host: this is the washington journal for november 1. the white house stepped up its call for congress to pass an aid package for israel and ukraine. the house expected to vote on an aid package for israel, drawing

criticism from the white -- concern from the white house because it calls for cuts to the irs. to start the program today tell us if you support u.s. foreign aid to israel and ukraine. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. if you want to make your thoughts on no -- thoughts known via text, you can do so at 202-748-8003. post on facebook or ask and you can -- and x, you can also follow the show on instagram. $60 billion in additional funding in the supplemental request for ukraine, $14 billion for israel. money for border security, humanitarian aid and the indo pacific region. when it comes to polling on support specifically for israel and ukraine done by usa today

late last month, aid to israel 58% of those who responded supporting that, 35% opposing that. when it comes to you aid for ukraine, 51% supporting that, 43% opposing that. making your thoughts known on this support for israel and ukraine. you can do that on the line at 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. independents, 202-748-8002. making the case for the funding of the biden administration, several stories of the wall street's -- the picture of secretary blinken, house braces for showdown on aid. a secretary also has an op-ed in the washington post defending israel is essential, so is aiding gazans. some are making the case to fund only part of the president's

request including proposals to cut out humanitarian assistance to civilians in gaza that would be a grave mistake and deepen the suffering of more than 2 million palestinian civilians including elderly people and those with disabilities. who have nothing to do with the hamas horrible attacks. secretary blinken on capitol hill you can see this whole hearing on the senate side on our network at c-span. here is a portion of the secretary. >> since russia launched its war the robust funding provided by congress to enable people of ukraine to defend their nation. to help make sure russia's invasion is a strategic debacle making it weaker in nearly every way. and of the principles of the heart of the united nations. territorial independence, integrity and independence. our partners are making significant contributions to share the burdens. turning our backs on their

efforts would have lasting implications. the conflicts and ukraine in the middle east have links as both the chair and vice chair have noted. since we cut off russia's traditional means of supplying the military it's turned more and more to iran for assistance. in return moscow supplied around with increasingly advanced military technology which poses a threat to israel's security. allowing russia to prevail with iran support wouldn't -- embolden moscow and iran. this funding will enable us to tackle grave humanitarian needs created by autocrats and terrorists as well as confront national -- natural disasters in places around the world. food, water, medicine. other essential systems must be able to flow to gaza. civilians must be able to stay out of harms way. a task made more difficult use

-- as hamas uses civilians as human shields. helping prevent a worsening humanitarian catastrophe aligns with our nation's most deeply held principles including our belief every civilian life is equally valuable and equally worthy of protection. the conflict is much more likely to spread. suffering will grow and hamas and its sponsors will benefit by fashioning themselves as the saviors of the very desperation they created. >> secretary blinken before the senate. you can see that whole hearing on c-span. the wall street journal highlights that speaker johnson, the newly elected leader is moving to hold a vote giving israel 14.3 billion and taking previously allocated funding from the internal revenue service to offset the expense. it would be far smaller than the 106 billion requested for not only israel but also ukraine. chuck schumer on tuesday saying

the package was unserious and also said he would work with the senate minority leader to craft a proposal. when it comes to this aid to israel and ukraine, you may have nuance or may support both, pick the line that best represents you and be ready to tell us about how you feel about that. chris and washington, d.c. starting us off on our independent line. go ahead. caller: i just really don't like the geopolitical games being played right now. i believe it's leading us to a really dark path in the near future. i know were supposed to support our allies but what about supporting americans here at home. we've got veterans who need health care and housing. we have homeless people who

aren't veterans who need health care and housing. we have infrastructure in cities that need support and we give israel three or $4 billion a year, we have been giving ukraine billions for the last year, but yet we are still here struggling. i'm knocking to talk about the inflation or gas prices i'm just talking about how that money can be used here at home. jackson mississippi had severe water problems that was caused by mismanagement and by evil people doing wicked things they weren't supposed to do. i'm not necessarily talking about the politicians. i'm talking about the water companies. everyone understands $1 billion would have fixed that city's water infrastructure. we have given hundreds of

billions of dollars away to countries all over the world and now we are looking at giving probably money to taiwan because of another geopolitical interest try to keep its eye on china. host: greg in minnesota, democrats line. caller: good morning. with the ukraine thing it seems like they were invaded and are doing a defensive war. so giving aid to them is semi-justifiable. but when we talk about israel, there was an attack on october 7 but if we go far back there was something really interesting about it. are you aware at the time israel was established the u.s. was still segregated? so we established a country as we were segregated. do you think this new country might've been segregated as well when weight tried to establish an ethno-state? host: how does that relate to funding today.

caller: we know they called more hospitals to evacuate. we know hospitals have been hit with large explosions similar for other u.s. weapons. the jalalabad refugee camp was bombed multiple times because they wanted to kill one commander. what if we drop those on tel aviv because we wanted to get rid of netanyahu. that would be absurd. that would be a war crime. but we give you more of our hard-earned tax dollars so israel can drop bombs while kids in flint can have clean water. people in my community can have leadfree water, this is absurd. host: nathan is next and nathan is from indiana. go ahead. >> yes, good morning.

primarily related to ukraine, many people don't realize the history that many of our wars in the 20th century were fought across the country of ukraine. ukraine rightly calls this war not a russian ukraine war, but a war of the black sea. the black sea is a strategic see which allows russia access to the middle east. they understand why they are fighting this war, they want to control the black sea. if we ended up in a war and i hope we don't, the control of the black sea is going to be very important. host: when it relates to your levels for funding of either country, how does that break down? >> i support funding for both wars.

now israel is can it take care of hamas. a very small country, but russia is a large country and what used to be the ussr with all of our efforts in the 20th century was to weaken the ussr. ronald reagan's legacy has much to do with the breakup of the ussr. host: you can continue on on the lines and send a text if you wish, you can post on our social media sites as well. funding for ukraine and israel enjoys relatively wide bipartisan backing, a growing number of republicans have become skeptical on keeping it's improvable in doubt. congress fended off a possible government shutdown leaving the u.s. military system dwindling without legislative action. the decision unsettled key of and other allies on whether ukraine can reliably depend

ahead of the u.s. presidential election next year. your level of support or opposition to aid for ukraine and israel you can call us on the line and tell us where you break down on that. >> good morning. in support with regards to exporting weapons. the united states of america is the largest weapons exporter. there's going to be a tax in the u.s. or possibly in europe -- attacks in the u.s. or possibly in europe because of our support. we are dropping bombs on basically people that are in a cage and can't get out and it's killing innocent people and the rules of war don't really apply

because bombs don't discriminate against the people the crimes against israel. and one thing that worries me is that the united states is now becoming more a destabilizing force in the world instead of being a stabilizer. through the history of the united states in 1953 iran had a democratically elected government that was taken out by the cia because great britain and british petroleum wanted to continue to control the oil reserves. host: aid for other nations, israel ukraine has to end, when it means cuts to our departments and benefits. president biden spending billions to gain votes. in minnesota saying yes but separate.

when it comes to aid israel yes, ukraine no not without oversight on where the money is being sent -- spent. you can give us calls on the lines talking about support for the deaf these countries on capitol hill. a vote expected later on this week in the house. in texas, this is sam, democrats line. caller: good morning. i support both of them. i think israel and ukraine, but i'm really confused, weren't we supporting israel for so long, what did we expect? this is what we expect. so i do believe military support for ukraine and israel and also i don't understand the gop. i guess they are waving the white flag when it comes to

ukraine. i just don't understand them. thank you. >> from doug, a republican line. go ahead. >> i really don't like any wars. i never had and i'm a little disappointed i don't hear calls for peace on either side. even going back to ukraine, the biggest casualty are the innocent civilians on both sides whether it's ukraine, russia or palestine or israel, it's a shame. i don't hear any democrats calling for peace on any of it. that's the one thing i would agree with liberals, they used to care about freedom of speech and they were antiwar. i'm just not hearing that, it's a little concerning to me because i don't think we've ever been this close on the brink of annihilation and people are clueless about this, but i also think there's a bigger picture

here and i think it's the democrats blood lust for power. i think they might want to help escalate this war just in time for the election, the things could get so bad they bring up their fear tactics and then say they have to suspend elections. a lot of people say that can be done, it can be done. that's my concern, thank you. host: one of the people from the president possibly this and on capitol hill yesterday before the senate made the case for aid for israel and was the defense secretary lloyd austin. their public and sender from nebraska exchanged -- exchange this when it comes to funding for ukraine. ark the follow-up question senator moran asked about strategy with ukraine that brings this war to a successful conclusion. what is that strategy?

>> from our standpoint we want to make sure ukraine at the end of the day is a democratic independent sovereign country that can defend its territory. we want to make sure that we keep nato together. i think the team has done an incredible job of making sure we bring our allies and partners along. in terms of specific goals and objectives, i would defer to the ukrainian leadership to define that but again, our goal is to make sure we are providing support to ukraine to do what it needs to defend its territory. >> we need to know that we have a strategy, i think it's very important in terms of building support for the funding for ukraine. >> you can see that hearing at our website at c-span.org.

about secretary blinken and yesterday and the defense secretary there making this case that the overall package the biden administration has asked for one it comes to israel, ukraine and other matters, we will show you that through the course of the hour. you can give your thoughts on the level of support for israel and ukraine funding. phone lines and reach out to us. in minnesota independent line, hello. caller: good morning pedro. i'm calling today, my support for ukraine is if you go back to 2014 when russia illegitimately annexed crimea and we never did anything to help them. like we probably should have done something to help them then, it's a little late now but it would be nice to get a peaceful resolution and not more people dying because it's not to help anything. when it comes to israel if you

look back to 2009 did you know that when they killed palestinians they would take their skins and organs for they buried them instead of giving the bodies back to their families. >> do you support any financial aid at the present? caller: it's not very long and we don't know if they are still doing this. they say it's history but do we know that. recently they said babies were being thrown into fires. that happened when israeli forces through palestinians in the fire. host: if you want to talk about the a level we will give you one more chance. caller: so we funded them to build a wall around gaza, a 20 five by five mile strip. we fund them to control the sea six miles off the course. we fund them with f-16s, with artillery. with the iron dome. they have the iron dome. >> let's hear from jack in

northern virginia. democrats line. >> good morning pedro. i think what i've been hearing is x -- is excellent. the first caller was talking abut a strife in america. i'm a veteran of 30 years and i can say with absolute certainty, with absolute certainty particular for funding providing for israel is a result of the role of asia. i'm emphatically against any war support for the israeli because of information operations. when we talk about pivoting to asia, if israel allows it. if the middle east allows it. the first caller you had said we are funding israel to the tune of three to $5 billion. when we reject the aid to

ukraine -- first showed up to ukraine it was because the israelis needed funding and when that stalled and we did not have a speaker, that's when you started to see this nonsense with bombing the palestinians. they need us to pivot back to the middle east. i do not support funding for israel and do not support funding for ukraine. volodymyr zelenskyy was considered a thug by both presidents. we impeached one president and this president currently looks for a new attorney general in ukraine and now we will give them billions of dollars. it makes no sense. we need to fund americans, fund veterans, create better stable situation in the u.s.. i will bring up one more point. there was a person who said the whole idea and another caller

who talked about destabilizing force. i think this is absolutely accurate. i will end on that. host: let's hear from a republican in florida, go ahead. >> good morning, how are you today. been a long time since i watched c-span but the gray hair looks distinguished. as far as the funding i agree with the funding for israel and ukraine. israel was attacked. they didn't just bother to attack, they were attacked for years and years. one other thing, all these people but the ones yesterday who interrupted congress and said stop the bombing, how about we put them and send them over to israel and have them stop bombing in gaza.

and ask for a cease-fire. >> that's chuck in florida writing for the wall street journal opinion pages. he's been on the program many times. can the speaker sell ukraine and israel aid. he writes new elected officials are eager to vote repeatedly on this issue during an election year. this will likely extend assistance long enough to get through the 2024 presidential election cycle. the speaker saying the cost of aid to israel with an eight proposed for ukraine that would enjoy much less support within his caucus. ukraine will cause -- cost more even if congress agrees to the request. the scale of the struggle is larger than israel's fight against hamas. third the former speaker kevin mccarthy to no longer receive a blank check with broad support

among house republicans. the new speaker has strong incentives to follow this line. you can read that in the pages of the wall street journal. joe is up next in north carolina. >> good morning. i don't agree with funding for israel. we've been funding them since the 40's. what if they done for america, nothing. i remember when obama was in office, netanyahu came to walk into congress and they never spoke to obama. that's a much disrespected america. people seem to think you're talking of hatred against jewish people. i lived in new york for 60 years around nothing but jews.

jews is not a race of people. it's a religion. i don't understand what's going on with the minds of people today. they can't see what's happening. >> that's joe there in north carolina. diane from facebook says only funding when it comes to how -- for -- absolute fund ukraine. scott mcintyre from facebook says reduce all foreign aid. gibbons from facebook yi support is not there. also telling their enemies that americans will not stand down when defending freedom. if you want to post on her facebook page that is facebook.com/c-span and you can post on at as well.

john in ohio is next. caller: hello. host: you are on, go ahead please. caller: i am for no aid at all to anywhere in the middle east. we have supplied people with money and guns and food and there's been no change. these people have been murdering each other and killing each other for 5000 years and they are going to continue to kill each other for another 5000 years. let's take our money and our equipment and people and bring them home and spend the money more wisely. as far as ukraine is concerned, you've got boudin is a terrorist with an army. we have to try and keep them from taking over and trying to do this whole old russia empire thing. the guy is nuts.

anyway thanks a lot for your time. i appreciate you being on the air. host: let's go to south carolina next. this is richard, republican line. caller: yes, there is a difference in america being a superpower and thus superpower. and russia and iran and china understand power. so i am for the funding of ukraine. i am for the funding of israel. in ukraine, do what it takes. they are 5000 troops there. but taking a little property might've been ok. biden has always been late to the game. i'm definitely for that because we've got to be the superpower in the world. when we are the superpower, the

world is a safer place. >> yahoo! finance reporting on the latest from israel yesterday saying it was the israeli defense force claiming they killed a hamas commander in an airstrike in gaza's largest refugee camp. troops pushing deeper into gaza as part of a ground operation against hamas. there are also reports the u.s. secondary estate will visit israel friday for meetings with members of the government and make other stops in the region according to the state department palestinian officials were killed when israeli airstrikes hit northern gaza tuesday. i hamas gunmen in a sprawling tunnel network. secondary blinken will travel and make stops according to the spokesman there. tony and kentucky on the support or opposition to israel in

ukraine. caller: israel we have supported for years. ukraine i'm not sure of but the thing that bothers me the worst is how many bases we have in the other places we are getting bombed now are self. host: back to ukraine for a second you said you weren't sure about it, why is that? caller: ukraine was a corrupt country to start out with. evidently we had labs over there like we did in wuhan and everything else. it was a crooked country to start out with and now i'm reading some of the weapons we are giving them is being sold on the black market. so i'm not sure about that at

all but my last question is can you name me any country in the world that taxes their citizens and gives their money to the united states? host: next in knoxville, tennessee. independent line. caller: i was commenting on the ukraine -- supporting ukraine and israel. i support both of them and i'm glad we do. if anything should happen i think they would back us and hopefully nothing will happen on this soil but you never know. the way it's going you just don't know. i think we should support other people as much as we can and we can walk and chew gum at the same time. we can take care of people at home. citizens can help other citizens and i think a lot of that should be done.

i do supported and thank you for letting me say that. host: robert is next in clearwater, florida. caller: thanks for letting me call. i support israel all the way. in the holocaust they burnt one million jews. why aren't we going after them? all these terrorists over there i don't know -- i think a lot more americans should stand up for the jewish state, israel. the catholics, the baptists, the greeks, the italians, the irish. they should protest for israel and stand up for them. the jews are getting attacked from all over this world. they killed all those people in

jerusalem, they took the people, they are using them to try and get money. host: we will leave it there, a robert in clearwater, florida. putting up recently looking at the aid and ukraine specifically been broken down into several charts. one of the charts and bilateral aid to ukraine in january of 2022 and july of this year, at the time 76.8 billion, 3.9 billion in humanitarian aid, 26 billion in financial aid. security assistance. when it comes to weapons and equipment, 23.5 billion. grants and loans for weapons and equipment a total of .7 billion. that's from the council on foreign relations.

you can talk about aid to ukraine and israel, you can talk about both. on the lines 202-748-8000 for democrats, 202-748-8001 for republicans. independents, 202-748-8002. florida, independent line. this is john. caller: good morning. as far as giving aid to israel we have been giving them $3 billion a year for god knows how long, decades and decades so they should have plenty of money to fight this war which i believe they should and go into gaza and do what they've got to do but i don't think we need to give them any more money. as far as ukraine, it's a boondoggle, it's another vietnam. ukraine has no air force. if you don't have an air force you cannot win a war. a time article just came out

with a top zelenskyy advisor said they are stealing like crazy, stealing everything over there. one of the most corrupt countries and all of europe. we don't know where our money is going, the cbs reports said 30% of weapons get to the battlefield, the rest are getting sold on the black market. it's just a boondoggle and they will never ever win the war without an air force. i know we are giving them f-16 shortly but 20 against 1000 su 35's, it's no comparison. so ukraine will never win the war, it's just another vietnam over there. and all this money we are giving. no more foreign aid. host: let's hear from gary and virginia. caller: thank you for taking my call. i support funding of ukraine and

israel and i think netanyahu brought this crisis on himself by his continued belligerence to the palestinians over the years. if i was a palestinian i would throw my lot in with the israelis the way i have been treated by the syrians in saudi arabia and's all those people because i heard a person wanted to open a muslim butcher shop in jerusalem and it got sued for having hebrew things for kosher in the middle instead of on the right. and the judge said the most stunning irrelevant i've ever heard, you should put a sock in it. host: sue is in nevada,

democrats line. caller: i support ukraine, i do not support israel. israel, they have more money, they don't need our money, they are a very rich country and the only thing i think there which won't happen, i think they should give some land back to the palestinians. that they took away from them. they took everything away. i think the palestinians need some of their land back. guest: the washington times -- host: the washington times highlights the fbi director was on capitol hill talking about aspects of funding and security matters saying it reached a whole other level after the hamas attack on israel. that's what he told congress tuesday.

big players in terrorism with all renewed calls, he said the level of threats since president biden took office, u.s. law enforcement is better prepared to deal with them. here is part of that exchange would you can see in total. here is part of the exchange from yesterday. [video clip] >> what would you say right now to the american public that have a significant jewish population scared to go to synagogue, scared to send their kids to day schools. it's not just them, my daughter has called me saying should they send their kids to school. >> this is not a time for panic, but it is a time for vigilance. we should not stop conducting our daily lives, going to schools, houses of worship and so forth. we should be vigilant.

you often hear the expression if you see something, say something. that's never been more true than now and probably partly why the american people are reporting more tips and leads to us and we are pursuing those as vigorously and responsibly as we can. >> that's one of the exchanges yesterday with the fbi director. you can see that on our website and also follow along on our app. larry joins us from minnesota, independent line. caller: how's it going there. host: fine, you are on sir, go ahead. caller: i am a veteran of the united states and when it comes to the u.s. treasury, one of those two foreign nations everyone wants to send money to, they have to go to the u.s. treasury every year before the veterans do.

it's called israel. who is more important, a jew or an american veteran? when you put it that way i think the jew comes up very -- comes up short. host: we showed you some of the results, more can be found at their website saying on israel support for additional military aid is bipartisan. the republicans are somewhat more supportive than democrats. the difference is more striking by age. 49% supporting more aid to israel. among those 50 and older, on ukraine 77% versus 19% while republicans -- that makes the prospect problematic to pervert -- $100

billion package that includes both 14 billion aid to israel and aid to ukraine as well as 11 billion for security. the house for its part expected to vote on a $14 billion package just for israel offset by cuts to the irs funding. you can follow along in our main channel. we will hear from kyle in new york, republican line. caller: good morning c-span. i do not understand why our congress is not listening to us. the last few callers it sounds like most of us do not want our money spent -- sent to israel. one of the callers earlier talked about how the prime minister over there kind of caused the problem. i feel bad for the jewish people

because their leadership got them into this mess over the decades, territory taken away. i just do not understand. $37 trillion and we keep sending it to places that obviously are not in our interest right now. you showed something about the homeless issues in america. we have so many internal problems and i really just wish the american people can actually be listened to. it's election time and we have no one to vote for and our money is going to places that don't need it. 10,000 palestinians were killed and they don't want to call it a slaughter. come on folks. i'm not a jewish or muslim person but anybody can see this is wrong.

years ago with rwanda and other genocides. now organ is send more money. host: that's kyle in new york. caller: good morning. my position is that we have to keep supporting ukraine, it doesn't matter how we got there, we can spend a lot now or a lot more in the future. for israel i wish we could go back to the way of doing business the old way, covertly. it's been ugly, it doesn't matter how we got there. we are here now. why we have to talk about our tragedy all the time. host: ken is next from michigan, independent line. caller: earlier this year we

invited a west point russian specialist and he told us in his talk the united states is getting a bargain and support for ukraine. so i'm going to go with his opinion because he's a russian specialist. also on this cutting the irs, $80 million to the irs, why does he still keep his farm out here. there are published reports in the free press. with kanye west and want to comment -- host: let's move on to john in west virginia. republican line, go ahead. caller: how are you guys doing?

i just don't see how we can keep sending money to ukraine which we need to support them against russia, but the palestinians and israel needs that money we will send them to rebuild, i can understand why. they ran is the number one sponsor of terrorism and he is always slow on everything he does. we need to deal with iran, they're the ones causing us to send money over to these countries. i don't see what we don't do something about them. host: nathan is next, maryland, a democrats line. caller: there's two different points going on here. one being ukraine is being

attacked by another country while israel is being attacked by hamas. there needs to be a distinction for it i support money to ukraine. israel i do support the fleet being in the region to stabilize the region. if things change in another country attacks israel then things might change but at the moment i really believe ukraine is a more important aspect for funding to make sure we don't let russian aggression spread beyond its current conflict. host: we showed you earlier some sound from secretary blinken testifying on issues in israel and ukraine. yesterday from that hearing shows at least several times protesters broke out during the hearing to make their voices heard. a series of people with red

hands raising their hands during it. if you watch the whole hearing you can see all the protests. here is an example. [video clip] >> recognize that our strategies are working and continues to do what they can to disrupt us. we must stand a moment when many are again making the bet that we are too divided, too distracted to stay the course. that's the reason for the supplement to funding request. to secure the urgent resources we need to continue to lead. secretary austen and i believe it's important for us to be here today because in this mission as in so much to advance national security, our defense, our diplomacy and development must work hand-in-hand. >> the committee will suspend. i appreciate people feel passionately about these issues. i would ask that you respect our witnesses and committee members

and allow the american people to hear their testimony. >> 300 people in gaza, 3500 kids dead. i am an army colonel, that war in iraq you talked about, that was a terrible thing and supporting israel's genocide of gazans. >> secretary blinken if you can continue. >> the president funding request has four key elements. first it provides firm during support to israel and ukraine. two democracies under brutal assault by actors determined to wipe their nations off the map. it will ensure israel can continue to defend its people by building up diplomatic security intelligence work since hamas' appalling slaughter. >> the committee will suspend

and i again ask the audience to respect the people in the room. host: on the new york times on their front page, a palestinian search for casualties after the bombing of the refugee camp on the gaza strip. the new york times on their front page. maryland, a democrat line, go ahead. caller: i believe israel is capable of defending itself against thomas. us being in israel, sending her fleet over as a stabilizing force is important to protect israel from outside aggression. so funding for israel they are capable, they have a strong economy compared to ukraine which need support from the u.n. to fight prudence aggression is important.

i would support israel but i don't support a lot of funding to israel. i support funding to ukraine and the fleet support -- protecting israel from outside aggression. if things change and other actors get involved my opinion might change on that. >> in georgia this is roy, independent line. roy in georgia, hello. caller: yeah i was just calling. i was wondering on the mar-a-lago raid where they were going after trump for iran's secrets. host: hold on caller. how does that relate in any way to funding for israel or ukraine? caller: this is all about iran and the war machine wanting to go into iran and have a war.

israel is defending themselves against thomas, they have no tolerance for any other kind of religion. they have no tolerance for lgbtq. all these people -- if trump was in there this would not be going on because he would cut this war machine off. host: as far as funding for israel and ukraine, do you support that? caller: well, ukraine is a corrupt country. host: let's hear from winston in minnesota, republican line. caller: good morning. i'm just calling because i remember back during the trump presidency you were saying

history doesn't matter pedro and i remember this great man named roger stone saying the past is prologue. host: i'm can ask you how this all relates to aid to israel or ukraine. caller: let me explain now pedro. past is prologue means we can to terminate the future based on the past. often times we get bogged down in recency bias and we think about just the present things happening and not the past. this is all cumulative. if i walked up and hit you in the chin -- kicked you in the shin and the next time would you be ok with that every time? host: the debate today is israel and ukraine funding. where do you stand on that. caller: i'm american first, i don't think we should be funding anything.

we should bring home all of our troops from around the world. host: you've got to watch the profanity. that goes to all of our callers as well. it couple things to let you know besides foreign aid for israel and ukraine, a couple things to watch out for today right after this program, and issue and hearing this will take place on the senate side, taking a look at recent weather events and severe weather changes. this will be for the senate environment and public works committee on c-span, c-span now and c-span.org. the federal reserve chairman will talk and give an update on interest rates in the u.s. economy followingheommittee meeting. th cference 2:30 this afternoon. you can follow along that on the app c-span now.

later on this afternoon 3:00 the hearing taking a look at election security threats before the senate rules committee. that's all good to be on c-span3 . 3:00 is when that will start. baltimore maryland, democrats line. caller: i would like to make a comment on aid to ukraine and israel. first i have a rhetorical question. why israel he intelligence was so ineffective in anticipating and prevent attacks from october 10 yet today israel he intelligent -- intelligence is extremely effective at finding where hamas leaders are and the tunnels to bomb them. i think we've got to stay in with these people. china is watching what's going on and if we don't defend ukraine and stick with what we are doing there, sooner or later china will invade taiwan.

i think we should limit our money to giving israel for protection for defense. landing on those innocent civilians in gaza. thank you. >> tyler is up next in pennsylvania. caller: good morning. i think there's something missing from the discussion when talking about how we treat the ukraine warrant what's happening in israel and i believe it all revolves around white supremacy and i say that because the majority of people in ukraine are white people and we treat them as people that need to be protected and what's happening -- host: how does that relate to the debate over aid? caller: the debate over aid is

how -- we are not giving any aid to the palestinians, we are not talking about helping them. there is a nakba to point out happening now and we are talking about giving aid to israel. that's why i say white supremacy as we don't treat brown people as people, as human beings because israel views them as not a human being, they openly discussed about leveling gaza. what happened in that indiscriminate bombing that killed hundreds of people and we are talking about sending more aid to israel? host: republican line, sean in maryland. sean and marilyn, hello? caller: yes good morning. i totally oppose aid to israel and ukraine, absolutely. host: why is that?

caller: i think we should be more focused on the united states. sending money overseas does no good. host: maryland and silver spring, democrats line. caller: good morning. i think this whole idea that sending overseas is irrelevant, we are a connected world. i also think the republicans in congress and the house of representatives are playing games with us because they have no intention of funding any of these ukraine or palestinians because they want to give money to the rich billionaires first, they want to take the money from the irs so rich billionaires can cheat as much as they want and use that money to pay. we have to stop the genocide in palestine. i'm half jewish and half muslim. i understand supporting israel but -- and i hate what happened

with hamas, it is horrific. but we are still killing innocent people. we have to stop innocent people from dying, those people with red hands got to me. they were serious, polite and respectful. how else will people understand this is genocide and we have to stop it. host: that protest took place, you can still see from the hearing if you want to watch that with secretary blinken. new hampshire, independent line, sarah you are next. caller: as far as ukraine is concerned i believe that europe ought to be putting up the funds. we have been supporting this for quite a while and on the israel thing, yesterday they dropped a bomb to kill one hamas fighters and they took out 60 civilians in a refugee camp? this is genocide, we should not

support it. netanyahu is out of control, palestinians have a right to exist on their own land. it's not a war against a mosque, it's a war against palestinians and it's a war for land. it's genocide. we have $33 trillion in the hole , we don't have money to throwing it away. i think israel should go directly to china to borrow the money and, my great great grandchildren should not have to pay this debt. israel's children can pay the debt. host: florida, republican line we will hear from barbara. caller: hello. good morning. i really believe that they play games. they are not going by any rules or regulations. host: who is the day?

-- the they? caller: all the foreigners over there killing and fighting wars and doing things that are unnecessary. they don't pay attention to any rules or regulations. they are just playing games. if we are going to give anybody any money we give them just a little bit and get something for it. we give them a little bit more and we get something. why should we give billions of dollars outright when we can give just a little bit and get something for what we are doing. and to make advances. we are not making any advances at all and everybody is like well we did not know ahead of time how to handle anything. there's a way of handling everything if you think about it ahead of time. we better start thinking about the people coming across the border here and out building these tunnels were they

will grab our people and put them in there, and then we will not get them out of our own country. host: dwight in virginia, republican line. caller: good morning. no. i am sorry. this is the democrat's line. host: i will have to stop you because the wrong line was called, so that will be it for the calls concerning israel and ukraine. watch out for the house leader package expected to be voted on thursday. coming up, we will turn our conversation to the autoworker strike and what it means for the future of electric vehicles. jeff gilbert will join us from detroit. later in the program, we will hear from sabrina corlette, the founder of georgetown university center, discussing the affordable care act, as the open enrollment period kicks off today. those conversations coming up on "washington journal." ♪

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each week, we make it convenient for you consent to multiple episodes of critically acclaimed authors discussing history, biography, current events and culture, from signature programs about books, but notes plus and q&a. listen today. you can find a feed and all of our podcast on the free c-span now video app or whatever you get your podcasts and on our website at c-span.org/podcasts. >> "washington journal" continues. host: jeff gilbert covers the auto industry for wwj news radio in detroit, joining us now to talk about the latest when it comes to a tentative deal with united autoworker strike and what it could mean for the future of electric vehicles. welcome back to the program. guest: good morning. thank you. host: on your webpage, your story concerning those things, can you talk about the factors

that led to the resolve of it? guest: the resolution of it, i mean, it was a long and interesting strike because it did not involve every auto plant what it was spread out among the three carmakers, so you could see the uaw raising the pressure as the strike went on. the end came when the union struck the most profitable plants for all three carmakers and you could kind of see that that was a last effort to rest every last concession they could. finally, the agreements came in rapid succession. a week ago today, they said it was stellantis, the maker of chrysler jeep over the weekend, and then with general motors on monday. host: stellantis, one of the headlines today said that they estimate $3.2 billion lost during the worker strike and you say that is a factor in the results with the union. guest: that actually is inaccurate because that is $3 billion in revenue, not an

actual profits loss, so it was not apples to oranges. they said it was $175 million in terms of profits lost, so stellantis ended up losing more than ford and gm, which was over $1 billion. host: but ultimately, losses are the thing that drove some type of resolve. guest: absolutely. it did seem to be the union strategy all along. it was to put this on similar to begin with, and let the negotiations continue while carmakers were hurting a little bit and then bring it up to a low boil and then finally to a raging boil when they took out ford's kentucky plant, it's most profitable, followed a week or so later by the big plant here in suburban detroit for stellantis and then general motors, arlington, texas, plant, which makes big suvs, so the pressure was really on. host: what do the workers game?

guest: very large pay increases. that was at the center, not just 25%, but they brought back cost-of-living, so that right there was the center, and then they expanded from there, where more workers will get the full pay because some plans have lower pay than workers and other plants, and that was not entirely eliminated, but it changed quite a bit, where more workers are going to make that pay, and they also newly hired workers. it used to take them longer to get to full pay, and allie will get there in three years. they also added job security provisions. for example, if one of the carmakers would like to close a plant, the workers can strike. while the union did not get the pensions they wanted, they did get their 401(k) style pensions. host: this is what president biden had to say after it was

done and said, he said i applaud uaw and general motors are coming together after a hard-fought negotiations to reach a historic agreement. this historic contract is a testament to the powerions and collective bargaining. while building strong middle-class jobs all helping the economy drive. a final word will come from uaw members itself in the days and weeks to come. let's focus on that, now that the offer has been made, where you think the workers are in finalizing? guest: i think everybody you talk to has a feeling the workers will vote on this. it is one of the most generous contracts they have ever received and if you take a look at it, a lot of workers have been out for seven weeks plus, everybody is going back to their jobs now, so i don't think they are anxious to return and, you know, a lot of the workers are saying, do one to take this or go back on the picket lines in the winter?

i would expect a pretty easy ratification. host: if you would like to ask our guest about what we talked about when it comes to the autoworkers, we will get to a on electric vehicles, (202)-748-8000 for the eastern and central time zones. (202)-748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zone, and (202)-748-8002 for electric vehicle owners in the audience if you would like to add on to this and give your perspective. you can also text us at (202)-748-8003. mr. gilbert, how much did electric vehicles factor overall into the issues over the last several weeks? guest: there was a direct and indirect factor. we start with the indirect, the concern that ev's might need fewer people to build on that factored into the equation. the direct factor was all of the car companies are building plans that are going to make batteries, and going into the talks, they said, these are

joint ventures, technically separate companies and you have to negotiate with a separate company. it appears the union and all three companies has won the ability to put that into their master bargaining agreement so when they negotiate a contract again in four .5 years, it will also include battery plants. they also got an easier path to unionizing those plants, and they were able to get provisions, and we assume that if a worker from an assembly plant loses their job, they can transfer to a battery plant, and even if that has a contract, that worker will not make less pay. host: so the topic of electric vehicles themselves, there was a headline recently from cnbc, about ford, saying they plan to postpone about 12 billion investments in ev's. and they say that they have to

become more cautious. what does that being overall for their comfort level as it stands today? guest: this is an industrywide issue and we are in the situation where we are the early adopters, so people really eager for ev's, for the most part, have purchased one, so now you have to tell customers why i should buy an electric over a gasoline powered and that's more difficult. adding to that, there are more ev's on the market. not only are there more models, but ford has been able to ramp up production of its f-150 lightning and others, so there are more out there and the car companies have found that it has not been as easy as they first thought for the cost of making them. everyone is looking at this and going, yeah, i think a world is still on a move toward ev's but let's slow down and let's let the market catch up. host: when it comes to the cost of build, what are some concerns

car companies are expressing? guest: a biggest cost was battery costs and they hope to get them down more so than they thought. other costs is going to be labor costs because they will have to pay workers more than they thought they would have to, and you have got, you know, ford, general motors and stellantis paying union wages and they use to, look, we are paying more than transplants, the japanese and european carmakers, and now they are saying, we are paying a lot more than tesla's pain. so they have tesla breathing down their neck where they have many price cuts this year, and are not making money on ev's and they have to make cuts to match tesla, but ford says they will lose more than $4 billion on electric vehicles this year, money invested to make money in the future, but it is getting further and further away it seems.

host: you talked about early adopters. what are ev's sales like compared to gasoline powered cars? guest: roughly the 6% to 7% range of all sales and has been climbing. there was a little worried it might plateau, but if you look within the sales numbers, you have a number of really hot ev markets, california, florida, east coast, and then you delve into those markets in areas like san francisco, los angeles, seattle, those places you have well into double digits ev penetration, where you get north dakota, oklahoma, places like that where people are saying, what is an electric vehicle? host: we will continue our discussion but we have calls lined up for you. roland in detroit, you are on with jeff gilbert with wwj newsradio. go ahead. caller: thank you. hi, jeff. guest: hey, roland.

caller: i think that vehicles are one of america's biggest addictions. there are too many cars everywhere. look at california, on the freeways and as far as the ev thing goes, these cars, you will have to go to a training program to figure out how to operate them and they will be vehicles for the elite and rich regular people not of how to afford them. i used to be an autoworker and i worked for four months at ford and i thought it was something out of a slave camp.

the auto industry needs to redo the whole thing. there are too many cars, we need to get more into public transportation. host: we will start with the first point as far as the addiction to cars in the u.s. versus the desire -- i know from the administration and others, for more public transportation. guest: roland lives here in detroit, anybody who lives in this area, this is an area with little public transportation. you have buses, one light rail and one elevated rail line, and it is a motor city so it was designed with freeways for people to drive, so that is an issue that is above my pay grade , a government kind of issue. you talk about ev's and learning how to operate them, but i have driven a lot and there is a learning curve was charging but it is fairly small and they drove like any other vehicle. the other issue he had with them

being for the elite, that goes back to what we were talking about earlier, they are more expensive to make. rewind your brain another 10 to 12 years ago, a lot of people try to bring out these little electric city shows things that were roughly the size of a smart car. most americans do not want to buy those i do not want something cheap to seats and in ev would cost assume is a compact gasoline car. it has been difficult for carmakers to get an affordable ev. gm and honda scrapped a joint development project last week to make electric vehicles in the $20,000 to $25,000 range because he said he could not figure out a way to do it and still make money. host: this is from everett in

colorado, you are on with our guest. caller: hello, how are you? i have a couple comments. when people strike, basically it is a dog chasing its tail. they have to raise the price on whatever product they are trying to get an increase in their wages. it has been about one week ago that i striking -- by striking, it was going to raise the price on the average about $900. i would like you to refer to one thing, years ago in 2002, there is an article by nasser that had an invention that would completely clone the exhaust on gasoline driven vehicles and

even diesels. i don't know what happened to this, but it saved money and did not use as many precious metals, and it worked all the time. existing catalytic converters have to wait until a car warms up to proper temperature. guest: a couple of things, first, i get a lot of times when people hear figures they don't quite understand them. ford said the last week that the settlement is going to increase zero labor costs between 850 and $900 in a vehicle. whether that will increase the cost of the vehicle depends on a number of things. most importantly, the market. vehicles are price based on what the car company believes people will pay for them, not necessarily what it costs the carmaker to make them, so a very exciting vehicle will be priced well above what it costs to

make. a vehicle that is a failure in the marketplace will be sold at a loss, so that is how that works, and the car companies are scrambling right now to figure out, ok, how do i get that 850 to $900 out of my overall cost because i still have to price vehicles based on what my competitor is selling the mat, not necessarily, here is the cost, let me throw it onto consumers. carmakers would love it if they can pass every cost onto consumers, but that is not the real world. other question is, i think i might know what you are talking about but i am not 100% sure when they talked about nasa, maybe we are talking about fuel cells, which are hydrogen powered, which carmakers are working on, but any time you read a story about a new breakthrough, realized that, ok, the breakthrough has been discovered, and then it has to

be determined, can this be repeated by over 60 million vehicles that will be built in the u.s. alone every year? can it be done in a way that it can be accepted and can make money? there are a lot of ideas you read about but when it goes through development stages, there were something wrong, and it works for one or two vehicles, but it does not work for master adoption. host: on sunday, the uaw president in a press conference talked about the car industry's transition to electric vehicles and how that looms over the talks with the automakers. i would like to play what he had to say and talk about it. [video clip] >> everything we gain in this agreement is only as good as our job security. in this round of negotiations, we said we would make sure our jobs were protected in every way possible. we want a historic victory that for years follows the possible.

we want the right to strike over plant closures. that means of ford starts closing a plant, we have the right to strike the entire company. that is our most powerful tool against companies trying to kill our jobs and got our communities -- gut our communities. we know the electric vehicle transition is a pivotal moment for our union. we have said for months we refused to allow the ev transition to become a race to the bottom. corporate america is not going to force us to choose between good jobs and green jobs. that is a false choice. [end video clip] host: if you could put some context to that please. guest: we talked about that a little earlier on the ev battery plants, integrally at ford. ford had been pushing back earlier, saying, we don't even know what the situation is going to be. so what ford has agreed to is

that they are building two and possibly three ev plants, more could be coming, and the uaw will be allowed to organize those by what is called car jackets. the majority of people who want to be with the uaw, they will be there, and they will be under the master agreement when that happens, so they will be negotiated as ford plants, not as ford joint ventures, which is what ford wanted. finally, if, for example, ford decides it no longer needs to transition as many people as possible and a transmission plant and they would like to transfer them to a battery plant and they make lower wages, well, those workers will go to the pay they made before and not the newer wage. host: (202)-748-8000, eastern and central time zones. (202)-748-8001 mountain and pacific time zones.

electric vehicle owner, (202)-748-8002. alex is next in detroit. caller: good morning. i want to talk about i am the son of a great migration guy, my dad, in the 1950's. moved to michigan, got a job, and i got a job for gm, became a skilled tradesmen, i family did really, well, and my family is really well off as we speak. and people need to realize that as an auto worker, we really form the middle class, and it is disheartening to hear some of the negative stuff, not necessarily on the phone calls, but what people say about the golden parachutes and all the stuff that is just not true. the fact of it is, when i first

heard -- i have been retired about maybe 15 years, and i heard some newscasters interviewing people who worked for gm, ford, etc., and i was shocked. there is no way being out of the plant 15 years that somebody here still was not making $20 an hour. i could not believe that. that is the 1980 something wage. host: thank you. what he brings up is one of the points contract that because there is so much that has not been discussed, it is temporary workers. the car workers obviously need flexibility. when you have tens of thousands working for you, that means the number of people are going to be absent on a given day, people will have leaves, vacations, so they need temporary workers, and the temporary workers are the ones he was talking about at $20 an hour.

those people got past full-time job, and that was a big win for the unions, and understand that there are some people who worked for the uaw who were not in vehicle assembly but worked at components plants, part depot centers and other places, where their pay is substantially lower. when all of the raises are factored in, at the end of the contract, the average automaker makes over $40 an hour. it does pave the way to a good middle-class income. host:n that front, there is a viewer off of x saying with the new agreements with the union, how much will it increase for the price of the average car? and then what are the sales goals on ev's? guest: are they meeting their

sales goals? i was about to say yes, and then he added on ev's. so sales of pickup trucks, utilities have been off the rails, and the ev question is one that there is a lot of fuzzy math here. yeah, they are meeting what they are selling now because they are still ramping up for full production but they are starting to look ahead and go, ok, we have a lot of ev's on the market and we are able to make a lot of them and then they are worried about meeting those goals, so that is a concern in the next few years that, for example, gm is not building that many cadillac we are asked, hummers, the chevy blazer ev is out, so people have been waiting for some of these cvs because they have not been able to make a lot, but the concern is, once

they are able to get them up to full production, what is the market going to be like for them? host: there is a recent story put out taking a poll saying 40% of those polled said they never heard of the biden administration offering ev tax credits. to what extent has the biden administration offer the credits and how long or how much longer will they last? guest: the credits are brand-new. if you fit into the right category and your vehicle fits into the right category, you can get up to $70,000 off the cost of an electric vehicle, but there are a lot of details about where the vehicle is made, where the battery is made, where components come from, what your income is, things of that nature. if your income is over a certain level, you don't qualify for the incentives. if your vehicle is made in a foreign country, it does not qualify, but some of the

carmakers found a way to get around that by leasing their vehicles and finding a way to get the incentives into the lease. i think a lot of people, it is so complex that in their own mind, they do not realize what there is. if you are interested in and ev, go to your dealer and talk to them, and, hopefully, they can talk you through it to be able to tell you what you might be eligible for yourself because it will be very person-to-person. host: is there an average cost? how does that compare to a gasoline powered vehicle? guest: i don't quite understand the question. host: the average cost of an ev versus a gas powered. guest: ok, it will be several thousand dollars more. car companies do like to talk about total operations cost of the vehicle over the lifetime. in most parts of the country, electric recharging, especially

if you do at home, will be substantially less then filling it up with gasoline, and they need less maintenance. total cost of ownership probably should be a wash for most people. you are not going to at this particular point save a lot of money within ev. host: let's hear from rob in. -- in new york. go ahead. caller: i have been a consumer reports student for 40 years. i think they have it pretty spot on when it comes to their gasoline engines and 4, 6 and eight cylinders. japanese vehicles have risen to the top, and, you know, as far as ev's are concerned, i think we are starting off with somewhat of a level playing field mechanically across a lot of the manufacturers, even including some of the swedish

and oddball companies that are getting into the game. right now, i think it looks like the korean car companies right now with the ionic five and six, look like substantial cars that are electric that the american public will go for. when i say when vehicles like that get to the point where they are about the same, i do not go for the tax credit nonsense, but when they are about the same as other vehicles that are gas cars or trucks, i think that the easy choice is going to be when consumer reports tells you that these vehicles are up and running and reliable, and they are a corolla or camry type of reliability, whether it is a swedish car or german car or american car or korean car or

japanese -- host: got it, thank you. guest: lots to unpack. let's go back to what he is talking about, a level playing field. this is one thing a lot of people don't understand with electric vehicles is because they are simpler to make, that has prompted the creation of a lot of ev startups. tesla is first. tesla has never made a gasoline powered vehicle, so they started with ev's from scratch, so you are seeing another company called riviere and with vehicles out there that has follow tesla's footprint, making vans for amazon, pickups and suvs for the general market. vinfast, the vietnamese carmaker, is building a plant to north carolina to build electric vehicles. byb, a chinese carmaker, has become a global giant, not yet in the u.s. market and they would love to be here but with international tensions, that has not happened yet, what if they

come to the u.s. market, they will put a lot of pressure on. another company in its second iteration is going to be making midsize suvs at a plant once owned by general motors and the suvs will be made by foxconn, the taiwanese company that makes iphones. you can see how the change to ev's has brought a lot of startups. all of those are going to be competing against the traditional carmakers. so you are going to see a lot of new brands coming into the future. the caller's comment on the hyundai and kia dvds is spot on, at this particular point, they are the strongest non-tesla ev company, the ionic five and six are great vehicles, and i am the president of the north american car and truck utility of the year and we gave the kia ev six are award last year because it

was such a great electric utility. kia has a new ev nine, which is a beautiful electric utility that will be in competition this year, so the korean brands have done quite well with their vehicles. host: how is the u.s. doing as far as infrastructure, finding charging stations and everything a user needs in order to drive and ev? guest: that is a big issue right now. we are seeing more and more of these charging stations, and the question becomes how much is going to be needed because if you use it for commuting, you will be charging it at home and will not need a public one. i would say the recharging is probably the biggest issue. in terms of time, you can get most vehicles pass charged in 30 minutes up to 80%, but that still is not as fast as gasoline. availability for people who live in an apartment is an issue, and reliability is an issue.

you go to a gas station and you pretty much know all the pumps will be working, and if there is a problem with one, talk to an attendant. you go to an ev charging station and you probably deal with an app and nobody is around to talk to. either with what you are doing or a mechanical problem. those are still big issues that need to be worked out. host: let's hear from david in north carolina. caller: how are you all doing? anybody who makes $40 an hour doing what they are doing, minimum wage down here in the south, and the future of the ev cars, they cannot even give us no power with the new homes they build around here in a rural community, and it is exploding with new homes, and our power surges three or four times a week now because the power grids are not upgraded to run something like this. the i-30 to 50 years old -- they

are 30 to 50 years old down here. if they ever get them to fire rocket to the moon, i will believe you and buy one, but until that happens, they might as well just be -- host: that is stephen in north carolina. guest: again, electric grid, that is a big issue, different electric utilities are ahead of the curve, and as you heard him mention, others have other issues like rapid growth in subdivisions. you might also find an issue if you live in an area where they just built a new factory of some sort. if they build an electric battery factory in your area, the grid needs to be upgraded because it takes a lot of electric energy to make a battery. so the grid is the big issue. one important thing to remember is that at the end of the day, the marketplace is what is going to rule here. i don't see americans accepting

an inability to buy something that they would like to buy. i do not see gasoline engines being totally banned nationwide over the long-term. maybe eventually, but the short term, unless you are in california, which would like to put one by 2035 and you will be able to buy used ones, so i don't think through most of our lifetimes, we will have an individual choice of whether we would like to buy an electric or gasoline powered, and ev's will not become the standard until most americans are willing to accept them. host: he talked about the building of battery plants, but how is the u.s. doing securing the raw materials for the batteries? guest: there is a lot of work being done. car companies are trying to maintain their supplies, and they are looking for areas to mine in the u.s., and there is

research done on battery chemistries that do not use as much lithium, nickel, cobalt and other rare metals that are hard to find. the short term answer is mining more of it and trying to find more domestic production, but the long-term answer is probably going to be different battery chemistries that you don't need that much in terms of rare metals. host: from gary in tennessee, your next. caller: hello. good to talk to you. c-span is wonderful. mr. gilbert, it is a pleasure talking with you. i am a retiree from one of the big three, and my question involves commercial vehicles. i drive a hybrid and really enjoy it. my former plant is in the production of bring electric vehicles down here in tennessee,

and i wondered about partial vehicles on the future of that. i just cannot visualize or wrap my mind around the fact about semi's and the trucking industry doing the electric scene. what is your idea about that? guest: there are a number of things here. first, commercial vehicles, in general, have been seen as may be the first step for carmakers to profitably sell ev's, that is why you see so many pickups and vans. we are talking about smaller commercial vehicles, the thought being that if you have a fleet and you are using them for delivery, you can charge them at night, run them by day, it will keep your costs down, and you get green credibility. the reality is that it has not taken off as fast as people would hope, but they have hope that the commercial segment will be where the ev's make heavy penetration first. with 18 wheelers, you have the

tesla semi and others, but that is where a lot of carmakers feel that fuel cells will really be important because to move something that big, you need a really big battery, and then you need more battery to move the battery, and then you get something so big that i have heard by some estimates that it helps your cargo load by about one third. battery electric vehicles are not as practical for semi's, but if you can create the electricity on board with a fuel-cell which combines hydrogen and oxygen, creating water with electricity as a byproduct, and there is a lot work being done on those. if you can put those on a bigger vehicle, it takes less space and you do not need the batteries. again, with a truck, you need to refill it with hydrogen, but you have a smaller hydrogen structure that you have to create for 18 wheelers versus passenger cars. that is why there has been a lot of work done with 18 wheelers

being run by fuel cells as opposed to batteries. host: because little bit outside our conversation, but there is a view of asking about the auto industry saying, can you talk about automakers starting to charge for upgrades to their vehicles and subscription services? here is something guest: -- guest: here's something they have wanted for years. carmaker makes money when they sell you a vehicle, and that is it, 80 other than some spare parts, some service money, you have a subscription to satellite radio, you pay the satellite radio company, etc., etc., so carmakers are looking to add subscriptions, ad services, things people would like. people tend to be a little subscription fatigue so to speak, so i don't know how well they have done that. gm has done fairly well with onstar. ford has there hands-free

subscription. a couple of carmakers have tried something different where it does not seem to be working, but it is easy for us to manufacture all of our vehicles with heated seats, but if you would like them in your vehicle, you have to pay for a subscription or we will not activate it. i think bmw tried that and got pushed back, so that is a little less popular, but the idea of adding extra things and charging subscription for them, that is starting to appear and you will see more, but we will see people who all of a sudden may be who have three subscriptions for streaming services, a number of online services, things like that, and they want to pay for one more subscription for their vehicle. host: from georgia, dick, go ahead. caller: yes, yes. i retired out of michigan for 35 years, and did you ever or you

are old enough, you may have known about the ev 1 we built in 1992 that you could plug in with 110 -- guest: were you involved in the ev one program? caller: i drove them. i was not involved in the engineering of it, but after general motors got control, the battery company, they built 600 of them, and once they got control of the battery company in detroit, michigan, they were building this battery that this older couple had engineered or designed, and boom, they shut it down, they shut the battery plant down, it was awful. there is a documentary out there on youtube -- guest: who killed the electric car, yes, i remember that. caller: and the people who bought them, 600 of them were

least, and as soon as they shut down the plant two in lansing, michigan, that built the ev one, it was like an overpowered golf cart, it would earn rubber and slide, and they would get 80 miles to one charge, and you could plug it in with an extension cord. it was so efficient, and as soon as they got control of that, on that battery, they shut the whole damn plan down. yeah, i read the other day on air force one, when trumpy bear went to france and refused to pay $5 billion for the global initiative or whatever it was, this paper, this tree hugger paper -- host: ok, you put a lot out for the guest already. guest: i will stay away from

france and tree hugging, but i can talk about the ev one because a personal friend of mine today was on the eve of one program as an engineer and had a lot of conversation about this recently. gm learned a lot from the ev one that they spent a lot on it. they put it out in the 1990's, mostly in states like california and they would only go about 80 miles on a charge, and that is on a good day. so it was an older technology. gm never sold any of the ev one to anybody. they put it out as police to people who were first adopters i wanted technology. at the end of the lease, they wanted them all back and a few of these people were upset because they wanted their ev's because there was at the house like it on the market, and there was a bit of an uproar. it was all for gm to be a learning experience, and a lot of what they learned on the eeev

one was applied to other vehicles like the chevrolet volt , a hybrid electric vehicle that would run on electricity for a wild, generated by the engine, and then on today's ev. it was a learning platform for gm and a development platform, but it was never meant to be a vehicle sold to the public. host: linda is in ohio. go ahead. caller: good morning. my question is, the settlement that the uaw reached with automakers, did that change anything or enhance any of the retirees' pension or benefits? guest: yes, retirees are getting several one-time bonuses. i cannot remember the number or amount, but it is the first time that retirees have received anything and i believe over a dozen years, so there was money for retirees in this for the first time in a long time.

host: one more call for michigan in rochester hill, dan. caller: yeah, good morning. i drive a tesla model three, and i would like to put out more information about the reliability of the charging network. tesla supercharger network is 95% plus reliable, and it has over 50,000 chargers worldwide. british petroleum just signed a contract with tesla for $100 million with their supercharger four that they will brand as their own to distribute around the united states. i think the charging network for tesla's and for the other car companies that are now opting into using the tesla plug to be able to use the tesla supercharger locations is going

to be, well, for tesla, completely reliable, and for the other vehicles from other new fractures, first ford stepped in, then general motors -- guest: can i ask you a question as somebody who uses the network, how often do you take long trips with your tesla, and how much does having to charge -- i know tesla's network is one of the best, but it is not like filling up with gasoline -- much does that add to the time of your trips? do you take a lot of trips and use the network a lot? caller: i do not have to use the network a lot because i can charge at home, so my car is constantly -- not fully charged, i charge it to about 85%, and we will be able to take a trip in the near future to visit my

sister in south carolina. i have no problems may be spending an extra hour to get down there. that is about a 750 mile drive, so you do need some time periodically to rest. host: ok, thank you. mr. gilbert. guest: ok, yeah, and that is the issue. some people who are really into ev's do not mind spending the extra time. a lot of other people are spur of the moment people and want to wake up in the morning, drive somewhere, and not worry about recharging. and i will say what he said is true, the tesla network is far and above everybody else's, and that is why most of the car companies are going to tesla's standard. host: what signs you look for in the future as far as where ev's fall in american garages? what kind of things are you looking for as far as sales, manufacturing, whatever, what are you paying attention to? guest: when people who are not into their ev's and who are not madly in love with them, like a

lot of people are now, when those people start just buying them, just because this car works for my lifestyle. that is the thing i am looking for and improvements of charging, things of charging, things like that, where it fits into an individual's lifestyle, not because they want and ev, but because it is the choice that works best for them. host: jeff gilbert covers the auto industry for wjj newsradio. always good to have you on the program. guest: thank you for having me. host: we will do open forum for the next half-hour. you can give your thoughts on anything you have seen or heard today. at 9:15, we will talk about the affordable care act, as it kicks off today, sabrina corlette from georgetown university joins us for that discussion. if you would like to participate, (202)-748-8000 free democrats.

(202)-748-8001 for republicans. (202)-748-8002 for independents. we will take those calls when we continue. ♪ >> american history tv, saturdays on c-span2, exploring the people and events that tell the american story, a discussion on president abraham lincoln's shipping policies on emancipation during the civil war, by professor paul, and at 9:30 eastern on the presidency, his story in goodyear on his biography on garfield, details about his life, including being a republican, a union war hero, supreme court attorney, and the last chief executive board in a log cabin, and highlighting how he was shot by an office seeker and a washington, d.c., train

station and died two months later. watch american history tv, saturdays on c-span2, and find the full se on your program guide or watch it online anytime at c-span.org/history. >> monday, watching c-span series in partnership with the library of progress, books that change america, featuring soren neale hurston's novel "their eyes were watching god," the story said in central and southern florida during the jim crow era, exploring life within the african-american community, race relations, gender roles, and female empowerment. the book written in 1937 is considered a harlem renaissance classic and has been highly influential on african-americans and women's literature. tiffany patterson, professor of history at vanderbilt university, joins us to discuss the book, the author of zora

neal hurston and history of southern life, watch books that shaped america, featuring "their eyes were watching god" monday at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now, our free mobile video app, or online at c-span.org, also, scan the qr code to listen to our companion podcast, you can learn more about the authors of the books featured. ♪ >> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington, live and on-demand. keep up with today's biggest events with live streams and floor proceedings of hearings from the u.s. congress, white house events, the court, campaigns, and more from the world of politics, all at your fingertips. stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling information for c-span's tv network and c-span radio, plus, a variety of podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store, google play,

downloaded for free today. c-span now, your front row seat to washington, anytime, anywhere. ♪ >> "washington journal" continues. host: open also available by texting at (202)-748-8003. politico reports this morning that president biden will visit minnesota farm country wednesday to promote his administration's work to support farmers in the fight against climate change and help rural areas connect to broadband. it is part of a two week let's of rural america, and they hope they can call back voters and parts of the country where democrats have hemorrhaged support recently while party strategists are under no illusions they can win majorities in rural counties, they need to lose by less than a year, on the heels of the biden visits, in desoto, administration officials in --

in minnesota, administration officials are visiting areas. earl on the democrat's line, go ahead. caller: this is earle, with an e on the end. i wanted to speak to the gentleman on the auto industry, my opinion, if we don't go into electric cars big-time, then -- firstly, my military is set to run on gasoline and diesel fuel for the next 50 years to 100 years. if we keep using it at the pace we are using it, it is going to run out. because dinosaurs are not dying anymore. they been dead and gone. people have got to go to these electric vehicles. half the fuel is burning in this country is sitting at a light or traffic, and these people in georgia, they act like it is some kind of poison or

something. they are stupid. it should have been up here 20 years ago, 50 miles out of atlanta, in every direction. host: robert next and sorta, republican line. -- robert next in florida, republican line. caller: good morning. i just wonder how many people past 12 actually believe that joe biden has the temperament, the competency, the knowledge, the stamina, the general all-around ability to come down to the pressroom at 9:00 and hold an honest-to-goodness press conference, a press conference where reporters other than those who give him softball questions can question him? i just do not believe he generally has the all-around ability to do this. thank you very much. host: mary in michigan. independent line. caller: hi, pedro.

i am calling, it is a programming note, it may be for c-span, 18 to see on the weekends, if you could have more programming for people who are under the age of 40 to call in on different things. there is a new program coming out on nickelodeon, and it is to teach physics to the next generation, it is 12 music videos that are coming out today. host: if i remember this correctly, go ahead, sorry. caller: you had a call last week where it was a classroom of kids , and i volunteer at a local school three or four days a week, and i think a lot of your callers would benefit by hearing from the younger generation and talking to people between 12 and 40, and they have a lot to say, and i think if you would allow

younger people the opportunity to express their views on the phone lines, there would be more positive spin to what is going on in this country because young people have a lot to say. host: all right, mary, thank you for the programming note. let's hear from bill in pennsylvania. democrat line. caller:.good morning thank you for taking my call. back to the uaw, the settlement and all of that, i don't think the caller -- i don't think they need to raise the price of their vehicle. stellantis, the first six months, made over 11 billion and almost 4 billion, and that was just in the first six months. i think this is a bogus idea that they will need to raise prices of their cars. maybe they will because they can blame the car tracked, but i

don't think it is really necessary. and that is ok. i will save it for another time. host: that is bill giving us a call. the hill reporting that it will announce the next course of action in its investigation into the representative george santos. the update comes days before they vote on a resolution to expel the embattled freshman lawmaker who faces 23 criminal counts on a range of allegations, including misleading donors, produce the receiving unemployment benefits, and line on financial disclosures. he has pleaded not guilty and is set to go to trial in september of 2024. from dan in arkansas, republican line. caller: hey, pedro. thank you for taking my call. i tried to get on in your prior hearing. a person called and asked about the power grid and the

difficulties with it. the problem i see, a more important problem, is the generation. it is not exist. environmentalists are against building more power generation plants. if electric vehicles are produced to the point that environmentalists will not, it will cause the cost of electricity to skyrocket. it is another government boondoggle because the rich people will be able to afford electricity, regardless of the cost, but the cost of electricity will explode.

rich people like al gore and john kerry will not make any difference to them. they have got plenty of money. but the middle class will take it on the nose. and another issue is, well, it will cause the cost of gasoline powered vehicles to explode or the cost of owning and driving one because the gas powered vehicle owners will be subsidizing the electric vehicle cars. america needs to think about it. host: let's hear from john in ohio, independent line. caller: good morning, pedro. i am 80 years old, and i wanted to add two points, the lady who talked about nickelodeon, i do not understand why they show the british parliament wasting our time, we could use that time to

look at the younger generation. number two, when it comes to elections, we don't have an election for many years now because of gerrymandering and so-called swing states. swinging is more like monkeys, and it is not united, there is no election. they gerrymander and then treat people like us -- trick people like us to vote for them, so we don't have any more of those elections, it is all gerrymandering. money flows. the whole thing is -- i am 88, here in the nursing home. host: what is cleveland, john. washington post highlights a case heard by supreme court

justices yesterday, dealing with social media. they say that the pair of cases before the justices presented a fresh opportunity for them to can -- consider when public officials can bar critical voices from social media accounts increasingly used at all levels of government to communicate with citizens. part of a set of legal controversies justices will review this term. the discussion on the bench did not break down along usual ideological lines. the three liberal justices, though, voice the strongest concerns about making sure citizens have access to critical information online. elena kagan emphasized increasing role of social media in elections and government operations. this is sam, detroit, democrat sign. caller: i am calling about the situation in israel.

i think that hamas is the reason for all the deaths of the palestinians. putting those under hospitals that it was the same during vietnam. the vietnamese put towns under the floors at houses. i agree with netanyahu about the cease fire. in vietnam, every time there was a cease fire, the vietnamese used that time period to resupply. thank you. host: that is sam in detroit. on israel, chuck schumer

yesterday criticizing house republicans land to vote later -- just republicans' plan to vote later this week on an 80 package that does not include ukraine and also would subtract funds from the irs in order to find it. he made these comments yesterday. we will hear from that in a bit. let's go to sadie in north carolina, republican line. go ahead. caller: the need to be more interested in what we can do to help america instead of arguing for democrats and republicans. we need to put that aside and focus on what will help america. we've got a bunch of kindergartners in washington. we need to be strong enough to

stand up and have backbones to hold whatever we need to help america. host: here is chuck schumer yesterday. let's go to james in arkansas, independent line. caller: good morning. this is open forum, correct? i want to scenario by the viewers. there is a gentleman running for president. under 91 indictments, many of them federal law. should he be elected, he will be in a federal prison, meeting with foreign leaders in a prison cell. he will be and handcuffs.

we will be the laughing stock of the planet. that is my comment. host: steve in indiana, republican line. caller: i want to talk about this -- actually biden's funding both of these wars, shutting us down in the u.s. and letting putin open his pipelines up. he is funding the war in ukraine and iran. he is funding the war over there, too. he is opening the fuel up for them. if we do not open our fuel back up here in the u.s., and get our country back in order, and quit

funding these wars, that is all we are doing, finding both of these wars with the fuel, shutting our fuel off and letting them make hundreds of billions of dollars of the fuel. these wars will never end. host: the in indiana. new york times this morning taking a look at the issue that went back several years with the flint, michigan water issue. prosecutors in michigan met -- said to state that a series of appellate port rulings mean they can no longer bring criminal cases against former governor rick snyder and others accused of wrongdoing in the crisis. they announced the wave of charges in 2016. a few officials took the deals

but after attorney general dane office -- dana nessel, a democrat, took office in 2019, dismissed the remaining cases and started over. those prosecutors ultimately filed a new wave of charges, including against mr. snyder. 8 others were indicted at the same time as mr. snyder in 2021. those cases began to unravel last year when the michigan supreme court found that a one-man jury prosecutor had used to secure the indictment was invalid. let's hear from larry in alabama, democrat line. caller: this is about the israeli war. has anyone asked hamas to

withdraw and move to another palestinian country? that would solve the whole problem. host: jim in ohio, independent line. caller: i am calling to brag about my plug-in hybrid. real-world experience, i've got a plug-in hybrid, made a couple of trips to south carolina no problem, 40 miles to the gallon. i can plug it in in my garage and for a dollars worth of electricity, i can drive 25 miles. transportation costs have almost dropped off the charts. i paid about $.12 per kilowatt hour in electricity. my favorite wiped out my taxes this year. and qualified -- i qualified.

for the first time, i paid zero federal taxes. host: with your experience, you would never switch between ed, at least -- switch to an ev, at least at this point. caller: i would consider. it is charging stations and long-distance trips i have album with. -- cap a problem with. host: the car you are talking about, is that what you use every day? caller: yes. it is my go to work car. i do all my local driving on electric. host: jim talking about his hybrid. james in kentucky, republican line. you are on. caller: think it is funny that this january 6 riot, everybody

was scared to death. and we get more and only politicians -- five wonder about that. host: robert is in sacramento, democrats' line. caller: i am calling about palestine and israel. the hawks taking control. even the u.s. and russia -- and it is scary. it is scary that netanyahu, he has been wanting that level of violence for a long time. i voted democrat far i do not know how many years.

i understand israel is an ally, but what is happening to the palestinians over there is wrong. if they cannot stand up, i do not think i will vote will credit again. host: chuck schumer talking about the efforts on the outside when it comes to israel funding. sen. schumer: we must stand with our allies in israel, send humanitarian aid to innocent civilians in gaza, hold the line against putin by supporting ukraine, and we must rebuff the aggressions of the chinese communist party in the indo pacific. the best way to help is through bipartisanship. in fact, is the only way. that is why i was deeply disappointed by speaker johnson's first major legislative action, purely partisan. house republicans released a

woefully inadequate package with no aid to ukraine, no humanitarian assistance for gaza , no funding for the indo pacific, and poison pills that help wealthy tax cheats avoid paying their fair share. the irony is that there idea -- their idea is to reduce the deficit but this poison increases the deficit. their price for helping israel and abandoning america's global responsibilities make it easier for the global rich to cheat on their taxes. how could that be the highest priority? it is only when the hard right governs the republican caucus. all friends of israel should say that any move to make the u.s.-israel relationship partisan hurts israel. host: new york, independent

line, roger. caller: i am a vietnam veteran. there is not one politician that i trust. it comes down to what they can do for themselves, not the american people. when it comes to voting on a bill or an amendment, it seems that senators take their sweet time to come down to the floor to vote. a simple vote could last for hours. i want to know why that is. on the other hand, the house, which has four times the number of senators, has a time limit on voting. the senate should look into a time limit for any about. host: mike is next, from wisconsin, democrats' line. mike in wisconsin, hello. one more time for mike.

yep in montana, republican line. -- jack in montana, republican line. caller: i wanted to say something about the state of the nation. i think that the way the state of the nation is -- you talked about ev cars and people wanting them. i do not think that is true. here in montana, you look at the dealerships, they just do not work in the winter. i do not see them being a nationwide product. in cities, maybe, but in montana , everybody who comes from california or anywhere else, sells them, because they do not work once it gets to be 20 degrees, 15 degrees, they just do not work.

that is the problem i see with that. host: rick is in massachusetts, in turners falls, democrats' lin e. caller: i am grateful for c-span but i was thinking be nice if rather than sending aircraft carriers in and around israel and palestine, if we had medical ships so we could relieve some medical suffering of the palestinians. we always do that. we have done it to central america and around the world. he sent high-priced military stuff when what is needed is humanitarian, medical assistance. that is my thought. host: one last call, from las vegas, independent line. we will hear from dave. caller: the other day i heard

donald trump say that all veterans -- and i am a veteran -- are losers and suckers. i do not see how anybody could vote for somebody like that. he did not want them in the parade because it makes him look bad. something wrong with tump -- trump. he also said he could shoot somebody and get away with it. what is wrong with the american people? anybody who says that should not be running for office. he said all veterans are losers and suckers. host: dave in las vegas finishing us off. one more segment. is will look at the affordable care act. the enrollment period is now open. joining us to discuss what is impacted by the open enrollment

period is sabrina corlette of georgetown university. he joins us next -- she joins us next on washington journal. ♪ >> the honorable mike johnson is duly elected speaker of the house of representatives. >> the battle over the house speakership is over. house gop members selected the louisiana republican congressman mike johnson is a new speaker, following the removal of kevin mccarthy. c-span brought you every movement -- moment. continue to stay with the c-span network as the house we can be and gets back to legislative dismiss. you can also visit our video library at c-span.org, where you can find out more about mike johnson.

c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> did you ever miss any of c-span's coverage, you can find it anytime online at c-span.org. videos of key hearings, debates, other events feature markers that guide you to newsworthy highlights. they appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on select video. the 10 million makes it easy to get an idea -- the timeline makes it easy to get an idea of what was debated in what. -- in washiton. >> live sunday on in-depth, leadingtrasse joints book tv -- nadine straussen joined the

book tv. she is author of dissenting pornography and the recent guide to free speech law and the debate surrounding it. joint with phone calls, facebook comments on in-depth live sunday at noon eastern on c-span two. ♪ >> as part of our new series, we are asking you what folks you think shaved america. -- shaved america. >> to kill a mockingbird. >> you can join in the conversation by submitting the book you think helped save this country. just go to our website, c-span.org/ booksthatshapedamerica.

select record video. in 30 seconds or less, tell us your pick and why. >> washington journal continues. host: this is sabrina corlette, with georgetown university and the founder of the health insurance forum. she is here to talk about the affordable care act and open enrollment. what does it do and focus on? guest: the are part of the mccourt school of public policy at georgetown university. we are a team of researchers who study health insurance. host: the idea of the aca, we will talk about open enrollment, but let's go back in history. how long has it been around? guest: people might forget what it was like before the aca, passed in 2010.

back then, if you did not have insurance through your employer or if you were not on medicare and you had any kind of health issue, it was hard to get any health insurance. the affordable care act has changed the way people can access health insurance. host: how many people are on it as of today? guest: about 16.5 million are enrolled through the marketplaces. host: how does that number compared to when the act started? did we see growth, decreases? guest: it has been a bit of a roller coaster, but we are at record high enrollment in the marketplaces. it may during the trump years but has bounced back up. host: we are back to open enrollment. talk about what that means. guest: this is a window of time and people can commune, figure out when they they are able to

get financial help under the affordable care act. it offers two kinds of financial help, one lowers premium costs. about four in five people should be able to find a plan for $10 a month or less. the other type is if you have a deductible or copayments, depending on your income, you can get help reducing goes. host: if a person is considering that, what kind of questions do they have to ask themselves before signing on? guest: financial help is based on your income. it goes up as your income goes down. it is less generous is your income goes higher. the first thing the marketplace will ask is what your household income is. they will also ask for the elgin and other kinds of health insurance -- eligible for other kinds of health insurance.

if you have an employer plan, you will not be eligible for marketplace financial help. host: according to kaiser family foundation, the average premium is $177 in the u.s. in vermont, it is this height as $950. but is that $477 high? guest: that is unsubsidized. most people on the marketplaces will find a plan for $10 a month or less. host: as far as the subsidy is concerned, who is pain that? the federal government? the state government? guest: for the most part, it is just the federal government, but a number of states have enacted legislation to create a wrap around some of these. in california, massachusetts, washington, the number of other

states, there is a state wraparound that makes coverage even more affordable. host: as far as the federal coverage, is there a deadline to that? is it in perpetuity? how does it work? guest: there is a limited time period to enroll. it starts today and in the federal government, it ends january 16. if you want coverage to start january 1, you have to enrolled by december 15. if you miss that window, you could be out of luck. you cannot get back in unless you have had a life change -- you moved to a different state, you have a child. those are the things that could trigger a special enrollment period, but it is important if you want coverage to start january 1, you have to move quickly. host: our guest will be here to talk about those things

factoring into open enrollment and the state of the aca. if you currently have aca insurance, it is (202) 748-8000. under private insurance, (202) 748-8001. (202) 748-8002 if you fall into the noninsured category. for everybody else, (202) 748-8000. how would you think user experience is with the aca? guest: being perfectly honest, it has been mixed. before the aca, if you had a health condition and did not have coverage through your employer, it was hard to find affordable, good insurance. that problem has been fixed, but coverage is still hard to afford for the lot of people. the biden administration working with congress passed the inflation reduction act two

years ago that helped makes coverage a bit more affordable, but the price is still steep for a lot of people. the other issues that people might have our provider network issues. a lot of the health plans in the marketplace have narrow provider network. that means if you do not go to one of the selected providers, you could face big out of pocket costs. host: such as what? guest: it depends. if you go to an out-of-network primary care provider and the health and does not cover that provider, you could face the full cost, which could be hundreds of dollars. if you go to an out-of-network hospital for a hospitalization, those costs can add up to tens of thousands of dollars. host: for the average prison under the aca, what is the range

of coverage? guest: there are four levels. they are called the medal levels, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. if you buy bronze, your premiums are lower but deductibles are higher. with a platinum plan, your premiums are higher but deductibles lowered. within that, all the plans are going to cover essential health benefits. the spectrum of what you might expect if you are in medicare or an employment plan -- hospitalization, drugs, pediatrics, doctor visits, maternity care what can vary is the size of the provider network. that can trip some people up if they do not realize that there are a lot of out-of-network services. host: the federal subsidy, will

there be a point where the federal government stops inviting a subsidy? guest: great point. under the inflation reduction act, enhanced subsidies will expire at the end of 2025. that is something that hopefully congress will extend. these enhanced subsidies are making coverage much more affordable. those expire at the end of 2025. there would still be federal subsidies, just not as generous as they have been since 2021. host: ernest, rhode island. go ahead. caller: good morning. i wanted to comment in the aca. bending health care for over 40 years, and a lot of it with nonprofits. the impact of the aca for

individuals means that those individuals who now have health insurance who the aca do not have to get care through the emergency room script that is one of the biggest drivers in health care costs, overutilization of the emergency room. while the aca is an investment, it pays off while not -- by not having to go to consume. the second issue is the impact on the states. i am a health care consultant. i have been to over 35 states, visited over 100 community health centers. those that accept aca are thriving, making money. what they do that money is they invest in more programs for people in the community. the red states that do not take medicaid expansion, those community health centers are seeing thing 30% of uninsured people. imagine running a business where

30% of your business is uninsured, there he will help us collect any money. host: ernest made some great points. first, when people have to pay out-of-pocket for health care services, they will often delay or just not get the necessary merit or preventative care -- primary or preventative care. one thing the affordable care act did is insured people get the care when they need it, which in a way saves money because you are not waiting until the cancer is advanced or you have a more serious health condition i am glad ernest made that point. the other point ernest made is a shout out to our community health centers. they are heroes providing care to the uninsured and also people who just do not qualify for health insurance because they may be undocumented. host: unmedicated expansion, can

factor into how that affects the aca? guest: the affordable care act included medicaid expansion, originally and all 50 states and it would ensure that people just slightly above the poverty line would have access to medicaid. the supreme court in 2012 said that it would be optional on the part of the states to take up medicaid expansion. now have about 10 to have refused to adopt medicaid expansion. if you live in that state and are below the poverty line, it was this horrible situation where you are too poor for the health insurance marketplaces, as you cannot get subsidies, but you are too wealthy for the medicaid program. host: would they be described as red states? guest: it is pretty much all red

states have declined the medicaid expansion. host: pennsylvania, jim, private insurance possessor. caller: thank you. i wanted to ask how any people -- i had two questions. first often is, how many people in america today are uninsured? guest: we have the lowest uninsured rate have had since we have been recording insured rates. we have about an 8% uninsured rate, which, given that in a lot of those folks are not logical for any program because they may not be documented, that is very good. we still have a ways to go. 8% is still high but better than before the affordable care act it -- check act. host: jim?

caller: 8% of 340 million? guest: yes. caller: when you apply for the affordable care act, do you have to prove that you are a u.s. citizen? (202) 748-8001 yes --guest: yes. you cannot be an undocumented resident to get marketplace on medicaid coverage. there are immigrants that can qualify if they are in this country legally. guest: how have private insurance companies been impacted the implementation of the aca? guest: the industry is thriving. in terms of the marketplaces, it has been a roller coaster ride, but the number of insurers participating has grown in the last years. i think they now, the average

person has 100 different plans to choose from. we have more choices than anyone could possibly process. host: greg has insurance under the aca. he is in florida. caller: had a situation which i think sabrina will appreciate. i am 64 years old, have not worked since just before the pandemic. i was a licensed banker, lost my job and could not get back in because of age, could not find a company that would accept me, then the pandemic. what was interesting was i needed health insurance. i could not afford it. it would run for me about 1200 to 1500 dollars a month.

i signed up for the affordable care act read my and is a silver plan, costs about $1250. total costs, i pay about $200 and change. thank goodness i did have it. i am 64 years old, my wife is a little older. we love on her social security at the moment. two weeks ago, i had quadruple bypass surgery. had i not had that insurance, it would have probably bankrupted me i wanted you to know how important that insurance is. guest: wow. thank you for calling in. i hope you are on the road to recovery. that is an amazing story. best of luck to you. host: tyrone jones also from michigan. -- joins us from michigan.

private insurance holder. caller: i am 66 years old. i get so many calls trying to sign me up. i am on a private insurance company with my wife. how can i find out who is right and who's wrong when people call every day? guest: great question. given your age, i am guessing you are in a medicare program and you are getting inundated with calls from brokers and insurance companies selling medicare advantage plans. my advice would be to contact your local ship program. it is a government-supported program, staffed by trained counselors who will help you figure out your health insurance options. they are not compensated by any insurance company.

they are either volunteers or supported by this government program. they can give you unbiased, knowledgeable advice about how to pick a medicare advantage plan. host: here is healthcare.gov, advertising open enrollment. this year, you're the cost estimates versus monthly premium costs, what does that mean? guest: the first time, when you go to healthcare.gov and look for plans, the default option will show you your estimated yearly costs. it used to be they would show you the premium, lowest first. that would be how they would sort your plan options. shifting to estimated yearly cost allows people to see not just what my premiums will be about what my out of docket will

be, including deductibles, coinsurance, copayments. you can get more specific and say i going to be a high or regular -- or low utilizer and you can figure out which plan will be optimal for you based on your situation. host: what caused the change? guest: a recognition that people were shopping i'm premium alone, but that is not an accurate reflection on total out-of-pocket costs. the bronze plans have low premiums, but your deductible can be 6000 or $7,000. if you have a serious health issue, that might not be the best plan for you. host: sabrina corlette, founder of the center for health insurance reforms. teresa, under the aca, in pennsylvania. hi. caller: hello.

i am calling about the aca. my husband has been on since it first started. i take care of all of our insurance. i wanted to make note of something in the aca that almost killed my husband prior. before the aca, insurers put a limit on how much they would pay for medications. my husband, a young man, was diagnosed with colon cancer. he had to go to the hospital, have 12 inches of his: removed and then got medication. he got out, he went to an oncologist, and was on cancer drugs. after the second infusion, the insurance company called the oncologist and told him that he had hit the limit and that he

was 100% responsible for the rest of the drugs we could not afford that. thankfully, his family helped us pay for as much as we could. but now, the patient pays up to a certain amount. $6,000 sounds like a lot, but those drugs back then, before 2004, were $5,000 every two weeks. no middle-class family could afford that. now, my husband would have to pay maybe $6,000 and we could surely get a hold of that somehow. and the insurance company, the billion-dollar insurance company has to pay the rest. that is a provision in the aca. i know because i fought for that. i wanted to mention that that is a provision that has saved so many lives.

host: thank you for sharing that. guest: clive teresa mentioned that. that is something that applies not only to marketplace plans but also employer-based insurance. it sets a maximum out-of-pocket cost that applies to every family. it sounds high. host: this is the cap on drugs? guest: no. all your health care costs. it used to be that health plans could set an annual limit on how much they would cover. then the enrollee would be responsible for catastrophic expenses like cancer. now it is the reverse. there is a maximum amount. if you have a serious health condition, there is a maximum amount you will have to shell out in a given year. after that, the insurance company is responsible for

catastrophic costs. that is an important reform. teresa, glad you've highlighted that. host: prescription drugs, who provides what? guest: under the aca, on a marketplace plan, plans have to cover prescription drugs. they can have a formulary, which means that they can adjust cost sharing. a high-cost specialty drug might have higher cost-sharing, a generic lower. there is some flexibility for plans to design the formulary, but there is a cap on the amount somebody would have to spend out-of-pocket for prescription drugs. that is an important consumer protection. host: let us hear from rhonda in illinois on the line for those with no insurance. caller: good morning.

i have no insurance, because i cannot afford it. $800 a month. my out-of-pocket is $10,000. host: --guest: i think pedro said you are calling from illinois. check out healthcare.gov. fill in some information about your income, household size, and a few demographic details that the marketplace will ask. you might be surprised at the financial help you are eligible for. illinois has expanded medicaid. depending on your income, you might be eligible for medicaid.

the affordable care act and with the inflation reduction act, premium subsidy enhancements, you might be surprised at the financial help that is now available. host: the kaiser family foundation did an analysis on premiums, looked at the impact of inflation. they found that premiums planning to rise 5% on average for 2024. what does that mean for affordability? host: the growth premium is going up. that is also true for those of us with employer plans. that is a reflection of two things primarily. one is inflation, which as provider costs go up, this get pushed you to premiums, but also there has been a bounce back in the use of health care services. in the middle of covid, and a

lot of people did not schedule procedures or surgeries. that is now coming back. the health plans are fishing those costs forward -- pushing those costs forward in terms of premiums. but if you are eligible for enhanced premium tax credits through the marketplace, you are insulated from that increase, because there is a cap on the amount you have to spend. host: this dental or vision care factor into this? guest: unfortunately, that is a gap. it does cover pediatric dental. but not the adults vision and dental. you can find plans on the marketplace that covered dental, but you will have to pay out-of-pocket. host: private insurance holders from ohio, we will hear from alan. caller: thanks for taking my call. regarding the underlying affordability of health care, my

wife and i have been insurance through a consortium. we had a 10% rate increase last year. looking at the 20% rate increase as of january 1. in my opinion, the aca did not directly address the underlying cost of health care. it opened up the bucket is to more people and is giving subsidies, but what can we do to address the underlying cost of care so it truly does become more affordable? host: that was discussed in the development of it if i recall. guest: yes. alan has tackled the elephant in the room, which is health care affordability. the aca did a lot to expand access, but the underlying drivers of cost growth in the u.s. is still a big issue that

congress and state governments need to tackle. the number one driver of commercial health insurance costs are provider costs. that is in large part with hospitals taking up the bulk of that. prescription drugs is another big tease. the number one driver of hospital cost growth is not the use of services but because hospitals are increasing the amount that the charge because they can. there has been a massive amount of consolidation in the hospital sector. hospitals have merged. in many markets, they are using market power to charge exorbitant prices for their services. commercial insurance companies are passing those prices onto consumers and employers. host: set totally market-driven

-- is that totally market-driven ? can congress step in? guest: one big tool is antitrust law. the federal trade commission, department of justice, many state attorney general's have tried to stop these hospital mergers. they are not increase in quality or clinical care. they are simply increasing prices, but, honestly, our antitrust regulators are under resourced, do not have the capacity to tackle consolidation. that is number one. number two, there are growing calls for the government to regulate these prices. right now, it has been market- driven, but there is increasing recognition that we are dealing with market failure in a lot of places because of hospital monopolies. . host: from wisconsin, a holder

of aca insurance. caller: hi. i will try to make this quick. we were excited when the affordable care act came about. it allowed us to get private insurance. we were then able to set up practice. our son had a pre-existing condition but was an out-of-state college student and traveled for soccer. we were excited. at the time, there was a network around the country even international. ultimately, those insurance companies pulled out. we had no option to have a network outside even the local counties. we moved to florida to have a policy that had the international network, a blue cross blue shield policy. we did not qualify for subsidies, that is help complicated it has -- how

complicated has become with these networks that are so narrow. i would love to see the requirement to have a national network of providers. on the emergency care provision, they have to pay that balance bill, but we got caught in an ambulance and ended up paying $2000 because they processed it as in network. this network issue is important. i looked at the affordable care act this year, it does say, do you have a national network, yes or no. most of them are now in wisconsin. we ended up becoming employees to get better health insurance. we did not have to live in florida. it was complicated. any hope we can get back to a requirement for a national network? host: jean raises some good

points. one is that the plan networks for the marketplace tended to be state based were even based on a service area, which can be where the enrollees live and work. that is one downside you travel a lot and need care across state lines. piece of good news is if you need emergency care and you are network, out-of-state or traveling, providers are prohibited from balance billing you. they cannot charge more than what your plan is willing to pay. that is good news. that was part of the no surprises act which passed at the end of 2020. host: diane from rsey says the aca is horriblou are

not poor. you get a good planhout subsidies, almost a thousand dollarnth, high deductibles. $80,000, my doctors were out of network. had to go private for $1300 a month. also, my taxes pay subsidies. guest: health insurance is expensive. we are now, the average premium for an employer plan is $24,000 a year. a lot of employers pay a good chunk of that premium, which is taxpayer subsidized. whether it is an aca plan or an employer plan, tax it up -- taxpayer subsidized both types. but the underlying cost of health care in this country is too expensive and we are not getting the results for the amount we are paying. our health outcomes are lower

than peer countries. our length of life is shorter. we are not getting the quality of care we should be getting for the price we are paying. host: what would have to change to improve quality? guest: a lot of things. first, we need to invest more in primary and preventive care to stop serious diseases from getting worse. i think we need to look more at the continuum of care, really thinking about looking at the person holistically. right now, a cancer surgeon looks just at that, but people are complicated, have lots of issues going on. thinking about team-based care and coordination of care is thing we do not do as well as other countries that we consider

peers. host: tara, pennsylvania, uninsured. caller: my name is tara. i wanted to make a couple of points about what can be done. the first thing is someone mentioned that out-of-pocket costs, there is a maximum, but what is not said out-of-pocket costs are also thousands of dollars. my last company had any $17,500 out-of-pocket cost, almost half of what i make in a year. that is not helping the majority of lower and middle class. also, it about medicaid -- they are cutting providers. i work in the health care industry. medicaid is cutting out how many people in each area can be on

them. it is harder to provide -- to find providers who accept medicare. these are often people who need care the most. also, a lot of the cost health care providers are wrapping up insurance claims and administrative costs. we could lower health care costs and make it easier for the average person to see a doctor. information later in pittsburgh does not take insurance and only charges $40 for a visit since they did not have to hire administrators to process anything. they can make it affordable. host: -- new guest: great points. with respect to the cap on maximum amount of pocket costs,

i agree. it is high. i do not question that at all, but i am not sure people realize that just one hospitalization is, on average, $30,000 to $40,000. i think the individual is about $8000 a year, the family cap is double that. it is no joke to pay that cost, but just one hospitalization can wipe somebody out financially. the out-of-pocket topic is an important protection. i wish it were lower. that is something maybe congress could tackle. she also mentioned that medicaid is cutting providers. i mentioned how provider costs are high in the commercial market. it is the flip for medicaid. most state medicaid programs pay providers low rates. that limits the number of

providers who want to participate. host: you talked about consolidation of health care services. coming across the wires now that cbs is putting $2.2 million. what do you think about this trend and what it means for health care in the u.s.? guest: health care has become a big business in the u.s. as somebody who tries to think about how your average person navigates the system, i am not sure that is good in all cases. there are big private equity companies that are coming in and gobbling up health systems and doctors offices and nursing homes. it is all about revenue maximization, not patient care. this is an issue congress needs to look at, the level of private equity and wall street that is coming in to take over the

provider system. i am not sure that is helping patients. host: mary from columbus, ohio, go ahead. caller: i wanted to share my experience with the aca. obviously, when it passed, my daughter was 18. i was able to keep her on my plan, which was fabulous. otherwise she would have been uninsured. that was great. fast-forward, and genetic condition that popped out had to be hospitalized for 3 months. i can no longer work. at that time, i paid for insurance through my employer. they kindly asked me to get off of it. i did get on the aca. i received good care.

the rate trophy -- rates were affordable. i was not on medicaid. i am now on medicare. the aca saved me. i would not be where i am today if it were not for the aca. thank guest: thank you, mary. it is great to hear your story. i hope you are taking care of your health and you have recovered. i am glad it worked out for you. host: don in north carolina. caller: good morning thank you for c-span. i have a question relative to medicare. i'm on medicare and it had, three years i have had a plan called a through j or something

like that. and in this years medicare manual that they send out to everybody who has this stuff, they just mentioned it once that there was a through j and it used to be every year they had the premium, the standard premium and so forth. this year they had nothing. i went to my state and they did not have any reference to it. but yet, i know a couple years ago congress, for good or bad, decided that they were not going to have plan f anymore. i want to know why they did that. because you pay your insurance company whatever the price is and they pay your supplement. host: