♪ host: it is wednesday, june 7 2023.

we began with yesterday's surprise announcement that the pj plans to merge with its saudi backed rival liz golf. it comes as credits of -- writz -- critics of liv -- if you support the merger, (202) 748-8000 is the number to call, if you oppose (202) 748-8001. you can send us a text this morning, that number (202) 748-8003. if you do, include your name and where you are from. you can contact us on twitter. you can start calling in now and this story is the lead story on the wall street journal. the pj tour and -- have agreed

to a stunning merger that ends the divide that dominated the sport for the past year. it also consolidates the biggest assets in a professional golf at a time where the government is embedding -- is investigating both bodies. and makes the saudis investors in u.s. golf. from the wall street journal. immediate reactions from the wall street. including from wall widen --ron widen. he says i am going to dive into every piece of the deal with the pga. u.s. officials need to consider the deal will give the saudi

regime inappropriate control access to u.s. real estate. other members of the senate weighing in. we want to show you part of the interview from pj commissioner -- svb --shai akabas commissioner --pga commissioner. talking about the public response. [video clip] >> what are your expectations when the public in the players learn about this? do you think they will respond positively? you are describing a scenario where they could have the majority of the economics of this entity. the saudi -- people will say they control golf around the world. >> a lot of people have been reading about the tension. we have talked a lot and i said previously that we were going

down our path and they were going down there's --theirs. attention goes away, the litigation is dropped and we are announcing to the world on behalf of this game, we are coming together. it is less about people are responding today and how people will respond in 10 years and when they see the impact we are having on this game together, there will be a lot of smiles on people's faces and a lot of poor people playing this game around the world and if you are a young player that wants to get to the highest level of the game, you will be more inspired than you ever will be performed. adding your reaction this morning and showing you reaction from capitol hill. here are some of the reaction from grow -- " what about the morality?

pga tour merges with liv golf" a reaction from capitol hill, senater richard blumenthal, his tweet from yesterday. he says this merger seems to betray the victims of human rights abuses, 9/11 families and others and from senator chris murphy, "it is so weird. pga officials called me last month -- maybe their concerns went really about -- were not really about invites." it is david voluntarily --von drailey.

" the live was decidedly slapdash. this from the wall street journal, the money wins again in golf. that is a call from jason gay, . " the revenge of the saudi pariah" is the headline they went with this morning. the biggest winner is the crown prince of saudi arabia who was seeking to prove -- improve their reputation. while campaigning in 2019, mr. biden promised to isolate and ostracize him. they have been returning that disfavor ever since. the public investment fund

purchased the english premier league soccer club and they are invested in saudi resorts to draw tourists including golf residents. the public investment fund is also bankrolled -- has also bankrolled u.s. luxury lecture vehicle manufacturers. the pif revealed that it has invested in many top u.s. capitol and private equity firms. that from the pages of the wall street journal, the equatorial -- editorial board of the wall street journal. we are asking you your thoughts on this merger between liv golf and the pga core --tour. (202) 748-8000 if you support the merger. (202) 748-8001 if you oppose the merger. we are taking your texts and comments on social media.

if you want to send a text, it is (202) 748-8003. we ask you include your name and where you are fine -- from. having this conversation in the first half hour. the merger between the pga and the liv golf came up in their u.s. -- white house briefing room. john kirby try to avoid answering questions about this. >> does the biden administration have any concern with the major u.s. sports league getting into business with the saudi fund? >> we will let the saudi's response to that. i don't have anything to say about that today. i have no comment on that today. host: that was john kirby in the white house briefing room yesterday and there could be

more question today in the white house briefing room. members of congress on capitol hill talking about this and asking you about it. phone lines, if you support the merger between the pga tour and liv golf, (202) 748-8000. if you oppose that merger (202) 748-8001. looking for your tweets and comments via text. this is brian in cleveland saying " if the mba can turn a blind eye to the atrocities in china, why can't golf here? " former president donald trump and the headline of the story, " from stands to gain from the golf tour merger" noting that the merger -- continuing to be played at trump owned golf courses and perhaps a broad.

noting that last year, two tournaments were played at donald trump's owned golf tournaments and live tour right three tournaments to golf courses including one course in virginia. his bed -- his bed mr. resort -- his bedminster resort. we want to hear from you. marty is from shreveport, louisiana. the line from those who support the merger. good morning to you. caller: good morning. i will go with south africa bit was a regime that persecuted as people, got away from the i understand -- from them. i heard a with something lumpy or is merger that we have talked about about how money was being

moved around and some of the players trying to get that name moved around and get something started so i will point on this one and wait to see if there's any investigations. not on this issue but the origin of the new golf thing in saudi. i would just hope that the world is looking at us and if we keep dealing with regimes that persecuted their own people for the sake of money and that is what i think it is. i will watch and see what they are talking about. they are saying the saudis need money for different things. all we can do is watch and see and wait. they are not going to say anything right now. we will watch to see how it evolves. there is underlying factors. we will wait for that. host: this is rhoda,

minneapolis, minnesota. your thoughts? caller: i am opposed against this because it is a mindless game for rich and white people to come -- cut up the country through the middle and if they go overseas and try a deal with one of the richest countries in the world with oil, when joe biden is against oil or so he says, i don't think they should merge. i don't think there's any reason to go there and if they want to do a good game, -- miniature golf. you can take the golf courses away and put free houses down. host: this is summer from tallahassee, florida. what are your thoughts on this merger? caller: the hunt was different -- my thoughts are a little different. i thought it was about unity and

everyone coming together as one, not separation. we have to move fast the -- past the race and the things that we have before. come together and work together. host: that is marlowe in florida. two comments from social media, facebook. " this is what capitalism is and the highest bidder will always win the trophy. america is not only the leader when it comes to sports sponsorship." " as signals to the roller -- it signals to the world that it is ok to paper over human rights abuses with sports. -- with sports." we have 15 minutes left in this.

getting your reaction and some reaction on capitol hill including promises from the chairman of the senate finance committee to scrutinize his deal to look into every aspect of this deal. from david -- from the washington post. the merger announced on tuesday between the pga tour and live -- liv golf -- " the family also has a problem with making friends, problem rooted in its family -- violently oppressive ruling. golfers can spend hours together but out there changing world.

without the subtlety of -- showering capital in every direction and lowering players to earn more while competing less. they got what they want, people willing to pretend to be there friends." this is miles in omaha, nebraska . your thoughts? caller: harold farner the third, made $3 million claim three rounds of golf and he made $50 million from the saudis the most money has made in less than a year and a half that he made in the pga tour and those guys are upset by things like that. they made a business decision.

kavanaugh is a reckless golfer and he made more money on the liv golf determined that he did in the pga and it was a great business decision. their families are happy and most importantly, the caddies are happy. you get to drink beer and have barbecue at their live golf tournament. they work hard at the craft but the thing is, it is a stress free tournament and guys are upset about the money that they are making but at the same time, it is a business decision, no matter what the saudi's bid -- did. they made a business decision to make things better fiscally for themselves. host: that is miles in omaha. this is brent in louisiana. what do you think? caller: how are you doing. host: doing well, go ahead.

caller: the politicians like chris christie and others, what have they been doing since they are making a living, do they live off political donations? just curious. host: we can get into that, chris christie making his former president trump announcement yesterday but any thoughts on this merger we have been talking about? caller: i am all for it and i think it is great. i think it will make golf better and give a lot more people opportunity to play all over the world. host: brent thinks it is great and former president donald trump thanks -- thinks it is great. he called it a big beautiful and glamorous deal for the wonderful world of golf and saying congrats to all on his -- this deal. this is summer from ohio. -- someone from ohio.

caller: i am against it. you start sucking up to these people and it is going to get worse. why do you think -- the almighty daughter -- dollar and people go crazy and lose their common sense. you take this and you will regret it, believe it. host: this is timothy. what do you think about this deal? caller: the pga tour -- host: comment yesterday, we shared some from capitol hill and plenty statements from other groups as well including this from the family, the victims of 9/11, 9/11 families united putting out there statement. " part entire 9/11 committee has been betrayed by the commissioner and the pga.

it appears their concern for our loved ones is windowdressing in the request -- in their request for money -- in their quest for money. " for those who support the merger, it is (202) 748-8000. for those who oppose the merger, it is (202) 748-8001. looking for your texts as well, (202) 748-8003. one of our colors brought up chris christie ticking his -- making his official presidential campaign announcement within new hampshire in a town hall style format and here's what some of chris christie had to sit. -- had to say. [video clip] >> it was a mistake in 2016 not to confront donald trump early. " i am going to build the

greatest most wonderful wall across the entire mexico border and mexico will pay for it/" i knew that that was completely full -- complete bull, but i thought, people would not believe that. mistake. you have no excuse now. he was there for four bears, two of them were republican congress and he had a quarter of wall and mexico hasn't given us one peso. it is his fault. it is his fault because he never chased one immigration law in the two years he had republican control of congress. now one law did he change -- not one law did he change. he didn't build the wall and

mexico is laughing at us at the idea that he would pay for the border -- that they would pay for the border and if you listen to him, he will tell you, " i've preceded -- i have succeeded and joe biden is the reason the wall did not happen." joe biden wouldn't be in office if it wasn't for trump. joe biden never be anyone outside the state of delaware in 45 years except for one guy, donald j. trump. i will say to you tonight, i cannot guarantee success in what i am about to do but i guarantee you that at the end of it, you will have no dog -- else in your mind, who i am and what i stand for and whether i deserve it. that is why i came back to manchester and that is why i

came back to new hampshire to tell all of you that i intend to seek the republican nomination for president of the united states in 2024 and i want your support. [applause] host: chris christie yesterday, former youth -- new jersey government launching his second presidential bid. peter navarro with this column in today's washington times. " it is trump 2024 versus the never trump cartel. the win for the crew is a win for the unipa rty." less than 10 minutes left in the first segment. we have been talking about the surprise announcement, pga tour that has merged with the saudi backed liv golf. it got reaction from capitol hill and cooling the chairman of

the senate finance committee who said he would be investigating or looking into every accent -- aspect of this deal. i want to hear your thoughts. gary is in ashland, kentucky on the line for those who support it. good morning. caller: thank you for taking mark call -- i call. --my call. whenever we accept the nba playing in china and have no problem with that whatsoever and the mba making their money, why can golf do the same thing? the violations are the same on both sides so therefore i think it is only fair that they should be able to continue with their deal. host: another gary in decatur, alabama. you are next. caller: i don't support it at all.

i have two cousins that were born here in the u.s. and one of my cousins married a saudi man. when they went to saudi and they have not been able to come back to the u.s. since. they have a lot of american citizens still in saudi arabia. they cannot come back to the united states. i am an avid golfer. i guarantee you this, i will never go to another pga tour event as long as i live, as long as the saudis are backing the golf league, i want nothing to do with it. host: how many pga tour events have you been to in your lifetime? caller: i don't have enough fingers on my hand. i have been playing golf since -- 40 years. i used to live in atlanta and i

used to go to a lot of pga tour events. i will never go to one again. i will never participate and i will never pay pga tour fees for anything as long as they are backing the saudis and the way the saudis, the human rights against americans and women and anything like that, i will never have anything else to do with that. host: has your opinion of a favorite player changed or any of your favorite players go over to liv golf? caller: yes, phil mickelson, all those guys. they sold their soul to the devil. they sold they sold to the devil about money. when you go to bed with the saudis, you will pay the price. i cannot believe the pga turned their back on tiger woods and

others and the way they stood for the pga tour and they turn around and shoot them in the back. host: that is gary in alabama. the new york times story on the merger notes the litigation between the tour and the liv golf that has been going on that will end under the terms of the agreement that were announced. for this year, the professional -- professional golfers are unlikely to see changes in their format with the liv and pga tour expected to have their event as planned. the new pga tour control company will determine whether and how liv golf's team oriented format might be blended together with familiar offerings. this is chris, ashburn virginia. what do you think of this merger? caller: i don't believe that

unity is a real factor. i don't think the saudis have much interest in unity. when does morality step in and overtake the business decision? i understand the previous caller said this is a great business decision for a lot of the guys but it seems like rowdy and especially these guys in these large corporations, have taken a backseat to the almighty dollar. host: that headline we showed earlier from the wall street journal, the money wins again in golf. it is a pithy line -- and it has never been more apt in the business of sports than it is today as the pga tour announces its merger with liv golf. you think money always wins? caller: yes.

look at that history of this country, not just athletics but politics. money is winning. we have become a nation so fixated on the dollar, and don't get me wrong, it is good to be a wealthy nation. it is really influencing decisions in a way that people and organizations -- that hurts people and our organizations. host: have you ever played at the trump golf course out your way in virginia? caller: i don't make enough money for that. host: how often do you get to play? [laughter] caller: i play a couple times a month. i used to frequent a tournament in columbus, ohio. host: do you have a favorite player and did your plate get caught up in decision on whether to leave or go to liv? caller: i used to be a big phil

mickelson fan. host: who do you like now? caller: i don't watch much of it anymore. host: chris in virginia. a shorter opening segment this morning until about 7:30 eastern time in that time. we will be joined by conner smith french hill to talk about the latest on capitol hill, republican from arkansas financial services committee vice chair in the house. the house event at 10 a.m. eastern. the senate is in at 10 a.m. easter and plenty of offerings in the c-span networks. at 9 a.m. eastern, a hearing this morning. former lawmakers who served on the house intelligence committee discussed those issues and you can watch live on c-span3. also on c-span.org and the free c-span now app. today, at 3:30 p.m. eastern, a

hearing on election security. concerns ahead of the 2024 election, testimony, election, assistance commissioners. you can watch it on c-span3, the c-span now app and c-span.org. in a minute or so left and plenty of comments from you for social media. i want to get through a few of them on this pga tour liv golf merger. robert douglas rose in, " the saudi merger gives them unprecedented political control of the sport, given their history of human rights violations, the rest of the golfing community should have -- stood steadfastly against." " i am never watching golf again. i am extra not watching it now."

" with all the money involved, there's something sinister about all this. i give credit to the pga with their contributions to charities but something does not feel right." " while americans pet themselves on the back over their patriotism, most are loads of money over anything and everything else." host: that will do it for this first segment of the washington journal. plenty of more to talk about today. after the break, two lawmakers will be joining us this morning and the first is arkansas republican french hill and later we will be joined by democratic congressman eric sorensen. we will be right back. ♪

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mobile video app or any online at c-span.org. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. ♪ >> "washington journal" continues. host: we welcome congressman french hill back to our guest. let's start with your vote for the debt limit deal signed into law by president biden. why did you supported and was it a good deal? guest: i think it is so important to talk about this with the american people. we were presented an opportunity to raise the debt ceiling in a responsible way, no one in washington proposed doing that --opposed doing that. they wanted a clean debt ceiling increase, no strings attached and kevin mccarthy proposed we raise the debt ceiling but we

bend the cost turned down after the avalanche of increased federal spending. we are spending 40% more money annualized this year than we were before the pandemic. we are concerned about the level of spending and budget deficits so we propose raising the debt ceiling but having conservative points of view, cap spending growth. have 24 spending be less than fy 23 spending. we passed that in for the house and that compelled the president to negotiate the deal we voted on last week. i voted guest because i thought it was better than current law. admit -- it bent the cost curve down, it wasn't a perfect bill. there are no perfect bills in congress. host: were you surprised that when this went to the senate, about two thirds of senate republicans walked away from

this bill? guest: we had the issue about defense spending and senate republican lindsey graham, tom cotton both wanted more defense spending and that was the reason for their no vote. the house tried to strike a balance on that by doing 3.5% inflation adjustment this year on defense and causing other domestic spending significantly. host: how secure is speaker mccarthy's job and as because yesterday during what is supposed to be a routine vote on a will of a bill going to the floor about -- floor, about a dozen freedom caucus republican members voted no in an unusual display and cap the bill expected to pass from actually getting a vote. guest: kevin mccarthy created cyst -- consensus in the

republican congress. we can only lose four or five votes on any given votes and that means the speaker has to listen to all voices inside our conference. i think he has done that. in a leading up to the passing the debt ceiling bill in the house, that was involved with every aspect of the republican conference and i think you will see us come back together and live to fight again another day. host: this incident happened yesterday, a blessing -- guest: i think it is a sign that people want to be listened to, some people did not like the outcome of the debt ceiling negotiations because they wanted larger cuts. we proposed $4 trillion in cuts they are debt ceiling proposal, some stronger regulatory reforms and we only got $2 trillion of spending cuts and more modest regulatory reforms. host: how concerned are you that

the cuts that got you to vote for the bill will be undone as the appropriation process moves forward through creative accounting or all the different ways money can be moved in capitol hill? guest: this is always up -- a problem but we were looking to build a consensus. we need to go back to fighting to getting the smallest budget deficit and get our fiscal situation back in order. if we want to get our fiscal situation back in order, we need a bipartisan consensus on the reform. how do we control health care expenses for the government in a or effective way over the long haul like in the medicare program because those programs are two thirds of our spending. we are fighting -- what we are fighting about is only about a third of spending. host: eastern republican --

republican from arkansas. republicans --(202) 748-8001 for republicans who call in. (202) 748-8000 four democrats. we have been hearing warnings about these dangerous encounters with chinese military planes and boats. how are you concerned about that in this part of a conflict in the taiwan straight? guest: we need to have a proper military deterrence in east asia with our allies, the philippines, koreans and japanese and the people of taiwan. i got back from a visit with someone in taipei and they are doing everything right about deterring aggressive behavior by china. we need the chinese and the

chinese government to have a routine conversation with military commanders and our defense departments so we don't have the chance of an accident, which is what last week could lead to. we are going to run open seas navigation torch through the taiwan strait, that only to the u.s. but great britain because it is a public lane of transportation between mainland china and taiwan, about 80 kilometers of show -- or so, one of the most busiest places in a row, 60% of container traffic passes through those open seas. it is a part -- it is important we have opened the best --we have open navigation. guest: two -- host: do they think it is a matter when, not have, there is a military attack from china? guest: how -- what is the

attitude on the street? no one wants independence from china and no one wants to unify with china. those are small percentages and the vast majority of people want to be status quo. they want to be an independent nation that is attached to china historically, but continue to have their democracy and their freedom. host: wind chill, taking your phone calls -- french hill, taking your phone calls. in massachusetts, republican. caller: good morning. good to be on the show. my main question is why is there all this saber relatively about china? they are not messing with us. i feel like there is an attitude of anti-china and they are a

good trade partner. they are not trying to cause any trouble with us. why don't we just leave them alone? they are a big country. we should be in this country, strengthening our social safety net. we should be helping our poor and impoverished and building our country like china is building their country instead of trying to constantly be anti-china. the china communist party -- host: your point -- got your point. guest: china is a large country, the second largest economy in the world and china is the largest trading partner of the european union and the u.s. and taiwan. we were talking about korea, japan. our economies are very interconnected but what china has been doing over the last 10

years, is becoming much more aggressive militarily and projecting that force out beyond their domestic defense. that is number one. number two, they still intellectual property from countries and companies from europe and japan and the u.s. and use that technology against us. thirdly, they are impoverishing a lot of that their world or developing nations by their lending policies. what we are reacting to in the u.s. is a much more aggressive china villa charlie -- china, militarily, threatening taiwan, threatening japan and not raining in the nuclear plant in north korea. that is the work we are doing in their legislative and executive branches. host: columbus, ohio,

independent. we will go to alan in east chicago, indiana. caller: good morning. thank you for washington journal. thank you congressman hill for giving your time. a couple comments. first, the thing with the debt ceiling, this act the republicans put on, it was disgusting. it was a drama performance time in ridiculous things. threatening to actually bankrupt the country. i believe there were republicans that didn't want the u.s. to default because they are against this country. that should've been a clean debt. what people asked for his ridiculous. guest: thank you.

no democrat, no republican in the house and senate or in the biden administration went the u.s. government to default on treasury securities. we have raised the debt ceiling over 70 times in our history. it is also true that about 10 or 11 times, we have gotten some budget reforms, budget constraints, spending restraints attached to negotiating with the debt ceiling. when you have the republican party in the house and the democrats in the presidency and the white house, you will have a negotiation about spending where you have differences and the same was true with nancy pelosi was speaker of the house and donald trump was president. she got what she wanted for a debt ceiling increase under the trump administration. there is give-and-take there. i thought this was a constructive dialogue. i believe we should bend the curve down in spending and get back to balanced budgets.

that was the debate. host: fremont, ohio, george, republican. good morning. caller: my question is about the future of the dollar. the way you guys are spending money, do you think the future golfers will be in u.s. dollars -- or whatever new money the great nation -- guest: i always get asked if we had digital currency or a central-bank digital currency, is that how we save the value and the power of the u.s. dollar as the world's reserve currency or is he going to be supplanted by the european union or china? the number one way we can be assured that the u.s. dollar is the reserve currency in the world and the most important currency for trade and economic performance around the world is to have our fiscal house in order.

that is why i think we need to get back to pre-pandemic debates about having the lowest budget deficit, not adding to the debt, and prioritizing our spending and that is what i am focused on in my work and that is how we preserve the strength and value of the u.s. dollar. host: your work in the financial services committee, part of the vice chairman service of that committee, financial services committee look into the federal reserve work and they are meeting next week. your expectations of that meeting, do you think there should be another interest rate hike announced? guest: we are not where we need to be on inflation. we are well above the fed target and we are at a 40 year high at inflation and it is hurting our families in arkansas, the typical family makes about $44,000 a year and there spending more on groceries. we need to fight inflation and the economy has remained robust in employment. it is a very strange economy.

the fed may cause here but i don't think they are through raising interest rates. i think they want to get the job done fighting inflation. by all this federal spending, 40% higher before the pandemic, that makes their job harder because you have this huge physical supply to demand out there. i think the fight against inflation is not done. i expect the fed to continue to raise rates although they may take apart. host: coming back to the strange economy, higher job numbers than expected. what do you think? guest: there is a lot of money left in the accounting from the pandemic. billions of dollars. i have seen numbers go up employment wise. you see people out on airports. you see softness in manufacturing.

manufacturing is down, the industrial production is down. you see in it -- the tech sector, majorly are -- major layoffs. anemic roots. we are at the tipping point but what is so unusual, you have low in employment -- low unemployment and job creation in that environment, that is a hangover from the spending in the pandemic and this pent up demand to be out and travel. host: battle creek, michigan. democrat. caller: i have a question about -- with the pastor spending, i assume you voted for the trump tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations, which caused huge budget deficits. i have $10 trillion was added to the national debt during trump's

four years. i remember one year there was $3 trillion deficit under the trump administration. you didn't even bother to score -- i recall you were so in a hurry to get the cat -- tax cut through, you refused to have the cbo score them. is that correct? [laughter] guest: thanks. i am glad you asked because i want to respond. the joint tax committee scores revenue revenues -- measures. they estimated it would cost over 10 years, $1.5 trillion to your point but we have the top -- the highest tax revenues in america, past seven decades. we have tax revenues coming in

at about 20% gdp. i believe a big part of that was the efficiency created by those trump tax cut that did not benefit the wealthy to the exclusion of someone else. in fact, every income bracket got a cat -- a tax cut and we we appreciated -- repatriated $1 trillion back to the u.s. i think it made the tax code fair, more progressive, better for business and entrepreneurship and we have had record tax revenues. during the trump administration's deficits, you are right. one, not the tax cuts and jobs act but the pandemic. we spent $5 trillion extra in 2020 and 2021 to fight the pandemic based on the information we had. that is what i think we need to

recover from, just like we did after fighting world war ii, world war i. we need to get back to normal and a functioning budget that is more fiscally sound. host: four are visual learners, a chart from pro public or -- propublica. the red side of this chart showing the national debt going up during the trump years. you can see this moment where donald trump assigned into law the tax cuts and jobs act and you can see, the big jump later here in 2020 when the who declared the covid -- pandemic. the jump went to 28 trillion. the blue side of that line, for our viewers, the national debt during the obama administration.

propublica.org is where you can find that chart. in texas. caller: this is robert douglas. i have a couple comments for our representative and he -- the first comment is -- we can afford -- we cannot afford not to increase military spending in the wake of upcoming conflicts with china and russia and possibly iran and north korea which is something -- and something needs to be done about north korea. the second comment, when hr4736, the fiscal responsibility act of 2023 was signed into law yesterday, did anyone consider whether we should stop borrowing money instead of just --

host: i think robert is done. guest: people asked me why do we keep borrowing money when -- we spend more then we take in in tax revenue, we produce a negative balance and to fill in the gap, we borrow money in the open markets through the treasury security. if we want to stop borrowing money, we need to stop running large budget deficits so that is the key part of your question. i agree with your concerns about the defense. we do need to have our defense capabilities in full form. that was a debate during this debt ceiling debate, they are worried about $880 billion in

defense. the question is, is that enough? i think it was a compromise. we are desperately in need to make sure we have our forces in line for both threats in europe, from russia, the miller -- little east and iran and from asia, by any provocative action by china and the source of the disturbing regime in north korea. host: 8080 $6 billion in a year, the highest defense budget in u.s. history -- $886 billion in a year, the highest budget in u.s. history. how much more money is it going to take to keep us safe in the world? why is military spending continuously so high? guest: we have a lot of personnel at inflation -- and inflation has hurt us on acquisition, and personnel and

operating costs. you have inflation to contend with and i think that is what lynching -- lindsay king -- lindsey graham and tom cotton, the key points they made. china has been growing their forces and we are trying to keep our technology and keep our use in technical advancements in space and on see and land comparable. the reason why the bills are higher is due to the technological advance that has been significant but the final point i will make is the point john mccain used to make and donna rumsfeld used to make, -- and donald rumsfeld used to make, how do we make our defense budget more efficient and effective. i hope we can do both. we can get more out of the existing dollars we spent in make more technology -- we

spend and make more technology advancements. host: have you picked a horse in the gop primary? guest: i have not. i would love to have a candidate that was a little younger in both parties and a candidate in the republican party that can serve two terms because we have a lot of challenges. host: do you have anything in mind? joe, republican. the morning. -- good morning. caller: i have been a lifelong reporting -- republican. i am a christian and i'm perplexed how the republicans handle two social issues i believe lends us to lose many elections. the abortion issue. i think we want -- won a great

victory when we overturned roe v. wade. i think that is where that issue should die. it is time for the republicans to let people make up their minds whether they are for abortion or not and let the states handle it and don't open up your mouse like lindsey graham did in 2022 and started proposing federal legislation. i believe lindsey graham single-handedly lost a 20 election for republicans and the second issue is on the transgender indoctrination in the public schools. i don't understand why republicans are cowards in speaking out on brainwashing and basically emotionally raping our children and the public schools on sexuality. we need to take lessons from governor desantis and the virginia governor. parents care about that and they don't want the sexualization of the children taking place in the

public schools. guest: thank you for your point of view on both of these topics. i happen to agree with you that the supreme court made that ruling and this is something that conservatives in this country and constitutional conservatives have advocated for. the ruling on roe v. wade was ill-conceived because it was determining a constitutional right that did not exist. it goes back to the states and i agree with you. that is where this is being discussed and let states do what they believe is the right thing. on the second topic you raise about transgender promotion and education, -- in education, that is a state issue. i think you cited two governors that are active on that topic.

because k-12 education for the most part, the vast majority is governed by state tax revenues and state legislators and state board of education. i share your concern and i think many state legislators in the spring tackled it. host: douglas has been waiting in new york, republican. go ahead. caller: good morning. how are you? i had a couple quick questions. i am a lifelong republican but every morning, i am here at the diner with marcus in adrian -- and adrian. they just want to be left alone. why is there all of a sudden a push to make their lives uncomfortable? teachers are the heroes of our country. why are we making them -- where

making them out to be villains. they really are doing an amazing job and they're not indoctrinating. did someone force you to be straight? guest: well. thank you. greetings to every one at the diner. i want to come visit sometime. you are right. teachers have a tough job. state legislatures are dealing with this issue on the right policy issue. people do want to be left alone and live their life in they have their right to do that under the constitution of we enjoy. will you have seen come up on this issue is two issues. a transgender in sports and transgender medical procedures for young people under 18 years old. these are the topics the states are grappling with. as a tough topic.

-- it is a tough topic. people are grappling with the fairness issue around sports. and i would say the human safety element around what happens for kids under 18, even pre-puberty on how that is handled as well. it is a tough issue but it is best solved locally in our states. host: congressman french hill republican from arkansas. always appreciate your time. come back again. coming up next on the "washington journal" we are joined by congressman eric sorsensen democrat of illinois and later we talk with leo shane the military times to discuss the 2024 pentagon budget. stick around. we'll be right back.

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we'll talk to -- want to talk about your previous career is a local weatherman. what did that job prepare you for this job on capitol hill? guest: i realize that i has spent nearly 20 years of my career in the district i now serve. my hometown of rockford illinois . when my congresswoman announced that she was not going to run for reelection it was the news anchors on the others to the studio and they pointed to me is that you need to do that. i said, no, i am not a politician. but what happened after that were many sleepless nights where i would toss and turn and i talk to myself -- wait a minute, maybe my hometown does not need a politician, they may be meet someone they've already been able to trust. i think i took that for granted being on local news for so long

was what was the value of the trusts i had gained with the viewers? i was somebody that was there 99% of the days but 1% of the days when there were life-threatening. also someone talking about climate from the scientific point of view because it always bothered me that politics invaded this science space. i talked about it and i realize i was connecting now people driving the toyota previous is already but the farmers who are change in western illinois. host: you're the agriculture committee now. what can you bring to those committees? what are priorities? guest: as you work forward, especially in the science committee's, where working on permitting reform. it is not sound like a sexy thing to anybody who is out in rural or medical america but it is going to give us the ability

to move the power from where the study that sent me to where it is cloudy, where it is windy to calm. with the re-think electric grid. in my district is making sure we think about small-scale nuclear because i believe that is a solution we need to look at and we have eight nuclear power plant and we need to keep the power generation going. it is utilizing the science data and values of the decision. host: can we talk about why it is so hazy on capitol hill today and around washington dc? guest: i woke up this morning and said it smells like something is burning and i realize the haze we are seeing in the air smoke is now making its way down to the surface. it is an unusual site here. he saw the pictures on the baseball game in nyc, we are seeing from the wildfire in

quebec in eastern canada. i do not think about the connection to climate per se. i think about what is this mean for the health risk of people with asthma and cancer because this is a real problem we have to face here today. here in d.c. yesterday in nyc and wherever the smoke is going to be. host: the problems we're facing last week in in d.c. was the debt limit deadline. you are a guest on the debt limit bill became together. why was it a good deal? guest: there are things that harder for me to digest. i'm not a fan of work requirements for food security however i believe in our intent to make divided government work. there has to be a give-and-take. this is one of those examples to give-and-take and i do not

represent myself when i make a decision. represent my community. i think about my neighborhood. the people across the street that are republicans. at the make a that are best for them and for the democrats across the street. host: eric source and is our -- eric source and is our guest this morning. with us until the bottom of the hour. you can join the conversation. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. as a move forward into the appropriation process, are there ways for you to address some of your concerns you have with this agreement? are there ways to undo some of the concerns? guest: certainly. look at food security and it is the majority of the farm bill.

being on the agriculture committee, it means i would advocate for food security, not just because that is when is needed in urban areas but understanding that families in rural areas in west illinois need this food security. our farmers want to make sure they are providing for their communities. we will have a pretty good debate in agriculture committee coming up later today. concerning staff benefits. host: explain what is happening in the committee. guest: it is the only time will be able to argue the case of where these cuts need to take place. look at the farm bill and three quarters of it has to do with food security and feeding the nation. as extreme republicans want to make cuts, they would try to make it wherever they can but they are at food security. were coming out of a pandemic and i hear from so many people

in my district that are barely making ends meet. to be able to take away the ability for their families to be fed -- i talk to single mothers who are working 25 hours out of the week for the childcare. they only have that much time left to work to be able to pay for food. that is -- we cannot be be taken out of this people who are struggling. where to make the cuts elsewhere. host: gabriel in ohio, republican line. you are on with congressman eric source and. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say i completely agree with you 100% that work requirements are just -- it is ridiculous to me. if you need food we need to make her do some work first. it sounds crazy to me but the

one thing i wanted to ask was -- why do you think biden has shifted right and been very collapsing to the debt ceiling deal and the student debt -- all the promises he made -- but i am worried about -- how is he going to run again when all the promises he made he has just collapsed on. why doesn't mr. frisk are, your governor, why does he not run? i think you will be fantastic. host: were you on the republican line? caller: i'm a lifeline republican. but they are crazy. host: you are a midwesterner and you can see what is happening today with the republican party

as it is going extreme. it is leaving the people in the center out. not to give too much away here to my colleagues across the aisle, but we in the midwest, we are not extremists but we do believe in living within our means. i'm a firm believer that government should be doing that. we need to find where that is and take that away. as far as our governor i'm a big fan of our governor of illinois and i think he is on the right track but with the president we have to understand the president has been so effective -- look at the last congress, one to 17 congress, three essential bills that came through the legislative branch that cap dark economy afloat. looking at -- that kept our economy afloat. looking at where he was with the state of the union been able to take social security out of the

table, he did that with a microphone standing in the house of representatives at the state of the union. when i looked up on president day and he was in ukraine. these are things a leader does. we should make sure our leaders are working to bring cars -- us together and i divide us. host: democrats caught in -- called in to say they wish would be a one term president and make way for a new leader in the party. what are your thoughts? guest: that is up to the president. but i have a deep understanding in congress that it is not just the president that is making these decisions. look at how large the executive branches. sometimes i think of the executive branch being that one person or the president and the vice president. understanding that through all of the secretaries and the people that work underneath in the hierarchy, there are experts here come all across the

government. they are helping to make decisions to put us on the right path. it is not just the president. i think we sometimes fail to look back at what president biden has done in his career service, how long he has been here in washington doing the right thing, and i think more of us should be supporting him. host: silver spring, maryland. this is doug. an independent. caller: i would like to go back to the budget deficit and increasing the revenue. to see what you speakr thinks about rolling back the trump and bush tax cuts? i believe 2019 before the pandemic from trump tax cut because the budget deficit to go from 600 billion to $1 trillion

in 2019 before the pandemic. the deficit spending was not because simply by the pandemic. it was the trump tax cuts and continue now. guest: i think that is a valid question. you have to look at where these tax cuts for the super wealthy, did they allow the economy to grow as those were planned by the previous administration? i do not believe so. now we have tax cuts and then we had a pandemic we needed to spend four and it did not work right. today we need to make sure we do -- and i am grateful we have the debt ceiling bill that made it through congress to the president's desk that we did not go off this cliff. who knows where our economy would have gone two who knows

what the rest of the world would think about america? we had to make sure the debt was done -- that was done and it is also looking forward to how can we make sure the revenue we are bringing in, -- via taxes spent in the right way. we do need to look to where mismanaged money -- whether his government wastes. -- where there is government waste. host: we talked about your background as a weatherman. more on your personal life. first openly gay member in the state of illinois and cochair of the congressional equality caucus. guest: the equality caucus is the largest caucus in house of representatives today. it is a group of mostly of democrats but we welcome republicans as well. for me and for people in middle

america, i welcome into people's homes as the meteorologist. people have always known that i was different. they know my partner's name is sean and my viewers back home and i my constituents they know the names of our dogs. pt and oliver. they're are the best dogs ever. i had people that would call in or email to me -- my viewers that was say my granddaughter came out to meet. i do not know what to say to her. but does it mean that my grandson thinks he is trans? there was shot to me. -- they reached out to me. why? i was only person they knew and they trusted me. i could connect them with the executive director at our lgbtq resource center and help them make good decisions and figure out how to talk about these things.

then to run for congress not realizing illinois had never elected an lgbtq member in congress before. this past saturday when i stood at pride in rock island, illinois to state this is the very first pride we've ever had with a representative like you. i would never be able to say that again because next year pride is going to be the second. host: human rights campaign issuing a statement, national state of emergency for lgbtq people. lgbtq pete plus americans living in a state of emergency multiplying thres facing millions in our community not just perceived, they are real, tangible, and dangerous and many cases resulting in violence in ogt -- ltq+ people forcing families to leave their homes putting the safety of each and

every one of us at risk. guest: it is human nature to be scared of what we do not know. i sit at a restaurant across my partner and anyone can assume accurately that there is a gay couple. the problem we have today is if you have a trans couple sitting at the same table no one is going to realize. if it like a straight couple -- they looked like a straight couple. i did not think society realizes we have trans people around us all the time. there is not a problem here. it is a manufacturing problem by extremists in our government. we have to understand that. a recent study shows the anti-trans legislation in tennessee is going to affect one student. why was the money and time and effort and stress spent on this

issue? if it did not solve the problem. the american people need to understand where the problem is and understand who are the people in our government today that are going to solve the real problems versus the made up once. host: our previous guess french hill was asked about this. two sort of issues americans are grappling with on this topic he thinks draws a lot of attention. transgender athletes in sports and how to handle that. and the idea of when it is appropriate for transgender youth to start seeking hormone therapies or other therapies to change their bodies to become what they are. guest: we have to understand that bands in sports were -- are saying some kids should not be able to learn what teamwork is. some kids should not learn what setting goals are or some kids

should not be able to learn what it means to be athletic. that is wrong period. number two, health care decisions -- the government should not be making decisions on health care. whether that is women's reproductive rights or how the family is going to seek out and get gender affirming care for their kid. just yesterday here on the hill, i listened to family members of lgbtq kids, parents -- there is a parent and the child from alabama and a trans girl who says what happens when my family has to move? they are thinking about moving but one of the children is also in the armed forces. literally where the parent is going to have to stay in alabama because when their children serves our country and the other

one is going to have to move to a different state with a different child so they can seek medical care the child needs. that is absolutely wrong. everybody should be standing up against that. host: the argument upon its will make is that there are other things we restrict until they turn 18. why are we allowing them access to hormones and things that could change their bodies? why can't we say can make a decision we become an adult? guest: because we have to understand that the understanding of a child as they are growing into an adult. does not happen at arbitrary 18 year mark. it happens at -- as a youngster. i knew i was growing up different. when i was probably eight or nine or 10 years old. i did everything. i was going to a catholic school.

i was trying everything i could to live my life differently. there is no way for me to change -- there is no way for these trans kids to change. the problem we have today is if we do not allow families to make the right decisions for their kids, were going to have to many of these kids they give up on their life. who is going to have that in their legacy? it is not going to be me. host: a few more calls for eric sorensen democratic illinois. gary in new jersey. good morning. caller: i have two questions for you as a democrat. i was listening on c-span talking about the situation everybody would because he complaining about it. president biden went to saudi arabia for oil to try to increase their output for oil.

nobody had a problem with that. i do not understand it. if you could explain that to me. the other question i have why are the democrats, like eric, sanctuary cities complaining about now getting illegal immigrants? can you please explain that to me. guest: looking at where we are with respect to our energy needs in the country and where we are on the global stage, we need to make sure there is the policy where we can find it. we do need to make sure that there is diplomacy in the persian gulf. it is not just what our needs are as a country, it is how the world is balancing itself out. that is quite important. it is important for our country to be energy independent. we are still net exporter.

we need to make sure as we move towards a new economy, which will be a green economy, we need to make sure we are making the logical steps forward. with your second question, i think it is appalling when we talk about moving illegal immigrants around that we fail to think of these people as people. these are family members that are just being bus around the country. we have to have an understanding and compassion for people. a lot of these people where seeking a better life for their families. i'm all for strength of the border. i'm all for making sure we as a country understand everybody who coming in across the border. we have to do that. rented make sure people are able to do it legally -- we have to make sure people are able to do it legally. we have to make sure -- we start

taking care compassionately. just moving them to a city or maybe some politicians saying they're not going to be able to handle them in the city, i think is a giant failure and a miscalculation because we need to think of these people as people. host: brenda and pennsylvania on the line for democrats. caller: you and john were having an excellent conversation on transgender's but i did not think there should be any conversation about transgender's without bringing up the fact that there is a congenital birth defect. it causes babies to be born with both male and female body parts. there are so many people who are not aware of this. so they think it is a matter of

you are born a boy, just be a boy. you are born a girl, just be a girl. it is not that simple. there should not be any conversation about transgender is him -- transgenderism unless people are educated. guest: these are decisions and conversations that should be happening in a family unit, a doctor's office, and i do not think it is right for us to have a conversation or be able to make decisions about people's health care. we need to make sure the health care decisions are right where they need to be in a doctor's office. i think we need to find a way to normalize this phrase -- i do not know enough to have an opinion on that. i'm going to tell you, i do not know enough to have an opinion on that, which means i cannot be

legislating on that. host: how often have you heard that said by member of congress in committee hearing? individual discussions? guest: i look at either the conversations i have had in congress on the hill, these are secondary to the conversations i have in my district. that is why i focus on the issues from the people back home. host: daniel in virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to say that what we're talking about transgender issue it seems like what we are dealing with is you have people who are saying the end -- saying they identify as this gender but we know scientifically what constitutes a male and female. but what we are dealing with is

rejection of objective truth in reality. that is a problem. if you can identify a different gender, what can you not identify as sciacca -- identify as? guest: identify as being gay. identify as -- identify as being gay. i identify as being a more michael -- is more masculine person. to say there are certain people who did not deserve rights, i think that is a dangerous place to be. we need to pump the brakes and make sure decisions are made at the family level and not the government level. host: last call for you mary lou from new jersey, independent. caller: good morning, john and mr. sorsesen. i want to make comments about

illegal immigration. i think i have a solution to the problem but you're not going to like it. i think everybody in congress should sponsor an illegal alien family, one or more, and to take care of them from cradle-to-grave breed that would not be a financial hardship on the american taxpayer because you all did not get what i hardship this is to the american taxpayer. the following comment, this is the last one, involves transgenderism god left out of the equation preet -- made two sexes and what is going on here is a travesty because when you talk about kids under the age of 18 being able to decide their sexual status, these children are not qualified or competent to do it at such a young age. host: congressman, the final

minute. guest: i did not think the 535 members of congress by bringing illegal immigration to our homes will solve the problem or open my eyes. i look at the plight of people. i look at the value that i have as being an american and being one of the 12,000 americans that is ever been given to the ability to work in that capitol building and i want to do what is best for my country with respect to the transgender community, i appreciate your comments. i think you got it wrong. my god is an all loving god. my god does not hate anyone. my god does not hate a transgender kid. my god does not give transgender kids the thought that they are

unworthy or they should take their life. that is not what my god is saying. i hope you have interest to say what is my god doing? because it should not be about legislating whether or not people are able to live. host: congressman eric sorensen from illinois. appreciate your time. come back again. later we talk to defense spending leo shane our guest of the military times preet up next it is open forum. any public policy, political issue you want to talk about we turn the phone lines over to you. the numbers on your screen. we'll get your calls after the break. ♪

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spent radio listen to "washington journal" daily at 7 a.m. eastern, congressional public hearings and other events throughout the day and weekdays at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. catch washington today for a report on the stories of the day. listen to c-span any time. tell your smart speaker, play c-span radio. >> "washington journal" continues. host: it is time for open forum. any public policy or political issue want to talk about. go ahead and call in. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. one hour from now 10 a.m. eastern the house will come in for the day. you can watch that here on c-span and at 10 a.m. eastern the senate will be in and you can watch that on c-span 2. the of action on national

security, former lawmakers who served in the house intelligence committee are set to testify this morning before the house committee. c-span 3 you can watch that coming up in less than 30 minutes on c-span 3 and also on the c-span now or c-span.org. 3:30 p.m. eastern a discussion on security concerns ahead of the 2024 presidential election. that is before the senate rules and administration committee. watch that on c-span three, c-span. orc, and c-span now. or you can stay here for the next 20 minutes and listen to open forum preet we turn our phones over to you that you lead the discussion. robert up first first. democrat, good morning. caller: pretty soon the pentagon is supposed to send a report to the american people about -- i

would like to know how much money the pentagon is spending on u.s. -- so many pilots since 1950 say they see something that was out of this world. northeast south and west and came to a dead stop and the pilot said it and it took off at the speed of light. this time i hope that the pentagon tells the american people the truth about these things and we send money to mars. host: linda in virginia. republican. you are up next. caller: hello. i was wondering -- how many illegal people are we supposed to take in? what do we do with all of these people? we have them slipping on

-- we have veterans sleeping on streets. we have people who cannot get medical assistance. i daughter-in-law has for stage cancer and she is on medical care but she cannot get help. what about our people and how many other people are we supposed to take in? how are we supposed to give them all of this stuff? host: this is rachel in maryland, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i really object to the way both politicians speak about each other, the way they say negative comments. they are grumpy and belligerent and they make the most unkind, nasty comments about each other. that is not how america works.

imagine if i were like that at work, i would lose my job. imagine if the teacher spoke like that to her colleagues or students, she would lose her job. host: how do we get a kinder congress? caller: they can stop attacking each other. rather focus on just the issues. do not say it is negative about the other person or negative about -- just never ends. i hate listening to them speaking. i love c-span because i get to hear it the way it is but soon as they talked, i turn it off because i am hearing his people say one politician saying something negative about -- because all i am hearing is one saying something negative about the other. host: in massachusetts on the

line for democrats, good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to voice my support for representative eric sorensen , your previous guest. i'm a 69-year-old practicing catholic, married, five grandchildren, and i am always so happy and aspired to hear somebody like representative eric sorensen. thank you and i hope you have him back and other representatives that are positive and open and loving towards all people and i also want to say i totally agree with the previous caller. i'm so tired of people being negative with each other. were not going to get anywhere as a country if we keep focusing on art differences.

let's focuses on things we share in common which are humanity and we all want a better world for our children and for ourselves and i think the best way to get there is to focus on what we share. thank you so much. host: thomas in lawrence, republican. caller: i hope you're all doing well. i want to comment on the last person you had on the. i do not catch your name? host: congressman eric sorensen from illinois. caller: yes, my comment is about transgenders and lgbtq community in general. my beliefs, i believe how you

came in is the way it was meant to be. those are my beliefs. what i see on about all television stations, i do not have a problem with people feeling different but i do have a problem with kids being recruited to fill one way or another. that should not happen. they should be old enough to make up their own minds about how they want to live your life. that is fine with me. i should have -- i do not think i'm the only person to feel the way i do about transgenders. let them start their own bathrooms, start their own sport leaks. that is my point of view on that. we have so many other problems i could comment on. i will leave it at that. host: this is betty in stockton,

california. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to echo with the gentleman just said. those that do not believe how god feels about homosexuality should read genesis 19 in its entirety. that is when god destroys solomon because of the activity. when god created man, he created man and woman. all of this other stuff -- america is going down the drain because they are allowing so much other stuff to come into this world that god does not approve of. host: met in texas. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. it is good to see you and thank

you for open forum. this whole discussion about transgender rights is probably a debate that was long overdue. i will say that a couple of caller said let people live their life their way they see fit. we have the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. it is not say if you are a man or woman or a transgender man or woman. it is says all of us have the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. one thing i want to read here's what i wrote. neither an apology nor explanation ever necessary that pride in yourself and for those you love and so i would say to everyone who's trying to cancel target or any of these brands, be proud of who you are and let those who are different have pride in themselves. there's nothing wrong with expressing your pride and appreciation for those you love. we do it with our kids.

we do with our families. we do it with our friends. pride in yourself and let others have pride in themselves. host: staying in texas, this is kathy. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. my comment was for eric sorensen when he was defending trans boys and girls in sports. girls try really hard to get where they are today. there is separation the two sports because it is separation of their body mass, strength and to have men and women sports -- men in will miss boris hurt wilma chassis of the scholarships they are entitled to and the other things we fault for to separate the two and i

think it is hard -- disheartening that he said discriminating children playing sports where he is a boy and think he is a girl he can still play with the boys. they let the girls play in boy sports. why not trans boys play in boy sports? i'm also from texas so the immigration is bad back here and you see it every day everywhere you go in the state. for the sanctuary cities to complain and want money, texas could use some of that money. host: this is dan, illinois, independent. good morning. it is best to turn the tv down. go ahead. caller: yeah. i was raised a democrat.

trump ran for office in 2016, i voted for him before we got to the general election i knew i could not vote for either candidate and i did not vote for trump in. eric sorensen is another reason why i became an independent and a democrat because i cannot wait to vote him out of office. transgender -- host: speaking of the 2024 election and donald trump getting more competition for the gop primary. yesterday when craig chrissy announce his second presidential bid targeting donald trump as one of the main reasons why he is running and who he hopes to knock out of the race. more news today on the congressional presidential race from north dakota, republican governor doug burgum white --

launches his bid for the 2024 nomination. there's a story this morning and then also today, former vice president mike pence formally getting into the race has filed his paperwork by making his announcement today in the form of a video launch. here are some of what the former vice president said in the announcement. [video clip] >> the land of opportunity,, beacon of democracy, shining city on the hill, land of the free, home of the brave. the united states of america. as a son of the heartland, grass of an irish immigrant, those are not just words. my family has lived the american dream. i have a great honor to serve in congress as governor and your vice president. i will always be proud of the progress we made together for a stronger more prosperous

america. today, i'll country is in a lot of trouble. president joe biden and radical left has wicked america home and abroad. their american dream is being crushed under runaway inflation. wages are dropping. recession is looming. our southern border is under siege and enemies of freedom are on the march. timeless american values are under assault like never before. we are better than this. we can turn this country around. at different times call for different leaderships. today our party and country need a leader that will appeal to the better angels of our nation. i believe -- my family and i have been blessed beyond measure with opportunities to serve this nation and it will be easy to stay on the sidelines but that is not how i was raised. that is why today for god and my family i am announcing i'm

running for president of the united states. we can bring the country back. we can defend our nation and to secure our border. we can revive our economy and put our nation back on the path to a balance budget and defend our liberties and give america . president reagan the site -- describes us as shining city on the hill and above all because americans to renew optimism and believe in themselves again and each other. every time our nation's leadership call upon this country to do hard things, the american people have always risen to the challenge. we will again. we just in government as good as our people to do it. i believe in the american people and have faith. that is not done with america yet and together we can bring this country back in the best days for the greatest nation on earth are yet to come. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. host: former vice president mike

pence formal announcement video launched early this morning. we can talk about in open forum. about 10 minutes left in this open forum and we will have time for more at the end of our program for the house comes in at 10 a.m. eastern. darlene waiting in san diego, california. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to take a moment to comment about transgender. i do not believe it is real. it is just another topic for right wing to be cruel and nasty. there is a school you go long pass 10 times and find their children just running around transgendering all over the place. it is not real. it is not real for us to be a nation over 200 years old and we

are people who think that we want to return ourselves back to the years where they had chains. this is u.s.. there are people out here that think donald trump should be able to stay in office. how long? forever? i do not understand why it is we continue to allow them to come up with these toxics -- topics that are not real. where in the fight with the woke. when are we going to meet the people you're fighting with? i'm not seeing it going on. costly republicans going -- telling people -- host: this is anthony, chicago, independent. caller: good morning. i love listening to c-span but the strings of calls this morning is troublesome to hear

without challenge especially when it comes to issues of immigration and transgender existence talked about a lot of this morning. the problem we have -- i have is that a lot of the conversation is in language used by fascist germany and italy were people talk about -- this are people who come to the country with basically nothing but an opportunity to survive because they are fleeing dangerous conditions in their country. dangerous conditions caused by our military policy. they come here desperate with nothing get everyone there because in tells us they are taking something away from them as americans. they are taking nothing away from anyone as an american.

they're not impacting your live in a negative way whatsoever. they are chasing the dream they told exist here in this country and they are doing so to the betterment of themselves and their families. we cannot allow the language of fascism. it turns into dangerous and violence against these people. it needs to be challenged in the time we hear it. it cannot be allowed to just be said. -- it cannot be allowed to just be said as if it is fact. host: in missouri, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i have one subject. why don't just send millions of dollars to mexico to be given to the immigrants so they can live? then they can do what they want with the money and live their life somewhere else.

it will be much less than if they brought them to hear. for congress, why not have a law or rule to pass bills and be -- go along with each other? so it would not always be arguing. host: this is debbie, florida. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a few things to say with the transgenders, illegal immigrants. they are people too and though we all might have our opinions about what we believe and what our bible says -- he created, right? why is it that we are

competing and condemning? why are we not creating and if we cannot help people, do not hurt them. if they are illegal, make them legal's they can life with dignity instead of criticizing, find a way to create a better world. thank you. host: rick in tennessee. the line for democrats. good morning. caller: in tennessee they have the law where a woman needs an abortion, she cannot get one unless the heart is beating and there is this one girl the woman was developed outside of the body and they did not let her have an abortion because the heart was still beating. what kind of bs is that? host: denise in florida, good

morning. caller: good morning. all of the people who do not want people to come to this country, their forefathers came to this country and as christian people who love the lord, we should open our arms in welcome. we have enough here to be able to take care of those people that are coming over and we should welcome them with open arms. host: kathleen in ohio. democrat. good morning. caller: thank you. i think senator is going to have a heart, difficult time winning the vote in parts of dayton, ohio. a group called clergy community coalition, we did our incredible best trying to save a 93-year-old hospital called good samaritan in northwest dayton,

75% black, and premier health tour the hospital down. close it down and tore it down and we beg senator sharon brown to meet with us as a group. we wanted him to hear directly from those who were experiencing detrimental effects in northwest dayton of the closure of the hospital. we met with his local person, mike king, and then we went through all the hoops, met with his chief of staff. it is about four years ago and we beg to get together with senator brown so he did not meet with us and i have been part of a couple political groups in athens ohio where he readily came to meet with us. >> were you able to meet with any other member of congress on

this issue besides senator brown? >> we were trying to get a hold of joyce davies and get her to take some action on the closure of the hospital. we were particularly focused on -- i couldn't contact senator portman at the time but i didn't try hard. we were trying like crazy with senator brown who we thought would stand with us in regard to premier, not just the hospital and a 75 percent black neighborhood, but 65,000 square feet and 86% white neighborhood god people creek while we were replacing a million of square feet in good stand at -- i'm sorry. 4000 jobs lost and --. >> thank you for sharing that story.

this is jenny in north carolina. good morning. >> hello. i just want to say all of these people calling in about illegals, we have to remember the word legal. that is illegal. they have people in hotel rooms that are $500 a night sitting in a hotel while we have homeless in our country. what i want to see is those people who love having these illegals, take them in their own home and feed them and to save the taxpayers money if they want to. >> test jenny north carolina. our last caller in this form. we will have more time for open forum at the end of the program. coming up, military time deputy editor will talk about the pentagon budget reauthorization act. stick around. we will be right back.

>> washington journal continues. >> a deep dive on the debt deal and how it will affect the pentagon and the national defense authorization for it we will be joined by a deputy editor of the your times. the issue of military spending. we saw late last week that it is almost derailed over the debt limit bill. remind viewers of what happened and how that was sold so the deal could eventually pass the senate into law. >> the negotiation there was allowing 3% spending into a to a four. 330 six billion dollars, this is a fight if there is a test of government spending or being

held flat. we cannot afford to pull back on spending, and even that 3% increase has come under fire because it doesn't keep up with inflation. it has always been an area where congress has thought to add extra money and pull back. with the debt limit deal, there is a number that was settled and going ahead into the budget information, but at the last minute, as you mentioned, there was a big fight over whether or not there'll be a defense supplemental or even more money's put in defense that you. we will have to see how that shakes out. there is some conversation on the senate floor with signals from leader schumer who might be receptive to the idea, but he heard from house speaker saying he is not interested in a supplemental. he wants to make sure the defense spending a dollar figure

is negotiated in the debt limit deal. not a settled as we thought it would be. we will see how much wiggle room there is and what that deal is. >> $886 billion as the highest amount in history. the largest in the world. coming back to supplementals, can we explain why he gets to be counted outside the normal budgeting process? >> that is all it is. we need extra money, but that will not be put into the process. there will be an extra. we have seen this for a number of different banks read covid spending, afghanistan, the war on terror writ that was considered outside, and the logic was that if we have a target for dispensed -- defense spending, that will into all the things in there. that payraise, capitalization. what you are looking at the ceilings under the debt limit

deal, the idea is like ukraine, there is a flashpoint. several billion dollars. if you put that into the defense budget, doesn't take away from the pilot training time. as a take away from other defense equipment. if you have outside, doesn't account. you can have it over here and you are doing some fun accounting, but it doesn't play into the debt. it doesn't just disappear. it is charged against. >> the system of a defense budget for ukraine. i shouldn't say out of the defense budget. it has all gone to ukraine. has a come through supplemental some has come through, but there is 100 billion dollars sent to ukraine and that has been from the supplemental, so the concern is that if there is not another supplemental, there is not option on the table for the coming year, for the coming years, that money will cut into the defense budget.

we are saying, ok. if you sent $10 billion to ukraine next year, if that comes out of the budget, does that mean we have to cut 10 billion from readiness accounts or chairman accounts or health-care accounts? whatever would be. >> the number according to kyrsten sinema and john kennedy is the op-ed in the usa today. 100 $13 billion. they are calling or inspector general to oversee this funding, harkening back to the afghanistan reconstruction for aid. we have seen a lot of spending. can you take us back to what was referred to, and how that impacts the pentagon and how much money that was given to the pentagon when it comes to afghanistan spending, and what it would mean for ukraine? >> that story still happening. we are seeing lost money.

that is money that is not accounted for or not a silly wasted, but money that was sent out to afghanistan, given to security forces. we don't know if it is something successful. we don't know if it is a project to help the community or ended up benefiting the delavan or another outside group. with the numbers we're seeing with the ukraine, we have concerns. where's this money going? can we save this equipment and is it being used by our allies rather than sitting in a warehouse somewhere or even worse, going out the door or falling into terror stands. with that amount of money, there is a worry on capitol hill about being spent properly. are we getting bang from the buck, and will we come back later with the inspector general $50 billion and it didn't help

us at all. the headline is to track ukraine aid to reduce fraud. christensen, and john kennedy are running that. the next 20 minutes, we are talking about pentagon spending and the national defense authorization act. the phone line is 202 for republicans and democrats number on the screen. what is the 101 on this year's bill? >> the very first thing will be getting that. the debt limit conversation, all those negotiations, that will push the entire timeline back by one month. it was supposed to be started last month, and it will start to show the details next week. houston armed services will have markups going to this. the authorization bill, this is thick setting guideline for the financial priority and the

military policy for the. that is what actually get the money, but the senate will start to -- the big thing that we are looking for is recruiting. that is a major issue. we will see how that is included in their i have a feeling that there will be different visions. you'll need to entice folks and there will be a conversation about the training extremism, to talk about it will look bad, those are big issues. inflation over the last couple of years, the budget, it matches the spending level we will look

to see where lawmakers will tweak that. if there will be a few more ships or planes. were training issues. there is already a sizable number and therefore the defense initiative. that is numb -- money directed to china and to counter the threat, but for republicans on the house, they want even more for that. they want more wokeness because they see china as a threat. we will get to see that over the next two weeks. just with the tweaks and what they are. >> is there a big weapon system this year when you come on. we talked about a tensor at 35. i remember the total come back. >> i think, that is not a specific system. there is still an refi. there's is still some of that. but the big concern has been the funding level doesn't pay for

enough ships going ahead. >> total number. it has maybe been appointed concern among lawmakers on capitol hill. they say that there are nine or 10 new ships on the budget. they want to see more. they want to see money. these are all ships -- speaking of lts, these are long-term bills. we are talking about 10 years down the bill are we talking a carrier? >> we're not talking about it carrier. we are talking about -- just to look at the procurement plan, they have to start now if they want to increase the number and the feeling is the biden administration has not done enough navy ship members. >> with this topic, plenty of calls. republican in virginia.

>> love c-span. longtime listener. first time caller. also, i appreciate the reporting on a military veteran. i do have some concerns. we are a long way from the founding fathers. twitch case, you've got national guard members releasing classified documents. when it comes to the national debt and i am proud of the f-35 and the combats because a fiscal conservative is very concerned about the $150 billion that has been shown to be wasted through corporate greed. all of these major corporations that get so much funding the government, and the pentagon can even pass an audit. they failed to complete an audit, let alone passive. i question for shane is, can you

help hold some of my fellow fiscal conservatives, what they say, accountable as far as the wasted money that goes to the military district. >> love to hear from the vets. have to talk about this soon. the question is how to control the waste on an abuse, and they can't pass an audit right now. as an ongoing issue and white. there are four of them right now. it is just an annual rite of the pentagon not passing an audit. a point of frustration, but we've seen folks try to put new guard rails to all them accountable and find ways to cut this down. it doesn't seem to take. some of it is the largess of the defense budget. when you talk about 900 million

dollars, it's a lot oversee. it's a lot of different pieces to watch. but there are a lot of focuses on the f-35, and is a controversial program. numerous costs but also a lot of promise. we don't see a lot of ways to cut costs and improve this, but no moves to cut back on the money. this is a recurring problem is something lawmakers like to talk a lot about, and really talk about how they can dive into the pentagon and improve leadership and ways of doing that. we'll see. we covered every year. it is a recurring headline. >> philip in michigan. good morning. you're on. >> good morning. why don't we make the nations that are bordering ukraine to be

invaded with refugees in the event of a failure, and this war, when we make those people start matching the funds that we are putting into this war. they are not coming after us. thank you so much. >> look. there has been quite a bit of contribution from european nations as well. i don't think it is a serious is the united states. the fortune of the united states, i don't think it a larger defense budget or store of equipment. it is worth noting that a lot of us have given the ukraine a bit of equipment we already have. missile systems that we have got rid that we provide from them. that is a lost cause but not necessarily the same spending. there is also an argument in the biden administration and on capitol hill that this is a pretty wide investment. this is money that is being used to counter the russian threat that is cheaper than actually

the direct account. there is no fake equipment directly at stake. this is being transferred to the ukrainians and it's important to set a line and say if ukraine falls, the potential for the spread could certainly threaten the united states on the road. there are also plenty of folks on capitol hill, and some republican members of the house who are saying maybe we are being too generous and we need to pull this back. whether or not our generation -- generosity is gone too far and if we should put some limits on this because it is a fight. >> visual learners. this is from the council on former relations. money spent by the united states on ukraine had money sent in a form of military financially. this stretches a few months old, so the united states which is the interest so of $113.

can see comparisons to various institutions specifically in the united kingdom. specifically in the netherlands,:. bordering the ukraine, you can see it being talked about and so on down the line. if yours were to check that out for themselves, this is sarah new hampshire. good morning. it seems the system is set up, designed for fraud. if i don't pay my taxes, i will get a letter from the irs right away. it seems that they are able to audit taxpayers. why can't taxpayers audit where their tax dollars go? and, we should be investing as much money into life. our next generation into education. that is a very competitive world. we are losing ground. we are defunding public

education. college education. we have people living on the street. veterans, elderly. disabled. we don't have melt -- money for that, but we are giving it away to countries like israel who are supporting saudi arabia while these countries commit genocide which most taxpayers don't believe in. has not been accounted for? this is ridiculous and astounding. >> go ahead. >> this defense spending goes up, and the domestic spending is cap. this is one of the core fights it is a point of frustration beyond the foreign aid site. when you are looking at caps for most agencies, those that are staying in fiscal 22 levels, it

is a 3% cut, and immediately, someone comes out to say that thought enough area you have to keep up with inflation, but other agencies deftly don't keep up with inflation, so as a push and pull. this is the fight at president biden and the democrats find themselves in with republicans who say we've got to protect defense spending. it is worth noting that veteran spending, which all this was in a special category will be increasing again. that is the one thing there that was not the same cuts, should agencies do not cut. they will survive to see a 6% increase in $20 billion. the largest agency spending in all the government. ask behind the department of defense. >> this is caleb in north carolina. democrat. good morning. >> good morning. i was just wondering if there and any talk and actually raising taxes to pay for our

military spending, not so much for the ukraine prices but for the global war on terror. i think we owe between two and $3 trillion and that was taken on but the average americans don't have to pay for it. >> thank you. >> in terms of taxes, from the democratic side, there is a conversation about ways to raise taxes and revenue for the government. there has been no conversation. >> this was part of the democrat debt limit deal. if you are serious about decreasing the dead, you can't just talk about cuts. you have to talk about revenue and a lot of things that president biden has proposed in terms of taxing higher earners and more wealthy americans did this is all followed by the wayside because it is a

nonstarter they won't do it. i don't see any near-term future where there is a tax specifically for the defense department or even dealing with the debt. you can't keep promising people it to increase taxes to be realistic. that's not how it works. you have to cut back on services or increase money that is there to be provided for. on the cost of the war on terror, the institute at brown university has a cost of war project or the estimate a trillion dollars for the price tag for the cost of post 9/11 war. have you studied that? >> some of that. we've written about that quite a bit. it's not just the cost we've already seen but your cost. veterans care. that is something we've heard a lot over the years. especially when we go to future

wars. there should be some sort of tax levy or when he pulled aside to the federal government to pay for those long-term veteran cost. we saw last year, and expansion of veterans benefits that are geared towards all sorts of tax exposure industries it was specifically the exposure of afghanistan. that cost somewhere around three to billion dollars over the next decade into health care and benefits. money i think most americans support because they will see the suffering of these groups, but they have to come from somewhere. >> their efforts to expand benefits for vietnam-era veterans. >> the agent orange expansion. that is a long tail of war. their injuries were seen. sacrifices minimum and have. >> time for a few more calls. this is riverside california, independent. good morning. >> hello.

i am asking regarding air force one. trump was building at some point. is that included in our defense or is that a separate entity to itself. it is still being built? >> is included in the defense department, but i can't remember how much is broken down. one of those has been not made, but i believe there is still some plan and the work, but president trump has some grand visions on that. they were in the paid schemes. new arrangements. since our national security issues, it is included but i don't know where everything stands at this point. we are not trying to do washington speak here, but there are several millions of dollars with the defense budget and the debt. we are going about billions and dollars. those make a lot of headlines,

and when you talk about cutting them, they can look nice as talking points but they don't make a large difference when it comes to finding ways to balance the debt and to pair back the defense budget. >> you can focusing on that with recent pieces back in the spring and biden dropped some of the designs for the new air force one. >> good morning c-span. listen. my primary concern is connecting the dots. we're going about national defense. we have to take a good look at the southern border. the numbers in the last two years are like a million got a ways getting across the southern border. after 9/11, that's all we heard about red connect the dots.

they got in with extended visas. they want reporting, and this really concerns me, and the other thing that concerns me is donald trump never got the v.a. under control. they are holding things up here. they are being held up immensely. before trump, there was a lot of problems and it seems to me that president trump really straightened those out red that is not really something to think in four. he was a democrat in the southern border, but it will quite us. i think we saw texas had to put their national guard troops down on the border to help. nobody is betting these people. hundred 50 countries. military on the border. >> i'm not an immigration expert, so there's some issues i will have to go through, but the national guard deployments have been controversial.

that is a mission for the guard. trying to balance what should be a military capability and they will send some troops down there. in some cases, it makes sense. they are providing extra intelligence and logistic support to the border patrol. there are certain things they can't do. there are military acting law enforcement on u.s. soil. we have seen during the administration, there were active-duty troops. they are not active anymore, but they are going on down there. >> what about donald trump? because pushed by the trump administration. >> there were some significant changes in we've cover them a lot. one thing is the increase in the amount of outside care. this was during the campaign and the presidency. they were trying to find ways to send community care and local

positions with the v.a. for everything. this remains a controversial point, but we've seen a significant increase in the last 10 years the amount of money out of the v.a. to provide care for veterans. some love this. some prefer to the v.a. care and i would like you to do a better job improving that. one of the lasting legacies of the trump administration is the electronic health record overhaul is still going on. 16 billion-dollar project that is supposed to be finished in 2020. it is been delayed multiple times now under the bind administration. it is not working. they are not able to see serious health consequences for some people who have records get lost or medical orders get lost. that is one where when trump last office, he was touting this as a long-term fix, but >> the

goal is 2028, but everything has been delayed for the rest the year. we won't know until they come out next year with a new timeline renegotiation for the contract or the concern. they will spend the next few months on how to wrap this backup. they will have to make this. if they can, great. maybe they can move ahead. if they can't, they will go back to scrap this. who knows. we've already heard some folks on capitol hill saying we've sunk enough money into this. why would we don't more into a bad system? >> eric and palm beach florida. langford, spirit morning. you are on. >> thank you. i appreciate this program. it's a bit of of the dual part

question. sometimes i read that there military bases globally around the united states. i know it's well over 100, but probably less than 200. how many will be smart in the world? can we save money maintaining these bases? we are antagonizing people, and maybe we are better off not being there. thank you and say as much as you can, please. >> on the second point, there are few bases and places we are not invited. these are not places -- as we've pulled out of afghanistan interact, there are not really that animosity there. all places with bases and agreements for what we've agreed to cooperate with with the exception of a few places like guantanamo. there is tension with the cuban

government. in terms of the number of bases, they are spread with potential cost. there is the trump administration saying do we have too many resources that are flung all over the world and are we wasting money? they are focused on germany and south korea and japan. places where we could draw back and maybe bring forces back to stop spending over there. the bind administration and the military have said we like having these bases overseas. they have different reasons. again, this is a specific number. there is a cato institute report after the trump administration has left office. 750 bases and 800 countries. that is the number they put out. >> some of those like germany specifically, we have large numbers of forces there, but germany is also a major help for the united states to emissions everywhere in the world. they need to get folks to afghanistan. they will come to the u.s., germany and afghanistan prayed other hotspots. there is quite amount of

equipment from other bases. then in russia, they are fighting and holding their own. there u.s. forces without direct involvement there. that is coming from years of training. that comes from years of relationships. ukraine does know how to do basic tactics. this is not just a matter of people there, we need to scramble them. it is also a matter of building relationships to strengthen relationships. we need allies, we can rely on them. they know we have friends we can do that. i haven't heard of the bind administration scaling effect, but it's a point of the trump ministration saying are we spending too much and should we find some ways to save money?

>> any issue you want to talk about, phone number on the screen. go ahead and start calling it now. we'll be right back.

>> washington journal continues >> here we are on c-span. 20 minutes left in the washington journal. this is our open forum. any policy issue you want to talk about, it is your time to do so. in 20 minutes, the house will come in it you can watch that

here at gavel-to-gavel on c-span. you can also watch the senate on c-span two. they are in at 10 a.m. eastern. as you call in on open forum, one story from the world of news. cnn is announcing that chris select is resigning as ceo. a scathing article. those staffers call for resignation. looks resignation was announced medially. this comes a year after he took over for jeff zucker. the former network bosses forced to deal with relationships with a subordinate. the accused jeff zucker of undermining leadership in planning negative stories for news operations. chris licked his out at cnn as of this morning.

with that, open forums, this is donna up first in fort worth, texas, republican. can morning. >> can morning. how are you. >> good. >> ok. there is one thing i heard all on the news about three weeks ago. two nights in a row, there was nothing. it was about the chinese having their own police force set up in several major cities. and, to police the chinese. the chinese that are here now, they are u.s. citizens. why would the chinese police have any authority to come over here and police them? it's been very hush-hush. i went on the internet yesterday and typed in secret chinese

police force in the united states. purpose of. he came back to confirm that there was stuff going on with the chinese police in america. >> plenty of stories about that. here's one from the bbc. just this week, prosecutors arrested two men for operating secret police stations in manhattan. they were expected to appear in federal court. they previously denied the operating station, is calling it a service center for chinese nationals overseas. that is certainly a story that continues to get attention. this is john in syracuse new york it good morning. >> i'm democrat. the one thing that the democrats have to get organized about is illegal immigration.

the republicans are wrong on abortion. the republicans are wrong on guns. the republicans are totally right on immigration. we can't have illegals pouring into this country. that is garbage. they are all coming from better life. to me, it comes down to this. charity starts at home. it is not that people lack compassion. we have people in this country who are suffering. you take care of them first. our paper includes a 74-year-old veteran who is be -- being evicted from a hotel or whatever, so he could have a busload of illegals come and really? i have to read this in the paper that a vietnam veteran is going to be evicted from his home so we can put illegal aliens in there? forget it.

charity starts at home. >> asked john in new york. this is kevin and marilyn. good morning. >> hello. last week, someone called and said trump should run to the other -- they can do that. they couldn't find anything in the constitution. i think it's about the electors. it's not about the service themselves. the veterans have to vote for the president and vice president. they shouldn't be the same state themselves. the florida members. you have to abstain or something. >> who would you like to see as president? who are you supporting? >> i don't know. i would go for the independents. >> this is michael. good morning. >> good morning. c-span? i'm calling to speak about a

demographic in the united states who currently has a constitutional right being trampled over. that is the defunded black citizens. the defendants of the immigrants -- we have a lot of people mixing things that really don't mix together. the u.s. constitution is the ruling document the united states, and it has a distinction between citizen and noncitizen. it makes a distinction regarding aliens as something subject to the jurisdiction of another nation. so, how in the world should the u.s. senate be paid for other countries? this is been going on for 60 years. you can't love yourself with

immigrants. a lot of them are calling up saying they agree with this mass illegal immigration which takes their jobs and destroys their neighborhoods. it destroys their education. whites are not being heard by this. otieno's are not being hurt by this. asians are not. , and not even immigrants. lack people in the caribbean are being hurt. it is u.s. black citizens who are unprepared because of a centuries long slavery pass. the system controllers are not representing their interest, so it is outrageous. to think that i am going to be paying -- i've been forced to pay for people who would never give people a dime. >> this is tom. democrat. the morning. >> how are you? i'm calling about the presidential race with joe

manchin. i think he has stood in a conservative metro and as a third party, i think it is rejection and -- ridiculous and i think kennedy ran against jimmy carter and i don't know, maybe mansion will be committing suicide, but i'd like to see him challenge biden for the nomination for the democratic party. let the people decide in the primaries but i don't know enough about the inside politics if it's possible for joe manchin to do that. >> leopold joe biden more towards the center? >> i think you should win the nomination and i think if you ran, within the democratic party and it will tell the tale. this is sandy in california. independent. good morning. >> can morning. i'm in california. i understand that our state has

been dealing with illegal immigration a long time like texas. i am happy to see the rest of the united states is seeing the same thing because it needs to be spread around. until this lands on the doorsteps of every voting american, it is not going to change. the previous guest said he didn't know anything about testing know a lot about the border. how does he keep his home protected? he knows how to do that. he knows how to lock his car. he knows how to put a fence around his house it he knows how to keep people from getting in. he even indicates that he would protect the border. it is really strange to me. we protect the ukrainian border. that is we are trying to do. we are trying to send money around the world to protect everyone else's borders. we should stop. we are giving money to protect ukraine and when the european union is not protecting ukraine, maybe now, since a damage bone

up, one of their biggest nuclear power plants might be compromised because there's not enough water to cool it and they are not going to have electricity. maybe that will wake them up. but only after something like this happens. one of your previous callers was talking about how black people are being compromised by illegal immigration. to him, i say where was he a year ago. where was he two years ago? where was he talking about the six years ago. he was landing on the doorsteps of black americans. this is south chicago where the schools and the communities are being overrun by illegals who are being paid $120 a day, plus free living expenses for this country. none of the black americans are paying that money, but only now, they are concerned about it >> sandy in california. in alabama, southwest uncovered, this is henry.

democrat. good morning. good morning. you would like to what? >> i'd like for you to look around alabama. they passed a law where there is a felony to help anyone with the voter registration. i don't know how you deal with that because i think that is another means of downgrading voters. this is all done by republicans. >> henry in alabama. this is jonathan in new jersey. good morning. >> good morning. i have lost any hope for a

better future because every morning, it is like, we are the most frightened, scared, easily lie to people in the world. between secret police stations or immigrants that are fleeing because of u.s. foreign policy, like being blamed for every problem, and you don't even need to back it up with any kind of real information. it is just lies to make people scared area to get people to watch. and the only source of information is what a show is every morning for another think tank representative for some right-wing person, and even if they are from the democratic party, a lot of times you can help pander to the right wing to fight for a vote. maybe, there is some right-wing or michigan who might vote democrat. i've lost any and all hope for the future.

we are on our way out. >> one was last time you had hoped for a future in this country? >> i don't know. maybe 2008 when i saw obama closed the loop bowl. they called guantanamo and maybe they had a foreign policy. it wasn't so violent towards the rest of the world, my way or the highway. right now, you jerseys on fire. the air quality is awful. do i have to worry about a fire season in new jersey? >> we've done nothing. we've done nothing to mitigate climate change. >> that was 12 years old. we've done nothing but picky promises and summits with no real lasting effect. and even with the most marginal thing you could do, maybe you could try and make some vehicle

electric. yeah people freaking out over news stories telling outright lies about how it will collapse. what would it take to give you hope again? >> for america to be a peaceful country. for america to let go of the debt of foreign nations that they paid back 10 times over, 20 years ago. to have peaceful trade relations that are not extractive and to allow other countries to have protective policies to provide for their people and not to interfere all over the world anytime someone -- i think our national resources could be able to provide for our people, first. and maybe, to actually have a

job guarantee or health care for all where people aren't losing their homes to be able to pick which fingers they liable that they want to keep. or something like raking bad, from last 10 years, and is laughable in other countries where a teacher dying of cancer has to sell math in order to make money. this is a laughable thing that doesn't happen in other countries where people have to turn to black market activities in order to survive on treatable illnesses. >> that is jonathan in new jersey. the pine tree stay. this is jimmy and whitefield. democrat. >> hello. today, i want to just get to an open forum, and say, i sir sympathize with the previous color.

we need to tell our colonials it is ok to cede some land that would be a first step. have a nice day, buddy. >> jimmy in maine. speaking of ukraine, an op-ed in today's usa today, christensen, and john kennedy, the independent and the republican, writing in or a new way to track aid and reduce waste and fraud when it comes to $113 billion in a that has been given to ukraine. it is common sense to have a dedicated team of regional experts following every penny. what they would like in their legislation they are proposing would be to establish a special inspector general to ensure that weapons cash we give is used efficiently, effectively and as

intended. it would be similar to the special effect -- inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction that we discussed on this program over the years since 2008 when it was created. in los angeles, a few mins before the house comes in, what is on your mind? >> shout out to a nice lady who answers the phone. hello to everyone listening and watching. it would be great if c-span had a laugh track. for a lot of the commentary we hear from publications, and even gas to come on to the program, in this particular case, we have mayor adams. he must've stayed up quite a bit into the evening to come up with this latest proposal. now, we'll put a legal people, hopefully, from his perspective, into regular oaks households.

he's going to have money as an incentive for people to do that. now, my quick calculation, these numbers are so exorbitant that obviously, they are out of line with any type of reality. who is paying for all this is hello, ladies and joma, us taxpayers. i can't think of anything that could possibly go wrong when you bring a person you don't know into your household, let alone speaking english among other factors. and i just think it is absolutely incredible that these folks like mayor adams who will never go to the source of the problem, the federal people that are supposed to be in charge of securing our border, no. they never go to that. they're going to figure out how the taxpayers can pay more and

more to support these people and give more and more. i blame this tired thing -- we had a boss touchdown and the community not that long ago. their signs every few feet there is hate every few feet, so i got very interested when i saw this bus pull it. i'm sure other did as well. i am saying to myself, we have a tremendous opportunity to see just how sincere these folks are with their love and no hate existing. so i am expecting them all -- there are 30 of them. i'm expecting basically one person to start going with family, and soon, they will be accounted for. there will be nice houses. this will show the rest of america how genuine these folks are.

once we've seen that, we can perhaps entertain notions after we are seeing, hey, they took people in. we've seen what's happened for a couple months. people have been tremendous citizens. they behave themselves. a lot of these people as we know are tremendously hard-working people. >> that's gotten los angeles. the story from fox news in new york city. eric adams wants to have migrants and churches and proposes private residences down the road when it comes to the issue that was being talked about towards the end of that call. perhaps referring to the story of silent officials confirming yesterday that the administration has orchestrated two recent charter flights is charter flight from new mexico to sacramento.

migrants have been avoiding those planes they have criticized the santos on twitter. kidnapping charges were warranted against those responsible in a statement released on tuesday evening. the florida division of emergency management with my relocation has been voluntarily taken in and to a nonprofit. >> the house is going read to come in. we'll see if we can fit in one or two more calls. this is paul lexington in kentucky. democrat. good morning. >> good morning. how are you? >> i'm doing well. go ahead. >> i'm going to go ahead with a broad swipe really quick. first thing, immigration, the thing about this is one of the arguments i hear all the time is

we are allowing all of these immigrants in, they are taking all of our good jobs and you can't find work. i challenges, go out and think about how many jobs you lose because of somebody, or anybody that lost their job because of an immigrant. >> will have to ended there. house is getting ready to come in this morning. we will be back here on washington journal tomorrow morning. 7 a.m. eastern, 4 a.m. pacific. now, life coverage, gavel-to-gavel from the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker.