host: washington journal on september 25. attempts to prevent a government

shutdown. elements not favored by some republicans. some republicans have pushed back on the idea of reaching out to democrats after a short term ending bill. to start the program, we want to hear from republicans only. we want to know if you support or oppose a government shutdown. if you believe in the shutdown, call (202) 748-8000. if you oppose it, call (202) 748-8001. pensionable news. keeping the government funded before that saturday deadline. house gop leaders have lined up four bills this week.

they still have to pass a complicated rule to make things happen. speaker mccarthy and other leaders made clear they want everyone involved in the process. mccarthy and his allies have been involved in the process. garrett graves from louisiana argue that they should focus on borders security policy. representative jim jordan -- there is deep skepticism that they can pass any spending bill. passing the partyline spending

bill before a living shutdown. republicans only in this first hour. we want to get your thoughts on the idea of a government shutdown. if you oppose it, call (202) 748-8001. if you support it, call (202) 748-8000. it was speaker mccarthy yesterday, being questioned by a reporter about whether the shutdown -- where republicans are in the process. here is a portion of that interview from yesterday. >> we have a new rule that would equal about 73% of all discretionary spending already. i want us to do our jobs. let's keep government open while we finish the job.

there was time -- we will keep working and i believe that we can get it done. i was going to china to vote in a different way. she has been very clear about it. i want to work with her on that. she has been very fair. it is difficult, but it is on multiple bills now. if you're holding out now, you are trying to get a person into a shutdown. i do not know how you stand up and say, he has not brought them up. they have been on the committee. we can bring them up, but if you

cannot pass the rule, it is hard to bring up. host: hard-line conservative software's leadership of our demands for lower overall spending levels. those in the appropriations bills are pushing speaker mccarthy to pass those bills rather than acr. unifying the party behind a stopgap measure that would include immediate spending cuts as talks continue. if you want to give us your thoughts on government shutdown. you can send us a text as well

at (202) 748-8002. this is from shirley in pennsylvania. tell us why you oppose it. caller: these people that went home again, they just came back and now they have back home again. why don't they all get together? they are all collecting paychecks. they need to sit down and get something done. this country is in such a mess, and now they are talking about shutting it down again? this is just crazy. host: why do you specifically oppose the shutdown? caller: how is it going to work? no one is going to come in there and work together. they do not want to come together -- they do not want to come and work together.

why? why did he send them home? what is the problem here? host: some of you are posting on facebook as well about your thoughts. saying, i support a shutdown, as long as they send money for the laundering scheme in ukraine. the government should indeed shut down. vicki mayfield with, i support shutting down a government that is bankrupting the hard-working american people, going on to say, looking for protection from criminals, a government that completely failed under joe biden to perform their fundamental duty. and carol off of facebook says

she supports the idea of a government shutdown. this is regardless of the blockage of house legislation or a veto by president biden. no funding to ukraine. you can lay out your issues as well. you can post on our facebook feed, republicans only on whether you support or oppose a government shutdown. back-and-forth with the news host over the approach that he wants to see. here is a portion of that from yesterday. we have to pass the appropriations bill, do that along with veterans. we will have 73% of the

discretionary budget funded. if we have to shut down for a few days, that is certainly not something that is optimal, but i think it is better than continuing on the current path that we are on. >> that is why you are on this program this morning. i want to get you heard. tell me why you are threatening speaker mccarthy and why you want to shut down the government , on what looks like bribery. >> we do not put our pencils down, so the premise is false. if he was serious, he would have sent hunter biden a subpoena by now. during the first year of democrat control in congress,

they brought in donald trump, jr. three times. we seem to be fundamentally not serious in our oversight. we are bringing in around $5 trillion a year. i want to fund the government. i am not pro shutdown, but it is not the same way that we have been doing it since the mid-90's. we should have separate spending bills. speaker mccarthy promised that in january and he is in breach of that promise. i am here to hold kevin mccarthy to his word. host: republicans only on whether you support or oppose the government shutdown. caller: the main thing i oppose is, i am a veteran. if they stop spending, you are

going to look at hundreds of servicemembers who are not going to get paid. i went so far in debt the last time that happened. we do not need that anymore. they need to find a way to get a happy medium, to make themselves happy. this is going to jeopardize a lot more of our service members. host: how do you think the house is done overall? caller: our country is so far in debt that we are bleeding to the eyes, but there are other ways for them to identify where they can make cuts. i think that would be the best way to do it. host: you mean the

appropriations bills? caller: yes. host: that is alex in maryland. caller: i would rather shut it down then have biotin run it. host: republicans are managing it. why do you support the shutdown specifically? caller: i want to while biotin is there. host: you think the republicans are doing a good job managing this under speaker mccarthy? caller: they did a perfect job when trump was in there. now you have somebody like biotin in their it cannot even spell his name. host: a poll of concerns about a shutdown.

the poll says that more than half of american adults say this would affect them personally. others say it decreases their trust in government. democrats, 65% were more likely than republicans. to say that they would be personally affected by a shutdown. especially public service it goes on to say that it comes -- they have been preparing disaster relief funds. it would delay food inspection by the fda and hundreds of thousands of will workers could be affected. if you go to the congressional

research, it has a breakdown of how many civilians work for the federal government. in the report, you can find it saying that they employed more than 2 million civilians as congress considers the impacthif statistics in each state. it breaks it down by state, 39,000 federal civilians work in alabama. 10,000 plus in alaska. in california, 160,000. in florida, it is 88,000. it goes on from there. that is just some of the rake down.

republicans only again. you can call us on the line, post on our twitter feed, you can post on our facebook page as well. it was on the show yesterday that they talked about the possibility of a shutdown and what would happen if speaker mccarthy reached out. >> that is something i would look strongly at. they are all talking about this promise he made with biotin a year ago. what about the promise we made to the american republic that we were going to be responsible americans? we had going to be governing over a pile of rubble, if we are

not careful. all these fancy titles are not working. we need to do our duty and we should be back in washington right now and dealing with it. what are we doing? host: tom from pennsylvania on our support line. caller: good morning, pedro. i see a real relationship between the shutdown and the dress down that is occurring in the u.s. senate. what my -- what my comparison is, what are -- why are we making such a fuss about the wearing of the job -- hijab in

iran. they are both political. host: that is tom calling to let us know his thoughts. dan in kentucky. caller: i support the shutdown. many people will notice it. each bill instead of having all of them together. to be a good bills and then you throw a bunch of garbage in there. if anybody takes a cut, the government people will be the ones taking the cut, especially when they take a month off for

vacation. i do not understand how they can get away with that. host: can you elaborate why passing the bills one by one is better? caller: you have your single bills, if they are good or not. you just -- when he put two good bills together but you need those other bills passed, then you have all that garbage getting past that nobody wants. host: if a shutdown happens, does it hurt the republicans, going into election next year? caller: no. i think that is too far off. i think it will make us stronger. host: why is that?

caller: people will see that they are standing up for what they are going to take care of. if you cannot get a budget passed, that is a problem. we should not be taking a month off. if people get themselves -- if they get their budget -- host: sylvia in new york. caller: hello? what i do not understand is, how is it that we are even here? because over $1 billion for arms in ukraine. it was over the region $15

million that was given to them. the government has money, so how is it that the government was able to have the money to help another country, but it does not have the money to take care of its own house? it affects everybody. that is what i have a hard time comprehending. i'm just speaking, baseline. how is it that our country has the money to help another country, but not its own people? how? i'm just saying baseline. host: for ukraine fall into that? caller: i believe it does come from the federal and.

it allocated money for helping someone else, but why can't it allocate money to help its own house as people? that is what is confusing me. i am trying to comprehend but i do not get it. they say we do not have money to take care of our own people, but we have money to take care of and help someone outside the country. i do not get it. host: sylvia in new york finishing off this round of phones. we switch gears now and open up to everyone who has been waiting to call at this time. you can call the line or post on facebook and you can always give us a text. if you want to call us, the

lines are open. again, text and social media sites are open to you as well. they take a look at the reasons why those reports from the southern border. this is from anna, and she says, you can find it. border patrol agents are seeing a spike between tucson, arizona and the series began in the last few weeks but picked up over the last for days. agents are apprehending more than 800 people daily.

that includes ports of into the. it has taken a dramatic turn for the worse in recent days. friends and family were released and were frustrated with the government's complicated system at the port of entry. that was one of the questions that was asked of mark kelly on the show yesterday and what he thought the cause and response of the government should be. >> senator, the stay is overwhelmed. she was talking about migrants. we are on pace for a record number of border crossings. the vice president told me recently that the policies are making progress. do you buy that or does the

administration need to change their approach here? >> the border in my state and others has been in a crisis for generations, decades now. it is still a problem. i am on the phone with mayers, sheriffs, border patrol. i spoke to the secretary may work is about this, about making changes. i am really concerned about next week and the government shutting down. border patrol agents will not get paid if there is a shutdown. if>> what is the real world impt of that? why do you think it would make a difference?

>> border patrol agents are on the front line of this crisis. but we have thousands and thousands of order patrol agents enforcing our laws and processing asylum-seekers. if they stay home, this crisis will be compounded an order of magnitude. host: if you want to talk about immigration, you are welcome to do so on the line. from florida, this is on the republican line. go ahead. caller: good, c-span. i am calling about he ivanka trump. she is in malley, visiting the victims of the fire out there.

it is not a big story, but it meant a lot to me that she is out there, not getting a photo op, just out there helping. i think that is great. host: pat is on our democrats line from michigan. caller: on the ongoing issue come up return -- pertaining to the strikers, i want to tell a quick story. my husband and i drove a semi truck for 25 years for a company. i will not name them. we were hazmat endorsed. we hold explosives, flammables, poisons, salon on and so forth. we also had security clearing. high-security loads.

we both retired as 2,000,000 mile accident free drivers. the reason why we retired is because it was announced that our company was finally going to give a raise. then we found out that it was everyone under the 1,000,000 mile mark. we were 2 million. host: specifically, how does that relate to the strike? caller: because we worked for a nonunion company. i had no one to go to. i had no one to speak for me. so when you belong to a union company and you are using 90's,

and you go on strike, everybody stands together. host: ok. that was pat. the president will pay a visit tomorrow to those striking at uaw. the president's decision to go to michigan. a tacit acknowledgment that the movement demands a more demonstrative approach. a labor allies served for bernie sanders' presidential campaign before the president announced his trip. many people are doing so bad economically. they are not really convinced that he actually happened. that is about the president's visit on tuesday.

barbara is in jacksonville, florida. barbara in florida. one more time for barbara florida. ok. let's hear from bonnie in jackson, michigan. caller: i think someone in washington dc is getting paid by the cartels to let all these people in. host: what convinces you that? caller: all you have to do is look. host: what do you mean by that? caller: there is something wrong here. host: ok. that was bonnie in michigan. let's hear from jonah in ohio. democrat line. caller: good morning.

i want to get out the boys for all the young voters in the country to get out, build a boat you next election or the year, and that is it. host: why do you think that is important? why are you advocating for that? caller: because i do not think people my age -- i do not see many of my friends learning more about what is going on in our country, and i think it is a good research project for other people to do. i just have a lot of fun learning more about our country. host: as far as your own, personal interest, have you decided how is here? caller: next year, i plan on supporting biotin. i support his agenda. if any reasonable candidate were

to be elected we will have a wonderful time in our country. host: what do you think about the president's age from a young person's perspective, like yourself? caller: biden's age does not really bother me as much as others, but i do not mind having someone like him run for office again. he is allowed to run for his two terms. host: a story taking a look at kamala harris' college tour to talk to younger voters about issues revolving around

politics. the tour began in the mid--- mid-september and is an opportunity for harry's to talk about issues that are most pressing for young voters. they have struggled in recent polls. biotin is fighting perception that he is too old and should not run for reelection. making little progress on issues such as protecting voting right and addressing migration. that is from the washington post. it also talks about the impact of this ignorant taylor swift. they report that it was last tuesday that she posted on instagram story asking people to

register to vote. in the following our, traffic spiked. it contributed to a record number that day. instagram story was posted. she said, i have been so lucky to hear you guys raise your voices. i know how powerful they are. make sure you use them in our election this year. this is steve and massachusetts. go ahead. caller: something has been bothering me lately, and i would like to bring it up. on september 11, senator sanders posted, today, we recognize 50 years of the u.s. having overthrown.

it was -- he was a marxist and a communist. in chile's defense, they are one of the most economically successful countries in south america. fast-forward forward to today, president biden has given -- amnesty is not the word, but he gave these venezuelans permission to stay in the u.s. venezuela is a socialist, marxist country and an economic failure, similar to cuba. also under the carter administration. host: you said you were bothered by that. what bothered you specifically? caller: we are supporting marxist.

it is a tough question and is loaded. i think we should decouple from china, communist china, and we should pivot towards indiana. indiana is a democracy. ukraine, we need to take a look at. i would appreciate if you could bring on fiona hill to program. i know she is a hard get. she talks about the global north and the global south. she is a brilliant russian scholar. host: thank you for the recommendation. we appreciate it. caller: i would like to say that we had a chance, we will get back to the house. we will get these democrats back online. when we have democrats in

control, and the house come in the senate both, we can get things done. that is all i have to say today. host: if you pay attention to the polls, this is the washington post, abc poll, taking a look at the issues of politics missing that they appeared to be headed for a rematch. many say they would preferhe isr 2024. mr. biden is trailing by 10 percentage points in this

election cycle although the cycle margin of the lead are significantly at odds. the difference between this pole and makeup suggesting that it is probably an outlier. if you go over to nbc, it says that three quarters of voters are concerned about joe biden's age and mental fitness. the poll also shows trump expanding his national league by more than 40 points. they are deadlocked in a hypothetical rematch before the election. another to be scheduled for wednesday. dana is scheduled to moderate

that. rick in illinois, hello. go ahead, please. caller: i would like to ask -- i would like to have some questions asked about who would close the borders. and the immigrants that are in the u.s., they should be taken back. we should take them back to where they come from and just a yes or no question. i would like to put a stop to china and any other countries buying up our land in the u.s. one of these days, we will be living for them instead of the u.s., and i would like to see this stuff asked at the debate, to see who would do things like that.

that is all i have to say. caller: i would like to talk about when biotin came into the office. he had a meeting to open the pipeline over there, but trump had closed and then shut down to give putin the money to fund this were, $1 billion a day over there he is making off of that. when that warfare started over there, as soon as they started coming in, they should have stopped them. if trump had been in office, they never would have even got

into ukraine. i just think that the people need to wake up. knowing exactly what happened in the last three years. host: ok. let's hear from daniel in this open forum. independent line. caller: thank you so much for being there. i am not a republican or a democrat. i voted since 1992 -- i haven't voted since 1992. i just sort of gave up on things. what i would really like is if one of the republicans that is running for president would come

out and say, like ramaswamy. he said that he would pardon trump, but i would encourage and i hope that one of the republicans running would say, i would pardon biden also because our country -- i love our country, and we have got to stop fighting each other. trump made some mistakes and biotin has made some mistakes. biden has been in washington for 50 years, and to be there and be exposed to that world and all that stuff -- he has made mistakes and i would really hope that somebody running for president would say, i will pardon both of them because we have to stop this.

host: daniel there in california. you can also text us. the website reports that in a first appearance, there will be a press conference today. the event will take place. charged by federal authorities for chart -- for sharing sensitive information with egypt. he is scheduled to be arraigned wednesday morning in manhattan, along with his wife. kevin is up next a california.

caller: i wish it was more fair. but if they mess up, we cannot do anything to them. they keep making rules and keep on going. you do something, you are going to get caught in front of the port and punished. but they say they are for the people and elected by us, but they do not live by the same rules. we do not have the right to call them out. they do not care. more tax money for them. host: ok. barbara is next in missouri. caller: does washington journal suggest that it is reasonable to want to shut down the government, given equal footing?

i do not understand how you come up with your opinion or questions. my other concern is, can we get some democratic politicians and newspapers aired on your show? this is not just a maga nation. host: give me an example of what you are saying, as far as only bringing in maga people. caller: that is all you put on. you give us voices from democratic politicians. host: we do democratic papers as well. we read from a variety of sources, including editorials. caller: which democrat did you air their opinion? host: as far as democratic opinion today, not today. caller: i'm talking about today.

host: what paper did i read from today? caller: i did not call to argue with you. host: no, tell me what you rfe saying, specifically. you made the claim. give me an example. caller: i did not call to argue with you. i made my point. i just want c-span washington journal to recognize that democrats pay for cable as well, and we feel -- biden is the president. you never say anything positive about him or hear from him. host: are you upset because we read the article in the washington post? caller: i am concerned that your show is promoting a one-sided,

right-wing attitude towards what people should believe. host: ok. well, thank you for the comment. it's we project a lot of opinions on this show. that is it is the way we do things. to give you an example, yesterday on the sunday show, it was a republican and democrat talking about t were part of a m solvers caucus. here is a portion of that, from yesterday. >> 64 of us came together last week and put out a solution, including a resolution to keep the lights on in the government and not hurt our military or veterans. we put resources aside for ukraine. we put resources aside for what we need to deal with a lot of

disasters in this country. it is something that can get democrats and republicans together. in a divided government, the only solution will be one where both sides come together. our plan is reasonable. instead of burning the place down, it provides a reasonable, common sense solution for people who want to get things done. >> mike says, if hardliners will not vote to avert a shutdown in any way, your plan or another, he and other moderates will join democrats in what is called a discharge petition to keep the government open. when you join him? west side think everything is on the table to get this bill on

the floor. it was introduced on friday and it represents an intersection where they agree. they want us to sit down, just like we manage our families and businesses. you figure it out. we take the perspective that we would rather get 80% of something than 100% of something else. we introduce them friday and keep america open act. we will do whatever it takes to get that bill on the floor. >> if it doesn't, will you join the democrats to keep the government running? >> we have multiple options. a group of us this past week to discuss all of the options we had to force a vote on the bill.

host: that was on the sunday show. this is from michael. the democrat line. caller: good morning. thank you for all that you do. my question, i'm going to go back to the trucking industry. they are trying to push it to where commercial trucks only run 60 miles per hour, and i need you guys to try to talk to some of these lawmakers and get them to say, that is not good for the trucking industry. if i am running 60 miles per hour and other cars are going 80 to 90 miles per hour, there will be some accidents all over the place, and it will slow down goods. i know that in texas, the posted speed limit is 85. i do not know if you can do

anything to get lawmakers in. host: are you saying that truck drivers have to drive at 60 miles per hour? and not at the posted speed limit? caller: we composed -- we can drive the posted speed limit, but lawmakers want to change it to make where commercial trucks can only run 60. i think we need to knock that out. host: why are lawmakers interested in doing that? caller: i have no idea and they have no idea. but i go to d.c. when they have their conventions and there are 20 of them. four have commercial language. they tried to tell me how to drive a truck and how to do my job. they have never been in a truck and they do not know what it is like being out there, driving on

the highway at 60 miles per hour and everyone else is running 70 to 80 miles. i hope you can get somebody into talk about this. host: west virginia, republican line. caller: we are sending billions of dollars to ukraine for what? i do not hear anything on the news about moscow. i do not hear anything about people being killed in moscow. we are sending them money to fight russia. ukraine is not even as big as texas, and we have been doing this for how long? russia cannot take over a country no bigger than texas? give me a break.

something is wrong. host: san diego, democrat line. caller: i'm calling about the shut down. and how the republicans want to/social security. that is our money. why would they want to do that? i paid a lot of money, when i was employed, into social security. for them to try to/my money -- host: but that is not part of the shut down discussion. caller: ok then, forget that. but why would they do that?

that is medicare money. social security is not their money. we worked hard for that. for the time when we retire. host: ok. anything else? caller: yes. no one ever mentions about the wall. everybody -- how come they cannot get their money back from him, from what he stole and put it back for the wall? host: by the way, if you go to various legislative website, they have information guides about what happens if a government shutdown does occur. one continues to say, i continue to receive my social security.

during the shutdown, they will receive their social security. there is a suspension of social security cards. they may need those to start a job. no social security cards are issued during that time. as for who gets affected directly, this is david in massachusetts, independent line. caller: kudos dealing with that woman who said that you do not represent both sides. both sides are represented. the biggest thing in my estimation in this country is the issue of abortion and the killing of unborn children. a lot of women will say a man

has no right to say anything about this. it is their body, their choice. in 1972, all supreme court justices were men, that voted for this, so does that mean that they were wrong? and my feeling, they were wrong. i think that is the problem in today's society. it is leading to the murders and everything else. it has come to that. anyways, congratulations again. host: what did you think about trump's statements on abortion and that interview he did and reaction that it is getting? caller: i did not see that. all i know is that president biden, who claims that he is a devout catholic says that he

believes in the killing of unborn children. i do not know about the trump thing. host: it was a recent interview that he did. his former president trump trying to have it both ways. the past week, he has dodged questions and criticized states like florida and georgia. he called the ban on abortion a terrible thing during a rally. he said that gop candidate should be taking a hard line on abortion with exceptions for rape of the mother. next on the democrat line.

caller: i just wanted to make a comment about the government shutdown. maybe if we were not spending so much on security for senators, anybody in office -- because of ex-president trump, everybody's life is at risk because -- maybe the government would not have to shut down. host: what do you mean about putting people directly at risk? caller: his rhetoric. just how he bashes everybody, all the senators and anybody who works in a pulling office or election office -- it is ridiculous. we are spending billions of dollars on security for these people, with the money should be going to the american people and to the government.

not just because of one man. host: that is lori and ohio. legislators are increasing spending because of security concerns. this is under the headline, security escalates. a recognition of the nation's changing outlook for officials. they rose from 1.3 million to nearly 8 million at that time. house members have spent more than their annual government allowances that they are given with such spending rising. you can find that online. let's hear from lester in minnesota. caller: everybody who runs for

congress and senate should take a test because we are spending so much money now. every man, woman and child, it is $100,000 in debt and we are borrowing this money from china. when is it going to quit? the value of our dollar has gone down. a gallon of gas here in regular is four dollars and a gallon of milk is five dollars. a pile of hamburger is six dollars, or it was. $14 for a steak. where will it in -- end? and what about social security? is my social security going up?

for the value of our dollar, it is going down every day. the president has to stop spending so much, giving this money to ukraine. there would not have been this problem in ukraine, if we had a real president. host: dan is in florida, our last call. go ahead. caller: first of all, these people coming across the border, they have to change that. if they do the one who wants to shut down. that is the one who tweeted out, stop the addition on me --the investigation on me. this is a government shutdown

with donald trump. host: how did you come to that conclusion? caller: the tweeted it out on his social media platform. host: as far as his own personal issues, you make that connection? caller: he tweeted it out shut the government down. 141 people in the senate house that voted. 141 guys protested the day he was elected. the day he was elected was a shame. no matter how many times fox news says, nancy pelosi could have stopped it. no. host: ok. last call on this open forum. thanks all of you who dissipated. the government shutdown.

impeachment inquiry this week. a lot going on in washington. here to help us break that is katherine tully-mcmanus. later be joined by seto bagdoyan . those conversations coming up on "washington journal". ♪ >> this week on the seas and network, the house -- sees a network, the house and senate returns. on thursday, the house oversight and accountability committee will hold first hearing on the impeachment hearing into president biden. also, a house, energy and subcomttee holds a hearing on the recent fires in maui.

also, head over to cspan.org for scheduling information. your unfiltered view of government. >> tonight, watch cspans series. urging for the ratification of the newly drafted u.s. constitution. will be our guest to discuss why those essays are considered one of the most important references

for interpreting and understanding the original intent of the constitution. tonight, live at nine eastern on cspan. >> "washington journal" continues. host: a lot going on in washington this week. joining us is katherine tully-mcmanus. she is there congress reporter. we will talk about those in bit. thanks for joining us again. walk us through what to ask back during the week --walk us through what to ask during this week. >> the observance of the jewish

holiday. guest: tomorrow, congress will be back. what we expect is pushed in the pool of the house to continue -- push and all of the house to continue. senator mccarthy decided to keep three hundred billion dollars in ukraine aid and a but central package that he hopes to put on the floor this week for his conference to vote on two potentially avert a government shutdown. however, it was the case last week, this package is packed with republican priorities, especially immigration on the border. which will be no chance in the democratic controlled senate. they are clearing a vehicle for stopgap spending bill so they can weekly to move forward on

spending legislation to avert the shutdown it is unlikely they will take up whatever the house is considering at this, this republican led effort. the house will also be taking up for individual spending bills, which is a part of kevin mccarthy's promise to pass 12 individual spending bills for the next fiscal year one by one, in order to not have situation at the end of the year. his members wanted to see top line numbers from each bill so they could do calculation and also to keep closer i on what is going into those bills. however, with the number of days left until the end of the month, passing those individual bills to avert a shutdown is a

possible. they are out of line with what democrats would agree to in the senate. you find this divided government is pretty far from a solution. to avoid a government shutdown is looking more likely. host: is that because the top line numbers that were agreed upon, has that changed? how much? guest: yes. the republicans and democrats have together and are sticking to the gnash from the debt limit agreement which --from the debt limit agreement which included president joe biden. mccarthy is under immense pressure from republicans in the house. we are looking at massive ending cuts and those individual spending bills proposed in the house. continual resolution under this action in the house which is

vaguely a 8% spending cut. not including the expense and veterans. host: when it comes to house republicans, who is speaker mccarthy's largest opponent at this point? guest: there is about a handful of real hard conservative. some of the members -- not necessarily representative of that group as a whole. we are looking at -- last saw about between five and eight objectors within the conference that over and over again were tanking residual measures to move on to these. it is a small contingency of his narrow majority. even that number of republican's disagreeing with him and the

larger conference can bring down a bill on the floor. this congress --the procedural vote to tee up action on the floor for a bill has gone down. that had not happened under pelosi, paul ryan. the last time we have seen that is in the early 2000. i think 2002. the cambridge era is the last time we saw this happened it really is something that has been so mundane that the majority would vote for it. . the minority would vote against it. majority rules. it was the -- that paved the way for consideration of the

underlying bill. now we are seeing is the small group of conservatives wilting this procedural tool as a weapon. to show their dissatisfaction with the process, the contents of the bill and the ending levels they would like to see changed in other bills. they are trying to this as leverage to get our concession from mccarthy and bishop as they go along -- and leadership as they go along. starting with that endless. nearly in for him to get the gavel. he just had to please these conservatives. they are still wielding the power over his leadership. host: this conversation taking ahead of the look [speaking foreign language]

week of congress. (202) 748-8000, democrats. (202) 748-8001, republicans. it was mccarthy who talked about this idea of a short-term funding bill. what is the likelihood of him working alongside democrats to do it. i want to play a message. [video clip] >> you do not think there's going to be a shutdown? >> do you think it is time to work across the aisle? >> i have not heard a lot of across the aisle wants to secure the border. we have to secure the border. biden seems as though he wants to shut down if he can keep government open. host: the speakers

thoughts. can you add to that? guest: speaker mccarthy is in this difficult position. if you think those conservatives in his conference are unsatisfied with these republican led spending bills. these legislative priorities, how many republicans if you band together with democrats? what he is looking at is a part to his speakership. he works with democrats. there are enough republicans in his conference that see that as a intangible approach for him to cross the aisle to work with democrats. they would like to do everything republican only. any concessions made to democrats, he is choosing to make an sessions -- concessions

to his own conservative wing or democrats, who run the senate. they see this as almost giving up their majority, if he were to work with democrats. he has such a slim majority, that is a way for him give up less to his interpretive -- conservative right wing. just win a handful of credit --democratic votes. both of those have been tilted so far to the republican camp, right now democrats will not even consider voting for those.

host: on our independent line. go ahead. caller: i just wanted to call in and they elected officials, people elect them to do their jobs. i think the cost is too great to shut down. it is going to set us back. work together regardless of our own personal --there should be no reason. that is how this country has always come together. as a younger person, i cannot see anybody who i would want to vote for. i just want to see some people stand out and work together. host: we heard earlier during our first hour, the legislative effort they have and possibly get into the floor for a vote.

can you elaborate on what they are proposing? guest: this is what the problem solving caucus was created to do, reach across the aisle and come up with a moderated solution to the standoff that we see between republicans and democrats. the problem that the problem solvers face, often times their proposal cannot win the majority of either republicans or democrats because both of those parties encompass such a wide range of views. while they can come up with a compromise between some republicans and some democrats, they have rarely found a path that wins the number of votes necessary. if you got enough signatories you can move something forward

against the will of leadership in the majority party. you can force a vote on something. i will be interested to see how their efforts progress this week. i do anticipate there will be getting the votes within the republicans. this would be something centered on moderates. there is so many flashpoint issues that each party does not want to discuss or does not want to budge on, like mccarthy said earlier, the border is something so complex. the parties are on the end of the spectrum on how to handle it. i am not sure how the problem

solvers plan to deal with that. i will be watching closely this week. host: democrats line. good morning. caller: i am a democrat who supports this shutdown. here is why. it mccarthy is so weak. i do not want to see mccarthy fail. he has been handed a very weak position just to get a gavel. i do not have much hope in the caucus. with regards to the border in particular, i feel like a teacher who's given an assignment to do right after the christmas holidays and half the class has not completed it. i, the teacher has to stay after school with the class to coach them through and get them to present a project.

the border, last week you had a guest. he was a representative from texas district. he was asked a question and completely disregarded it. here's the thing about the question. it was suggested by a caller that if the --had a build by labor day, the fourth of july, there is no summer break for the congresspeople. if there is no senate bill by labor day, there is weekends and 12 hour weekdays. here's the thing about the border, i think that we are really doing a great disservice to the people who come across immigration laws as such, unless you have some sort of violence by your state, government, then

you are not going to be able to put a case in the immigration course. host: thank you for the call. i appreciate it. do you want to break that down? guest: there is this impasse. while both parties will say over and over again that they do not want to shut down, i talked to republicans last week who were very clear and very clearheaded and saying publicly that when the government has shut down, they have worn the brunt of the blame politically. they do not see that shifting this point in the impasse right now that we are in the midst of. if this next shutdown happens, many of them will resign to saying this is going to be negative for the republican

party for republican governance. that has not relieved of the division within their conference as they go forward and try to solve this problem. on the border issue, i think the caller makes a point. this is a major issue that is facing our country but both parties are approaching it so differently and have a different perspective on those folks who are coming across the southern border. host: has there been any question in the sense of why they took this break if they knew all of the funding was going to bring us to now? guest: many of these spending bills were not ready.

they had not been fully sorted out in the house. it there such a cab and flow and congressional action that while making them stay in were probably popular with the american people, my guess is to watch how they representative working through the summer. you end up with a hurry up and wait situation. why not stay? often the bills are not done. to hold people in washington without something -- a product that is ready to go to the floor and get a vote, it really stirs up this content among congress itself, which can lead to lashing out at leadership.

even more cooks in the kitchen on trying to finalize those bills. host: the color sympathy to speaker mccarthy, has any democrats in congress -- that position? guest: i know that democrat from new york has repeatedly says i fill where mccarthy is at, he is working with a small majority within his conference. it is a position that schumer has found himself in, especially the 50-50 senate. hey has also been really clear, we need to get a deal. he doesn't want a shutdown. he is telling mccarthy to work across the aisle or wrangle his republicans and get them in line. i do not think republicans see

those two leaders as operating in the same way. democrats acknowledge that mccarthy is not necessarily the cause of all of this. he has a tiny majority and naysayers. guest: you mentioned that social security would not be affected by this. how about government pensions? host: i do not know if that was a question from the back. our viewers brought up social security earlier's. how are folks impacted if they were for the federal government and a shutdown happens? guest: the shutdown will begin on october 1. the date that all of those

checks go out is different. whichever you have set up. it would not necessarily halt those checks going out if it does not go that long. if it is just a few days, those checks that are set out --and sent out in the middle of october and towards the end of october, those will not necessarily be effect did. we see the same thing with federal employees paychecks. if the shutdown has not reached the end of the pay. period, those checks would not be affected. i think a really key thing to mention on the employee side, in 2019 after that really long shutdown, the longest in modern history, they did pass legislation to ensure it back federal workers. that does not cover contractors which make up a huge amount of

work done within government. it does take that question mark away. that does not help people who have a rent, mortgage, phone bill, electric bill to be paid eminently. host: on top of that, i notice on your feed you brought up the amendment when it comes to legislative pay, can you elaborate? guest: mentors put out press releases and proposals suggesting that they could halt their own pay. do not pay congress if they do not get their jobs done. it is a logical argument. eight 27th amendment does --27 amendment does --pay in between

elections. it is basically enacted so that you can politically punish members of congress. for example, if all of congress or the opposite part of the president. if the government shutdown, pledged to donate their pay. that also highlights you do not need your paycheck from surveying congress, which constituents can take note. it is a nice sentiment. that also highlights how wealthy members of congress typically are, although that has changed in recent years. having paycheck held by the payroll entity on capitol hill and saying what if we are insured backpay and it just does

not hit your account while the government is shutdown. the 20 seventh amendment really says you cannot prohibit the pay from being paid out completely. host: let's hear from andrew. republican line. caller: i am sorry. i may have called in on the wrong line. host: if you do not mind trying on our independent line, (202) 748-8002. harry, democrats line. new york. go ahead. caller: i live in america for the last 50 years. i am an republican. host: did you say you are a

republican? i want you to call in on the line that best represents you. (202) 748-8000, democrats. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8003. guest: our huddle newsletter is a congressional newsletter from politico.com. it is a team letter for --from our congress team. these days it is being written by my colleague, an absolute start with a lot of knowledge on capitol hill. our large congress team focuses on laying out the day and also what to expect.

a deep analysis on what this means legislatively and different members and leadership. host: the reaction on capitol hill, particularly on the senate side against the charges of bob menendez? guest: those dropped while the senate has already left for the week last week. it is an intense reaction. very few folks so far have come forward and asked for his resignation while they have come in little thicker. he already has a senate challenge in new jersey. right now in the senate, senator john fetterman is the only democrat from pennsylvania who has called for melendez

resignation. this is something they have seen before. the second time that melendez has been indicted. the last time he did come through the trial largely unscathed. however, the senate does not have a lot of -- here. the senate ethics committee so rarely takes action. when they do, it is a letter. it is a slap on the rest. that is the strongest things they have done in recent years. last year they made a referral. i think the senate is going to be pretty tempered on this, except that this is much flashier and dramatic than the last time. you know the gold bars, the photos of the cash stuffed in his embroidered jacket.

it reflects differently on the institution assess last effort. the international power element here, whether primary -- bribery alleged through the egyptian government while he was leading or the number two on the formulations committee and the senate. i think folks are going to marinate on this. i expect more statements, not an support, but maybe more what senator dick durbin said over the weekend. sounds like an opportunity to vote for a different democrat as it may be what some folks are advocating for. others, especially in the house

are calling for his resignation. this also puts his son, who is a freshman in the house, a real tough position. i expect him to lay low this week and going forward. he does not want to be answered for his father's alleged crimes. host: i want to ask you about this expected impeachment inquiry this week. the first one outdoors since the announcement. what are we expecting? guest: the title of this is something like laying out the case. i do expect this to be the umbrella overview look of what the investigation either has brought forward or either discovered. also, what they are pursuing. this will be less focused like we saw on previous impeachments on all-stars testimonies from within the inside circle of bidens administration and more

focused on the pursuit that house republicans are going after. i do expect plenty of discussion on hunter biden's laptop. between bob linda's -- bob melendez --bob menendez, that is one of the things discussed in the hearing because it is kind fresh from last week. i do expect it to be a major talking point this week. caller: i want to know why all of the section eight buildings and everything --we would have been paid $50 more for rent.

even if you live in here or don't -- they are wiping out section 42 if i make a little more than the next guy, i am sorry. what are one of the things she might look out for? guest: i think watching the senate to up whatever they're trying to move on on the spending side. there are a lot of other deadlines that congress needs are basing.

i think how many of those could possibly be wrapped in the spending bill to kill a few birds with one stone. keep an eye out for those. they will not be branded as writers because there are also deadlines that both parties would like to be on deadlines on other things. both chambers have not completed action on those. we will see if the senate will accept anything that the house pans over on that front. host: you can find her work on politico.com. as always, we thank you for your time. coming up, the new report out

looking at fraud on unemployment insurance money that was given out during the pandemic. the person behind that report will join us next to talk about the findings of that report and what it means as the government tries to get the money back. that conversation coming up one when "washington journal" continues. ♪ just go to our website, c-span.org. select recorded video. in 30 seconds or less tell us your pick.

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>> a healthy democracy does not just look like this. it looks like this, where americans can see democracy at work. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. the opinion that matters the most is your own. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are joined now by seto bagdoyan. here to talk about a new report looking at potential fraud within unemployment insurance and other related things.

thanks for your time this morning. can you explain some people get a sense of what you do at the government accountability office . what do you do? guest: government accountability office is the audit and investigative of the congress appeared we work at their request and also legislatively mandates. you made recent news taking a look at pandemic related issues, particularly in the area of unemployment insurance. a new report coming out. before we talk about the details, what prompted you to look into it? guest: this has been at the request of two committees on the republican side.

there was great interest by the priority issue because of the concern and the extent of fraud that occurred in the program, he designated the unemployment insurance program as a high risk area for additional attention in terms of fraud, waste, abuse mismanagement that was done. host: before we talk about details, during the pandemic, what happened in the area of unemployment insurance? guest: sure. unemployment insurance spending skyrocketed. we are looking at about nine hundred billion dollars in expenditures both federal and state funding over time. most of the programs expired in september of 20 21.

the regular ui program is still in place. host: you have to elaborate. the reason for these programs, why do people get ui money in the first place. what happens during the pandemic to extend that? guest: during the pandemic a lot of people became unemployed due to covid restrictions shutdowns. they were eligible to receive regular unemployment. congress decided that needed to be supplemented. they created a number of special programs as well as a program that provided federal resources and unemployment. host: let's talk about the numbers. if you want to ask questions, (202) 748-8000, republicans.

democrats, (202) 748-8001. i will just redo the top lines and you can fill in the blanks. estimated frauduring that time , that representing about 11% and 15% rpeively of the total amount of ui benefits th were paid out. the full extent of this type of fraud will never will be known with certainty. guest: the methodology was complex. we crated this at the request of our congressional clients. yeah. given the nature of fraud, it is insidious nature.

the fact that it takes a long time to investigate fraud cases, that makes it difficult to pin down exactly the magnitude. the estimates are the best guess basically. take fraud risk seriously. host: there are a lot of avenues that this could have been done. how does this type of fraud occur? guest: stolen identities of actual people that fraudsters compromise and use it for their own purposes. there were also instances of fake identities or pathetic identities as they are called.

these are people who are totally fake, yet they do apply and receive benefits because many of the control sectors they were for the program in order to get the benefits out quickly. host: can you elaborate on that? guest: many of the claims were paid based on self reporting without any independence preparation on what the applicant --the information the applicant was providing. essentially it was writing a blank check without checking anything behind the application. that made the risk even greater. host: one of the things he found in the ras well, i will read a portion of that, saying that the ui syas bed

challenges with pgram integrity, which worsened during the covid-19 pandemic. the unprecedented demand for benefits and the need to implement the program, increased the risk of fraud. can you go on from there? guest: yeah. the risk lies in the fact that the control, verification controls through identity, eligibility and so on were either relaxed or discontinued in order to ensure that thieves aren't getting those benefits out. there were tens and millions of people who were unemployed. a legitimate need for assistance . the fraudsters ticket advantage of that situation and submitted false applications, either with stolen identities or completely fake. those were not detected at all in terms of the controls.

they were essentially not existed at the time. host: senator seto bagdoyan. you are on with the guest. you are on from new jersey. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just have one question. i think it is an issue that most americans are having. we seem time after time there has been extensive investigation into fraud, government spending. it is --is the same investigations going into these corporate -- all of these politicians that were taking this money. there is never into any investigations into them. there are constant investigations into the little guys, the american people were most of the time there is no fraud appeared there is a constant investigation into the american people but never to be

people who are higher up. they never get investigative. i think that has been a big divide between the american people. that is constant investigation into the little guy. thank you so much. guest: it is a good question. the offices of inspector general and various agencies principal responsibility and investigation of allegations of fraud. for example, the small business administration expected general dispensed over a trillion dollars in assistance to businesses around the country. there have been many allegations of fraud, in fact the inspector

general recently estimated that two hundred billion dollars may have been lost of fraud in the payment projection plan program. as well as economic injury, disaster loan programs known as ppp and --. that is a significant amount of fraud. the inspector general has many cases opened that they are continuing to investigate as we speak. host: i will paraphrase the question. does that mean that other people who should have gotten that money didn't? guest: it is possible that those resources could have been allocated to those with a legitimate need. according to our estimates over one hundred billion dollars were lost that have could have been

to legitimate purposes. you can make that argument. host: nora from florida. republican mind. caller: thank you very much. i am talking about social security and the accountability for that. i am 93 years old now. i worked until i was 80. then i came up with cancer, which i am still under medical treatment for. they talked about stopping our social security. that is my only income. that is my main complaint. i have a lot of complaints about this administration. host: thank you for that. you can respond to it.

guest: unfortunately, i cannot comment on social security and whether it will continue to exist. that is a policy decision way beyond my pay grade. host: democrats line from chicago. caller: good morning. i am working from the post office --i am retired now. by the time those cars were coming in, people were making up names. by me being a regular carrier, i know these were fraudulent . next time if this happens we need to try to make another program to make sure that --ensure this does not happen again. our lives have been put at risk out here and some of these dangerous areas because some people are coming out to us violently looking out for these cards. we need a system to make sure that this does not happen. host: once this type of fraud is

discovered, the money is already gone. what do these steps do the division of the labor department take? guest: the unemployment insurance is a state function appeared the unemployment insurance program with state partnership. they have been responsible for trying to recover overpayments both fraudulent and those caused by administrative error. they have not been able to recover much, which framed a key point. if you pay out a lot of money out front fraud, you are

unlikely to get it back at the backend. recovery rates are very low. that is a significant problem. host: there was a recent hearing about this. ways of recovering this and possibly to improve state partnership in doing that. how many of those suggestions goes into improving the rate of recovery? guest: we do have a number of recommendations outstanding with the department of labor. they have taken some steps to improve their oversight and fraud risk on management. in terms of recoveries, those are primarily a state function appeared the federal government has provided about $1.4 billion

to states to help them in that area. it is one of the principal purposes of that funding. it is meant to be the responsibility of the workforce agencies to implement various means. they would hold tax refunds for examples or other means to recover those found. it is going to take time. they're just getting started. host: republican line. mike. hello. caller: good morning. thank you for what you do. and north carolina they showed incompetence of handling the whole thing. me and my wife tried to help my son, who lost his job because of covid.

we filed and we try to help him by filling out the paperwork. every week, week after week after week, something about the company that he worked for was based in south carolina. it got really complicated. he never got a penny. it just burns us to hear all of this money was paid out and my son and my wife on social security had support our son because they do not answer the phone, they didn't respond or handle the claim correctly. please get these people who took that money. that is not right. there should be a way to look at the ones who deserve it and didn't get it. i will make it up to you for your answer. thank you. guest: what the callers point gets at is that the state was overwhelmed by the volume of

claims in their system, capacity was just not up to handling that. their processes and procedures were in adequate. essentially a perfect storm of things that could go wrong and did go wrong. many people were not able to get the benefits as the callers son was unable to get benefits. this was not a surprising example. this was repeated many times throughout the country. host: tommy, next. democrats line. caller: i have been a coal miner on my life and spent my time in the military.

everything from the corporations to car manufacturers in all of these type of people they can come up --when it comes to the poor amanda, he also --always has to carry the load for the rich. this does not make sense. i thank you for your time. host: i want to read a little bit of the report. this is a response from the labor department, a letter that they sent out. they wrote this. the department has expressed concerns about the methodology for the estimates in the report. estimates rely heavily on my analysis across a sub sample of claims.

further analysis is needed to understand the rate at which identified cases are determined to be fraud lists. what do you think of that and what is your response? guest: i'm quite familiar with the department of labor's response. we stand by our methodology. it was innovative. we took many cooperating steps. statistical methods modeling simulations. cross checks with multiple data to make sure we got it right. we have about half of the report, about a third of the report laying out exactly what we did. it is very comprehensive in terms of getting this right. we certainly stand by it. we appreciate the comments from the labor department.

this is a point in time estimate . we did this work in the future. we were likely to come up with different estimates, whether that is higher or lower. we are confident in the integrity and quality of our work. host: does the labor department have a division that deals with the type of fraud or at least try to get the money back? guest: the employment training. they are the ones whose partnership from the state workforce agency that i mentioned earlier. they are responsible for providing the policy level oversight and the integrity level oversight. also the office of inspector general and the department of labor. a significant role to play in ensuring the integrity of the

unemployment insurance program. host: republican line in philadelphia. we will hear from kathy. caller: i received a total of five checks from two separate occasions. all in hispanic mains using my address. i do not know what was going on but we took the checks to the post office. they do not know what to do with it. any comment on that? thanks. guest: that obviously --something was compromised, in this case your address. the identities of legitimate people were compromised and used in schemes to obtain unemployment insurance benefits. that was not a surprise there was a name and address mismatch. there were possible schemes that were trying to leverage the types of information whether

personal identity, social security numbers, emails, physical addresses. they were all in play given the attractiveness of the benefits of fraudsters. host: if they were just honest mistakes, do you have a sense of the amount of people money if tt is not theirs in the first place? guest: i have no way of knowing that but it is a great question, and i salute the caller for their integrity, but i am not sure how often that was repeated. host: new york, this is matthew, democrats line. go ahead. caller: hi. there has been speculation and people have been saying that there are certain house of representatives members that accepted ppp moneys during covid that were absolutely fraudulent. has the gao bothered to look into that?

and another thing i would like to know, has anyone bothered to start an audit of the military? thank you. guest: regarding members of congress, i am not aware of any work in that area. but i would also note that the spa inspector general's active investigating cases of alleged fraud. in the ppp program for example that the caller mentioned but i would not have any knowledge about specific numbers of congress being involved in those investigations. host: mr. bagdoyan, when it comes to the white house's approach to this, there was a story about what the white house would like to do, saying mr. den aims to deal with osecion and is asking for $600 million for prosecution including funds to create 10 new justice department strike

is an addition to three already tweeted to go after syndicates and other fraudsters. also because on increasing the statute of limitations for s crimes to 10 years, giving more time to investigate and prosecute cases. what do you think about those approaches? guest: they are certainly steps in the right direction. the controller general, the gao support it, extending the statute of limitations to give time to pursue cases of alleged fraud. they are very complicated and they do take time. that is a definite truth. so whatever is done to increase integrity that makes sense certainly would be worthwhile to pursue. host: arthur in san diego, independent line. caller: hi. i have a question. it seems like you are suggesting that individuals with fake ids

have stolen the $100 billion. that just doesn't seem credible. $100 billion probably requires a large organized enterprise to get that much together. maybe i am misunderstanding what you are saying, but the general impression is that fraudulent individuals have stolen the money and even one person suggested this hispanic individual. so i am not sure. are you saying large organizations have taken this money, or did individuals steal $100 billion? i got $3000 when my job shut down in unemployment so i am just wondering. host: got the point. thank you. guest: yes, good question. from all of the reporting

intelligence, if you want to call it that, there have been international criminal organizations that were certainly involved to a greater extent for these fraud schemes. also, individuals working by themselves or in concert with others to perpetrate schemes. individuals applied across states using the same social security number, for example. the schemes run the gamut. it really is mind-boggling in terms of the number, the nature of these schemes. there is plenty to go around in terms of who perpetrated these schemes, but definitely something new, a new angle to this story. the fact that international crime organization syndicates

from some number of countries, russia, nigeria, and so on, china, targeted the unemployment system for fraud. host: what are the next steps as far as the gao is concerned on this issue? at least keeping the government and viewers aware of it. guest: yes. as i mentioned earlier, we do have a number of recommendations that we made to the department of labor. they have implemented some of them. full credit for doing that. there are others that are still open. the labor department has told us they are working on implementing those through our regular order, we will be tracking the implementation status. we have sufficient evidence it is a permitted, we will close that and over time monitor it through additional work, the request of congress, or at the

authority of the controller general, we will likely revisit this issue at some point in the future. host: if you want to see the report come you can go to gao.gov -- report, you can go to gao.gov. seto bagdoyan this different six artex investigator -- is the forensics audit investor get a. thank you for your time. guest: thank you for having me. have a good day. host: coming up, and a bit on the 2024 presidential race, but first you can participate in open forum. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independents. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. we will take those calls when "washington journal" continues. ♪ >> this week on the c-span networks, the house and senate return. both chambers will continue work on federal spending bills to

avoid the government shutdown deadline at midnight on september 30 on thursday, the house oversight and accountability committee will hold its first hearing on the impeachment inquiry into president biden. also, a house energy and commerce subcommittee holds a hearing on the recent fes in mammy. witnesses include the president and ceo of hawaiian electric. watching this week live on the c-span networks oran now, our free mobile be to app. also, go to c-span.org for scheduling information or stream video live or on-demand any time. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. ♪ >> the associate professor of rhetoric at york college of pennsylvania, also the cofounder and coeditor of "free black thought." professor smith wrote "we hear endlessly about systematic racism, white supremacy, the

black and white income gap, and police brutality." so powerful and ideology has this narrative become, he says, that those of us who pose a counter narrative, that is black anti-woke writers for example, frequently find our words being misconstrued in an effort to stanch their impact." >> on this episode of book notes plus, available on the c-span now free mobile app or wherever you get your podcast. >> c-span as a studentcam documentary competition is back, celebrating 20 years, with this year's theme, looking forward while considering the past, asking middle and haskell students to create five to six minute videos addressing one of these questions. in the next 20 years, what is the most important change he would like to see in america or over the past 20 years, what has

been the most important change in america? as we do each year, we are giving away $100,000 in total prizes with a grand prize of $5,000, and every teacher who has students participate in this year's competition has the opportunity to share a poron of an additional $50,000. the competition deadline is friday, january 19, 2024. for information, visit our website at studentcam.org. ♪ >> tonight, watch c-span's new series in partnership with the library of congress, votes that shaped america. we will future the federalists from 1787 and 1788 by alex and hamilton, james madison, and john j for the ratification of the u.s. constitution. u.s. court of appeals for the armed forces and the director for graduate studies school of

civic and economic thought in arizona state university will be our guests to discuss why those essays are considered one of the most part it references for interpreting and understanding the original intent of the constitution. watch books that shaped america featuring the federalists tonight live at 9:00 eastern on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. also be sure to scan the qr code to listen to our companion podcast where you can learn more about the authors of the book featured. >> "washington journal" continues. host: again, this is open forum. if you want to participate, (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. an independents -- and independents, (202) 748-8002. text us at (202) 748-8003. democrats line starts us off in minnesota. this is darrell. caller: yes, thanks for taking

my call, pedro. i would like for programs like yourself and other media outlets to start articulating the primary votes of the democratic side. you keep showing, for example, trump is up by so many points on his other opponents, but joe biden is up by more points on the other of the ledger pertaining to his lead. i think what happens in that case, you show trump is a winner. you are not showing biden as a winner and has it more substantially compared to the primary of the republicans. host: when you say primaries, what do you mean by that? caller: for a simple in one poll is up 62 to 68 points over his closest opponent, which would be kennedy at 14 and seven in some

cases. it is a higher number than trump is showing over desantis, for example, but the notion is that trump is this winter over his opponent, and you do not show the democratic side of the ledger where biden is up a larger margin. host: so essentially you are saying biden is winning over his opponents challenging him? caller: yes, but by a substantial amount as well. you never show the part where biden is leading by a substantial amount so you happy perceptions out there that trump is blowing this guy out, blowing him out in the war with the opponents where biden is blowing his opponents out by more or a larger margin. host: sure, ok. general, that is in minnesota. when it comes to one of those opponents, that is robert kennedy. "the new york times" reported discussions about mr. kennedy perhaps running as a libertarian. this is the story saying that if

mr. kennedy decides to leave the party of his famous father and uncle on the one potential landing spot may be the libertarian party, which at the moment lacks a widely known candidate but has excelled at securing ballot access. in july, mr. kennedy met with the chair of the libertarian party in a conference they were both attending in memphis, a meeting that had previously not been reported. he emphasized he committed running as a democrat but he said he considered himself very libertarian, he said in an interview, adding that they agreed on several decisions, including the effect of the deep state and the need for populace messaging. this goes on to quote saying, my perspective is we will stay in touch in case he decides to run and he can contact me at any if that is the case. that is from "the new york times." let's go to floyd on the independent line, the louisiana. caller: yes, yes. i am 89 years old.

i am wanting somebody that owned the franchise for kentucky fried chicken to get somebody that is able to put that original recipe back together. the recipe they are running now is not the original recipe. the ones that took the product off the recipes need to get with the company or whoever handles that and put the recipes back together. i assure you they will have the sales of about 30%. it does not have the original recipe that was formulated by colonel sanders. host: got your point. this is a show about politics.

why are you calling about kentucky fried chicken? caller: because i worked for them for nine years and the original recipe is not in the product now. they have taken a lot of the spices out of there. host: ok, that is floyd. it is open forum, so let's go to maryland, independent line. hello. caller: hi, pedro. i enjoyed your program about the unemployment disparities, and i am wondering if gao will ever get around to doing a forensic audit on the ppp program, whereby many in congress benefited. host: you can go to their website and look good it has a searchable database if you go to gao.gov to search that if you want to check out for yourself. i would not know offhand but i am sure you can search there. why are you interested particularly? elaborate on that. caller: the reason it concerns me, somebody mentioned earlier

the focus on the little guy. big money went out the door under that program that was administered by jared kushner. big money. and it went to corporate interests. and a lot of it went to members of congress for their various side hustles, whatever they do. i was very curious as to whether or not they are paying as much scrutiny to that money as they are the unemployment checks. host: so just buy a quick search, there was a report out in march of last year just to show you the headline. the program changes increased lending to smaller and underserved businesses read this could be one of many reports on the topic if you want to check that out for yourself. gao.gov is the website where you find that. in ohio, republican line, this is from jonathan. hello. caller: yes, this is jonathan. i am a republican. i am a registered republican. the next election, i will vote

for biden. i think donald trump is a failure for our country. host: what convinced you to change your mind ultimately? oh, he hung up. let's hear from richard. richard in arizona, independent line. hi. caller: good morning. host: morning. caller: yes. about this budget, i figured it out quite a while ago. let me point this out. it is very hard for congress it seems to pass a budget every year on time, correct? host: yeah. keep going. yeah. caller: in may, they just finalized the budget from 2022 that was supposed to have been done by september or october 1

of 2021. who was in charge of congress then? we all know who that was. we had an election in 2022.so that budget never got done. mike ross suspected they would not hold the house after the election of 2022, so they said, let the republicans deal with it because they will have a real hard time, ok?so that is what happened . now they finally got that out of the way in may of 2023, and now here we are. it is hard enough for them to do a budget in one year. they pushed it on the republicans to have to do budget after budget all in, what, eight months. host: richard there in arizona

on the topic of a shutdown. one of the people waiting in on that is neil bradley of the u.s. chamber of commerce in the opinion pages of "usa today." government shutdown is a dumb choice is the headline. he likes that if government shutdowns were another failed legislator tactic, policymakers and no one would care much. but because of real-world negative consequent as that hurt american people and the american economy, during a shutdown, mortgage and loan applicants are delayed because lenders cannot access income records or social security verification services. these are delayed -- visa and passport are delayed, hurting american travelers. the ability to get government permits can slow everything from fishing and the export of american made goods. there is more there if you want to read it. "usa today" is where you will find you. let's hear from robert in georgia on the democrats line. caller: yes, i want to give a kudos to the man from louisiana.

he just made my day with the kentucky five chicken recipe. that is what we need to do with the way things are being done. donald trump had this country captured for so long and they are never going to do anything to him. the media would go rogue with the news if they did not have this guy, so what would we do? the man with the kentucky fried chicken recipe made my day and i want to give him kudos. host: let's hear from democratic whip dick durbin, talking but the charges that related to senator bob menendez. he was asked if senator menendez should resign. there other comments made yesterday. [video clip] >> denying these charges i should say but many democratic members and officials in new jersey are saying he should resign. do you? >> let me tell you this is a very serious charge.

there is no question about it. it bears reminding what i said about the indictments against donald trump get equally serious charges. these are in fact indictments that have to be proven under the rule of law up a person accused is entitled to the presumption of innocence. it is the responsibility of the government to present the case. i said that about donald trump and will say the same thing about robert menendez. there is a rule, when indicted, you lose your position in leadership or chairmanship of a committee. that is what happened with senator menendez. he lost his chairmanship of one of the most important committees which the president himself served as chairman in years gone by. in terms of resignation, that is the decision made by senator menendez and the people of new jersey. >> a lot of democrats i am sure you have seen share the view that he has the

assumption of innocence but those in his home state of new jersey say that he told evidence of this indictment means he does not belong in the u.s. senate. do you agree? >> well, keep in mind that these are charges and they have to be proven. there is a presumption of how far it goes will be decided by the senator and the people. of new jersey host: again, that was on the sunday show. it is on the fox news website this morning but senator robert tremendous reportedly claimed his 2024 reelection bid during a press conference monday, his first appearance since the latest indictment. he planned the press conference where he grew up and watched his political career. the 28 rolled school board member -- the 28 will school board member will deliver those remarks at a community college in union city. so look out for that as that plays out during the course of the day.

clara from missouri, kansas city, republican line. good morning. you are next. caller: good morning. pater i am also -- pedro, i am also calling about the man with the kentucky fried chicken recipe but what you'd be up was the smile on your face. i have never seen such a beautiful smile on your face. you always have a real poker face. host: i don't play poker, but thank you for the sentiment. keep going if you wish. caller: well, that was it. i think that was the best call of the morning, the one about the kentucky fried chicken. host: i have been doing this for 20 plus years and never had that happen. they queue for the call nonetheless. let's hear from simon in darlington, south carolina. independent line. hi. caller: i have just happy people are finally talking but the most important political issue going on right now, and that is the original recipe chicken.

after colonel sanders sold the restaurant, they changed the recipe. he had some harsh words to say to him, particularly regarding the gravy. it tastes like wallpaper paste, but that does not even touch the chicken. but after that, he opened the claudia sanders did her house in shelbyville, kentucky. that still has the original chicken. for all of the callers looking for it, that is where you go. you get your original chicken from claudia sanders chicken house in shelbyville, kentucky. host: ok. i don't know how to react to that. again, open forum is what we will do until 10:00. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independents. you can also text us if you wish, (202) 748-8003. and then post on our various sites, facebook, x, and you can follow the show on instagram.

plenty to watch out for this week as the possibility of the lack of government funding occurring before the end of the week. the house and senate back tuesday to start work on those efforts. later on this week, the first impeachment inquiry herein. against president biden -- hearing against president biden. you can always go to c-span.org to keep abreast of what is going on. you can follow along on our c-span app c-span now. let's hear from roy, republican line in georgia. hello. caller: thank you for taking my call. i was thinking that oftentimes you guys use "the new york times" for fact checking. i am calling it speaking in about radios. the host pulled out and said it was a conspiracy theory that hold out -- "the new

york times" was a conspiracy theory. i just wish that -- i mean, this is something us republicans have known for over two years. i just hope that more people that watch mainstream media will realize they have been deceived, lied to, and they have no idea what the truth is and that the truth is finally coming forth. host: what is the connection between the charge that he faced recently and the so-called conspiracy theory? caller: well, that he was there. he was actually there, and his truck supporters pointed him out. he was there pulling on the barrier. he was carrying the sign, past the sign over his head. he was encouraging people to go into the capitol.

we saw this conservative television but you never showed it. host: how does it qualify the conspiracy theory? caller: my point is this, you also he was not there. host: i did not say that, just a you know. caller: dear host that was there said it was a hoax and pulled out the paper. "the new york times" said it was a hoax. till to get just a little bit that the truth has emerged just a little bit and more will come out in the future. i am really happy. i just hope the mainstream media will be more honest. host: ok. that is roy in georgia. to clarify, he faces a year in prison for writing at the u.s. capitol on january 6. republicans are clinging to a conspiracy theory that the arizona man as a federal agent. he pleaded guilty to a single

charge of disorderly conduct and republicans say the charge is fishy, saying he encouraged other writers in a scheme orchestrated by the department of justice. this from huffington post and other reporting. let's hear from catherine in this open forum. she is in new hampshire, independent line. hi. caller: hi. good morning. after reading in the magazine "the week" in the september 22, 2023, issue how heat hurts schizophrenics, one suggested causing the hurt was high heat. why? when there is not high heat but a schizophrenic is having a psychotic incident and goes to the hospital, is there temperature taken? are they given a brain scan?

is it checks to see what is causing the illness? i say test, don't guess. research and finding our money -- research and spend our money finding a cure for schizophrenia. rather than spending our money on the wars. host: ok. catherine in new hampshire joining us for this open forum. again, we plan to continue on until 10:00. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. an independents, (202) 748-8002. if you are on hold, i ask you to wait a couple minutes. if you are calling, please keep calling in. during this time, we will pause a bit to take a look at what is going on in 2024 politics. joining us for that discussion is julia manchester, the national politics reporter. good morning. thank you for joining us again. guest: good morning. thank you for having me. host: i suppose the starting

point might be the recent polls from the washington post and nbc taking a look at joe biden and donald trump both what do you think they mean for the two men as they go forward trying to win the white house? guest: for the two men, i think that this is not a given on either side. we have heard for quite some time now that bidens team has been wanting to run against donald trump and that he would be the prime candidate. we are certain to see him perform better in some polling, leading in some cases, but will be a close race. obviously, we are a year out. donald trump and joe biden have to get through their own respective primaries but this is something we are watching very closely. host: one of the things the two men will intersect on is visiting striking workers on tuesday. talk about the visits and what is behind the visits when it comes to their campaigns. guest: it is so fascinating to

see donald trump and joe biden both take these trips to visit these striking workers because in a way, these workers play an integral role in both of their campaigns. for joe biden, he has touted himself as the most pro-union president in american history and has really emphasized the administration support for unions. his background supporting unions and talking about his sway and support for blue-collar voters have been really integral in a way to the democratic brand. for donald trump, we saw the same voters in 2016 towards him in states like pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan. biden won those voters back in 2020, but donald trump is making a place for them again by going to speak to them. for donald trump, there is an added element because we know that while he is speaking to the

uaw voters in michigan, the republican primary contenders and the rest of the field without him will be on stage in simi valley, california, at the reagan library. it is another opportunity for trump to counter program in an effort to get more visibility than his republican opponents and fox news. host: thanks for the segway. when it comes to that debate, who is expected to participate and what is the level of participation criteria here? guest: i don't know the exact level before in front of me but there was a polling threshold and a fundraising threshold. we know that some of the big names from the last debate will be there. ron desantis ramaswamy, nikki haley, mike pence. we expect to see round two of this. what i am really looking out for is to see ron desantis, if he is able to stick out on stage. going to the last debate in

milwaukee, we were also not predicting him to be enemy or target number one for the rest of the republicans on the stage but that did not happen. instead, it seemed like ramaswamy was target number one in part because he really put himself out there. i think desantis sort of stepped back and interjected when he could and had a few strong moments, but for desantis, this is a big moment for him because we are seeing increasingly more speculation about his campaign, what is going to happen going forward. we are seeing it has not really gained traction in the national polls and even in new hampshire. it was a cnn and university of the hector paul that showed him slipping -- new hampshire poll that showed him slipping behind nikki haley and ramaswamy. this is a big moment for him nationally. his campaign put a lot of stock into iowa. that is the number one priority. they think that will propel them to the finish, but we will have to see what happens on the stage

and whether this is really a sugar high after the debate or if it has a lasting impact on the primary. host: a written piece on it on the hill. that is where you could find it, thehill.com. recently president trump gave an interview and talked about the issues of abortion. how did that go about with those in the pro-life community and does it spell trouble for him with the comments he made? guest: those in the pro-life community are not happy about this because they see him as compromising on abortion. in a way, he was talking about compromising. we have seen nikki haley for example suggest or make similar comments, not essentially compromising, but saying we will not get a federal ban because of the makeup of government right now. i think in a way, trump and haley are trying to be realistic

about the political impact of all of this and how it could check out in the midterms. if donald trump watched the 2020 two midterms last year, he saw a number of republicans lose their districts and their seats and their races because of the abortion issue and because they could not really message clearly on abortion. they did not have a clear directive. pro-lifers and those in the antiabortion community would say that they would agree with the fact that there needs to be a clear directive but republicans should have run away from the issue. this should say they are pro-life, stick to the 15 week federal ban, and flip the script on democrats and paint democrats as extremists on the matter. ask democrats, how far are you willing to go when it comes to abortion? is it legal up until nine months, birth? we will see more of that

messaging. donald trump being much more careful on that end. host: i suppose the debate on wednesday will reflect on those things as well and other themes related to the campaign. what other things do you think will be different as far as what they will talk about this week than they talked about previously? guest: i think obviously in the first debate we heard a number of topics that were discussed, including the economy and trump's legal issues. obviously, that director coincided with the debate. trump was booked in the fulton county jail and got his mugshot the day after. that was the topic of conversation. what i imagine the economy to be a big part of this. it is on the foxbusiness network. want to focus on business and financial related issues. a lot of candidates are inching to comment on that. a lot of these candidates have records on the economy. the governor of north dakota, governor desantis, nikki haley, you will see these candidates

want to hit the biden administration on the state of the economy and inflation. and then of course the big elephant in the room or who is not in the room, donald trump, who will be in michigan. he will be talking to the uaw workers, so i am assuming it will be a question about that strike and how the strike impacts the economy and how if they were president they would approach that. host: as far as the intersect between campaign 2024 and a potential shutdown, what does it mean for all involved? how are they looking at the possibility of the government running out of funding this week? guest: it is sort of an awkward situation for some of them because i think a lot of these candidates have a tie to the staunch pro-trump or very conservative base. for tim scott, i think it more directly impacts him logistically because he is obviously a senator. he is involved in the logistical part of this and the process,

some insider knowledge on that -- he is involved in the logistical part of the process and will have some insight, some insider knowledge on that. we see mccarthy and dissenters trade some barbs this week. ron desantis not so long ago was a congressman and knew a number of the lawmakers pushing back on mccarthy. he knew mccarthy himself. this is not unfamiliar territory for him. host: julia manchester reporting for the hill on national politics. miss manchester my thank you for your time is always. guest: thank you for having me. host: if you want to continue with open forum, it is (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independent, (202) 748-8002. milton in texas, democrats line, thanks for holding. you are next. go ahead. caller: yes.

i am concerned about donald trump being able to run for president again after stealing classified documents from the white house, taking them to his house, and no other person could do anything like that, but yet we are trying to punish the president's son. i don't quite understand how we can go so far awry with our justice system. host: ok. caller: can someone explain that? host: ok, kenneth in massachusetts on the independent line. caller: hold on. host: kenneth in massachusetts. caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: i have a couple of questions. one is everybody blaming the republicans for the delay in passing the bill, but nobody is

mentioning what the democrats did, flipping the last minute $300 million more to the ukraine war. also, everybody says biden is doing a great job. can any of those people tell me biden is doing a great job what he has done? surely he has talked a lot. he is going after the prescription drugs a day late and two cents short, but he is not doing anything to get is working on it. everything is being worked on. now gasoline prices for all the people that don't have a clue what is going on, gas and oil has gone way up and they think that is all right. one other thing. winter is coming and the people that use oil will end up freezing to death. host: one of the things you brought up is one of the things he has done, the money spent on

infrastructure and how that impacts the states. do you think that is a credible thing for the biden administration? caller: once again, i am asking the people to explain the infrastructure. what do they see happening? all talk. host: you don't see anything specific in your state then. that is what you are saying? caller: the two people we have in the state, i would not give them the right time of day. host: maybe other people will comment on that. let's hear from you new jersey republican line, jerry is next. caller: hello, good morning. host: morning. caller: i was just wondering, how many vice presidents in the past have had 20 shell companies? and how many vice presidents have had several aliases? and how many vice presidents have tops sent home with them?

and how good night of biden's relatives get money from foreign countries? how can all of these things happening? are there other vice presidents that have shell companies? are there other vice presidents that have several aliases? can you tell me who they are? host: the point would be what? caller: the point would be that i have never heard of other vice presidents taking home top-secret and sensitive boxes to their home. i never heard of a vice president that has several aliases. i want to know what other vice president have had several, shell companies, several aliases. host:host: you made those points, but to what end? caller: i don't trump is under indictment for the top-secret boxes in his home. he was president. host: the current president is being looked at for these kinds

of things as well as far as documents. caller: i never heard one thing from anybody. not the republicans or the democrats about biden. i thought vice presidents were not allowed to take home things like that. host: ok. in washington state, hello. caller: hey, how is it going? host: hi. caller: i just want someone to explain the truth to me. if the mag republicansa said trump never did anything wrong, why does he say, i did it, i have the right, and by god that is all there is to it? who is telling the truth and who is lying? they are in the same party. host: specifically, what are you referencing? caller: see, we did not even do the file. they said they planted them.

it doesn't matter. someone is lying and you got both of them. either tell the truth or shut your mouth. that is what i say. host: ok. that is sean and washington state. a couple things to watch out for today on the network, taking a look at the relationship between the united states and korea. this will feature the secretary of state antony blinken and maryland's senator chris van hollen to talk about the alliance hosted by the center for strategic international studies. see that event already in process on c-span2, our c-span now app, and c-span.org. later this afternoon, howard university hosting a discussion on how to increase female representation in elected office, moderated by stacey abrams. it will include black women freshmen members of the congress and take a look at encouraging students to consider careers on capitol hill.

4:00 this afternoon on the network. later on this evening, 7:00, dr. jill biden, the first, will meet with members of the smithsonian, library of congress, national park service, and national archives to talk about that process of historical presidential sites and preserving those. you can see those on all the platforms at 7:00 tonight. and from oregon, joining us on the republican line, go ahead. caller: hello. i just want to say that we had a great economy under trump and world peace, and ever since biden came his office, they closed the pipelines of gas and food and everything is connected to delivery and transportation. if the democrats cannot see that, i feel sorry for them. host: from james, james in north carolina, democrats line. hi. caller: yes, i am on the

democrats line and have been a democrat most of my life but i am so fed up with biden. this guy is the most selfish politician we have had. he said he was a transition candidate. remember that? meeting he was not going to run two terms but he will hang around until the end. people are telling him, we don't want me to run, but he will hang around. this is the thing that really gets me. he tries to act like he is doing a lot for the people but he does absolutely nothing. he puts a lot of money in positions that have no power. can't do anything. he ran around talking but he will get this student loan repealed. he has not done anything. host: did you vote for him? caller: yes, i voted for him. i admit it, i voted for him. you have to give trump credit. he is what he is. i would rather deal with trump. host: why didn't you vote for

the former president before versus president biden? why didn't you vote for former president trump at the time versus joe biden if you dislike him? caller: i did not care for either one that much, but at least trump is honest. he is an honest crook. i will put it that way. he is an honest crook. a lot of people say you either take this guy or that guy. biden was worse. it took him two weeks to take the presidency. he could have gotten all of this craziness put away. he was such a good guy. host: greg in tampa., florida hi. caller: hi. how are you doing this morning? i would like to make a quick statement guarding inflation. i would like anyone out there, republican or democrat, to tell me how a president is

responsible for setting retail prices on anything. the only people that are responsible for inflation are corporations taking profits. period. the president does not set prices. host: you nothing federal spending leads to inflation as well? caller: no, i do not. host: why not? caller: how can federal spending lead to inflation? i know a lot of experts say that, but nobody is yet to tell me how. host: i would invite you to watch the program or go to our website on c-span.org. a lot of comments about spending during the biden administration, claims about ties to inflation. if you want to see more of that, go to our website, c-span.org. type it in the box and you can check out those things for yourself. from lori in arizona, republican line. hi. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: doing well. caller: good.

i want to say unfortunately what has happened is the american people have been asleep way too long and finally people are waking up to the fact that this is the biggest coup, the biggest takedown of a president we have ever had in our entire lives. of course, trump won. everyone knows that he won, and it is sad that we have to live through these dark days of selection and corruption. it is very sad for the american people to have to sit by and watch their accounts drain down, the houses they can't afford, and living in a society now with no morals, no real -- honestly, no real meaning here. it is disgusting what is going on. i am very saddened. the american dream is dashed. it is unfortunate. the people coming through the border are the smartest people because in all honesty, who would not want to come to a free america?

the problem is we just can't keep it free because there is way too much corruption going on. host: can i ask a question? you started by saying you were still convinced former president trump won the election. what convinces you of that specifically? caller: it took 10 days for them to figure out how many votes. they were going to use every mail-in ballot to win. the democrats are not stupid. that is the problem forget the republican party, it is unfortunately -- they are just not ahead of the democrats. the democrats have been cheating so long now that it is second nature to them. already, they are trying to get boxes and places now and we are pushing back on it because obviously we figured it out. host: ok, diane in new jersey, democrats line. hi. caller: good morning. i was just sitting here listening to all of these collars calling in and saying things that are not true.

they have sat here. if they really want to know anything, they should get a different news channel or read a newspaper. the economy of the united states is doing pretty good. according to the world. ok? host: define pretty good. caller: well, gdp has grown. our stock market is up. the house prices -- my house priced is way up. it is a seller's market. jobs are plentiful. if you don't like your job, you can look for another one just like my daughter got a $3000 raise and a $20,000 retention bonus. the other daughter just went from bartending where she was paying for two years of college and has now been accepted in a phd program. host: what about things like gas prices and food prices and things like that? how do you think that factors into the state of the economy currently? caller: that is the american dream. if you work hard and go to work and do a good job, your boss

will keep you. that is why you have not seen the unemployment rate down. they want to keep talent. there is not enough workers in the united states. immigration is our strength. if we bring in these people, they take the lower jobs and hopefully they are in a state where they get a minimum wage and they treat them like people instead of second class citizens. you should be demanding, all you people if you are booming about immigration, call up your senator, your congressman, and demand they do their job. host: ok. tear from tennessee republican senator marsha blackburn appearing on a radio show out of new york city. the topic was ultimately dealing with questions of china but it started with concerns about the reasoner prisoner swap deal -- the recent prisoner swap deal out of iran. [video clip] >> they are now emboldened because joe biden has released $6 million to them, and we know,

you know, they are not going to use the money to feed the poor. they will not use it to better the lives of their people. they are going to use it to push forward on uranium enrichment and nuclear proliferation. >> as a matter of fact, senator, iran used september 11 to point out to the american people that they will use the money anyway they want to use it. to do it on september 11 was sending a signal out, beware. >> well, of course with president biden announcing this on september 11 and then with iran saying we will do whatever we want to do, knowing that iran has teamed up with russia to create drones that are now flying over ukraine, and china

we hear is pretty much banking that operation, this should be something that worries us. having kim jong-un over in russia visiting with putin, extending the hand of friendship, saying we want to be our ally, come visit with us in north korea and see what we are doing on developing next-generation rockets, this is not something that is going to serve the american people and our cause of pushing freedom around the globe. it is not going to serve us well. host: a few minutes left in open forum. tear from rick in maryland, independent line. hi. caller: how are you doing? thanks for taking my call. everybody that complains about china and shops at walmart is making china great again just like trump always wants, to make authoritarian regimes emboldened, enriched.

he goes over and loves putin, kim jong-il or kim jong-un. during the syrian campaign where he supposedly bobbed their airfield because they were doing war atrocities against their own people, because russia and lets them know, we will bomb your airfield. when we pulled out of afghanistan finally, biden had to pull a string on that because trump decided he was going to work with the taliban themselves on the withdrawal. this guy is no leader for america. he is a leader for himself. thank you for taking my call. host: in texas, this is jackie, republican line. caller: yes. i just want to ask one question to our people. what happened with the clinton issue? they stayed on clinton so hard. they stayed on truck so hard. what about the issues with clinton and everything she did?

our problems started between them. it is right there. why wasn't that taken care of? that has never been resolved. she is out there free doing her hair and makeup. host: what exactly has not been resolved? caller? she hung up. this is from tyrone, democrats line, new york. hello. caller: good day. i listened to some of these people talk. it is scary how most of the people who call into the show, i think it is older people. it is like they don't have a clue what is going on in the world. they are talking about trump, a man that has been indicted four times, had no respect for women, talked about how he would like to grab women, and they overlook all of the stuff and they talk about biden's age. trump and biden are almost the same age. at least biden tries to help

people in middle-class and in college and try to help people get ahead in this country. trump is a selfish person. his father was selfish. they overlook all of this stuff. it is scary how older people who are supposed to gain wisdom as you get older do not gain no wisdom whatsoever. host: if that is the case, what concerns have been expressed about mr. biden's age in polling, what using about that? caller: i had one person saying, what has biden done? he lowered the court of influence. he is trying to do with climate change. he's trying to get money to hbcu's. he is prounion. host: but what about his age? caller: his age should have no effect or as long as he is able to do the job. host: ok. gene in indianapolis,

independent line. caller: yes, i am here. i am just talking about facts. donald trump was indicted four times from my understanding. these indictments were handed down by juries of his peers. i am pretty sure there were democrats and republicans that handed down all of these indictments. now, he has been indicted four times that has to go to trial, and going to trial, i am sure he will have juries of his peers once again to determine whether or not he is guilty or innocent of these charges. all of these people that are calling in that seem like they are attorneys, they should just let the legal process work its way through the courts and then determine whether or not this man, like i said, in the end is guilty or innocent. that is my comment. thank you. host: one more call.

dave on our republican line from texas. caller: i was calling about our southern border, and the only reason that i could see joe biden would turn such a blind eye to the southern border is the fact that the cartel has paid hunter biden some amount of money for him to look the other way. host: how do you make that connection? caller: can you tell me a reason why he would turn a blind eye to the open border like this? host: because you associated with hunter biden, i am curious how you made the connection. caller: the same reason china does not get any flak. host: ok. dave in texas finishing off this open forum. thanks to all of you who participated. and that is it for the program today. another addition of "washington journal" comes your way 7:00 tomorrow morning.

we will see you then. ♪ ♪ >> the house and senate are in recess today in observance of yom kippur. both chambers will be back tomorrow. fundingor the federal the senate is scheduled at five 310 to take the first of a series of procedural votes f a federal aviation program. chuck schumer believes is a legislat vehicle to keep the government open. know what kevin mccarthy willot

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