to congress about the debt ceiling is these kinds of arguments are something to happen during the budgeting process. this is when we need to pay our debts and be responsible. the idea of holding hostage this process for things that would cut programs for children in need and seniors in need is really irresponsible.

>> i am from atlanta, georgia. the debt ceiling was blown up a long time ago, the original debt ceiling was only $1 million and now we are in the trillions. they misted up a long time ago. they should do what they have to do to keep the government running efficiently, but after that, we should learn how to curve government spending. we cannot keep being a spending nation, we have to do it effectively. >> i am from virginia, the concern of the debt ceiling right now really does not impact me. i do not feel that way. at the end of the day, they will figure something out. they will raise it or not. i feel within the last year, there always raising it. i can go to bed and not worry about it, because it does not impact me. i am an average citizen, i do not feel the impact.

it might be to some other people, but to me, i do not feel it is that important. i have other issues that i am worried about versus the debt ceiling. host: we will show you more of those conversations throughout the program. we are hearing mainly from me of when it comes to your message to washington on the debt ceiling. andrew in new jersey, democrats line. caller: good morning. i have four simple numbers. since 2010, we have 23 million more people. you can see the census every 10 years, so we have to care and do things for people. infrastructure. in 2022, the second number is we spent as a country $6.3 trillion and tax revenue was 4.7 million.

trump and republicans gave a tax break to all these corporations for about $1 trillion. that is the issue. republicans want to illuminate funding for the irs, which will help bring in tax revenue. it is really about our ability to bring enough dollars in tax revenue to pay for what we want to pay for. that is the issue. host: in georgia, independent line. caller: first thing i would like to mention is the debt, when has the u.s. been debt-free? 1835, when year. 1836, we were back in debt. then again in 1917. quit fooling around with the press stared he talk.

one caller called about inflation. when i started driving, gas was $.19 a gallon. that is all that debt is, what we have in our accounts, people do not talk about that. we have 1000 billionaires out of 320 million people, the debt is about the money we have in our products. -- pockets. host: democrats line, your message to washington. hello? one more time. let us go to terry in minnesota, republican line. caller: the lady that said 60%

goes to defense, that is a lie. it is 12%. it is interesting, when they call in ilisten. all of the horrible maga people -- i do not think they are horrible. all of the people calling in this morning are shortsighted, give me my money now people. how many are getting money on social programs? that determines where you are at. spend more money on the irs, they will just collect from the rich. sure. there is no money to be made going after big corporations because it cost too much money. host: on the debt ceiling, what is the message? caller: if you do not change it

and you really want social security, you better wake up. are you people listening to this? it is gone in eight years, it wipes out, you could cut down to nothing. the lack of foresight and crying all the time, that is why they are broke, that is why you are on social programs. host: you can offer your thoughts on the remainder of this program, democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001 and independents (202) 748-8002. cnn looks at things that could be affected if the debt ceiling is crossed, one of the sections deals with social security payments. about 66 million retirees, disabled workers and others

receive the benefits, almost two thirds rely on social security for half of their income and the payments constitute at least 90% of income. the payments could be delayed in a debt default scenario. it is possible the treasury could continue to make on-time payments because of a trust fund. the benefits are dispersed four times a month and on the third day of the month, three wednesdays, roughly $25 billion a week is sent out. even a short delay in the payment of benefits would be a burden for the millions of americans who rely on earned benefits to pay for t-of-pocket health care expenses, food, rent and utilities. your message to washington. in iowa, independent line. caller: good morning.

i am just calling about the debt ceiling. everybody knows, it has been said over and over that a majority of it came from the trump administration. i remember during the trump administration -- how much does it cost to go to mar-a-lago golfing every weekend? what does that cost the government? to think that people are going to support this man, they are worried about the debt limit and what to bring trump back into office. host: let us stick to the topic at hand as far as the debt ceiling is concerned, what is your message to washington? caller: it needs to be raised because of trump, trump's administration. that is why it needs to be raised, he spent a whole lot of money unnecessarily and if they want to elect him in the future,

just like you bankrupt all his companies, bankruptcy seven times, what makes them think he will not bankrupt the country? host: democrats line. caller: i am on social security. for them to touch my social security after i worked all those years, they have all the self checkout lines, they need to hire people and stop that and we could have money going into social security. all of the rollbacks taking jobs , than the politicians themselves. i do not see them cutting their paychecks. why are they missing with the poor and elderly? we pay more taxes than anybody. but our money is not being used in the right way.

that is how i feel about what they are doing to us. it is a conflict of interest. you are not getting the right care when you go there. nothing is helping the people, all this other stuff they are talking about is taking away from what they should be taking care of. though congress and the senate, because i am saying both are doing the wrong thing. congress, give us some of your money. put it back in the public. host: we will continue with your calls, taking a look at the idea of your message to congress on the debt ceiling. several of you bringing up debt accumulated by a certain administration, usa today highlighted what administrations

had accumulated from 2021 to the present, the term of joe biden 1.8 trillion plus followed by former president trump over one term, $8.2 trillion. barack obama over to terms, $8.3 trillion. when you go back to the presidency of george w. bush, $6.1 trillion. bill clinton, 1.4 trillion and it goes on from there if you're interested in taking a look at that. that is usa today. sandra in ohio, independent line. your message on the debt ceiling. caller: hi, this is sandra. no other government is more corrupt than joe biden's and he is taking this into another war.

he has personal interests, him and his son, all over the world with his family making money off of our government. host: today's discussion is the debt ceiling, what is your message to washington? caller: we do not need any more debt, we have got enough. they blackmail us with social security. i am in social security and my income is reduced -- my husband died suddenly, it is reduced by six figures. i live strictly on that. i am in a nursing home right now and anybody ever take a math course? at least donald trump was a businessman, like him hate him. he turned us around and told the other countries and they respected him. they do not respect this idiot with all of these robots behind

him. host: next in new york, independent line. go ahead. you are on. caller: you know, we cannot keep talking about the past. everybody is talking about the past. what is done is done, we have to pay her bills. we cannot negotiate with guns. take care of the debt now, fix a going forward. let us get this done. we have to pay our debts. host: what makes you think it will be fixed in the future? caller: maybe we could tie it to some sort of process, maybe we can get congress to say ok, we have to even this whole thing out. but not with a gun to your head. it has to be tied to something. host: but not the debt ceiling? caller: not the debt ceiling this year, no. pay your bills.

moving forward, we have to have a process to make sure we do not get into this debt year after year. what is the meaning of insanity? doing the same thing over and over again and hoping it will be fixed. host: calling and with that message, you have heard positioning currently from the white house. you heard from the white house press secretary. it was after they pass the debt ceiling bill starting point last month that speaker mccarthy went to cameras, talking about the passage of the bill talking about what it means as far as these discussions that will culminate today at the white house, here is a little bit from speaker mccarthy last month. [video clip] >> house republicans passed the only bill in washington that lifts the debt limit, ends wasteful spending and puts america back on the right economic path.

we are going to limit growth in the future, save by peeling back unspent covid money, make us energy independent, get more people back to work. the sad part here is democrats need to do their job. the president can no longer ignore and not negotiate. if schumer thinks he has got a plan, put it on the floor, see if you can pass it. the president can no longer put this economy in jeopardy. we lifted the debt limit, we sent it to the senate. we have done our job, the only body that has. the senate, have to give them credit. they have congratulated yukon for their basketball win but have done nothing when it comes to the economy or debt limit. host: that a speaker mccarthy

last month. what he says today at the meeting, who knows, but we will keep following on the networks. you can watch along on the main networks and follow along on the app and watch whatever plays out on our website. from facebook posting on the message to washington on the debt ceiling, forget about feelings. cut costs and spending, debt costs us all. another same hold speaker mccarthy, democrats have never cut spending, save for defense. they cannot be trusted to agree with any spending cuts. if you want cuts, they have to be linked to debt ceiling negotiations. lift the debt ceiling by executive order, force the government into default. that should play out well on tv and highlight advantage

president biden. those are some postings on facebook if you want to put your thoughts there, twitter is available as well. let us hear from thomas in florida, good morning. caller: i will keep a very brief. in regard to the chart showing debt by president, it is a little misleading because people have a misconception about national debt. people think the u.s. debt is debt outstanding to other countries, the biggest holders of u.s. debt or u.s. national banks. you see trump increase the debt by $8 trillion in one term, but you have to measure that by the offset of growth the mystic product. he invested in the country in such a way that the return of the debt was worth it. unemployment went down, rose to product went up, the stock market went up. you have to look at both

factors. host: before you go, tell us what you think as far as the debt ceiling is concerned. caller: it is necessary as the population increases, there is no choice. it has to go up. host: does it have to go up with spending cuts in mind? caller: smart cuts. if you were to look under our budget with a microscope, you could find things we could eliminate. host: your message to washington is what we are focused on, call on the lines, post on social media or text us if you want at (202) 748-8003. primarily we will hear from you during the course of these three hours, also a couple of reporters are joining us to highlight the process is the meeting takes place later today. joining us is a white house reporter, good morning. set the stage is far as expectations are concerned and how higher expectations?

guest: they are very low. this is their first meeting in three months, i do not want to be too much of a pessimist about it. there are talks going on. to recap the positions, biden is saying there should not be a debt ceiling standoff related to spending. he thinks mccarthy is holding the debt limit hostage for a spending deal. mccarthy says ending spending deal for his members are contingent on the debt ceiling talks. so they are talking past each other right now. i think we will get more of that today. if you want to take a more optimistic view, biden -- he says they will talk today about what they want to do in terms of spending. the budget deficit is a big number, both parties are worried about it. the problem they have is they have pretty opposite paths for shrinking it. you can shrink it into two ways

or mix in two ways. republicans are focused on spending cuts, biden is focused on tax increases for corporations and high earners. that is the standoff they are in right now, it is a big number. host independent think tanks think this needs to be addressed. debt service costs, that is the amount we pay in interest to maintain it, they are forecast to exceed defense spending over the next decade. a significant milestone. meanwhile, the clock is ticking. depending on who you ask, the deadline could be three or four weeks from now, could be three or four months. no one seems to have an answer and washington is so deadline driven that is the x factor. host: you said the president was starting to fudge a little bit, i want to ask if there is a softening going on, what areas

could that look like? guest: they've been saying we are not here to negotiate over the debt limit, that is a physician they've held for some time. if your negotiating partner thinks it is on the table, someone has to blank. i do not think either side is winking right now, but biden is saying we are not negotiating on the debt limit but i am having speaker mccarthy at the white house for a conversation. it is possible they could get the wheels rolling. we refer to what happened in the senate, republican saying we will not sign onto any plan to raise the debt limit and they clean hike, increasing it without spending reform is part of it. that eliminated the option the senate was going to come writing over the hill and save things from the impasse between speaker mccarthy and president biden. people think there is time, some runway and they will get a deal

because they are incentivized to. we often lose sight of what is at stake. the numbers we are talking about, $31 trillion in debt, something near 50 trillion at the end of 10 years. they are unfathomable numbers. i have trouble wrapping my head around them. the risk is a default. if the u.s. defaults, the cost goes up. if you are worried about the money we are spending right now, you are going to be really worried if it starts getting more expensive to have that debt and that is what would happen. markets would go down, u.s. credit rating would be downgraded. it was still downgraded when they got too close to the edge. there can be problems in the markets even without a default. if there is a default, that gets messy quickly and that is why you are hearing conversation

about these third options, things like the 14th amendment. host: it was late last week the president floated that, the treasury secretary was asked about it. what is the white house position currently on the idea? you may want to explain it for the audience. guest: if they get to the point where they say we are going to default tomorrow, there is no deal, what do we do? in case of emergency break glass options, all of them are pretty much guaranteed to end up in court. one is the 14th amendment which the theory is the president could ignore it and start going around it. that would be litigated. minting the coin is a trendier, more recent thing. the treasury department printing a $1 trillion coin, depositing it at the bed.

republicans flirted with other options 12 years ago when we were in a similar situation, prioritization. the treasury picking and choosing what it can pay and what it will not pay to buy more time. that is difficult, people like jay powell have said that is not workable, the system is not hardwired that way. powell back then was a think tank guy going around washington. now he is the fed chair doing the same thing. these are all extreme options, i think they would only be ruled out if they got to the absolute precipice of things. i do not think anyone wants to see that happen. will they see movement today? may be. another question is a short-term deal, kicking the can down the road for a temporary suspension of the debt limit to buy time to go through the spending process,

the normal appropriations process. biden would certainly like to do that. you heard mention of the covid money, the covid emergency is lifting and some things are going with that. title 42 is going with that. travel restrictions are going away. maybe a window, given the covid emergency is lifting for movement on covid money. does that by them space to step forward on some kind of deal? host: when the president's negotiating, he is looking for some type of resolve. if he is not getting that from speaker mccarthy, he will probably not get it from senator mcconnell. who does he look to, are there republicans on the fence he could look to as far as getting support? guest: he has tried. there has been a discharge petition that would allow house democrats to go around mccarthy. you need a handful of republicans on board and none

have signaled that they would. we mentioned the senate going away. fewer than 40 republican saying they would not buy onto anything, biden might have a pass. more than 40 means they get to do as the 60 vote threshold. biden has been waiting to see what happens. there is not a guarantee mccarthy would pass the bill in the first place. a long stretch of votes needed to win the speakership has left him a precarious footing where the threshold for him facing a potential booting for the job by members is lower than it would be normally. now, it is sort of consolidated. it is the two of them is the short answer. host: about 11 working days until the deadline, the president is supposed to travel to the g7. any talk of postponing the trip to resolve the issue? guest: no talk of that yet.

a single digit days almost where the president, the speaker and senate leaders are in washington at the same time. the deadline is a moving part. we do not want to lose sight of that. a new forecast saying it could be early june, could be early august. it depends how much the treasury department is raking in in the aftermath of tax season and that sort of thing. if it is june 1, we are up against it. secretary ellen said it could be in the weeks afterwards. if you make it to mid june, other things kick in, you could get to july and maybe early august. that is the moving part. we might be up against in a few weeks, we might not be. nobody knows and that is adding to the uncertainty. it is not reason for calm, because washington tends to only move when the chips are down, we are right up against a deadline.

when no one knows what the deadline is, that does not leave incentive for them to back down or blank. host: what else do we know about? the meeting -- know about the meeting? guest: it is an interesting set up. senators are saying they are out of it, it is between biden and mccarthy. hakeem jeffries will be in the meeting. what we hear from the president afterwards, we'll speaker mccarthy come out over my shoulder to speak to reporters as he has done in the past? maybe. i would set expectations and incremental hint of movement being a positive, no one is expecting a major breakthrough. no movement, people digging in, is a bad sign. we will see what are already tumbling waves going through financial markets as investors try to figure out if the u.s.

debt is as reliable as we thought it was. host: josh wing grove joining us , thanks for your time today. back to your calls, your message to washington when it comes to the debt ceiling. randy in texas, democrats line. caller: it is independent line. host: i will ask you to try to call back on that line, we still have two hours to go. give us a call back. let us hear from thierry in new jersey on the republican line. go ahead. caller: i have a solution from a very old person. taking politics all out of it. cut everybody's pay in the house until they solve the problem, see how quickly they get back to work on it. host: what ensures you that will

be the solution? caller: our senators and house representatives have become very political, they will have to do something without the political parties being involved. when they stop getting paid, they are going to work on it. host: from california, this is rodney, democrats line. caller: i had to call back, i got caught off some kind of way. one of your callers a long time ago, andrew, he hit the nail on the head for me. the population keeps growing. we welcome people to this country. but the budget has got to get larger, the debt is going to get larger. you have to spend money to make money. joe biden has lowered the debt,

by the way. i am sure you have those numbers. real fast, obama was handed a recession and joe biden was basically handed this inflation. i do not care what nobody says. if it was not for the pandemic that trump handled so sloppily, all the people died, he did not handle it properly. two of the trillion was to try to make up and help people out, get them back on their feet and whatnot and get the country going again. we have got to take care of people. host: debra in ohio, republican line. caller: i have a couple of points, then i would like to offer a solution.

there is a group, nonpartisan that was established in 1984 in washington. it is called citizens against government waste. anyone in the audience can go to the website, you can pull it up and look at what they look at, which is a number of things in the budget, this huge bill that we voted in last december. the problem is, there is so much in the bill that we really should negotiate. i think the thing republicans are looking at negotiating on our reasonable, someone described it as a baby step. i think that is the right thing to do. it's unfortunate this is a political win or loss, it is unfortunate in our government because we the people lose, whether we are democrats or republicans.

i have the utmost respect for everyone who calls in, because we may disagree, but the key is we are listening to one another. my solution is we need the 28th amendment, the 28th amendment would be regular order, single subject legislation. we should be discussing the budget going forward in the sections, like everyone has to do. if you work for a major company, here's $2 million, spend it anyway you want no. no, you have to describe it. the people who are listening to this call right now, if you call your government and say i demand regular order, i want the budget process to approve going forward , regardless of whether democrats or republicans are in office. host: the citizens against

government waste group that you described, we had them on this program last saturday to talk about the latest when it comes to what they see as concerns about spending. if you want to see that, go to our website c-span.org. this is from last saturday, all available at the website. jerome is in wisconsin, independent line. caller: i think there is a lot of political posturing going on. republicans in the house want to hold things up. i feel like that is what was done with trump, you put up the graphs talking about numbers, but when comments brought it up there were more jobs, benefits

-- it is a republican speaking point now. you said it was just numbers, but that is why numbers are so high in terms of the $8 trillion in debt, the recovery and all of that. there's also a lady talking about fear mongering, she said she was a social security recipient and was saying how basically democrats are fear mongering, saying social security will be gone and so forth. if you like that was a valid point. host: asi feel like it's too hi. for 10 years it's going to be going up. it's just entirely too much. like one guy said, i think it was thomas or andrew they keep doing the same thing you are

expecting a different result, at some point we just can't lay the problem at the president's feet and say you need to fix this and it's your problem. we need to look at all the people we are electing and why do we continue to go with that same cycle. host: ok that is jerome finishing off the first hour. keep in mind you can choose a variety of ways to make that message known. perhaps you want to call us (202) 748-8000 per democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. and independents (202) 748-8002. you may want to text us at (202) 748-8003. and you may want to post on social media facebook's facebook .com/c-span and twitter is at c-span wj.

also hearing from people in washington, d.c. as they are out and about being asked a question about the debt ceiling. [video clip] >> get it over with, right? all the political gains past their portion of it last week and obviously the other side is just, they are not going to be -- whatever was available just looking at it like you know we are not going to do it. all the political gains going back and forth we just need to get it over with. raise it, get over it so we can continue to move on. >> my name is peter i'm from springfield, virginia. i think both parties should

get together and take care of the job. get the debt ceiling raised and take care of the american citizens. >> i'm from jacksonville, florida. i think that we are just on both sides of the aisle having issue and not preparing for the future. i would like to see both sides take this seriously. >> i'm michelle, salem, massachusetts. my message is please work together. we have more in common then we have different. work together and let's get this done. host: starting off our second hour on your message to washington on the debt ceiling, this is greg in texas, democratic line. caller: good morning. i believe the debt ceiling must be independent of any restriction. the real problem is failure to

produce the budget. the only restriction put on the debt ceiling is there should be no more -- the president and congress must approve the budget by the end of the fiscal year for the entire fiscal year. you've got to vote. thank you. host: mark joins us from pennsylvania, republican line. caller: we have to do something about our spending because the debt limit is a symptom of our spending. there are only nine countries that have more debt gdp than we do. people are really feeling civics classes here. congress makes the spending bill , they appropriate the money. secondly, congress has been negligent of cussing budgets. we haven't had a budget in decades.

when we hear the president or another democrat say we just need to do this, they don't do bills they just pull these out of the closet and nobody ever sees them and they put on them. what causes this problem and it's not money that's already been spent. it's money that has already been appropriated so that's another misconception people keep calling about. i believe the solution is to allow congress only to make spending bills for one year and they can't have spending bills to go out five and 10 years because that's not fair to the next congress. they have a spending bill that went five and 10 years this is an example for the irs agents. that's going to be in perpetuity. one congress shouldn't be allowed to do that without going through regular order and everything else. we are not doing what we are supposed to do in our government . they are not basing budget on regular order or revenue, they

are spending 10 or 15 years out with no consideration for what it's going to do to the next generation. when the people call and say spend the money, give them some more, that's a green light to keep on spending. they've already wasted your money and not your sink just keep on spending that's not the way this is supposed to be done. it's supposed to be negotiated. they negotiated the bill, they passed it, it's now in the democrats'hands to make the appropriate cuts. host: that was mark in pennsylvania. with your from justin in california. caller: think you for taking my call on the huge can of "washington journal". the last time we had debt limit and it looked like we might default i heard on a sunday talk show that we actually get enough income every month from orderly -- quarterly taxes to cover the

debt limit. to pay it. but it's a matter of what do we pay first, what do we pay second? i called in to c-span at that time. i don't remember the gentleman's name but he confirmed that yes we do get enough money every month but just enough -- will they choose to pay the debt for? what do they pay first? so that's going to be the decision. i wonder if you can ask your next guest who gets to choose what gets paid first, second, or third? is it medicare, people in the military? who gets paid in what order. is it mandated by law? host: i will tell you this, we have had several segments taking a look at that ceiling issues. part of the discussion if default does happen it probably

would be better to go back to our website and check those segments out for yourself. c-span.org is how you do that. type those key search features into the search box and they will pull up segments and other things and events we are taking in on these issues. again the website is c-span.org. under president donald trump republicans repeatedly acted to numerous default without demands to produce spending. pratt sent -- since partisan biden has taken over republicans has seized on that x-date to advance their agenda. last month house republicans but their latest gambit into motion, the chamber adopted a bill that would increase the debt ceiling into next or while cutting federal spending by 3.5 trillion over the next decade.

the presidents top priority including plans to cancel some student debt receive medicaid and food stamps. we should earlier the graphic about the limit spending act. i got that title wrong but we will show that when we have the bullet points. and the start of the negotiating when it comes to today's meeting at 4:00 this afternoon with the president and the key leaders of congress. go to c-span2 keep up with any news that comes out. cindy, wisconsin, democrat line. caller: i'm calling to let them know that i think they are doing wrong because they need to make a decision. they need to send the debt ceiling over and send it through because the only ones that are going to hurt from this are those that get six income --

fixed income such as veterans, disabled, social security. we pay into this all our working life and now if this does not through we don't get paid. we can't pay our bills. go ahead, send it through, then start from the very next day or even the next hour afterwards then sit down and figure out how you can fix it for the next time. but do it so that us fixed income people and the veterans and the ones that work hard all their lives don't have to suffer. host: ok. that's cindy there in wisconsin. with your from james in maryland, independent line. caller: thanks for taking my call. the reason republicans didn't submit a budget is because they want to cut all this social security spending so that when

they do submit their budget they can submit tax cuts for the rich. that's the reason why we are having a problem right now. we are getting the budget passed, getting the deficit increased. under trump they had no problems increasing the debt ceiling. but here it is now, there's a democrat in office, they want to put all these restrictions on it. these restrictions are so they can use it to use it for tax cuts because what they're going to say is will we saved all this money with all these program coats so now we are able to give tax cuts to the richest people in the country. i just think that is wrong. host: maryland, democrat when

your next, hello. caller: i just wanted to say i think the big issue really is about educated america. and getting a little bit tired of whether what they think we need to cut the budget. we don't really get into the details i'm not talking about the short-term to come to an agreement on the debt ceiling i'm talking about longer-term the previous caller talking about 10 years which i think is a tradition to come out with a 10 year plan. that's been the weight things have been played for decades. if you want to cut things tell me what you want to cut because we know very well just looking at passed budgets, 70 or 75% is entitlements. so there's not much left to cut

unless you want to take a close look at those expenses. rather than make these broad statements about we need to cut, which obviously a lot of americans say i agree we need to spend less. you need to get to the next level and educate people. if you want to cut, we make a decision. host: that's jim in maryland the publication of baron takes a look at what happens to certain payments if the debt ceiling default does occur they write that if the debt ceiling isn't raised u.s. may not have enough money to pay all its money on time. the covering of its obligations with the cash that flows and which can vary greatly from day to day. if it misses a payment to bondholders the government enters default.

if money is short it will be unable to move social security to nearly 70 million recipients. or any of the countless programs or contractors that get paid by the federal government social security is funded in large part with dedicated payroll to that trust fund makes social security a government bond holder. what might transpire his worst-case scenario if anyone's educated guess on the center for budget and policy priority there is no roadmap for default, because the idea is not default. if the government doesn't have enough money it holds off paying anything until congress rebuilds. it goes on from there to discuss social security and other

programs that might get affected if a default occurs. today at the white house, trying to negotiate some path forward. the debt ceiling is at the center of the issue and we are asking what's your message to washington on that when it comes to the negotiations in the larger aspect of the debt ceiling. you can call us, text us, post on social media. next up. caller: think you for taking my call. i'm a republican but i totally agree with the previous caller and i think he was a democrat. that's something you don't hear often. i'm actually calling and because i heard yesterday on the same subject and other republican talking about the number of government employees. that's just incorrect.

that's false information. i'm a government employee myself. there are 2 million civilian government employees working for the federal government. 18.2 million is the number for the federal government and all the states and municipalities combined. if we consider the size of our economy, that's not a huge number. host: our discussion about the debt ceiling, what is your thought on that? caller: yeah, i think we need to actually go ahead and increase the debt ceiling. at the same time have a long-term plan to implement which requires both sides of the aisle to come together and degree. actually implementing something with a long-term strategy. making cuts now, huge cuts like the republicans want, we can't just continue with the same rhetoric of slash cuts but at

the same time default our debt. neither of those work. in addition to raising the debt ceiling. host: lee out of washington. good morning. caller: i would just say president biden needs to get off the throne and he needs to negotiate. this is not a time to stand firm. and let everything fall apart. it's out of control, there's not enough accountability, it's outrageously paying for trail dedicated to michelle obama something like that. things need to be tightened up. the banks are in trouble. things need to happen and they need to negotiate and make it so it's a win/win. host: if it's a congressional

issue why place the burden on president biden? caller: when reagan was in office he demanded that the federal government be slashed that there's too much waste. he demanded accountability on the other end. he's the president. he needs to act like one and not pull this thing into disaster. i think he needs to come down and work with the government, work with the senate. and make something better for everybody. host: ok, randy in west virginia. good morning. caller: my thing is why don't they just do this? leave social security and medicare alone. let the republicans have their cut. and let the democrats take all the trust taxes back. that's all i have to say, thank you. host: joining us in a

conversation that will last three hours today on the program , your message to washington when it comes to the debt ceiling. you can keep calling in (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. and (202) 748-8002 for independents. our facebook page is facebook.com/c-span and you can always post on twitter @c-span w j. budget and appropriation for politico here is the congress's perspective on today's meeting, good morning. guest: good morning. host: what's the mood on congress as far as today? guest: i think everybody is waiting to see if any movement comes out of this meeting at all with the white house this afternoon. president biden is expected to meet with the top four congressional leaders at 4:00 p.m. the white house is refusing to

negotiate over the debt ceiling. clean debt ceiling height while republicans have been demanding a number of different spending concessions and both sides have been in a deadlock so everybody is waiting to see if the stalemate can break if there's any kind of movement at all. just basically waiting to see what the next step forward is. the president met with -- hasn't met with mccarthy since february. everybody is just kind of waiting to see if anything comes of it at all. host: if something does come forward, do the leaders have to convince their majorities to go along? talk about the house in that regard. it is are they supporting speaker mccarthy on some path forward? guest: speaker mccarthy has a difficult path forward appeasing his caucus with some kind of deal.

he has may be four votes to lose if everybody is present. he managed to pass a debt ceiling package narrowly it's weaved through the house. that would have raised the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion it also would have cut $130 billion in discretionary spending which is a tremendous amount of money. if this package -- this package barely got through the house. there was a lot of flat -- last-minute changes. you had members who wanted to go even farther saying this bill should be a floor so he's got a difficult job on his hands when it comes to appeasing every single public, hard link a number of different factions there so whatever gets negotiated with the white house will extensively be a lot less severe when it comes to cutting

spending in terms of what he was able to pass through the house. a lot of different personalities to satisfy. host: show people atome the bullet points of this package that was passed in the house just a few weeks ago with that in mind moving over to the senate, what is senator schumer dealing with as far as getting something done? guest: he has really interesting problem on his hands. he h senators who so quietly calling for negotiations with the white house. senator manchin put out a public statement saying that the president needs to start negotiating with speaker mccarthy. democrats have been largely in lockstep with the white house saying they are not going to negotiate over the debt ceiling. this is something that should just be raised you should not be holding this issue hostage for any kind of spending cut or

anything like that. so using senator manchin say it's time for the president to start negotiating. senator sinema who has been having dinner with speaker mccarthy and expressing support for some kind of bipartisan deal , democrats are largely in lockstep but you have these to purchase from the rest of the party on a number of different issues have shown an interest in working with republicans unlike other democrats. host: factor into that as well if you would senator lee from utah, the letter he drafted, the senators behind him as far as supporting the house republicans. guest: we saw his mother over the weekend. republicans are in no circumstance going to support a clean debt ceiling increase. this included the gop leader mitch mcconnell which is notable because they want senator

mcconnell to get involved but he has it over and over again that any deal has to come from speaker mccarthy and president biden. it's notable to have the senate republican conference so united behind speaker mccarthy like this. when it comes to the debt limit there's only a few more weeks may be to negotiate some kind of deal and we are seeing no willingness from republicans to step in and bail the country out by supporting some sort of clean debt limit increase. host: you have a story this morning, and another group taking out and taking look at the x-date tell people what was discovered. guest: a think tank that specializes in predicting when the treasury department can't pay the bills anymore expect that date to fall somewhere between early june and early august. this is in line with what we are seeing from government and other independent forecasters. we have this problem of not knowing whether it is a treasury

department that can make it past june 15. it's dependable on federal cash flow subject to a lot of change so if the treasury department can make it to june 15 by paying the bills, quarterly tax receipts will come and that might carry the treasury department through the end of june when another, about $145 billion will help the treasury department keep borrowing for a few more weeks into the summer. that would push the whole crisis into july or august at the latest. really, no one is sure if treasury can make it to mid june. that is one of the uncertain factors is whether not congress has a genuine debt ceiling crisis on their hands in just a few weeks or if we have several more weeks over the summer to figure this out. host: i thought itjoining us fr,

thanks for your time today. guest:thank you. host: we are about halfway through our program today. you can call us, text us, post on social media we will take all those sources for the next hour until 10:00. alan in washington state, republican line. thanks for waiting, you are next up. caller: it's pretty simple. all you got to do is do away with the department of education it's wasted, useless, and cut all of biden's climate change

nonsense. no money for that. and if you cut those and cut the money to the agencies then you don't have to worry about it. host: from larry in texas, democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. every expert on our economy has said not lifting the debt ceiling is not an option based on the repercussions it would create. however, i have three things effort like to really say. i have been waiting over 30 days. all of us, with republican or democrat we have to be more careful about who we are sending to washington. these democrats and republicans, for over 20 years some of them, they got to this point. i didn't realize how serious not

lifting the debt ceiling was. i didn't realize how serious it was not to have a budget. it's just mind-boggling to me how the first think when they went back to congress, they started investigating hunter biden. why? if it's the serious they should have been working on this budget. why haven't they talked about auditing our defense? but the republicans saying cut defense funding is not an option. that is ludicrous. we've got a space program, a space program, why? so many people here right now are suffering we are talking about a space program? look at our defense. i'm sure they can do in audit to find out how much we are wasting versus social security versus dealing with veterans. people we have to be more careful about who we are sending

to washington to represent us. host: ok, that was larry in texas let's hear from emily in florida. caller: think you for having me on. i was calling because the color front of the department of education. i think media literacy is super important. in those terms, the national debt ceiling i think is very hard for a lot of americans to really understand, regular americans. i'm kind of interested in how people think like socialism, fundamental building blocks are already present in helping in society or could help. host: as far as the debt ceiling it so, what would be your concerns and what is the message to washington? caller: i would say it's a communication part from politicians. it's very, like, unclear.

it would be really helpful to understand for most people, like, what the actual -- with the actual stakes are, how we should approach this, there's more things that could help people be more informed. like, how they should be voting for politicians. but also -- host: ok let's go to rodney in north carolina, democrat line. hello. rodney in north carolina? hi. caller: is that me? host: if you are rodney from north carolina. caller: it's robert. host: go ahead. caller: i don't think there should be a linkage between paying a bill and having a bill

for the future to come up for future spending. we have to pay our bills. this is where we are and i believe it's been said when donald trump was in office they raised the debt ceiling three times. i remember ronald reagan when he talked about the debt and he built it out. only one time i remember this debt has, we had a clean budget that was under bill clinton and about 90 days after he left within the presidency of george bush, it was blown out again because of those two wars. we want to turn around and i want to hear them say they get social security to live off of and you're not going to pay these guys? you're not going to pay the

military? you're not going to pay the federal workers that keeps the government working because of political? i really do think, pager, that pay the bills and then go back into negotiation with what are we going to do for our future bills? host: that was robert in north carolina. congress is always acted or called upon to raise the debt limit since 1960. congress has acted 78 separate times to raise, temporarily extend or revise the definition of the debt limit 49 times under republican, 29 times under democratic presidents. congressional leaders in both parties have recognized that's necessary. or information on the treasury department. it was president biden last week on msnbc talking about the debt limit and asked about his perspective of it in the option the white house has.

is some of that discussion. [video clip] >> members of congress it might be ok with this defaulting they think it could hurt you more politically. given that, are you prepared to invoke the 14th amendment to go to the debt ceiling? pres. biden: i'm not there yet. here's the deal, i think that -- first of all this is not your father's republican. this is different. this is a different group. i think we have to make it clear to the american people that i am prepared to negotiate in detail how much you're going to spend, how much are going to tax, where you're going to cut. in the first two years i could the debt by $1.7 trillion. 1.7 more than anyone has done in history. there is no, there's no possible way they can pass their budget. zero.

i shouldn't get going on that. >> when you say this is not your father's republican party, is kevin mccarthy an honest broker for you to negotiate with? pres. biden: i think he's an honest man. he had to make a deal that was pretty you know, 15 votes where he sold away everything that he, that the far right i made the republican party is the maga republicans. they have put him in a position where in order to stay speaker he has to agree to things that may be believes but are just extreme. host: let's hear from dave in florida, republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. we the people have a big voice on this and that is, i agree with the couple callers with

larry from texas we have to vet the people who revoke for a lot better. we vote these people in we have to do a better job of making sure that these people that we vote in represent us. and that they do what we want them to do they are supposed to be doing our bidding, not the other way around. for too long they have gotten away with it. they have gotten away with doing what they want to do. it's time to turn this around. host: specifically the debt ceiling where you on that? caller: i think we should try and to a two-year budget. to allow a little bit of flexibility. they have a hard time doing an annual budget, they can even do that. host: caller: also with these career politicians, i think the time has come for term limits. host: keeping up with the debt ceiling do you think this is the right time to have these discussions over a budget negotiation?

caller: well, the government has to be able to pay its bills. i'm a 100% disabled veteran. i've done my job. i've done my duty. it's time for the politicians to do their duty and that's to fund me and the rest of the veterans and the rest of the people that depend on the government for their pay, for our pay. host: ok. danny in south carolina, your message to washington on the debt ceiling, good morning. caller: my message is mr. biden, i am one of them maga republicans and when we can't afford chicken around here we eat bologna and when we can pay the light bill we have to sacrifice somewhere else to pick a light bill. seems like in washington the debt ceiling doesn't end.

if you pay attention to what's going on in california right now , if they get through but they are wanting to put there in california and give everybody $1.2 million there is no telling what this debt ceiling is going to do and i would rather fix it while it's cracking then wait until it explodes. that's all i've got to say, have a nice day. host: wayne in minnesota, democrat line. good morning. caller: my only suggestion, i think this is the one cent tax. all the buyers in this country pulltabs and that goes to special interest groups. there's no bigger special interest group, put a one cent

tax on every pulltabs at assault and pay off that debt in no time. host: that was wayne in minnesota. a couple of opinions from various newspapers. the meeting with the president and congressional leaders, this from the new york times. or americans serious? the editors write up government cannot debate whether the -- president biden there is a difference between talking about the federal debt and talking about the debt ceiling. congress has an obligation to pay for its already owed congressional republicans ought to spend more time talking with each other about the future borrowing. given the popularity of the programs that account for the vast majority of spending the most sensible way to reduce broad money is raising taxes. democrats may also have to accept that having to help get rid of the debt ceiling it will

require spending cuts too. they could illuminate the duo sewing -- debt ceiling but they could have voted to provide sufficient borrowing capacity until 2024 instead they chose this confrontation to eliminate the debt ceiling, quick, irresponsible other democrats appeared to relish the politics of a fight now they are facing the consequences which will most likely include a partial reversal of legislative victory won during biden's first two years. that is from a section of the washington post this morning. the wall street journal, they write this president biden meets tuesday with congressional leaders at the white house to discuss the federal debt limit. gop leaders kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell could divorce then appoint the congressional budget on this budget review for april it shows continues the story even as tax revenues

decline they go on to write the big culprit is venting which is of 12% or 400 billion including timing adjustments, 11% education spending, student loan changes up 56% and get this, interest on the national debt rose 40% that's already 374 billion for the first several months. that's what happens when interest rates spike 500 basis points in a year. federal spending helped to ignite. the economy slows an individual income taxes held a page -- helped 15%. it could be lower than expected realizations of capital gains. all of this screams the urgent need to slow the growth of federal spending house republicans did as part of their debt ceiling increase bill. your move, mr. biden. again that's the wall street journal if you want to check out their website.

let's hear from harry in north carolina, independent line. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: the thing that we have to do is realize when donald trump was in office tax cuts for the rich, that's what's killing us now. we paid $155 billion a year so he could play golf. if we don't undo those tax cuts that he gave us there is no way out. republicans know that at the democrats know that and also term limits, diane feinstein who is worth $90 million is stopping us from getting judges put on the bench. host: ok. point pleasant beach, republican line. caller: how are you?

i'm one of those ultra- maga republicans and sometimes they can't -- there believing donald trump for text rates? the economy was roaring for four years outnumber these people are living. as far as paying the debt, democrats want to use the 14th amendment. you know what that was made for? during the civil war they put that in to make sure that the southern democrats never got back into power that they would pay the debt off from the war. the civil war. which is a war that happened before. we had to pay that debt. i don't have to pay, my kids don't have to pay for a ukrainian war, we are paying for that. that money should go to to the inner cities of our countries to help them.

we are giving ukraine billions of dollars for what? if trump was in office he would have that were over in a couple of weeks. everything he said about that man, he is a man of peace. host: david on the line from illinois, hello. caller: hello? host: you are on, go ahead. caller: i think the democrats should negotiate. i've think your are the negotiating points, the tax-cut, cancel the automatic weapon and get an immigration policy. want to negotiate, let's negotiate. host: as far as -- go ahead finisher thought. caller: those of the things that need to be done. if these kids want to negotiate,

let's negotiate. let's get things done that need to get done. voting rights need to be done for everyone. quick cutting voting rights for people. host: roberta hello. caller: a lot of our deficit is due to a long history of tax cuts that started with ronald reagan. if we continue the family budget, if there is a family that has a big debt they might get a second job to pay off the debt. so i suggest that the wealthy return some of their generous and gratuitous tax cuts that they not earned over the years. host: that's roberta in california. oklahoma republican jim langford

talked about debt ceiling negotiations and as far as them being a vehicle to talk about matters of spending here is some of his thoughts from sunday. [video clip] >> 2017 senator schumer said it was leverage for democrats to be able to negotiate with president trump. at that time senator biden was there under the bush administration, there were debt ceiling votes during that time he voted for one, he voted no on two of them and on two of them he didn't even show up to vote. on the two he voted loan on he put out a statement think of what has changed and we need to raise taxes at this point. he was using that time to raise taxes. speaker pelosi use the leverage to increase spending so it seems odd every time there's a republican involved in the debate someone talks about their is a great calamity. we always paid our bills but democrats and republicans have

both use this moment to be able to look and say let's talk about where we are going, what's the direction, what's the future? all of the increases under the trump administration, none of those were clean. speaker pelosi demanded funding for every single one of this. there is not this always clean. republicans are united to say we should look at debt and deficit and say whatever he going to slit on our spending. >> are you prepared to cut the kind of costs you are talking about? they should have set on months ago to be able to talk about

this but for whatever reason president biden has determined that he doesn't want to negotiate and said it's got to be clean and has made promises. if you do this today i promise i will do something later on on budget. host: that's oklahoma republican jim langford on that if you go to the treasury website they have fiscal data price that talks about the debt the united states holds. the u.s. has carried debt since its inception. over the next 45 years the debt continue to grow until 1835 when it shrank due to sales of federally owned land. events triggered large spikes including the afghanistan and iraq war, the 2000 a great recession and the covid-19 pandemic. spending increases by about 50% largely due to the covid-19 pandemic. increased government spending

and decreased tax revenue caused by widespread unemployment generally accounted for sharp rises in the national debt. more data there if you are interested about learning about the history of debt you can find the information on their website. let's go to indiana, this is from david, republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. we discussed a clip of reducing the deficit by -- the only reason that went down was because the covid requirements expired. [indiscernible] the debt limit at this point should be like senator langford said it's always both parties is always connected. it's a distraction the billions of dollars that we spent in

ukraine is on budget. it's a distraction for people to keep our minds from what's really going on. tomorrow we will find out about the money that went on to the bidens, thank you very much. host: carolyn, north carolina. your message to washington on the debt ceiling, hello? caller: good morning. my take on the debt ceiling is this, i know they are going to have to negotiate but the democrats are asking to negotiate they had no problem raising the debt ceiling during the trump administration three times. i don't know what the problem is this time. i know that we do need to increase our tax revenue but i don't see how it's possible for

an all of our companies are overseas. people here in the united states are making less money than they ever have made. that's my take. host: bob, indiana, republican line. caller: we have a debt ceiling at home. so we need a debt ceiling forever we are talking about expenses. i don't see a problem with that. like the guy said earlier if you can't eat more chicken, you if alani. -- baloney. then go to the things you have to have first and go to the items that you can negotiate on. over and out. host: that is bob there in indiana. gallup put out a poll taking a look at americans asked about their confidence about economic leaders here at the level of

confidence they have, they asked the question as far as how much confidence you have or to recommend to do the right thing for the economy when it came to president biden according to gallup and those serviced tempers and exposing they had agreed till confidence 25% fair amount of confidence, 15% only a little. 48% almost none. the federal reserve chairman jay powell expressing that the great deal of confidence 32% said a fair amount. 28% almost none. when it comes to the democratic leaders 7% of confidence in their ability to do the right thing 27% fair amount of confidence, 24%, little confidence and 41% saying almost none. republican leaders 7% again great till of confidence with 31% saying fair amount of confidence, 20% saying little

confidence, 33% saying almost none. gallup put that together you can find more of those results online let's go to stephen in springville, virginia. caller: i just wanted to say i heard you say something i thought was interesting a while back and that was this is up to congress. i believe that. this is not a presidential thing. take the actions and do things right for our country. this is a situation where they have to do it again. it's not a presidential thing, it's a congress thing. if they don't want to raise the debt ceiling than let america find out what it is that we voted for and who we voted for. because they will not pay our bills. host: as far is the spending issue, how would you resolve the spending concerns expert --

expressed. caller: that's what the budget is for. why are they even talking about this? if they want to decide these budgets, do it the way the american people voted for. go to their constituents and say this is what we voted for, this is what we have done. why would we not pay our bills and wipe with congress above all else, just be responsible for having to do it. why is this a presidential thing? it's congress. it's time for the american people to believe that. host: mack in south carolina, republican line. hello. caller: i just like to say that they should infect pay their bills. the bills that the trump regime ran up, those bills must be paid and in the end the country should also know that president

biden, he has a direct into the -- it doesn't matter what mccarthy says or does i need the and the president has the power to keep his oath of office and not let our country go into debt. host: as a republican you're not supporting the republicans on this? caller: no, i'm not. definitely not because i love democrats also, independents, i love them all. we are part of one nation. i'm a veteran. white soldiers, puerto rican soldiers we drink out of the same canteens, dragged each other off of the battlefields, that means something. donald trump didn't even show up to put on his uniform. so i don't want to hear about him. host: president biden didn't either. this is marty, louisiana, hello. caller: good morning, all.

my thing would be washington go ahead and take care of your business. pay your bills. when it comes time to renegotiate budgets look at how much money we are spending overseas annually to certain countries. there is only enough pie that can go around and we are automatically cutting a portion of the pie out to divvy up the rest to our americans. it will look smaller. my thing is, our elected officials even though they come out of mainly gerrymandered districts they should still think about what their population thinks in their state. overwhelmingly, i would suggest they advise the republicans to go along with this debt ceiling then get it out of the way and lets renegotiate and talk about all revenues.

revenues coming in, revenues going out. and the taxes given in the previous years that was a revenue strain so i would just ask that we go ahead, take care of business, pay our bills and then it's time to renegotiate. host: that's marty finishing off the second hour of our questions to you as far as your message on the debt ceiling to washington. here's how you can let us know (202) 748-8001 free democrats -- for republicans. (202) 748-8000 free democrats. (202) 748-8002 four independents. text at (202) 748-8003 and you can also post on twitter and facebook. we have been showing you portions of interviews and asking thoughts on the debt ceiling. let's hear a [video clip] >> there should be a debt

ceiling. that is an overused word. we need a debt ceiling. if you look at the past and the future, as i see it, it is going to break america. you cannot keep spending money you do not have. in a personal budget, you never do that. they think politics is way more important than the issue at hand. no one cares about politics, they care about being reelected. they do not give you a voice. we are looking into that, we are looking into that. i am old, those are thoughts when we grew up, we grew up under eisenhower and people that

valued values, not just i have a check and can spend it. so i am hoping they will stay in washington, d.c. and fix the problem rather than taking a three-month summer and we are still spending billions and billions of dollars. >> i am from washington, d.c. and i am a lifelong democrat since john f. kennedy, and i think the republicans are all wet. they should stop playing games with the debt ceiling and putting the country and our democracy at risk. i think president biden is taking the correct steps to go

forward. we have to raise the debt ceiling, plain and simple. we need to stop cutting actual programs that deserve to be funded. social security should not be cut. i think retirees who return to work should never pay taxes into social security again. the government should get their act together. all president biden, all democrats. i hope that we do not go into another situation where we are threatened with not being able to meet our debt obligations because of this merry-go-round, when republicans know they are wrong and should back down and actively, with real intent to negotiate a real deal to settle before. host: folks in and around

washington dc giving their thoughts, we are asking for your thoughts as well. donald in nebraska, independent line. caller: i do not think mccarthy has the guts to go through with it. he is a coward, everybody knows that. he said he would, i know he will not. host: what makes you think that? caller: look at the guy over the years, it is easy to tell who is a man and who is not, he is not a man. host: we will go to ron in pennsylvania, democrats line. caller: good morning. the republicans always talk about states rights, i think we ought to cut back on the disaster spending and raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy. talk about negotiation, let us

negotiate the disaster spending. but the states pay for disasters, see how that goes. host: that is not on the table, what do you think about the current negotiations and what should be done? caller: they definitely have to raise taxes, no doubt about it. the tax cuts that trump gave was definitely a disaster. it never should have been approved. the fact is, when you have a debt to pay, you have to get revenue from somewhere. it will have to come from taxes. that is my answer. host: republican line. caller: part of the problem is people are not looking at it

like inflation, the way it really is. it is a decrease in the value of the dollar and it is directly related to the amount of debt this country has. until we can look at it that way -- the federal reserve right now is firing a warning shot saying the way that we are spending money has got to increase interest rates to keep the value of the dollar where it needs to be. the more we keep -- the more debt we take on, the less value the dollar has. we are calling inflation. it gets to a point where we could get into hyperinflation.

the spending that was passed in the latest bill is not passed by this congress, it was passed by the previous congress. anyhow -- host: several factors leading up to the debt ceiling as it currently stands, the president meeting with congressional leaders, stay close to c-span to follow and see the results of the meeting. our website is always available, you can follow along on the networks and the c-span now app, you have the chance to download that. democrats line, this is sam in michigan. caller: i would like to reiterate about the 14% tax cut they gave to the ultrarich, did that add to the deficit? i did not think they were worried about that. the 2% they gave me for two

years -- i am a vietnam veteran on social security. the rich have still got the 14%. i had a 2% tax cut for two years , they took it back after that. i have no inclination to vote for trump to do this again. host: david is in kansas, on the line for republicans. hello. go ahead. caller: what i think we need to do -- i love the talk of minting the coin. people do not realize that most of the debt is owed to us. it is not owed by china or anything else. i was once a big trump rider, but what we need to do is make the coin, get past this and move on to better business.

host: david in kansas brings up the idea of a trillion dollar coin as part of the alternate plan if a plan does not emerge from discussions with the president and congressional republicans. yahoo! news picks it up saying a trillion dollar coin, invoking the 14th amendment, getting rid of the debt ceiling are a number of unusual solutions. it has got new attention this last week as skepticism about the agreement cannot be reached. all are considered longshots, advocates say there is opportunity. officials have called many ideas mimicry. they maintain unconventional ideas could find their way back to the negotiating table as chances of an economy risk default increase with each passing day. a professor is quoted saying how ludicrous things get -- one of

the most vocal advocates for the minting of a trillion dollar coin as a way of paying the country bills. the thing that makes the case for the coin is everybody else is acting foolish, like children. more if you want to read about the alternatives that could emerge as far as negotiations are concerned over the debt ceiling. you can find that on the yahoo! website. let us hear from david in north carolina. caller: they let him send all that money to ukraine, that put us in debt. host: carl is next in arkansas, republican line. caller: i came in late on the conversation, i thought we were talking about biden and macarthur. host: it is over the debt

ceiling, as far as your message to washington. caller: the debt ceiling, ok. my understanding is republicans have a bill for a budget, i guess. they submitted it to biden, they passed the bill. host: they passed a piece of legislation that uses a discussion point for negotiations, it is not a budget. they have not released a budget. caller: right, but they did increase the debt ceiling. in doing that, they also put cuts on the spending. raising the debt ceiling, they did. they also put the cuts in it to

make a budget. host: president biden was calling on republicans to produce a budget. president biden asked congressional republicans to produce a budget for discussion, they have not done so yet. caller: the republicans have got -- they have submitted a budget and he will not meet with them to talk about it. host: just to clarify a couple of weeks ago in the house, congressional republicans produced a debt ceiling plan as a basis for negotiation up for today's meeting, that includes raising the debt limit. it also asks for a reduction in spending coming to 2022 levels

to limit future spending growth to 1% annually. it would recover unspent funds offered through covid and the covid-19 pandemic, issue new work requirents for recipients of federal aid, call back funds for the irs, block student debt canceltion and repeal green energy programs. that is the basis when it comes to congressional republicans -- the president and congressional democrats poured cold water on that plan, as far as asking for a clean debt limit raise. all of that plays out today at 4:00 at the scheduled meeting. illinois, democrats line. hello. caller: thanks for taking my call. no one mentioned the organization, russia, india, china and south africa.

they are hoping we default on the debt limit. i can see where they are with the republicans on this one. host: why do you make that argument, why do you think they are hoping that happens? caller: they are trying to become the main money supply in the world. they are trying to outdo the american dollar and this would put a boost in their thinking, i would think. host: ray is joining us from tennessee on the line for republicans. caller: biden, he is not the one doing this. he is just a figurehead. they are telling him what to do and what to say, he cannot manage his own budget. host: the president of the united states is calling this meeting today. so as far as the debt ceiling,

what is your message to washington on it? caller: they need to get the things straightened out and quit spending like a bunch of drunken sailors. this country is spending money everywhere, we have a war going on overseas and spending billions of dollars we do not have that is not even in the budget. they need to get together in stop the spending. host: in west virginia, republican line. caller: hi. i think a lot of people are confusing things. the budget they are referring to that he needs to cut is the president's budget. the crazy amounts he is asking for, they are kind of holding

the debt ceiling as collateral, so to speak. i think they need to stand firm on it so the president stops wanting to spend incredible amounts of money. we cannot keep doing it. if you want to change that, that has nothing to do with the facts. that has to do with the way taxes are done. host: let us go to connie in california, independent line. caller: good morning, nice to talk to you. i want to talk about government should get their hands off social security and medicare. that should be put in a different category that should be put in the bank for us who have worked all our lives for it. i'm 85 years old, my husband died and i did not collect any social security from him, so

where is that money going? the government keeps borrowing or taking money from o o o o ol security, that is not fair. we worked our lives for it, we should have it for us for when we are old. medicare, they keep giving this a little raise then they keep taking it away from us. host: terry in virginia, independent line. go ahead. caller: i would like to say i do not hear anybody mentioning in this debt ceiling that biden and the democrats have definitely overspent. the house was not taken until january. why aren't they mentioning the work for welfare, all of this free stuff?

it needs to be stopped. work with the people. host: work requirements or changes to work requirements for some programs as part of the bill that was passed in the house a couple of weeks ago, serving as a point of discussion as far as the debt ceiling and finding ways to prevent it from defaulting, the purpose of today's meeting at 4:00. that is what we are talking about, your message to washington. someone from george mason university in virginia, robinson professor of public affairs writes how the debt standoff might end and writes this, considering his previous time of serving as an economic columnist. for most republicans, the biggest risk is a primary challenge from the trump right.

the next best outcome is one that allows them to claim credit grabbing forces democrats to accept significant spending cuts and avoid blame for default or voting against an increase in the debt ceiling. democrats like the vote in both chambers, the next best outcome is one that allows them to avoid default or blocking the most extreme budget cuts and raising revenue for individuals and businesses. any such compromise is unlikely to be hashed out by kevin mccarthy and biden given the hold on the caucus. karthik cannot associate himself with a deal most republicans would vote against. negotiations will be driven by moderate republicans willing to vote for it. the best negotiating partner is not the president running from reelection, but moderates from either party with whom they have crafted bipartisan deals in the past, including last year's bill on infrastructure and semiconductors. you can read more on the website.

sydney from florida, democrats line. caller: i believe they should go on and pass the debt ceiling. move on. host: when you say that, you mean pass it with cuts in mind, what republicans want? caller: no. biden has already completed a real budget. things could be discussed around it. that is the thing that needs to happen. still paying the debt that has occurred should not be a part of that. the republicans thing they submitted, the wish list, they talk about cutting and clawing back money that has been already appropriated for certain things, not realizing the money they are

talking about clawing back are things that are going to stop a lot of the projects the country itself will need in order to move forward. to become more resilient and progressive and ready. if you are someplace where you need a generator to function if a storm comes, you need to be prepared. stuff that has been already appropriated is for things to repair, make things more resilient as far as infrastructure and all of that stuff. those things are important. just trying to cut money to talk about saving money and lowering inflation and all of that, none of this stuff has nothing to do with that. host: sidney in florida, we have

got about 40 minutes of your calls, taking a look at the debt ceiling. your message to washington on the debt ceiling, one of the participants will be senate minority leader mitch mcconnell talking about his efforts or the role he thinks he will play in negotiations. here is a portion from last week. [video clip] >> let us be perfectly clear about where we are. the house has passed a bill that raises the debt ceiling and outlines house republican priorities. many people thought that would not have been it has. the message to the president at this point is pretty clear. a choice between accepting the house bill or entering into a discussion which the speakers been trying to have with the president for some time, an