weeds. host: good morning it is

saturday july 15th. today on washington journal we are going local. we want you to call in and tell us what is the top issue facing your state and do you think your governor are taking steps to address it. call in now. for democrats (202) 748-8000, for republicans (202) 748-8001 and for independents (202) 748-8002 you can send us a text message at (202) 748-8003 include your name and where you live. you can find us on facebook.com/cspan and on twitter and instagram at http://twitter.com/cspanwj. one of the top issue states are dealing with this abortion and i want to show you an article from

the des moines register about a recent six week abortion ban also known as the fetal heart law. the article says, standing on stage in front of a crowd of 2000 evangelical christians kim reynolds signed a law banning the vast majority of abortions in iowa. the law which took effect immediately prohibits nearly all abortions after doctors detect cardiac activity which can occur about six weeks into a pregnancy. there are narrowly defined exceptions in cases of medical emergency. let's watch a portion of governor reynolds remarks before the bill signing. [video clip] >> the work we've done together

is making a difference but our work is not done. as we gather here today at this very moment the abortion industry is in the court trying to prevent this law firm taking effect and stop the will of the people. the passage of this legislation by an even wider margin this time since an unmistakable message i it was heartbeat law was not hypothetical. it was not an empty gesture or a mistake it wasn't ironclad commitment to the smallest and vulnerable among us. all life is precious and where the of the protection of our laws. host: that was iowa governor kim

reynolds, her remarks before signing a six week abortion ban in the nations governor gathered for an annual meeting of the national governors association where many of them mentioned that they are facing in various states. i want to show another video of utah governor spencer cox. he is the incoming chair of the national governors association. he joined us yesterday and spoke about bringing state issues to the forefront. despite the political divide and misinformation at the level -- national level. [video clip] >> the states were set up to be a coequal branch of government.

over time, the federal government has gotten much more powerful than the states. the states rights pieces very important. we work diligently with our fellow governors to push back on that. that's an area where you will see bipartisan agreement on making sure states have the ability to make certain decisions. when it comes to conspiracy theories, with social media is easier to take root and those are things were constantly battling. i always thought by the time i became governor i thought i would be included. maybe that second term. there is a lot of out there. there are some things that over time we have seen are true. finding truth is really

difficult because there is no source of truth. the media is more dispersed than ever before. it is easier to hear things i want to hear despite voices i can mute or block anyone who disagrees with me. i think that's dangerous. it's important we learn what the other side thinks and why they think it without hatred or animosity trying to get to the core of why we believe certain things. the closer we get to people who are different for us the easier it is to find common ground. we are encouraging people to turn off the conspiracy, get to know your neighbors and that is how we can get back to governing again and solving the biggest policy issues we have in our country. host: that was utah governor cox , the incoming chair of the

national governors association. our question is for you, what is the top issue facing your state and tell us what you think elected officials are doing to address it. again democrats your number is (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001, independents (202) 748-8002, you can text message us at (202) 748-8003. and any post on social media make sure when you answer the question to say what state you live in because i am already seeing your responses and we will get to those in a moment. first step is steve in sun city, california on the republican line. what's the top issue in california? caller: i am a social studies

teacher. one of the questions is about reparations. 220,000's of black americans who can trace their ancestry to slavery. i am totally against that. you have plenty of californians that had nothing to do with slavery at all. three quarters of the south never owned slaves. i told my 12 graders, how can you blame all white people for slavery when only one quarter of white people owned slaves. not to mention, what about the blacks or american indians owned slaves? if you condemn slavery condemn

it universally. it doesn't make any sense to me. these wacko liberals just want to tax, expand and regulate and is very unfortunate to live under. host: appreciate your call this morning. our next caller is stephen in florida on the democratic line. caller: i think the biggest which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] t. host: we lost stephen. next caller. caller: i think the biggest issue is that our state is

gerrymandered. host: we appreciate your call this morning. so again we want you to colin, but at the top issues facing your state. let's go to another issue that was brought up at the national governors association meeting. this is that states governor phil murphy. he said a top priority for him as outgoing chair of the association has been youth mental health. he explained why this is important and how governors across the nation are addressing it. [video clip] guest: last month the cdc showed suicide rates among 18-24 reached a 20 year high. earlier this year the cdc issued

a study on mental health trends among school aged youth that a third of teen girls seriously considered attempting suicide which was an increase. parent seeking treatment for children face long wait list. school counselors are swamped. even in emergency rooms are overwhelmed. the painful truth is we have all heard the stories and we know too many examples from our own lives and communities. rather than losing hope it's the stories that harden our resolve to address the mental health crisis facing our youth. the playbook we are releasing today's stance is an important neutral tool that governors can use to enact tools that can help

our youngest residents and families. host: that was new jersey governor phil murphy speaking about youth mental health. we will go back to the phone lines because we want to hear from you. before we do that i want to read a few responses that we are receiving on social media to our question. joseph in north carolina has sent us, i have lived in north carolina on and off since 1986. i feel like the deep south because conservatives have a veto proof in the legislative body. abortion bands, anti-lgbtq laws, voting rights laws are spreading every day here.

the biggest water pipes in michigan. steve in florida says florida's biggest issue was unaffordable housing. governor desantis is oblivious. he is too busy wallowing in culture wars. in florida, water quality is affected by algae blooms and affordable housing impacted by insurance rates. governor desantis seems to be distracted. and timothy who appears to be in illinois, our state has a bit of drama. at one end we have rural counties was sparse populations and on the other end we have chicago which has a dense population. the wealth gap is enormous.

many folks feel a big issue is gun-control. that is just a few of the responses we've received on social media. we encourage you to weigh-in, collis democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001, (202) 748-8002 independents. next we have armando on the independent line. caller: i am in los angeles, i live in long beach now. i am beginning to realize there is a lot of mental health that i was listening to earlier, there

are our people who have been kicked out of their house how can they help us? i am still there but i'm just saying, there is a lot of homelessness because people take advantage of the situation. where's the control for people to understand that people aren't sober living because they have a mental health issue or drug issue and are not meant to be taken advantage of but understood? host: let's go back to florida now. stan is in florida on the

independent line. caller: how are you doing? our biggest problem is desantis. we have the highest rates of household insurance and we have a governor that thinks he is the king going off to disney world. we've lost 20,000 jobs. he is a union hater. we lost 86,000 people, we will never know the real number. i would not vote for him. they are passing out guns without any permits. i don't think that is right. my home insurance went from 1300 to $5,000. they are all pulling out of here

because of disaster insurance. that was stan in florida. host: let's hear from richard in new york city on the democratic line. caller: i think the biggest problem in new york city is the crime rate and the people who commit crimes multiple times. they really should be in jail longer than they are because all they do is come out and commit more crime. thank you for your time. host: i want to go back to a previous caller and a couple of people of mention property insurance in florida. between natural disasters, people attribute the impact of climate change.

there is a property insurance problem in florida. aaa pulls back from offering insurance in florida following farmers. aaa will not renew the auto and home insurance policies for some customers in florida joining a groaning list dialing back their presence in the sunshine state amid growing risks of natural disasters. this is a quote, unfortunately the insurance market has become challenging in recent years. last year's catastrophic hurricane season contributed to an unprecedented rise in reinsurance rates making it more costly to operate. aaa declined to say how many

customers will not have policies removed saying that it will affect only a small percentage of policyholders. the company is the fourth insurer to say it is backing away from insurance meridians. on tuesday, farmers insurance said it would no longer offer coverage in the state affecting 100,000 companies. we have heard from the folks calling in from florida about that issue of rising property insurance rates and a lot of insurers pulling out of the state but a question for you, what is the top issue in your state? bonnie is next from st. louis missouri. bonnie, are you with this?

you might be on mute. go ahead bonnie. ok, we will move on to joe. he is in henderson, north carolina on the democrat line. top issue in north carolina. caller: there are a lot of those at the top in north carolina. one of the biggest i have seen is the fact that we have a democratic governor, governor cooper. they have a super majority that can override anything that he vetoes.

the top issue for me is we have democrats coming into office and we have one in particular that flip-flopped and went republican so now they have a super majority in the state legislature so they can override anything the governor pence out. that's all i've got. host: let's go to queens, new york. alan is calling on the independent line. caller: i am from new york and i believe the worst problem in my state is the right wing disinformation. i say that because, if enough people believe some of these untruths they will vote for the wrong person and nothing of

substance will be done. one general thing as far as politics. as far as voting for someone or joining a party. if the person or party is filled with telling you how horrific their opponent is, i am out. don't tell me how horrible your opponent is, tell me how good you are. one more thing with this hunter biden thing. it would have much more credibility, it would resonate more if these people accusing hunter biden with telus what did he give these people when he took these bribes? that is my main point.

lying in television and in newspapers. that's what i have to say. host: alan mentioned political polarization. i want to show another clip from utah senator cox the new chair of the governor association. this is from his appearance yesterday and he is explaining why reducing polarization is worth prioritizing. [video clip] >> we are focusing on this idea of disagreeing better. i don't need to tell you that right now we are seeing a divide. we are heading into the next divisive election of our lifetime and sadly in many

institutions, we have forgotten how to disagree the right way. how to debate, persuade. help each other understand where we're coming from and why we believe what we believe. this is not another civility initiative are being kind to each other. our nation was founded on profound disagreement. there is healthy disagreement and toxic disagreement and we are seeing so much toxic disagreement and i truly believe there is an exhaustive majority. they're tired of the divisiveness. there's nothing more un-american than hating americans. we need to get back to what made our country special. host: that was utah governor spencer cox. he was speaking on the issue of political polarization. we want to hear from you whether

the top issues facing your state? democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001, independents (202) 748-8002. we will hear next from kim in columbus, ohio on the democrat line. caller: i am calling from the state of ohio where the white rain has gone wild. they are trying to put a 60% threshold on voting for the abortion law that they're trying to stop going into effect. i am just asking for people to give us your prayers and ohio because were going through it with the maga group.

host: let's hear from joe in south carolina on the republican line. caller: good morning, i'm sure he you'll get different opinions from every south carolinian. i have watched the changes. the biggest problem we have is the influence of people coming in and moving here. we are business friendly state. we are also very tax friendly including retirees. a lot of jobs here. unfortunately, we have an influx of our friends from the south. we are having a problem with infrastructure, keeping up with the numbers of people moving here. the density is going crazy and everybody moves, you had to have

school, police, good roads. good playgrounds for the new children and it is really causing a big problem for local politicians. another issue that arises with the influx of people. people make a lot more money and they retire with more money. they can retire here like people making full-time money. that's why people move here along with the climate. we hope people don't come and change the very reason they moved here and that may become an issue in the future. that's about it for me. host: let's hear from cindy from st. petersburg, florida on the

democratic line. caller: i just heard that last call, i'm not sure if he was talking about florida but that is what it will take. the hordes of people are causing a lot of problems for florida. environmentally, infrastructure, we have many sewage bills. that's why i quit eating seafood. i don't swim out in the water anymore. if you go to conservation florida it talks about how we have to build into our wildlife corridors because we have to develop for the hordes of people coming in here.

it is slaughtering florida natives quality of life. i am moving to a state that people seem to overlook and is more beautiful than florida and i don't want people to follow me. i live in pinellas county. they continue and continue and continue to build multifamily and they continue to pack us in here like sardines in a can. the traffic is horrific. it's unbelievable what has happened here. all i can say is at least i had florida when it used to be beautiful and it used to be paradise. thank you for taking my call. host: let's go to ronnie on the

democratic line in atlanta, georgia. what's a topic and georgia? caller: we are a republican state and like the governor was talking about, the toxic debates going on. it's really the republicans. the republicans are filled up with neo-nazi white supremacist and most of the hate is coming from the republican party. and all the republican spaces they are talking about hordes of people. i don't know why she would call people hordes. to be by herself? the point is america used to be well even though it is always been a racist country.

that is what i have to say. host: our next caller is in winter haven, florida. dawned on the republican line. don, are you with us? caller: yes ma'am. i am. i will have to agree with the caller talked about the people. i live in florida most of my life. i can tell you that it seems like a lot of the liberal types, they destroy where they live and then they want to come to florida and bring their ways with them. the lady was right and has nothing to do with race. as it with class -- it has to do with class. these folks just don't respond to logic.

we live in a tough time. host: what would you want the governor, state legislature to do about this overcrowding you say you are seeing in florida? caller: for me seeing that democrats and sanctuary cities, i think the democrats you have to stay where they are. it seems like wherever they go, trouble and disruption follows. that is my opinion. i lived in conservative and liberal areas all over the country. that seems to be a reoccurring thing. democrats control everything and it is being destroyed indicating. rather rapidly. host: let's move on to john in sweet home, oregon, independent line. caller: good morning. host: good morning, john.

caller: the problem is environment, climate change. and the -- party which is probably the most problematic on the planet. host: let's start with climate change. how do you think the state officials in oregon are addressing those issues? all right. chris is it lenore or lenoir, tennessee? caller: oh, i'm calling from knoxville, tennessee. host: my apologies, go ahead. caller: nikki haley i'm voting for her and i'm voting for -- i was trying to vote for joe

biden. i was thinking for joe biden and donald trump. i like the people. nikki haley from south carolina. i will try to vote for three people. i like to vote all the time. host: all right, chris. appreciate your call. darlene in florida on the democratic line. what is the top issue you are seeing in florida? caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. our top issue is homeowners insurance. an issue with our governor not handling that. i have a comment for the gist of it that called earlier from florida that was saying everything is liberal's fault. i'm born and raised in florida.

i am a liberal. i do not see we are causing the problem. that is all i have to say. host: up next, bonnie from st. louis, missouri on the independent line. caller: yes. hi. i am sorry i got -- my phone, something was the matter with it. the problem i am having is nobody in our city is paying attention to repercussions for breaking the law. we have a lot of -- we had a district attorney from the city who recently left, mostly because people weren't happy with the fact that you could not anyone in jail for longer than one day. repeat offenders would get straight out of jail and do

exactly the same thing they always do. it was very, very -- that is my feeling. we have kids that are driving terribly. they are killing people. they run over each other. they shoot each other. i'm a gun owner. i am not for banning guns but the fact is almost all of the guns being used, it is very frustrating. host: all right. let's to some of the social media posts we are receiving in response to our question from this morning. [etrpnella rights list -- michigan flips blue increasing taxes, crime and poor education

is following. rotten lying which governor lied about fixing roadways and senior pensions. that is in michigan. dave in florida. the top issue is the coward insurance companies that want our money and took our money and now leaving our state. what about the rest of america with their tornadoes and floods? that is what they collect money from us for. we are hearing a lot of folks from florida talking about property insurance issue. sue in new jersey rights, public employee pension system is not adequately funded. it's indicative of a problem. lack of affordable housing, substance abuse recovery, and mental health facilities are big issues in new jersey. most of the nursing and assisted living homes are substandard at best. bobby writes missouri created

states rights in the electoral college system combined to allow legislators with a jim crow set of mind to rule over the entire state population. will do warmer post from jason. in virginia, the top issue is our governor. when youngkin -- glenn youngkin campaigned as a chameleon to train himself as a moderate conservative but since taking office he is though headlong into the right wing's cultural war nonsense. those are some of the responses we are receiving. you're welcome to send us a text or tweet. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. our question today is what is the top issue facing your state?

let's hear from deborah in indiana republican line. caller: good morning. host: good morning. go ahead. caller: i am 72 years old and i talked to a lot of people. i like to talk. the majority of the people that i get from the conversations -- qualified immunity. give it to the top. now everyone in my world seems to think they have qualified immunity. they do not even know what it means. if we can get rid of that, no one is above the law, that is all we got to do and we can get back to building our society the way it is supposed to be.

when you get anyone something special that no one else has the right to, you destroy everything . you got to get rid of that. host: mark from winter haven florida on the independent line. caller: good morning. the biggest issue facing us in central florida is our utility rates. flight increase that was approved for electric, our utilities going up from 2019 to 2024, 62%. host: are you on a municipal line or one of the private companies like florida power and light? caller: private company.

it is teco. one of them is duke energy. all of them have approval recent increases. host: appreciate your call. mark says energy cost. tony in connecticut on the democratic line. what do you consider your top issue? caller: it is a top issue that came up last night. people have been debating this and really discussed it. our president has said he has six grandsons. i wish he would play out for the people who say no, he has seven. by didn't does not lie. he is one of the most straightforward guys. if he had seven grandchildren, he would have the seventh grandchild at the white house.

that is a boldface lie and people got to understand that. please play the clip where he says he has six grandchildren. thank you. host: roade in virginia on the independent line. caller: good morning. i believe something that is affecting the commonwealth here is conservation issue regarding invasive species create a lot of plants coming from overseas that were used for agricultural purposes and forget the name of the other one but insects that are eating natural habitats causing problems for the actual insects and animals that do live here. host: invasive species. let's hear from another caller. this caller on the democratic line.

bill is in texas. go ahead. caller: yeah, i was going to call to say you look beautiful this morning. i am from texas. i am doing all right. host: all right. what is your top issue in texas? caller: get rid of these republicans. that is all. host: ok. appreciate your call this morning. mary is in inglewood, florida on the democratic line. mary, go ahead. caller: my big concern is, florida was wonderful state. now it is becoming almost like a third world country. unfortunately, the middle-class are reinforced out. either financially -- the

middle-class are being forced out either financially or by voter oppression. it is breaking my heart. it is almost like -- but now there is so much i sat is here and it is not from the hurricane. that was bad but georgia been deprived. different -- that was bad but the children being deprived. god created this world and there is a song to jesus loved me yellow, red, black and white and all the children were precious in his side. not now in florida. not now in different insurance. everything is skyhigh. it is doing away with the middle-class. i'm afraid florida is going to

be like a third world country. if you only have money can you live here. host: appreciate your call,' another caller now alan in south carolina on the independent line. caller: yes. i think two of the issues are heavy recreational drug usage and overdoses in south carolina. everywhere you go there is meth and marijuana usage. my other issue is that we have three prominent politicians, nikki haley, tim scott, graham, the do more national politics instead of for the state of south carolina. you see them on the news every day but they rarely talk about doing things for the people of south carolina. those are my issues. host: let's hear from brian.

brian is in new york city on the republican line. caller: hi, good morning. i am in new york state. public pensions are attacks in new york state where the work for state, federal or local government. -- there pinches are not -- pensions are not taxed but everyone else is our tax. it should be adjusted to 100,000. people are being driven out of new york state because a crime and other issues. it is just another reason for

people to move from new york state to non-tax state like florida, texas, tennessee, alaska. host: all right, brian. let's hear from ed calling from marion, north carolina on the democratic line. caller: good morning. actually i'm asking of carolina and i spent half my time in florida. environmental issues are paramount. aggravated by the mindset of the republican party. i'm a lifelong democrat, native floridian. gerrymandering and republicans on the state legislatures our main problem. host: amy in allen, texas on the independent line. caller: good morning.

this is amy. how are you? host: doing well. caller: my real concern is health care because i am in it. we are being trained late -- on what is that exist yet. my concern is our health care system is not health care. it is keeping people sick. i am in the game i know a few things. our insurance dictates that bad treatment. we get paid. we get paid for how many labs and medication we order for that patient. how can that be health care? if our payment from insurance companies are derived from bad

treatment? if you're going to go the holistic way as a patient, we cannot allow that. that is not health care. that is not healing. that is keeping people sick and keeping them in the system. i have elderly parents. of course, there in massachusetts. i visit there and i took them to their doctors appointment. they are getting fussed at for not taking their medication up the medication makes him sick. we need to start teaching real nutrition in school real health, oral hygiene, just keeping yourself healthy. not what your sex is because i do not care what your sex is. host: we are going to have to go

to the next caller on the republican line. nate in las vegas. caller: hey, good morning. there are several issues but of course, the water or the lack of it and people are talking about climate change. i have to remind them every day that when i do get in these conversations we are in a desert. we have a hockey team that won the championship but water is actually the number one. our education system in nevada is the worst. it is just -- there are so many areas the critical race theory that is taught, the stuff that is taught in schools. the amnesty campuses and stuff like this. the kids are being let down.

i've seen it. i work in education. it is just not good. what we have out here in las vegas, it is our young people. we are letting them down big time because they are not learning the basic stuff of how to treat other people, how you act, just basic manners, what you're supposed to do when you look a person in the eye. if you say something, all of a sudden -- i guess i'm a dinosaur. all of a sudden you are out of step or it is not of your business. you should be telling the kid to take his hat off during the national anthem or during the pledge of allegiance. it is just mostly the education. host: ok.

let's hear from andre on the democratic line in brooksville, florida. caller: hey. i would like to speak about the movie that is out right now. transformers and the top-secret information from the government and how seriously they take it. down here in florida they mess with the education system. you cannot even show a disney movie in school now. host: all right, andre. let's go to the responses we are receiving via text message. bill in kansas writes, one of our biggest threats is our attorney general trying to undermine the abortion vote of

the people of our state and prioritizing transgender identities stick with birth genetics despite the change while fentanyl and suicide plague our state. wendy in new jersey writes good morning. we have a number of issues in new jersey but high property taxes is my top issue. we need to take a look at spending. built in new york city writes poverty is the issue here. especially american descendants of slavery been held back by state and government factors. racism and the lack of people wanted to solve this problem in our nation. bell in illinois writes although it is not in the forefront as much as it should be, illinois, this country has a huge issue with life-sustaining drinking water. it contains numerous cancer-causing chemicals.

even bottled water is not safe. people should be outraged. of waters educable -- if water is not drinkable, life cannot be sustained. back to the phone lines. on the democratic line, mark in new york. caller: thanks for c-span. i watch so i can get what is going on in government. the number one problem in my state and every state is climate change. it is going to be like that until we do something about it and change to renewables. stop having plastic for single uses or we should really outlaw plastic period. our state is doing a good job with not letting people have plastic bags in stores. joe biden is doing a good job

with renewables. unfortunately, he is still allowing for drilling for fossil oil. it is something that has to happen. everyone can see we have the hottest days in history of the planet the last couple of weeks. the rain, there is floods. it is not going to stop. we have wrecked the environment with our carbon pollution. we need to now change or we are not going to survive. host: all right, mark in new york. now we go to barbara in fayetteville, arkansas on the independent line. caller: good morning. i appreciate everything that you do. i have a number of things i want to say if possible. the conditions of our country, virtually every state is experiencing a shortage of

housing, affordable housing. we have high rates of homelessness virtually in every state. we have governors who are not taking care of the people in their states like they should, who are willing to cut off medicaid and other social programs. i do not know how they can continue to do this and people not rebel. as a teacher, i understood clearly that all the social ills in this country go all the way back to the pilgrims when they came to this country and they brought all the problems they were fleeing england firm. -- england from on the mayflower. the constitution, the first election for presidency in united states only white

landowners, men, could vote. the constitution itself is written in a way that it completely ignores women and all people other than men. now we see things that are happening this part of our century that is taking us back. education is on the decline. and somehow -- it has to stop. host: appreciate your call. bob calling from pensacola, florida on the republican line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i am here -- i'm one of the immigrants like the rest of us who came to this country.

work, work, and more work. if people understand eyes scared from communist and socialist country. people do not understand what that the system means socialism and communism. they are in a department where no one else is related but them but i appreciate in this country i am here since 1956 and i love that country and that is all i know. work, work, and more work and i'm happy, i am happy that i got what i got here in this country and the freedom, remember the word freedom, we want to keep us

in his system, it is not going to be no freedom. you can see the whole wide world, nobody can do nothing to divide -- the bidens because they are the rulers. there's is no freedom here anymore. we used to have. but people do not go for socialism and communism with they pushing here. host: all right, bob in florida. we are to take a quick break. up next, david becker of the center for election innovation and research will be discussing election integrity in a recent poll finding fewer than half of americans have high confidence that 2020 forte results will be counted accurately. later it is our spotlight on podcast segment we talk politics

and policy with jonquilyn hill of the podcast called the weeds. ♪ ♪ >> listening to programs on c-span through c-span radio app easier. plate c-span radio app, center washington journal daily at 7:00 a.m. eastern, important congressional hearings and other public events throughout the day, and weekdays at 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. eastern, catch washington today for a report of the stories of the day. just tell your smart speaker, play c-span radio. c-span, powered by cable. >> american history tv,

exploring the people and events that tell the american story. a conversation about the declaration of independence with the host of the washington times history as it happens podcast, and george washington history professor and author who tells the political differences between hoover and roosevelt over confronting german aggression and humanitarian crises in finland and poland at the onset of world war ii. watch american history tv every weekend and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org/history. ♪ >> in 1970, twa flight 741 from israel to new york was hijacked and flown to the jordanian desert.

historian, martha, was 12 at the time, along with her sister catherine, 13, and a group called the popular front for the liberation of palestine was behind the hijacking. martha, who teaches 19th century history at new york university, for years, only had some memories of those six days and nights in the desert as a hostage. in the past couple of years, she decided to try to piece together her experience. the result is her book titled "my hijacking: a personal history of forgetting and remembering." >> historian martha hodes on this episode of book notes+, available on the c-span our free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> a healthy democracy does not just look like this, it looks like this, where americans can

see democracy at work, where citizens are fully informed, a republic thrives. get informed straight from the sources on c-span, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word, from the nation's capital to wherever you are because the opinion that matters most is yours. this is what democracy looks like. c-span, powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back to "washington journal." we are joined this morning by david becker, with the center for election innovation and research , discussing election integrity and a recent survey about voter confidence. david, good morning. guest: thank you, great to be here. host: thank you for joining us. remind viewers of your work and the mission at the center free election innovation and research.

guest: sure. we are a 501(c)(3) see nonpartisan nonprofit, center for election innovation and research was founded in 2016 and works to support election officials all over the country, red and blue states, democrats and republicans, to manage elections that voters should trust and do trust, and, of course, that is a big issue now. particularly with trusting part. even over the course of the past two decades, our elections are more secure and transparence than ever before -- transparent than ever before. host: how is the center funded? guest: we are nonprofit, so we are funded by donations across the country. host: getting to this poll, i will show an ap article about it, it was published on tuesday, and it shows that relatively few republicans are confident that votes will be counted accurately during the 2024 presidential election. here is a breakdown of those poll results.

the question, again, is how many u.s. adults are highly confident that 2024 both will be counted accurately, so even among all adults, only 44%, less than half, but 71% of democrats, 24% of independents, 22% of republicans, so not even a quarter of republicans and independents. how concerning is this partisan divide that you see in this poll? guest: both the overall numbers and partisan divide are concerning, not just as a snapshot of where we are right now, and it is important to recognize that as we sit here today, we are merely 1000 days since the november 2020 election. during that time, well over 60 courts have considered claims

that there were significant problems at the elections, and all were rejected at courts, included by trump appointed attorneys. 1000 days after the election, there has not been a shred of evidence accepted by any court in the u.s. that demonstrates any kind of significant problems or fraud. yet, these doubts persist. we just heard the national republican party chairman express the same concerns that, we know there are problems in 2020. that is false. in 2020, we had the highest turnout in american history somehow during a global pandemic, and election officials met the challenge. it was one of the great success stories in american history, not because of the outcome but because the process worked so well. during that time, we were able to have more pre-election mitigation that clarified the rules before the election. we have more paper ballots that could be audited and verified, and we had more audits than ever

before, and we had more postelection litigation to confirm the results. the 2020 election was the most secure presidential election the u.s. has ever had. 2024 will be even better. host: i want to let our viewers know they can go ahead and start calling in if you have any questions for david about election integrity or want to weigh in on the topic. again, democrats, (202)-748-8000 . republicans, (202)-748-8001. independence, -- independents, (202)-748-8002. you can also send a text message, (202)-748-8003, or send us a tweet at --@cspanwj. you can find us on all of our social medias. we will get you in just a moment. david, let's talk about the roots. we have talked about this partisan divide. republicans are about three times more likely than democrats to say they do not think they

are going to trust the 2024 election results. what are the root causes and is it fixable? guest: it is fixable. it will take time and will not be fixable right away. in the past, we have always seen a slight partisan differential and voter confidence after the election, with the winning, party be more confident than the losing one. we have seen that consistently. the overall level of confidence in the country was always relatively high. what we have seen differently in this cycle is that the losing presidential candidate not only refused to accept the will of the people but continued to spread lies. and for those people who are in media bubbles, consuming that toxic combination of falsehoods, it sinks in overtime, and they really understood that. in 2000, we did not have that problem, in 2004, we do not have

that problem, subsequently because up until 2020, the losing candidate accepted the wills of the voters, even those that are close, like in 1960, so we are seen the constant drumbeat of lies really affect the confidence of voters. that is a troubling thing because it is not just that people think that one election was stolen, but we are seeing that eventually, all people believe they are stolen and elections don't have any meaning whatsoever. that is dangerous. that is what our adversaries, like china and russia, tried to get people in democracies to believe, and they failed generally, but now we are seeing it domestically work, which weakens american democracy. host: we are already getting lots of calls, again, talking this morning with david becker of the center for election innovation and research. let's get to some of those calls

now. first up is rhonda in jersey shore, new jersey, democratic line. what is your question or comment? caller: good morning, america. my comment is about the supreme court ruling, where the trump administration and his cronies were trying to get the supreme court to allow states to overturn a newly elected electoral college to put in who they want to be president, and all of that is squashed, and we have major new stations out here actually promoting these lies. you know, this whole thing about hunter biden is a lie, and the whistleblower is the actual culprit of dealing with the

chinese. it is like trump gets to go out here and continue to live, and is never held accountable, not even by the local news stations. fox news, newsmax, thank god we shut down american news in new jersey, they cannot even go through files. we shut them down, but newsmax and fox news, after being sued for billions of dollars, they still continue to do it, and it is terrifyingly. host: rhonda, we get your point, let's give david a chance to address this. guest: thank you. rhonda is talking about a recent supreme court decision called moore versus harper, out of north carolina, about the statewide redistricting, the supreme court ruled the legislature violated the state constitution in north carolina with a particular map. and the question posed was whether the state legislature was not subject to the checks

and balances we learned about in elementary school and on schoolhouse rock, and they could do whatever they want. this is a radical theory called the independent state legislature theory. rhonda is right, it was promoted by supporters of the former president in the aftermath of the 2020 election to try to tell legislators that they could ignore the will of the people and appoint electors however they wanted, even if it was against what the people voted. what the supreme court said, and it was important in terms of establishing the guardrails for 2024 and onward, and a 6:3 vote, said, no, that is not the case. state legislators are still subject to the checks and balances of their state court system and constitutions and estate executive, and if a losing candidate comes to the united states supreme court to expect that the united states supreme court is going to allow

a state to anoint the loser as the winner of the presidential election after the u.s. supreme court said, do not bother, we will not do that. host: our next caller is in mississippi, james on the independent line. caller: i wanted to know, sir, about electoral college votes. why did the republican party insist on something that is being disingenuous with voters? why is it that they do not understand that the popular vote is more important to them then the way they have the system set up now? that means they don't have to work hard to prove a point to the american people that their policy is right, so they do not want to have one vote, give

every person one vote, so why is it that they keep saying that it is something illegal and then said, they don't show president trump's investigation, if they don't show it in front of the court to let the american people see it, i am not going to vote because i want -- even president biden. if he gets indicted and the american people need to see it, they joked about january 6 on they had the investigation, and everything that those people said ended on january 6 retained to the conversation we are having -- pertained to the conversation you're are having, all those people said were republicans. how is it that the republican party can say some kind of scam when all it did was the

administration and most of the party, he hides them. these people are not republican. we need to see more of these people, the whistleblowers or the people making these statements against him, we need to hear. the media never puts these people on. they never tell you these are republicans. they always did away with the democrats. they have two whistleblowers and the republican party gets president biden, and we found that one was a crook. nobody is talking about that. host: james, we got your point. i think he is talking about the fact that perhaps transparency could help? he mentioned january 6. a lot of the people who testified to the january 6 committee were fellow republicans who were criticizing trump. i think he was talking about

that partisanship. what are your thoughts? guest: it is true that if you look at the january 6 committee and a lot of the testimony being sought by the special counsel, it is almost entirely republicans who were testifying with factual information about what occurred. it probably also brings up a point about the electoral college which, of course, there is an active discussion going on and disagreements about whether the electoral college system we have, which only affects the presidential election, which, of course, says the electoral votes as determined by the states decide the presidency, not the overall popular vote. whether it is a good or bad idea , and a lot of us have strong opinions on that, it is enshrined in the u.s. constitution as part of a compromise that was accepted a long, long time ago, and in order to change it, it would likely require a constitutional amendment. if the system we have, there are rules of elections that exist

all across the country before the election. some of us like them and some of us do not like others, and that might differ depending upon what party you belong to or what state you live in, but they are set. i the time election day starts, we know what the rules are and we play by them. you cannot complain about the rules after the election if you do not win the election. if you have used the best field-goal kicker in the league, you cannot complain that you lost by couple of points. you know the rules, they were clarified before the 2020 election, and those rules apply to the election. it is important. in the past, we have always had candidates who accepted that. host: we should point out, there is controversy with the popular vote and the electoral college have two different results, but in the 2020 election, biden both

won the popular vote and the other touro vote, so that particular circumstance, they both lined up. guest: the 2020 presidential election was decided by the widest margin of any election in the 21st century where barack obama was not on the ballot, to put that into context. president biden won by over 7 million popular votes across the country, he won the electoral college by a relative landslide, close to it president trump won in 2016 with over 300 electoral votes in 2020, so it was not a particularly close election in terms of recent history. we are a very closely divided election, certainly not like the election in 2000, where one state was decided by 137 votes, or where one state slipping could have changed the outcome. host: let's go to tim in fairview, pennsylvania. republican line. caller: yeah, i think the reason

we are having this discussion at all is because of the 2020 election. it never really was trashed out in the courts. i remember rudy giuliani when he was on the case before he was taken off of it. he had over 1000 affidavits from coworkers, republicans and democrats that sell all sorts of irregularities, and they were never allowed to be heard, such as the truck driver who publicly came out and said he drove a truck load of ballots in the middle of the night that night from new york to lancaster, pennsylvania, and there was a wonderfully researched book called "rigged," which documented thousands of footnotes about the irregularities of the election,

and there was a wonderful film where they used pings off of cell phones, the same used to locate missing persons, of people going back and forth in private homes to drop boxes, dozens and dozens of times of mailboxes. the gateway does wonderful reporting, and i see many of the films they have on cameras on drop boxes -- host: 10, i am going to stop you there because i know david wants to respond. tim represents a lot of people who have believed misinformation about the election, can you respond? guest: i think this is a great example of how all of us, regardless of who we support in the presidential election or which party we belong to, we have to get out of our media bubbles, the bubbles which feed us media which makes us feel better about things and look for media that challenges this. i try to do that on a regular basis.

the simple facts are this. i know there are people who disagree, but these facts have been established over time. all of the so-called affidavits and so-called evidence was considered either over 60 courts, including trump appointed judges. on christmas eve of 2020, i tweeted out several of the quotes from these trump judges in pennsylvania, georgia and wisconsin, who looked at the evidence, all of it proposed. and found nothing there. most of it was either misconceptions, people misunderstanding what was happening, some of it was highly questionable as to whether or not it was truthful. all of the evidence was considered and it demonstrated very little. there's no point in debunking all of the things because they have been multiple times and there are still resilient lies, but the truck driver that was investigated fully and determined that the truck driver was likely untruthful. it was debunked by law

enforcement officials. the issues that were raised in the so-called documentary that was just mentioned, the makers of that documentary have just been sued this past week i the state of georgia because georgia would not -- georgia asked for all of the evidence they had so they could investigated, and the makers of the documentary, months and months later, refused to give the evidence. please rake out of your media bubbles and look at some of the evidence out there. the courts, including trump appointed judges reviewed everything and determined the 2020 election was secure and decided properly. host: i am pulling up in atlanta journal constitution journal article, and that republican secretary of state, the georgia state election board sued the organization behind that documentary, filed in fulton county, georgia, because they

said that documentary made allegations, but the people behind the documentary did not provide that evidence after months of requests. i also want to bring up an article by ndc news because that last caller mentioned rudy giuliani. it says this article is from july 7, so both of these articles are recent. it says the disciplinary board for the d.c. bar association recommended friday that former trump attorney rudy giuliani be stripped of his law license over reckless fraud claims after the 2020 election. the panel announced its findings in a 38 page decision centered on a postelection lawsuit giuliani filed in the effort to dismiss thousands of votes in pennsylvania, won by president joe biden. "esther giuliani's efforts to -- mr. giuliani's efforts to undermine the 2020 election has helped to destabilize our

democracy. his malicious and meritless claims have done lasting damage." again, not only has rudy giuliani been accused of spreading misinformation, but he is facing disciplinary action for it. guest: if i may, do not have to just trust the courts to tell you that all of these things are lies. these people have admitted they are lies when they are put under oath, rudy giuliani famously said this is not a fraud case, when questioned under oath, sidney powell basically said in a defamation case, and nobody reasonably expected that what i was saying was the truth. these are republicans asking for this information for the makers of the documentary, republicans, the georgia secretary of state, and it is unfortunate that the lies are persistent, despite the fact that courts, other republicans and conservatives,

have debunked them in the system. host: let's go back to the phone lines, jay, waldorf, maryland, democratic line. caller: yeah, your guest there is valuable. trump -- you may have mentioned this, trump is one of the main reasons why his unprecedented presidency, you know, the reason why a lot of this is happening, the voter confidence and things. the lies are just incredible. fact checking both republicans and democrats, with people like david k johnson, republican, have checked right trump said during his president, and there were tons of thousands of lies. so, yeah, that is one of the major reasons why. what we need is for c-span to find a republican guy to see

what this gentleman is saying. the problem is, of course, the extreme republicans, now you republicans and people in charge now, those in the house, their attitude is if there is a democratic idea about a nonpartisan commission to investigate election fraud, if it is a democratic idea, it is probably a scam. so if you are a republican i go for that, then they are going to penalize you for doing that. anyway, i will hang up. keep up the great work. guest: thanks. yeah, there have been a lot of republican and conservative reviews of the election. the best one is one called lost, not stolen, which you can found that -- find that lostnots tolen.org. and there are a number of people, like those who campaigned for george w. bush, and others like mitt romney, people like wish appointed

judges, j michael looted -- bush appointed judges like j michael, and they came to the same conclusions that trump appointed judges did and others did, that there is no evidence that election was stolen whatsoever and it was secure. i wrote a book called "the big truth" that outlines a lot of the facts around the 2020 election cycle, and the fact that in many ways, the claims made about election fraud are slandering the men and women who run elections all over, republicans and democrats, who give up their time and are not recognized often further work. they do not get rich and famous from this work, but they did a remarkable job under incredible stress, and their work withstood the scrutiny that came after the 2020 election and continues to withstand scrutiny. one of the other notable things is there have been lies spread by the losing presidential candidate in 2020, one of the

most prominent was that mail balloting is not secure. it is, and not only is it secure, but it used to be promoted primarily by republicans. republicans use this to great effect in states like arizona, utah, nevada, and many other states, where republicans promoted the idea of mail-in voting, if you think about who is most likely to vote by mail, it tends to be people who are older and own property. publicans believed they were predominantly their voters. we have seen for the first time ever, a shift because of the lies spread about mail-in voting, where democrats now vote more by mail than republicans do, and now you are seeing campaigns like evan or youngkin in virginia, this past week, where he is trying to encourages republican voters to come out early and vote by mail after all of that disinformation that is incentivize that -- that is incentivized that. host:

caller: good morning thank you for c-span. i used to be a poll worker myself. i stopped that after the pandemic. hopefully, i will be back soon. i will be 70 in a few months. i am independent and they asked me when i signed up, we need to know which party you prefer. i said to tell you the truth, i preferred the left. however, when it comes to city council, i vote republican every time for city council because i don't want an all democratic city council. because of that, i was smashed up with a republican poll worker.

they are the most respectable and honest people. all of my poll workers, it doesn't matter. i never had an ounce of trouble for any of them. when it comes to president donald trump let me say this. i don't hate that guy one bit. i think he would be a great, fantastic president on reality tv. but he doesn't have the skill to be a real president. i don't want him to go to prison. i just want them to live their lives somewhere else. i do believe that the poll workers are the most honest people i have ever met. guest: i am so glad he called.

thank you for that and thank you for your services a poll worker. it highlights the fact that every election we've had relies on thousands of volunteers who give up their time and get paid little for this to work very long hours and they work across party lines. to give voice to all american voters. it's one of the most inspiring things i've ever seen. i have been in thousands of poll places with poll workers. it is something that should be celebrated. it's one of the reasons to push back on stolen elections. they are trying to get you to believe that these americans have conspired to steal elections from the american people. that is a slander.

people like mike and the other volunteer poll workers deserve better than that. i hope mike that you'll continue to volunteer and recruit others in your community. if you want to understand the checks and balances and how it's impossible to steal an election. volunteered to be a poll worker. it's a great way to see it from the inside. host: what are some best practices or recommendations that you think could help. we have talked about even most poll facilities have republicans and democrats monitoring how ballots are cast. how they are counted. even in states like georgia where republicans are in charge.

you still have people who believe the election was stolen. what is the solution? guest: we have to state the facts. the poll workers come from both parties. they are out there to volunteer and help, not just to steal an election. even if one were caught, they are observers all over the country representing both parties and campaigns. they watch every aspect of the process. if you remember in 2020 in detroit there was a ryan outside of accounting center where supporters of tromp were banging on the doors and windows threatening poll workers. they wanted and so they could observe.

there were 200 observers in that room. that is important and it's fantastic that we have that level of transparency. election practitioners practice extreme transparency. they have shown them their machines, their processes, that has not been enough. people are still consuming the lies. there disappointed by the election. what's wrong is that there are grifters making money off of that disappointment and trying to convince people that they should be angry and convince people they should be diluted about the election by putting money in these grifters pockets.

that's why this is still going on. host: let's go to the republican line. nelson is calling from hollywood, florida. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call can you hear me ok? host: absolutely. caller: mr. becker, one of the things that have not been mentioned. i am 74 years old and i tried to vote in vietnam but i was too young. i've taken the civic duty of voting seriously. i have always trusted the results of all of those elections except for the last one. because there were several states of violated their own state constitutions in their own election laws in regards to the

particular election. when you do that there seems to be a nation of laws. the excuse was covid. however, the result is what we have now. i am not convinced. i want to believe what you are stating and i am not convinced that the elections came out appropriately and honestly because once you start violating your state constitution and changing the rules in the middle of the game. you don't know what the real results can be and what can actually happen. host: before david response to you. what could convince you? in every state where the argument you are making was made there were lawsuits filed that made that argument in the court

said no. the protocols were followed, the election was done according to each state's laws where there were challenges made. what could convince you or help you have confidence that nothing that was done negatively affected or alter the outcome of the election? caller: i don't believe you could ever convince me 100% that election came out fairly. what my concern is, what happened in 2020 with states violating their own laws never happens again so in the future i can have total confidence into what is going on. host: we will let david take it from here. guest: thank you for your service to our country as well.

this is a talking point that's used by many that there is a violation of laws and all these other states. i understand your concerned and deep disappointment but it's simply not true. in every single election there is some deviation from the law through litigation. we had more litigation before the election that ever before. seven out of eight of those cases. where decided for republicans. the people in charge of the laws , the pennsylvania legislature was controlled by republicans. the entire state of georgia was

controlled by republicans, the wisconsin election commission was appointed by republican legislature. there were some changes like every election in terms of clarifying what was going on. they were all litigated pre-election. the united states supreme court heard a lawsuit that made this exact claim brought by ken paxton in 2020 and rejected. they cited there is nothing there for them to review. this is a common talking p oint. that's just as invalid as saying florida violated their loss in 2000 when they cited the rule

that the vote count was appropriate and george bush won by 537 votes. the 2020 election was more secure, transparent and verified that any other election before. the entire state of pennsylvania had non-paper ballots they could not be audited because there were paper ballots. in 2020 the entire state was paper ballots that could be validated. georgia validated their votes by hand. host: let's go to massachusetts. william is on the independent line. caller: good morning everybody. host: good morning go ahead william. caller: i was listening to what

you said about mail-in votes. i know 38 states check signatures but 19 don't. isn't it disingenuous to say they're not? guest: every single state validates every single mail-in ballot twice. once when the ballot is requested. whether it is requested for each election, thus validated at that point and when it comes in again it's validated by signature or drivers license to confirm it was the voter themselves to cast it. it's a multiple check process. if someone was committing fraud

by submitting a ballot that was not theirs, it would be discovered because some of those individuals who had a ballot cast for them would come in and try to vote. that is captured by election officials. that is something we have a good handle on. we've been doing mail-in voting since the civil war. the ability to validate these posts is strong. host: the next caller is my on the democratic line. caller: i am trying to understand to this day how money became the driving factor in election. i remember when the supreme court made that decision as far as corporations being able to contribute and become part of the voting process. from then on, it seemed like

money was the driving force for all elections. people were bought and paid for by corporations. i think the supreme court came up with something like that, corporations are people too. i don't feel like my vote means that things would put up against the money that is being poured into these candidates. it's hard to understand because i remember a lot of time. i am 80 years old, i remember a time where i felt my vote did count. i remember a time when republicans or democrats could talk to each other. they

exchanged ideas and one side could take the other side's meaning. right now. it is like a war between voters. i remember when people enjoyed folks. host: we have your point and he brings a good thing i wanted to talk about. even though more republicans say they don't have confidence there are almost 30% of democrats that expressed the same concern but it seems when they express they don't have confidence it is for different reasons. the color we have from

california identified himself as a democrat and he's worried about the integrity of the election. guest: often we lump all of these numbers together. the concern republicans have which might be focused on alleged fraud even if it didn't occur for the concern democrats have which is the ranking of the system through money or voter suppression are very different concerns. they can't be lumped in together. this is one of the problems we have about election policy. the parties make policy to change outcomes in their favor. the american people are complex and vote for a variety of reasons. there was a study that came out that said as much as you change policy around election, it

doesn't change the outcome. we have this dichotomy between voter fraud and voter suppression. voters turned out for different reasons and the impact of some of these laws are minimal. we just had the highest turnout in 2020 in the midst of a pandemic. that does not mean global pandemic turns out for pandemics. in the state of georgia which some have accused of engaging in voter suppression and pass laws, georgia has seen higher registration rates among all communities and hired turnout

rates including african-american communities in the last election. i think it is important to note, i hope vote or suppress themselves because they worried the system is rigged. oftentimes the candidate who raises the most money does not win. every vote matters even if the margin is large. you send a message to the candidate that wins that your voice was heard. host: you mentioned that recent study. i pulled an article in the new jersey monitor state election laws have little impact on results. u.s. politics has been consumed over state election policies. but a new study is causing a stir finding that state legislatures changes to election

laws, those that tighten election rules and those that expand access have almost no impact on which side wins. let's go back to the phone lines. this is roy in woodstock, georgia on the republican line. caller: i am in georgia. in the 2016 election there was one democrat that challenged the election but because the senator would not sign off on it, biden would not allow it. in the 2020 election there were several congressmen that would challenge the election in six senators ready to sign off on it. the insurrection stop that. i am in georgia, they did not

verify signatures. mail-in ballots have been going on for a long time but during the recount there was an agreement that the signatures would not be verified and in addition to that the fbi weighed in on this last election. the hunter biden laptop, the fbi was paying social media outlets for misinformation. all of this is been verified. in the durham report they talked about what they did against donald trump. for a congressman to come on and talk about the deep state we should know something is wrong. rudolph giuliani, many of the things he brought they did not put before the court and the

change to the election process it was not litigated before the election it was after the election. they change those rules. host: i'm going to stop you there because people have already mentioned what you've brought up. guest: you can see how resilient some of these narratives are and it is unfortunate. every single clarification of the rules was done pre-election. hundreds of cases brought nationwide before election day, 87% decided in favor of the republicans. in georgia, any rule changes were brought by republicans and they had control on the state level. in 2016, ballas could not have been recounted.

they had only digital ballots. that is not a secure system in the georgia legislature moved georgia to a verifiable paper in 2020. they deserve a lot of credit for that. it was the reason we can verify the results of the election. please look at the secretary of state in georgia, those mail ballots were verified for signatures. they were recounted twice after the initial count and every count confirmed it. i think to the point about the alleged interference of the election. what i hear often from people who supported president trump there worried about the interference in 2020. i often hear about the fbi

interference with the james comey letter and 2016. voters went to the ballot box regardless of the disinformation they were consuming and cast the balance and they were counted accurately. any claims the interference makes an election invalid in 2016 or 2020, it's the delegitimization of a process that is run by americans who make sure those ballots are counted accurately. host: calling from california, mary on the independent line. caller: hi. i have been in the united states for nearly 60 years. i have been watching very carefully what's going on.

what hasn't been addressed is ballot harvesting. what really concerns me about that is that over many years, loss of been changed in california to make it easier for people to vote. we had so many homeless people here they don't even have to have an address because is supposed to make it more fair for them to vote. one by one laws of been relaxed. we can't ask people if they are citizens. getting back to ballot harvesting. some of the states had razor thin margins and we had to wait for weeks to hear what the outcome was. this is what makes me

suspicious. there are so many volunteers who are democrats, far more than republican and they would go to homeless encampments, nursing homes and help people to vote. since these homeless people don't have to have an address, how can their votes be verified? i remember the boxes of ballas that would show up at the last minute and the whole election would be changed. i should mention that i am not a trump supporter. i did vote for him, i will not vote at all if it's biden or trump. i would like to see a strong, conservative candidate who was

moderate to run against whoever the democrat is going to be. host: we appreciate your call. let's let david respond. guest: there's a couple of things in there to discuss. first of all, the term ballot harvesting which is when an individual is empowered to return more than just their own ballot. normally, it's only a family member or caregiver. there is a lawsuit pending for defamation by one of the individuals who returns ballots that he was legally allowed to for his family. it is designed to enrage people

but is not affecting elections. california was decided by more than 3 million votes. i doubt seriously if there are 3 million homeless people in california that there would be a mobilization effort to do that and that conspiracy would be discovered after the fact. it's been nearly a thousand days since 2020. courts have welcomed lawsuits. law enforcement, republican law enforcement have begged for information or evidence from people who made claims. none of it has come forward. one other quick point. you can ask if someone is a citizen. absolutely you can ask if

someone as a citizen. it requires people to sign under penalty of perjury if they are in americans citizen. there have been prosecutions and deportations of individuals who claimed otherwise. that is on every application. host: i think people get confused. there are some local municipalities that let noncitizens vote in local elections but not in federal elections. guest: there are very few. they allow them to vote in school board elections because there are noncitizens who go to schools. those slows do not apply to federal or state wide elections. under federal law, it's only open to citizens and very few

states have opened it up to things like school board elections. host: mary is our next caller and auburn, new york. caller: good morning. you keep claiming there is no voter fraud. is it not against allowed to go into nursing homes and give votes from people who don't even know who their family is? dead people can't vote. there are voters who use an address where no address exists. more than one ballot was sent to many homes in used. they can't prove because there is no name on the ballot in they voted for. and these people have been caught and arrested for doing so. yes, there was voter fraud and i

wait for your reply, thank you. guest: i never said there was no voter fraud. the amount of voter fraud and any given election is not much more than zero. i help states keep their polls up to date and there are a few dozen cases nationally discovered and prosecuted but again this shows the resilience of disinformation. the nursing home allegations, they were found to be debunked. that was an allegation of people who didn't know that they were voting. that was a highly partisan effort done by a supporters. the allegation that people are voting from places that don't exist those on social media but

in court they don't bring it into court because then they are subject to the rules of the court. lawyers could be debarred. there was an allegation in arizona about people not being residential. those of been debunked. this is a common refrain we have heard and we could see how much it is sunk in with the american people. i understand wanting a different candidate to win. we've all been in that situation. in the past we have seen statesmen like nixon and realizing they needed to do what was best for the country. for the first time in 20 20, we did not have that. the losing candidate profited, he raised money off of all of

those claims, the lies about election fraud to the degree he had raised hundreds of millions of dollars in november of 2020 off of those lies. but, when he had an opportunity to spend that money, to generate proof about possible fraud, he could have had statewide recounts in michigan and -- that was his right. that was less than 1/10 of the money he raised. he declined statewide recounts in all three states. he discounted two counties in wisconsin -- host: we are going to have to leave it there. this is david becker from the center for election innovation and research. he is the co-author of a book titled the big truth, upholding democracy in the age of the big lie. thank you for joining us this

morning. guest: thank you for having me. host: a little later, jonquilyn hill will be discussing her podcast and other political news of the day. first, it is open forum. start calling in now. we will get to you after the break. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. ♪ ♪ >> c-spanshop.org is c-span's online store. rouse through our collection of c-span products, apparel, books, home decor and accessories.

there is something for every c-span fan and every purchase helps support our nonprofit operations. shop now or anytime at the sp shop.org. -- c-span shop.org. ♪ >> sunday on q and a, historian and politico contribute and writer joshua zeit, author of lincoln's god, talked about the impact faith had on america's 16th president. abraham lincoln was skeptical of organized religion, but later as president came to embrace the power of evangelical protestantism personally and politically. [video clip] >> he was seen as a religious scholar so he learned to be tightlipped about this. we know as late as 1858, the local presbyterian minister in springfield, illinois who was the minister at the church where

the lincoln's rented a pew, he attempted to convert lincoln. he would say he managed to do that. one of lincoln's friends said the minister tried, but could not. there is nothing in public record or private record to suggest lincoln had any real sense of religiosity before he got to washington as president. >> joshua zeitz with his book, lincoln's god, sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q and a. you can listen to q and a and all of our podcast on our free c-span now app. ♪ ♪ >> a healthy democracy does not just look like this, it looks like this. where americans can see democracy at work, where citizens are truly informed, a republic thrives. get informed straight from the source on c-span. unfiltered, unbiased, word for

word. from the nation's capital to wherever you are. the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span, powered by cable. ♪ >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back to "washington journal." it is time for open form, your chance to weigh in on any political topic or news of the day. democrats, your line is (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. first up, jerry in canton, north carolina on the republican line. caller: yes, good morning c-span. your last guest pretty much told every caller that, do not believe you are lying to us. i have got a different perspective on what happened in 2020. i blame the media.

we had 51 intel agents who lied. we have had abc, cbs, cnn, msnbc and c-span for four years character assess, make the sitting president. c-span, i look at you and say, you are the one that stole my vote. now, we have a party, the democrats who -- as a democrat from california said, wants to divide this country, call us to war. you have a sitting president who tells my neighbor to hate me because of the color of my skin. now, now, they are after our children. so, c-span, if you really want to know about intimidation and voter fraud, look in the mirror.

have a good day. host: all right. let's go to orlando, florida now. michael is on the independent line. caller: hello, can you hear me, c-span? host: yes. caller: the last guest was a intelligent man. i watched a number of callers call in and he seemed to have a very articulate answer for every caller. i think most people would feel him to be credible, i am not saying he is credible. this is a person who i view as his 35 years of doing this, case in point -- i found it if occult when we had hillary clinton -- it difficult when we had hillary clinton, donald trump's presidency go around on the talk shows, how the election was stolen from her. you did not quite here it was the big lie. when stacey abrams was running

for governor the first time of atlanta -- or, georgia, that was the -- the election was stolen from her until the election. now, we do not really hear about stacey abrams. my point about your guest was, when they ask him and said, hey, look about these cases about the fbi not looking at hunter biden's laptop, that might have helped president trump had they brought it up. his go to answer is, when it is a democrat, it seemed like, he reaches back. he says, well, hillary clinton says they brought up the election stuff on her from james comey. it is selective and skilled in how he would talk to your callers. i feel that most people are looking at spy language as i did. sure, he can say that courts have done this. one court in pennsylvania, when

the voting ballot -- that was against the state constitution. it was a significant amount of votes. when it got heard by their supreme court, it was up to their governor to either follow suit or not. they were not going to throw out those votes because they had been counted. it was too late, but they did violate their own law. when the one color calls in and says, he had been voting since vietnam and he thought everything was good until this last election, you have a lot of people who are looking at that. it may not be widespread, but to come out on the offense and say these people are all misguided, there is intelligent people out here. host: all right, got your point. we are going to move on. i'm sorry, the previous caller, we got your point. we are going to move on to danny in kirksville, missouri, democratic line. caller: yes, ma'am.

i want to talk about the economy and how when i go to the store anymore -- the prices on items these days, amazon, you pay $15 a post-it, you know? prices are going up, we are all now going back to america. the big businesses making the prices making the rich stay rich, you know. they can lower the price of food anytime they want, you know. that is all i got to say. host: all right, danny. let's go to arizona, now. christian on the republican line. caller: thank you so much for taking my call. last guest you had on, david becker -- he did not have anything intellectual to say. the guy sat there reading talking points. that is what a lot of these

people do. they come on these news shows, broadcasts or for newspapers and they sit in a comfortable studio reading off talking points. i bet you that guy david becker has not seen not one voter registration from 2020 or voter registration form. i bet you he had not seen one signature from 2020. i have, i have seen them. the voter registration forms in arizona do not require a country of birth. it does not require the state of birth on the form. the signatures from 2020 did not match. i saw several hundred of them, myself in maricopa county. folks who are listening, do not allow these people to come on any of these shows and tell you otherwise. we are the people who are on the ground.

we are the people who are actually -- who actually talk to everyday people. we are not sitting in accountable studio acting like we know everything and telling people to not believe you are lying or not. host: alrighty. next up is in fredericksburg, indiana -- ray in fredericksburg, independent line. caller: thanks for taking my call. i have a topic i would like for you to address some time. it is called the real-time vote count. i think you should look at that as somebody who has researched that, because when a candidate, when it is recorded, the real-time vote is different numbers at different times. we figured out the percentage after the democrat has the lead. then, the percentage stays the same. that is not possible for people to vote like that. people do not vote at the same percentage until the vote is

finished. that is not real. david becker is one of those politicians that is two parts. the head and the rear end. they are interchangeable. thank you. host: let's go to paul in blacksburg, virginia, democratic line. caller: yeah, i would like to say i wish these folks who continually call in and claim they are independent when the questions clearly skew to reporting the republican party would be more honest and call in on the republican line. thank you. host: ok, paul. barry is up next in independent line from long island, new york. caller: yes, good morning. how are you today? host: doing well. caller: ok, good. i just want to say, i found your last guest very professional at what he does. he had the answer for everything, just not the truth.

the thing is, i have zero confidence in the voter integrity. we have no integrity. if we do not have full verification, meaning photo id and a fingerprint, i would add, to everybody, nobody can ever have confidence. in my opinion, the democrats have mastered the steel. the european union outlawed many years ago the male in balloting except in very limited situations. the reason they did that is because it was rife with corruption. we know that. to say there was no corruption is ridiculous. that is what i wanted to say today. host: all right. that is going to do it for us for open forum. when the comeback, we will be speaking with jonquilyn hill, she is host of the fox media podcast called "the weeds."

she is going to be talking about her policy podcast, as well as political news of the week. i wonder to let you know that later -- i want to let you know that later today, you can watch c-span. formerredent trump will be delivering remarks from the palm beach county convention center in west palm beach, florida. you can watch it live at 6:45 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. ♪ ♪ >> book tv, every sunday on c-span two features leading authors discussing their latest, nonfiction books. at 7:00 p.m. eastern, former naacp president been jealous speaks about healing america using powerful conversations he

has had with notable americans in his book, never fort our people arelws free. at 10:00 p.m. eastern o afterwords, usc public policy professor elizabeth howan shares her book where she argues that rural and urban america have more in common than what is perceived. she is interviewed by former north coda senator heidi heitkamp. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch on book tv.org. ♪ ♪ >> american history tv. exploring the people and events that tell the american story. a conversation about the declaration of independence with martin to caro, host of the washington times, history as it happens podcast and towards washington university history professor --

tales of political differences between herbert hoover and franklin roosevelt over confronting german aggression and the humanitarian crises of poland and finland at the onset of world war ii. watch american history tv every weekend and find a full schedule on your program gue watch online anytime at the span.org/history -- c-span.org/history. ♪ if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage, you can find it anytime online at c-span.org. videos of key hearings, debates and other events, feature markers that guide you to newsworthy highlights. these points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on select videos. this timeline tool makes it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's point of interest. ♪

a healthy democracy does not just look like this. it looks like this. where americans can see democracy at work. where citizens are truly informed, a republic thrives. get informed straight from the source on c-span, unfiltered, unbiased, word forward. from the nation's capital to wherever you are. the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span, powered by cable. ♪ >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back to "washington journal." we are joined this morning by fox's jonquilyn hill to discuss her podcast and the political news of the day. welcome to your "washington journal" debut, jonquilyn. guest: it is so great to be here. host: we appreciate you joining us. talk to us about the podcast. what is your format, what type

of guests do you have on? guest: "the weeds" is a top podcast. it does a deep dive into the policy issues of the day. the types of guest we will have on, we have my colleagues from fox who do a lot of great, smart , amazing reporting. we also have experts, academics, historians diving into the history of the policies that we see today. host: how do you decide what topics? tell us some of the topics you discuss in your podcast. guest: one of my favorite episodes is a weeds time machine about the voting rights act. my mother's family is from outside selma, alabama. she remembers the first time her parents were able to legally vote because of the passage of the voting rights act. that was a cool episode. we got to talk to her, get personal history. we talked to historians about how we got the voting rights act and the way it has changed and

where it stands today. we looked at the top news, so a while ago when there was a scandal when sam bankman-fried, we did an episode on ftx and got into the ins and outs of crypto regulation. most recently, we did an episode on homeowners associations, which gets the response because people have passionate feelings about their hoa's. host: i have been listening to the podcast, it is really interesting, the hoa one. you guys provide -- it seems you are focused on not just getting into the issue, but providing context and background. is that the mission of your podcast? guest: absolutely. the way that i often think of it is that politics are how people get power, and policy is what people do with that power. we focus on the policy aspect. that means not only the laws that are enacted, but the

context that gets us those laws. why there are certain provisions, why things work a certain way, why may be court case plays out the way it does. host: we want to open up the phone lines. if you have a question or jonquilyn or want to talk on the political news of the day, you can start calling in now. democrats, the number is (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. we will get to your calls in a moment. let's talk about your most recent episode on hoa's. tell us how the topic became -- how this became a topic for your podcast. guest: it was twofold. a little bit ago, one of my colleagues, emily stewart, wrote this piece about the history of hoa's. and where they stand now.

i also happened to be catching up on a conversation with two of my best friends who make an appearance in the episode. they were telling me about the issues they are having with their hoa's. paying these large prices, feeling like they are not getting the most bang for their buck. i realized there is so much policy in our day-to-day lives, there is something here. we should take a dig into it. host: it is interesting listening to the podcast. your friends are ready to give up homeownership, at least temporarily, because they got so frustrated with their hoa. the episode description calls hoa's "tiny, unregulated governments." what did you learn about how hoa's work in america? guest: what is really interesting is that they are private. they are not public. that means they do not run into a lot of the same regulations and rules that government entities do. a lot of the developers will

create these hoa's and what happens is, that means a lot of the maintenance is taken off the local governments plate. a lot of them will have private water, private sewer, just these different ways. yeah, they are really, really proliferating in the country. i think in some states, about 80% of new housing is in hoa's. host: so, in another recent episode, you spoke to grace, a 19-year-old from montana, who was a plaintiff in the first constitutional climate trial in u.s. history. i have a nbc news article pulled up. the headline, "it is my future, montana youth undertake one of the worlds highest profiled climate trials." it says the montana trial could set a major precedent regarding the government's responsibility

to protect future generations from climate change. what can you tell us about this lawsuit in montana? guest: it is really interesting. grace is a 19-year-old from montana. she is one of nearly 20 plaintiffs in this case. the basis of the case is, this constitutional amendment in 1972 that says that the citizens of montana have the right to a clean and healthful environment. what they are arguing is that a lot of the coal mining is taking a toll on their health and keeping them from living their best life possible. grace tells this story in the podcast about how her soccer classes had to get moved indoors during the summer because of the wildfire smoke. those of us on the east coast and the midwest are experiencing that more and more, so we know

the toll that takes. it is interesting, and a difficult thing to parts out. on one hand, the outdoor economy is a $7.1 billion industry in montana, but on the other hand, they are a major coal exporter. when it comes to jobs and things like that, they make about -- those coal jobs make about 30% higher in money than the median income of the state. it is a real challenge. host: what did you find out about how states, montana or other states, are trying to balance that industry versus recreation concerns about health? guest: yeah, it is difficult. you know, you hear a lot of the pushback saying, ok, wind turbines. what about these alternative forms of energy? that is an option, but it is a major change. it is costly.

i think, often for everybody, including legislatures, poly -- policymakers, change can be scary and uncertain. host: i want to get into some of the news of the day with you. this is today's new york times, which i just found the whole front page was super news-y this morning. here on the left-hand side, you have the headline, sitcom queen in a new role, strike leader. it talks about fran drescher, she is best known for her leading role in the nanny. her new role, her current role is leader of the actors union, sag-aftra. she has this news conference -- had this news conference on thursday where she talked about the decision to strike. they joined the writers that are already on strike. tell us more about why

hollywood, these writers and actors have decided to strike. guest: of course. i should note vox is a number of the writers guild. i am a member of the writers guild, but a different bargaining unit then this strike happening now. for wj and -- wga and sag-aftra, the issues come down to two things. on one hand, it is streaming. the residuals are much smaller. it used to be you could have a good middle-class life as a writer, you no longer can. for the sag-aftra actors, it is the same. i am not sure if you are familiar with the television show eval he, but there was a viral clip from the woman who plays mercedes where she got a residual and it was for one cent. that is not livable. the studios and the writers and actors are at a crossroads right now. the other issue coming up is ai, for instance fran drescher said that at one point, the studios

were trying to have a clause in where you would scan background actors faces and be able to use them as background actors in the future. of course, that brings down work. we hear stories about people trying to write sitcoms using ai. it is these writers and actors saying, no, there is a human value here. we want to be paid for our labor. they in the studios are going to have to come to an agreement, or else we are watching a lot of reality tv for the foreseeable future. host: we are speaking this morning from -- with jonquilyn hill from vox on her podcast "the weeds." if you have a question or want to talk about political news of the day, you can call us. democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. i want to bring up another hot

topic for you. this one is on the national defense authorization act, which is a military policy -- this is this morning's front page. the headline says it all. republicans ram divisive measure to house victory. i am going to read a little bit from the article. it says republicans on friday ran through the house, a deeply partisan defense bill that would limit abortion access, transgender care and diversity training for military personnel. setting up a showdown with the senate. the coming fight could imperil the crucial, annual measure to provide a pay raise for troops, set defense policies to counter u.s. adversaries and sustain pentagon programs at a time of rising threats. now, this vote is considered the latest example of how a relatively small group of far

right members in the house are cooling the house further to the -- pulling the house further to the right, injecting these culture war issues into what is normally a pretty bipartisan piece of legislation. talked a little bit about what you have observed in the house in this new republican majority. guest: it is really interesting. for so long, the ndaa was one of those pieces of policy and legislation that to a certain extent went untouched by the partisan politics. at the end of the day, they said we have to fund our military. we are seeing less of that now. i think it shows where our politics are in this current moment, that even these pieces of legislation that at one point seemed untouchable fall to partisan politics. of course, it passed the house. the senate, we likely will not

be seeing this version of the bill passed the senate. reconciliation is going to be very, very interesting. but, what i am interested in is seeing how this all plays out in the next couple of years looking ahead to 2024. we saw the midterms, we did not get the red wave that so many republicans were counting on. it is going to be interesting if these culture war politics get people elected. at the end of the day, i think this is what this is about. host: let's go to the phone lines. ted is in mansfield, new jersey on the republican line. what is your question or comment? caller: thank you, i appreciate you being on the pulse of so many issues. i want to ask you something that concerns me. it seems like many of the younger people, they vote on the one side of the ledger because the administration was talking

about helping with student loans, even though it would have been a small help and did not have the right to do it in the fashion he did. the bigger issue i see and the problem i see is, higher education is not accessible because of the cost. what is being done in what are your thoughts -- and what are your thoughts about what is being done? so many people are being locked out of these big schools. that is where the big jobs are, the big incomes are. they think they pay the tuition and the left side does not seem to mention this, they do not talk about the cost. these schools have huge endowments, they do not even need the money. why aren't you doing something to help young people of all parties get educated? i would appreciate your thoughts. guest: that is interesting. when i was growing up, you were told, go to college, get a degree, you will be able to live this great life. a lot of young people are

realizing that is not necessarily the case, they are saddled with student loan debt. the cost of education is rising immensely. i remember my time at howard, i think it was about $20,000 a semester at the time. i will have to fact check that. i can only assume it has gotten higher. it is a interesting issue. i am interested in how both parties plan on addressing the actual cost. that is a piece of policy that has fallen by the wayside, especially when you get into the debate of partisan politics. host: let's stick with this topic of higher education. this is this morning's washington post front page. it talks about a recent student loan forgiveness program that president joe biden announced. it says the biden administration

announced friday it will forgive the student loans of more than 800,000 borrowers, wiping out $39 million in debt. now, we know this is not the student loan forgiveness program that biden wanted. he wanted to include a much bigger program affecting millions of people. this is 800,000. but, it is something. this is a partisan issue of debt forgiveness. what are you seeing as far as progressives really wanted biden to do something about student loan forgiveness, the supreme court struck down his program. do you think that is going to be an issue in 2024? guest: it absolutely is going to be an issue in 2024. how important of an issue it is changes. you see just how quickly the news cycle changes and what is

an important issue. i remember with the u.s. pulled out of afghanistan. people said that was going to be a major issue in the election, and it ended up not being as prominent. i think with time, we will have to see how important it is. i think especially with younger voters, it will be very important. i think something that i have been thinking about that is really interesting -- i often wonder both on the federal level and the local level, the state level, with all of the partisan politics, are we going to see more and more executive orders? are we going to see more executive branch trying to make inroads in these untraditional or less often used ways, just because the legislature has trouble getting things passed through? host: again, we are talking with jonquilyn hill of vox media, she is host of the podcast "the weeds."

you can call her to talk about her podcast or any political news of the day. if you have a question or comment. democrats, your line is (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. we are ready to take your calls right now. we have someone who asked a question on twitter. mark stone wants to go back to our conversation about the episode on montana. he said, can you link the wildfires out west, or canada in the coal mines in montana? how does coal mining have to do with the fires out west? i will broaden it to say, in general, there is concern that the wildfires, california, canada, all these are having different effects even in places far away from them.

do you see any links? guest: when it comes to the science, all of it contributes to climate change. there are all these different outcomes because of that. that is a interesting question, because the montana government is arguing in part, you cannot say that climate change is happening because of these specific coal mines. it is an interesting question. host: here is another question, this is one from mlb on twitter, who asks, what are your sources for information when you are preparing for a podcast? before you do a deep dive, i expect you have done extensive research. how do you select your topic and make sure they are properly addressed? guest: i work with an amazing team. we have a producer and a editorial director. the three of us will get together, talk about what we are reading, seeing in the news.

sometimes, we do not waste change -- we do not always chase the top story, it can be good to take a step back, see how things are playing out and taking things from a different angle. it is from a lot of reading. you know, it is from articles to academic papers, making phone calls, finding out whether other -- what other podcasts are out there and what conversations are being had and not being had, that is the blind spot we went to phil. host: let's go to the phone lines. susan in black rock, massachusetts. what is your question or comment? caller: i would like to make a correction about the last caller. someone called in and thought that we asked if citizenship were on the ballot itself. it is not on the ballot. it is when you register to vote. they ask questions about

citizenship, where you live, etc. then, your name goes on the ballot and you have one vote, one person. also, for the young lady here. [laughter] for a topic, i was thinking about privacy. i listen to a fbi committee meeting, they were talking about privacy and how the fbi should not find out information about individual citizens without a mandate. then, we have a political party that has always said they wanted the government to be out of our lives. yet, now, they are getting so personal that they are telling

women what medication they can have an how -- and how their doctors should treat them. also, what books in some states, what books we are allowed to have our children read. and, this, to me, does not sound like democracy. that might be something you can follow up on. host: thank you, susan. have you all addressed that issue? is that something that might be coming up in a future episode? guest: i think the books aspect is interesting. recently, one of my colleagues was best hosting and she did an amazing episode about book bans, which i highly recommend. if you have any ideas or comments about the podcast, you can email us at weeds

@voxmedia.com. we take a lot listener questions there. the surveillance aspect is interesting. that is a piece of policy i have my eye on, from government surveillance but private companies. we give so much data away. who knows? we all signed up for threads, but did we take the time to read those terms and conditions? likely, no. it is going to be a big issue looking into the future. host: it looks like you got to have hundreds of episodes in your archive already. how often does the podcast come out? guest: the podcast comes out once a week. host: once a week. all right. lauren is calling from st. paul, minnesota, independent line. go ahead, lauren. caller: good morning, ladies. one comment, then i will get to the question for the guest. tina, when you talk about the

supreme court decision on the biden's student loan program, from a legal perspective as i understand it, they did not argue the merits of the program. they basically said the president acted outside his authority to -- on that. that is not why i called. here is an issue that is near and dear to my heart. in hennepin county and st. paul -- ramsey county, principally saint paul, in excess of 80% of black children are born into single-parent homes. that literally is a path towards poverty, generational single-parent homes, government dependency. i would like to hear your thoughts on whether or not you would consider a podcast on some of the things that can be done that do not require government intervention that can pave a better path for our children

going forward. so, i am going to hang up and listen. thank you for your time. guest: i think that is really interesting. not too long ago, we sat down for an interview with secretary pete buttigieg and we were talking about transportation. one of the -- it was a study a few years ago, found that one of the factors even bigger than whether you live in a single-parent household to social mobility was the length of your commute. there are so many factors that factor into the inequities we see. as far as the single-parent home thing, i think that there are families that look a lot of different ways and could have successful children. but, there are systemic barriers that create that. not too long ago, i sat down for a written article with the scholar, diane stewart, she wrote a book called black women

love. that talks about the systemic barriers between black people and marriage. there is a whole lot of different policy things that go on that contribute to inequities. host: we also have a question we received or you on text message. it is from erwin in madison, wisconsin, who writes, how can podcasts be used take the side of an issue which is in the best interest of the country? for instance, can a boycott of the major studios be effective to help the striking writers and if so, should podcast such as yours promote this? guest: for the podcast i do, i think of it less as promotion and more just this idea of shining a light on things and letting people draw their own conclusions and doing with that what they want, whether that is organizing, voting, running for office. just giving people the information so they are empowered to make those changes they want to see. i think -- i love podcasting.

audio has been one of my favorite forms. there is an intimacy to it. i love reading, i love watching tv, but there is an intimacy to audio i think -- it is so hard to explain. it is really, truly a beautiful, beautiful thing. i have been really happy with the explosion of podcast. people are taking the time to listen. host: let's take another color now. jane in south carolina, democratic line. caller: yes, good morning. i do not know whether this is appropriate. my name is james jefferson. i do not know if this is appropriate. people will call in -- i hope i can get an answer from your host. they will say that former president trump is the only president that did not receive a

-- that is not true. you never correct them. president kennedy did not receive a salary. i think there were a couple presidents before him. what makes it so bad i do not think these people understand that the -- they get away with it. host: all right, james. have you done many podcasts about trump or our american presidents? guest: not since my tenure and taking over. i officially became the host in january. there is always something in the news, especially looking towards 2024. we have a lot planned when it comes to the candidates. host: next up, joe, iowa, democratic line. caller: hi, yes. just a couple quick topics, kind of related. i wanted to point out regarding inflation, for example, touching on what somebody else called -- i think danny was his name --

regarding prices being so high and the americans were struggling with it. i just want to point out, yes, that is what is happening. larger companies, ceo's, etc. are rising prices so they can recoup what they lost over covid. you should keep in mind if it was not for us consumers, workers, etc. and the people getting their products to locations and so forth, the truck drivers and everything, they would not have their pockets full of money. i wish you would keep this in mind and helpless a little bit in lowering those prices or quit raising them. if i could, regarding the actors and actresses, the strike. i would like to see, yes. i am very happy to see high level actors and actresses who are very wealthy helping out in this. but, i do not think should

benefit as much as the more lower level or lower income, struggling actors and actresses. i think there should be a line drawn for that. host: pino the last caller mentioned the writers strike. i know you are probably not an expert, but would have been your observations on the pay issue, stars versus regular actors who say, we are not the millionaires you think we are? guest: i think it mirrors greater inequities we see in society at large and almost every industry, there are people who get paid a lot and there are people who get paid very little. we are in a moment right now at a real crossroads when it comes to labor. we saw that with -- when people were resigning with the great resignation. i think this is a continuance of a lot of labor issues coming to light that will eventually come to a head at some point.

something is going to happen at some point. host: back to the phone lines. let's go to the democratic line. edgar, per land, texas -- pearland, texas. caller: how are you doing? host: doing fine. what is your question or comment? caller: they should make college more affordable, more accessible to younger people. they always talking about -- the republican party is always talking about the debt we going to leave to the young people. but, why don't we just educate people? that is the way america would be greater then it is right now. host: jonquilyn, your thoughts about education? guest: that is a sentiment you hear from a lot of voters, particular early on the left. it is going to be interesting how it plays out, especially

thinking in regards with higher education in particular. host: next up is lionel in baltimore, maryland on the democratic line. go ahead. caller: yes. first, i wanted to talk about cannabis. i want to change it over a little bit. i want to talk about -- it is something on my mind. this is what is really on my mind. how you are losing things. in my life, there are three things it seems like we are losing. number one, women had the right to abortions. they losing that, right? number two, it seem like we are losing our civil rights. number three, another thing -- it seems like we are losing our voting rights.

right? all of these things, these three things were voted on in my lifetime. [laughter] you know? through something called amendments. right now, if they had to be voted on, if these things had to be voted on in my lifetime, in order for me to be able to vote -- to have my civil rights and voting rights and women have the right to do what they do with their bodies -- host: all right, we got your point. let's let jonquilyn -- have you looked at women's issues, abortions, other topics? guest: yes, we did an excellent episode a few weeks ago about mifepristone when the case went down in the circuit court. we not only got into the legality of it, but the science

behind it. how it works, but the interesting journey through the fda and how it compares to other similar medications. a lot of this as the caller mentioned can be so cyclical. i think people think of time as linear, as something moving forward. but, it really is a pendulum. things go back and forth throughout time. host: that caller mentioned marijuana policy. i know it perceives your tenure, but it is fitting a podcast called "the weeds" -- you have an episode from november. can you tell us? guest: i actually did host that one. it was interesting, it was after the midterm elections when a lot of states passed state level marijuana legalization. we decided to take a deep dive into cannabis policy in the

country. how we go from reefer madness and getting people locked up for small amounts of marijuana to marijuana entrepreneurs, states taxing it. it was a really interesting look at policy. also, a really interesting look at state college initiatives, which is a way a lot of things get on now. host: interesting. i see here you are listed as the host. so, you were interim and became the permanent host in january. guest: yes. host: jonquilyn hill of vox. what questions or comments do you have for her? next is daniel, calling from edison, new jersey on the republican line. go ahead. caller: hi. you know, i went to school after free public high school. i went to free, public medical school. here, my kids went to public

k-12. then, they had to go to college, which cost them a fortune. then, they got to go to medical school. now, it looks to me like college in america is four years to make up for 12 lost years of education. rather than doing this business up for giving loans and charging so much for college, why don't you guys push for a much better public education so that people in -- after they finish the 12th grade do not have to go through four years of college to learn what they should have learned by the time they finished high school in almost rest of the world? then, they can go onto professional school. the way it is done now, it robs kids of four years. this is, to me, very depressing. if you finished your 12 years of high school doing well and go on

to college, if you cannot afford it, you have lost it. it is like you never went to school. host: all right, your thoughts? guest: it is interesting thinking about k-12 policy. education policy is something that is personally interesting to me. i was a public school kid, i had friends who were public-school kids. i think the way education system works right now is really fascinating, just everything from funding. we did an episode recently on school discipline and how that can play a role in the achievement gap. there are all these different pieces of policy that make up education policy. i think it is going to be fascinating to see how that is or is not prioritized in the near future. host: so, your podcast comes out once a week on what day? guest: wednesday. host: on wednesdays. what has been your favorite

episode you have posted thus far? guest: ooh. you know, that is a very hard one. huh. i think at least in this current moment, it might be the montana episode just because i started volunteering at a public radio station when i was a young person. i love seeing young people who have a sense of -- i know what i want to do, i am going to do it now, there is no need to wait, i am going to go for it. it was interesting. getting the complications of environmental policy where there is this struggle between keeping the earth clean and healthy and money. people trying to have ways to live when this is the local economy. i thought that was fascinating. it had a little bit of everything. host: when you think about your podcast and its mission, what do you hope people take away from

being regular listeners to "the weeds?" guest: i hope they are able to step away from the horse race of it. that coverage is important and it is good to be informed, but i think it is important to know what people aren't running for. what are they doing once they have power? what is being enacted? it is policy at the end of the day, it is personal. it is easy to think of it theoretically and be in an ivory tower with it. these are things that impact our daily lives, they impact your we go to school and how much our groceries cost and what neighborhoods we can live in. it impacts our day to day lives. host: let's take one more caller. deborah is in maryland, democratic line. go ahead, deborah. caller: hi. i have been listening to you all night. i listen to you all the time. i wonder to know -- i want to

know, because i want to make changes in this world for the better. host: did we lose you? caller: no, no, no. i heard her talking, i did not want to be rude. what are the first steps you take or making a way into politics as far as money for office? one is -- what is one of the first is you do? host: someone wants to make a difference. what would you tell them? guest: as far as running for office, i am not clear. there are lots of resources available online. as far as making a difference, i think local community is honestly a first step. find out what policies are going on in your neighborhood. find out what policies are going on in your state. that is when you start to get your involvement. host: alrighty. we appreciate you. i wanted to ask, before we and this -- end this episode, are there other podcasts you listen to when you want to get your

news? what are your go to podcasts? guest: there are so many. unexplainable, excellent podcast from vox media. that is the science one, they explore mysteries that are hard to come by. i this into at first from -- up first from in pr every morning. i listen to the daily. i love those news podcasts, it is how i start my morning. i wash my face and listen first. host: i asked about your favorite podcast. of all the episodes you have posted, which one got the most feedback? which one do you think had the biggest impact? guest: honestly, hoa's. i did not realize how much people hate their a choice. [laughter] people are not happy with their common interest housing. it offered good feedback and

good stories. host: do you think you guys might have a follow-up hoa episode? guest: they're totally could be. i would love to do a follow-up episode. host: again, jonquilyn hill is with vox media. the name of her podcast is "the weeds." it comes out every week on wednesdays. you can check it out wherever you get your podcasts. thank you for joining us this morning. guest: thank you so much for having me. host: that is the end for "washington journal." tonight at 645 time p.m. -- 6:45 p.m., the turning point confen, you can hear from former preside tmpn c-span, c-span now and online at c-span.org. "washington journal" will be back tomorrow morning, 7:00 a.m. ♪