♪ host: it is the washington journal for september 3. vice president harris and former president trump are making promises to help families financially.

harris says she will expand the child tax credit. trump will extend the current tax cuts for individuals. to start the program today, what do you think about these efforts and about the government's role in helping families financially? we divided the lines differently. (202) 748-8001 if you make between $50,000 and $100,000. if you make over $100,000, (202) 748-8002. if you want to text us, you can do that at (202) 748-8003. you can post on our social media sites. facebook.com/cspan and on x at @cspanwj. here are some of the promises they have made over the last couple of weeks when it comes to helping families with financial

issues. when it comes to the vice president, her proposal includes a tax increase on corporations and high earners. she promises a middle-class tax cut and efforts on the federal ban on price gouging groceries. $25,000 for firstime homebuyers, $40 billion for home construction companies. from president -- adding onto vice president harris's proposals, expanding the child tax credit for parents of newborns. when it comes to theormer president, here are the efforts he'making. part of it comes from taxes on imported goo from every country th traits for the united states. he would extend the 2017 tax cut for individuals and eliminate federal income taxes on social security benefits and tipped income.

part of that economic proposal is a rollback on federal regulations of businesses. if you go to the website for health and human services, it lists the programs are those that fall under the so-called social safety net programs. how many people are currently having benefits from them. that includes childcare and developing funds, child support and earned income tax credit, housing assistance, low income energy assistance programs, supplements nutritionals, the chip program, the medicaid children health insurance program. those are the list of programs the federal government provides. this is from hhs. in 2018, almost 100 million people participated in one of the 10 programs discussed on the points, representing 30% of the population. more than one and for working age adults and one of every two children participated in a safety net program.

nearly one in eight adults and one in three children participated in multiple safety net programs. those are some programs that exist. you saw the programs the vice president and former president trump are touting when it comes to helping families financially. to start the program we want to hear about what you think the government's role should be helping families financially. let us know your thoughts and call us. those making under 50 thousand dollars, -- $50,000, (202) 748-8000. between $50,000 and one hundred thousand dollars, (202) 748-8001 . if you make over $100,000, (202) 748-8002. the government's role in helping families financially. robert, las vegas, making between $50,000 and $100,000. go ahead. caller: we have to creep making -- quit making [indiscernible]

the staffing shortage [indiscernible] on social media playing video games. they need to work on private public partnerships with these corporations and the mom and pops so everybody is pulling their weight in these households. host: you are breaking up. if you can move closer to your handset. how does this pay off financially in the long run? caller: because [indiscernible] there income. -- their income. he can't be paying for five adults and three kids. [indiscernible] i see help-wanted signs everywhere. government should start with this, address this and make a partnership and move on.

identify the symptoms and don't be afraid to make changes instead of pandering on each side of the debate. host: for either proposal, what do you think about those proposals other than the ones you are proposing yourself? do you think would help or not? caller: what are they doing to address the working shortage in this country? it is not a priority for them. that is the number one problem. we have a short amount of workers and we need to fill the holes. we used to have 15, 16, 17, 18-year-olds. [indiscernible] host: you are breaking up more, robert. thanks for starting us off today on the idea of helping families financially, what governments should do. mike in south carolina, your next. caller: hello sir. how are you this morning? i'm curious what the media and

the questions you are asking this morning. kamala harris has been in office almost four years. why is it now she is saying these are the things they are going to do and what she and biden have planned to do? two they expect us to believe this is -- do they expect us to believe this is what is going to happen? this is not right. we have proof of what donald trump has done while he was in office. the same thing he's talking about that he wanted to continue when he was in the first time when he got kicked out of office. host: let's start with the question as far as what you think about the idea of government helping families financially. caller: that is what i'm saying. the government is not going to help if she is in there. she's lying. host: the idea of government overall versus the candidates. caller: democrats have got to

remember jfk, who they loved so dearly, ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. that is saying don't depend on the government. the government -- they want to control us. host: ok. that is mike in south carolina. edward in battle creek, michigan. hello. caller: yes. i was going to say -- comment generally on the economic situation. i'm in the declining industrial midwest city. this is the decline of the cities that has been going on for quite some time. maybe since reagan. as i recall, we had lots of layoffs, plant closures, japanese industries advancing,

at least the car industry was advancing in michigan. i'm not sure if i have a policy. host: do you think the government has a role to help out the save the industries you listed? caller: i was going to talk about economic inequality. the concentration of wealth to the upper 1% -- the middle class has declined and these 1%ers have exploded. billionaires. i have to include donald trump in the 1%. donald trump and his father were exceedingly wealthy. the idea that he will help the middle class -- yeah. the government has a definite role in trying to ameliorate the economic disparities and economic problems that capitalism has. host: what should government work on on that front? caller: the ones i know of is

the art income tax credit. that has been very successful -- the earned income tax credit. child party programs are necessary. most of the poor -- a lot of the poor are children. we don't want to lose the next generation. like tax policy in michigan. food -- we don't have a sales tax on food. that helps make it more progressive. we have another sales tax but not on food. host: ok. that is edward in michigan. the hhs saying the programs i listed -- he talked about children. they were among the beneficiaries of those programs. 47% of adults and two out of three children, 63%, participated in multiple programs. most were children or older

adults. combining those two, 56% when it comes to the social safety net programs listed. you can find the information at the health and human services website. if you want to pick out one of those programs when it comes to how the government should help her with the government's role should be helping families in a financial sense, they list those as well. blake in mississippi on the line for over $100,000. caller: good morning pedro. i would like to say the first think america should do is correct its original sin. this country was built by african-americans. there has been a battle with this government and its people to get the most basic rights. we have been free basically 60 years. if i can't vote or go anywhere

or do anything i'm not free. we have been free may 60 years. they are doing anything to give us reparations. they won't even give us free education. that tells me americans are tribal and the only care about their families. african-americans love this country. i have served this country. so have my ancestors. what did he get? he didn't get the g.i. bill or anything. before you go in free other countries in europe, rebuild japan and everything, rebuild the african-americans that built this country. it tells me you don't like an even playing field. host: eddie in massachusetts on the idea of government's role helping families financially. caller: yeah. what you can do for our country with the $2 trillion deficit. what happened to the co2.

i want to clean our air. item of dissent scrap metals and plastics to asia. i want the industry to be here. kids getting out of high school have no jobs anymore. they can't go to college because it's too expensive. what are we going to do? host: what do you think the government's role is? what is the solution? should government be part of that solution? caller: of course. they spend too much money. we have to have a co2 carbon tax to pay for some of it. forget about adding more to the debt. what harris has to say. you have to live within your means. stop using the credit card. host: this is jay. currently the governmentas no role in helping american

families financially. it only hurts families. lisa from x. the governme has been destroying families since the 1950's. the roa to hell is paved with good intentions. greg in cleveland says the government's role is to help people when they are down and out, however it's not a lifelong sentence. you can share the sentiments on x techo -- or text or on facebook. the text number is (202) 748-8003. from the wall street journal when it comes to thoughts about the economy overall. this is in today's paper. they asked 1500 voters in late august for the feelings about the economy. 34% said it was improving.

that's up from 26% in july. the share that thought the economy was worsening fell to 40% from 54%. a variety of factors are driving an improvement in american mood, including lower gasoline prices, decline in mortgage rates ahead of an expected federal reserve interest rate cut in september, and a buoyant stock market. this is the wall street journal. when it comes to that yet helping families, the government's role, what it should be financially to help them. lisa in georgia, you are next up. caller: yes. i believe the government should play a role in helping american citizens. we should have a safety net. the government should protect us. the government should have a role in helping us. i mean, we live in america.

we need to be thankful for what we have in america. you know, we are just fortunate people to have a democracy. our democracy is on the brink. we really need to pay attention to what is going on. somebody mentioned college tuition. it is so bad. price gouging is bad. i'm not going to call the name of this company but it's a wholesale company. they close at 5:00. their prices are skyhigh. where do you think they are making about that money closing that early? it is crazy. price gouging is real.

people understand that. the president, they could propose all these, you know, what they are going to do. we must understand also that if it does not get passed through the congress, it's going nowhere. i don't care he was in office. host: she mentioned student debt. the washington post has a highlight of some of the debt that's been forgiven by the biden administration. $167.3 billion as of may 21. they lowered the education debt from 4.7 5 million people. it highlights the breakdown at 68 billion dollars in forgiveness for 942,000 borrowers of the public service loan forgiveness. $51 billion through income driven payment adjustments.

for colleges that abruptly closed. $14 billion for 548,000 borrowers who are permanent leave disabled. some programs the government offers to help those financially. we are asking about what you think their role should be in that. you can call us on the lines or text us or post on social media sites. edgar about the idea of helping families and the government's role. edgar in texas. go ahead. caller: how are you doing this morning? i think the government should make sure at least the people are given a fair wage. you are working for someone. one of your employees complaints and they find out the owner of the company is making millions of dollars but the people working at the company are making minimum wage. that is the only time the

government should get involved. people should be concerned about being fair. host: if that is your belief, how should the government interact? how do you determine a fair wage? caller: you would have to get a complaint, just like anything. the government would have to get a complaint from an employee. the government should look in. if it's a small mom-and-pop, you shouldn't expect a lot of money. host: finish your thought. caller: also, people should realize -- bill clinton balanced the budget. when somebody keeps calling and talking about the government, how big the debt is, all you have to do is go back to the same formula that bill clinton used. the elite person that ever balanced this budget in my lifetime was a democrat. bill clinton. on the democrats get in office,

they are concerned with the people. when a republican gets in office they are only concerned with their pocketbooks. host: steve in massachusetts. go ahead. steve in oxford, massachusetts? 3 how are you doing -- caller: how are you doing? i would like to talk about the colors forgiveness. paul you're saying is the debt was passed on to everybody else. it might have helped certain individuals but it basically helps no one. host: so government should not be involved whatsoever? caller: absolutely not. host: ok. that is steve in massachusetts. this is fother steve. government should help families with zero or low interest but don't give away money. handout is not a -- a hand up

is not a handout. sue says, what's best for indivi the government has ain mited. shod not pick winners and losers. government assistance has to be paid for somehow. nothing is free. with that in mind, as some of you have expressed on social media or texting and on the phone lines, the government's role in helping families financially. both candidates running for the white house have made these promises, or at least campaign promises when it comes to some of these fronts. let's hear from vice president kamala harris. she talked about tax policy and how it relates to what she hopes to do. here are some of her comments. [video] >> i think everyone knows he does not actually fight for the middle class. he doesn't actually fight for the middle class. instead, he fights for himself and his billionaire friends.

he will give them another round of tax breaks that will add up to $5 trillion to the national debt. all the while he intends to enact what in effect is a national sales tax. call it a trump tax. that would raise prices on middle-class families by him was $4000 a year. [booze] 's] we will pass a middle-class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million americans. host: you can go to our website at c-span.org to hear the various promises of both the vice president and former president trump when it comes to economic matters, especially matters that help families specifically. we are asking your thoughts on the government's role. cam in west virginia.

caller: hi. host: go ahead. caller: the government role? we need to get -- you have incompetence. they caused all this inflation. i run a farm. everything here runs on diesel. when we have a war on fuel everything goes up. ain't no gouging. for everything for me to do, it's diesel, diesel, diesel. everything goes to the grocery store. diesel. everything flies. everything runs off of diesel in this country. everything to have done is to hurt that. that is why the prices are up. they ain't got a clue what they're talking about. host: when it comes to matters of food or helping price controls or price gouging as she describes it, what do you think of that effort?

is that -- caller: absolutely not. host: why not? caller: the price gouging? what is price gouging? for everything to move for your food, the price goes up. i got a raise all my prices to grow the stuff. for it to be moved to wherever, to processing plants, prices go up because of fuel. everything runs off of that. it has nothing to do with gouging. she's incompetent. host: ali in virginia. you are next up. caller: good morning. i'm not sure [indiscernible] maybe helping a natural disasters. invest in your people.

governments have every right to invest in their people. host: what does that mean, invest in the people? caller: help with education. help poor children that do not have any money for food. it is not going to be permanent. something temporary to get them out of poverty. host: ok. danny in arizona. tucson, arizona. joining us next. you are next up. caller: good morning. i like the tax cut for kids. if the government can give billions of dollars overseas for wars and things like that, it is

good for them to take care of the people here in the united states. i don't understand why people have a problem with the government helping poor people in the united states that need help, just like to send money overseas to take care of other countries. host: why a tax cut specifically versus other forms of the system? caller: excuse me? host: why it tax cut versus other forms of assistance? caller: if you're struggling in the united states, a lot of people been paying taxes all their lives. they might have a problem with the can't work no more and they are struggling and need help. why are they having problems getting help from the government? host: ok. danny in arizona mentions taxes. according to the irs, a family can receive the end income tax

credit -- turned income tax credit -- earned income tax credit and credits when it comes education. when it comes to housing, a topic from the vice president's point of view, several forms of housing assistance provided by the federal government. this rental assistance, home assistance, emergency housing assistance, desistance for eviction and foreclosure. -- and assistance from eviction and foreclosure. tell us what you think of those programs and these efforts, especially being a part of a campaign year. for those making under $50,000, (202) 748-8000. if you make between $50,000 and one hundred thousand dollars, (202) 748-8001. if you make over one hundred thousand dollars, (202) 748-8002 . you can text us at (202) 748-8003. harold in florida. you are next up. caller: good morning.

i wanted to say that the government is there to help society in general. we are all part of society. the way they can do that is we want to tax things we want less of light pollution -- like pollution or things taking advantage of other people. like a carbon tax. the companies are selling as electricity and we are subsidizing the cleanup cost for the electricity. likewise, we want to have our kids educated. we want to have health care for people who through no fault of their own have health issues. we want to provide for education and health care.

that includes things like childcare and college. these are all good things we want in our society, and educated population, healthy population. we to tax things that are harmful to us like pollution and dirty air. we need to provide enough revenue through taxes and provide the services in balance. we can't overspend. we are not out to make a profit like corporations are. that is what i think the government's role should be. host: if you are providing the assistance, should there be some kind of -- how would you determine who gets help? caller: everybody deserves an education. it doesn't matter if you're broke or rich. we provide funding for k-12. we extended it to pre-k.

we need to extend it to college. especially in today's technological society a high school education is not enough for anybody. it doesn't mean everybody has to go to college and get a degree. it could be a technical trade school to go to. it should be provided to have a trained and literate public. same thing with childcare. if a mother is working and she can prove -- the primary caregiver for the baby, she should be able to divide proof of that and get some sort of money towards daycare. that way they can offset and

encourage her to go out and work. if she can't work, she can stay home and take care of the baby which is the ideal situation. host: that is harold giving his thoughts. john in new jersey. hello. you are on. you have to turn down your television. caller: one second. i think the government assistance is pretty good. they should be able to do a little better. people that can take it temporarily. some people can be on government assistance for the lifetime. some people really only needed for a few months or maybe a year to get on their feet. nobody likes sitting around doing nothing. time handicap and i may cover -- i am handicapped but i make over

$50,000 because i do something to keep myself busy. for women that have children, you know, if they can't afford to keep the child up, they can get support from their family or church or something like that, it is the government's duty to do that. host: john in new jersey talking about the idea of helping families financially. what is the government's role? bill in wisconsin is next up. caller: thank you. i don't believe the government should be involved in any give outs. it doesn't cover the whole middle-class. it doesn't cover the whole por,r or whomever they are giving it to. for 60 years i have been watching politics. i have seen all kinds of money given out.

nobody has ever been pulled up. nobody has been helped to the point where they turn around whatever. now they are fruitful. it is a system -- they lose more money through fraud, whether it is medicare, medicaid, welfare. it doesn't matter what it is. for them to give up our money now for whatever, it makes no sense. what they need to do is get out of the people's way and give them a chance to work and make a living. that is with the freedom of this country guaranteed. any other writings of the founding of this country. there is no such welfare or free money or the government helping people. they are too easily influenced by the vote and other things.

they don't distribute the money properly. host: bill with his thoughts on helping families financially. what is the government's role? you can call in. (202) 748-8000 for those who make under $50,000. (202) 748-8001, between $50,000 and $100,000. (202) 748-8002 for over $100,000. take the line that best represents you -- pick the line that best represents you. stefan for virginia, you are on. caller: we want a war with britain -- went to war with britain because they taxed us on tea. that is how we became independent. the federal government has to protect the borders. they are not to make a very good job.

they are not supposed to be in health care or in schools or supposed to be in your pockets. they don't make any money. any money the government gets is your money. they are giving your money to somebody else. the federal government makes no money. they steal from somebody to give to somebody. taxes -- the states, i'm ok with. host: if states are respected to pick it up, would they be financially able to do it or still need the government to help them out without? caller: we have done it before. 1930, there was no federal tax if i'm correct. yeah. the federal government steals money from taxpayers to give to the states to give to people.

we have a messed up system. i don't know if trent or kamala can fix it. -- trump or kamala can fix it. host: larry saying one of the important things our government can do for familie is to teach their children how to manage finances in a responsible manner. texting at (202) 748-8003. bill from maryland. hi. caller: good morning. my thoughts are the government is inefficient. it is like the administrative industrial complex. layers and layers of bureaucracy. the politicians come up with these schemes to try to get votes, which sounded on the page -- sound good on the page but ultimately hurt the people. for example, barney frank and

his folks wanted to force -- they put pressure on the banks to give out loans to people, mortgages to people who were not qualified. the result was the housing boom bubble at all the pain that caused. you hear people talk about the skyrocketing cost of education, of college education. that is another byproduct of the government screwing up things. they put pressure on banks. they guaranteed the loans. they tell the banks and financial institutions you give these loans out, we will cover your back. inflation and education is ridiculous. let's look at the biggest one. social security and medicare. it has been underfunded for years. it is bankrupt. within a decade or so there is

going to be incredible pain because of the incompetence of the government and the corruption. it goes on and on. obviously. somebody mentioned earlier, why do they take taxes from us, send it to washington and then washington doles it up to the states? that is more and more bureaucracy. as a general principle i think the government should do a lot less. obviously there is a role for indigent poor people. public education is a whole other one. every thing the government touches is a disaster. host: the center for budget and policy priorities put out where the budget goes or where the majority of the budget gets

bent. this is from 2023. it was put out in march. when it comes to the majority of the budget, 24% goes for health insurance. 21%, social security. 13%, defense. under the listing of economic security programs, 8%. take a stand of benefits for veterans and federal retirees at 7%. it goes down from there. it gives you a sense of where the broad swaths of where the budget goes. you can factor that in if you want to talk about that government role or you the extent the government should have a role in helping families financially. pennsylvania, mike. hello. caller: how are you doing today? host: go ahead. caller: i want to say that the government can help american families by investing into the

education systems. find a way to drop college tuitions. right now it is astronomical. for the idea of getting into a trade. people want to go to college but you can learn a trade. working full-time but during school and work part-time. i think the government can give a stipend to help out a little bit since are going to school part-time and working less. the government can't ship in more -- can chip in more. it's like a helping hand. instead of a way of life. helping people to become independent so they can be successful later on in life.

i feel government assistance should be for helping get on your feet, not stealing it for life. host: mike in pennsylvania, he talked about education. this is the peterson foundation weather report saying programs that support children are a key component of the federal budget and represent a critical investment in the nation's future. the latest report from the urban institute provides a review of federal resources targeting children. it puts spending in the larger context of the budget. federal resources dedicated to children totaled $761 billion. some of the point saying federal resources dedicated to children averaged $9,000 per child in 2022. certain tax provisions account for all federal expenditures on children. the expiration of covid 19 really contributed to an increase in child poverty. federal spending will decline as

a share of the budget and in the coming years the united states will spend more on interest on the national debt than on children. there is more from the peterson institute if you want to find out that. this is from dick in milwaukee. caller: good morning. rather than people looking at their handout and what the government can give them, i suggest the government withdraw their hand off my wallet. i heard a proposal about not taxing tips. what about instead of the government giving money people can apply for a suspension of their federal income tax? it doesn't have to be permanent. it can be quarterly, annually. it could be federal income, social security, the state level but it provides a person an incentive to continue to work. some of that money would eventually find its way back into the economy through sales tax. what people have an incentive to work and pull themselves back up i have in government get out of their way.

host: you have to control spending if you going to cut federal taxes. you would have to control it on the spending side. caller: absolutely. just because you get extra money, obviously, if you dig yourself into a hole the first key is to stop digging. people should use that to reduce their debt, not go more into debt. it goes both ways. the government loves to talk about forgiveness of student loan debt. how about sewing that affects them directly? stop taking money from me and i will be able to pull myself back up without any handout from the government. host: in arizona, former president trump talked about tax policy he hopes to enact. here's a little from that stop. [video] >> we have more liquid gold under our feet than any other country. including saudi arabia, including russia. we will use it to reduce taxes

and energy cost for our people. we will reduce your energy bills in one year by more than 50%. that is here and everywhere in the country. that includes heating, air conditioning, electricity and gasoline for your car. i will turn the united states into a manufacturing superpower more than it has ever been ever, ever, ever before. we will bring back jobs to america. we will no longer allow forward countries to take our jobs and steal our wealth. we will make our own products and we will buy far less from foreign countries than we are buying right now. we will make it here. other countries that make us pay a tax to do business with them will be charged the same tax when they send their product into the united states. it will be called the trump reciprocal trade act.

if china or any other country charges us a 100% tax or tariff, we will charge them a reciprocal tariff of 100% or 200%. [cheers] in the words of a great president, william mckinley, the protective tariff policy of the republicans has made the lives of our countrymen sweeter, brighter, brighter, and it is the best our citizenship and civilization can ever have. better destiny for our people. we ought to take care of our own nation and we have to take care of our industries first. we have to take care of our country first. host: more of that if you wish to see it is available on c-span.org. vicki mayfield from facebook posting. government assistance should be

temporary and not take over the role of a responsible adult. thpoticians think they should take over the charitable giving, raisg families, etc. i don't trust the government to represent my values. this is bill saying personal responsibility. government is never the answer. it is totally up to you. jackie saying social security, medicare, medicaid, snap benefits are good to help the elderly and the less fortunate. gary from facebook saying lower regulations should be unlimited as part of it. if you share those thoughts or maybe don't share those thoughts, give us a call or you can post on social media sites. ophelia in california, you are next up. caller: good morning, pedro. i don't even know where to start. first of all, i think the

government should not be so easy to give all these donations to all these people. i'll tell you why i feel this way. i see sometimes when people are -- government section eight is giving people more than $4000 for a new house to rent. this money is coming from somebody's pocket, like people that work, people that pay taxes. then i see a lot of people have tried in the area that i lived in. they try to come in and put up taco stand, try to sell things, and the government right away comes in and they put stones in the middle of certain areas so people don't park in those

areas. people tried to do their own thing. the government is out there trying to not help. at the same time they are helping people that live better than people that work. people that make less money. there is a lot of things. i would have to stay on your program the whole day to speak my mind. i don't believe that -- host: let's hear from eric in buffalo, new york. hello. eric in buffalo? caller: can you hear me? host: you are on. caller: thank you for taking my call. everybody doesn't enjoy paying taxes. the government should have a limited role in what they do with the people but they should invest in the community.

in the inner-city and in rural communities and the children. clean up the industrial waste in all areas. it is horrific with the corporations do, pollute and leave these areas desolate and just walk away and do nothing. raise the corporate taxes. make the corporations pay more. invest more in apprenticeship programs. i went through an apprenticeship program when i was starting out. me and my wife were struggling to find daycare and babysitters. it was tough. who cares if you take a helping hand to find babysitters, daycare, to make it more accessible for people nowadays to help them out?

to help people less fortunate coming over the border and trying to seek asylum from impoverished countries and stuff. i just don't see why people can't offer a helping hand. i understand not paying everybody, just giving money away to people. it is the trope in this whole political system. demean lesser people of the world. host: eric in new york giving us his thoughts. this is from facebook. @cspanwj -- facebook.com/cspan if you want to post there. jamie says the commodification of necessities makes it necessary for the governo be involved. i see no way around i erine from facebook saying when it comes to assistance it shoulde mited to one year with mandatory trade school or

some form of job sll training over a job an education on finances. it also reduces -- that is a post from people on facebook. lori in wisconsin. good morning. you are next up. lori from wisconsin? caller: hi. host: go ahead. caller: i'm calling because i feel like medicare and social security need to be protected. when i hear about biden for gave the student loans, that really upset me because we all pay into social security and all that. why don't they just fix things

like the fafsa or the terms for everybody? the interest rates for the student loans instead of giving them to people who already expected to pay their way through college and they just get votes. it's upsetting. those types of things are getting votes. host: the issues of economics when it helps or deals with finances to families and assistance to families have become a theme this campaign. here are recent ad from both, harris and trump. [video] >> we all know costs are too high. while corporations are gouging families, trump is focused on giving them tax cuts. but kamala harris is focused on you. >> building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. >> she will make groceries more affordable. >> bidenomics is working.

bidenomics is working. is working. bidenomics. bidenomics. and bidenomics is working. all of this is part of our blueprint for what america can be. this is bidenomics. [laughter] [applause] that is called bidenomics and we are very proud of bidenomics. ♪ host: a caller brought up social security. this was on cnbc. the latest projections from the social security trustees estimate the program's fun may

run out in 2035. the depletion date for the trust fund is even sooner, 2033. medicare also faces a looming depletion date for its hospital insurance fund, which is projected to be paying 100% of benefits until 2036. this attic gets up to lawmakers to address shortfalls before the rejected depletion dates when the programs face across-the-board benefit cuts. that is at cnbc if you want to check out the state of social security and medicare. when it comes to assistance for helping families financially on the government's role, we are taking calls for me. dorothy in baltimore. caller: good morning, c-span and pedro. i want to make two statements. one about the government's role in oil. what is the government's purpose? one, when we hear any presidency

they can control oil prices, that is not true. oil is run by private companies, period. they set the prices. we cannot control oil prices. the leadtime oil goes down is when they have an abundance of supply and they do a sale. the companies are not running oil -- they are doing it for profit, not charity. trump is not going to cut it all. the oil companies are not going to cut if it doesn't help them make a profit. host: to the larger point of helping families and the government's role? caller: i will read you something. this came from the jersey center for civic education. it said the constitution makes clear the main purpose is to make decisions for the common good, to improve our society for the benefit of all of its members.

the general welfare, also referred to as the public welfare or public good or the common good is the concern of the government for the health, peace and safety of its citizens. in other words, the government is us. we are looking at the government like it's a third entity out there somewhere. but government is us. we all pay taxes. all the money is supposed to come back to its members were citizens -- or citizens for health, peace and safety. host: dorothy in baltimore. chuck in new york, hello. caller: hi. the issues of whether government should do is sort of vague, because the way things work see have huge corporations that give money to republicans and democrats.

citizens united has put us in a situation where you can't do anything anyway. for those people who make the distention between socialism and communism, it's silly. social security, medicare, is that communism? is that socialism? if you want to call it socialism. some people would. host: as far on your thoughts on with the government should do to help people? caller: where would it fall? it should be predominately a first-person foremost. there should -- it should be allowed that those entities who work for companies can have unions, number one. number two, basically that

people who really are in great need need a higher amount of money that they earned compared to where things are now is rather ridiculous in terms of what people earn. they earn very little. host: let's hear from andrew in maryland. good morning. caller: i wanted to mention the government does a lot of things for us, health care and supporting the markets. there's a lot of inefficiencies because of fraud. like i just read an article two weeks ago about an insurance company committed $4 billion of medicare fraud. i read last year that well-known people built a volleyball stadium using medicare funds.

it is crazy how much corruption there is creating the inefficiencies. there are 20 of countries that don't allow -- plenty of countries that did allow -- that don't allow foreigners to purchase land or houses in their countries. the u.s. should look at that policy. those things could help americans. host: ok. caller: that's all i have to say. host: we will also hear from kathy in michigan. caller: good morning. i have talked about this before when i called. national healthcare. as legitimate prior to me said, it needs to be followed. it needs to be monitored how much you are charged. people use health care sometimes because i don't think they have

enough information on how to take care of themselves. childcare. i have paid over $100,000 raising my three children and never received a tax benefit. i was always so close but i could never write it off. that troubles me deeply. i would like to know how much the people that represent us in the government pay in health care premiums. what percentage of the income is paid out and that. mine has been horrible. they kept me poor, i can tell you that. student tuition should be through taxation, like they do in the majority of the world. people do not have to worry about that. you should not have to go bankrupt for students paying -- paying off your student loans. i am fed up with the middle class, there are poor people out there and we are just as important as anybody else in this country. we are the government. i am the government and i take

that seriously in the way i conduct myself as a human being. host: cassie in michigan finishing off this our of calls, thank you to the people who participated in this hour. route the course of the morning we will talk about the role of education and this year's election. coming up and up -- next aiden buzzetti from the 1776 project pack who talks about related issues to conservative school boards. later on we are joined by simon senberg who looks at campaign 2024. we will have those conversations coming up on washington journal. ♪ >> hello, i am susan swain.

campaign 2024 has evolved in unexpected ways. from now until election day c-span promises you unfiltered coverage of the candidates as a battle to win the white house and congress. you might not know that c-span is a private company that operates without a dime of government money. like many media organizations we have been impacted by cord cutting. we are asking for you to support our unbiased political coverage with a donation. 100% of your contribution large or small directly su c-span operations. best of all, an anonymous donor has promised to match your donation dollar for dollar. you can find out more at c-span.org/donate. help ensure that c-span's longform coverage of politics is here to stay. visit c-span.org/donate. thank you for watching and for upport. ♪

>> watch the abc news presidential debate simulcast live on the c-span network tuesday, september 10. the candidates go head-to-head for their first debate since securing their party nomination. coverage begins with a preview show at 8:00 p.m. followed by the debate at 9:00 p.m. eastern. the abc news presidential debate simulcast live tuesday, september 10 on the c-span networks. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics, powered by cable. 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 the biggest events of live streams of floor proceedings and hearings from the white house, the court, campaigns, and more, all at your

fingertips. stay current with the latest episodes of washington earned -- washington journal and live scheduling information for the tv networks and c-span radio plus a variety of podcasts. it is available on the apple store and google play. scan this qr code to download it now or visit c-span.org/c-spannow. c-span now, your front row seat to washington anytime, anywhere. >> washington journal continues. host: our first guest is aiden buzzetti of the 1776 project pac. welcome to the program. about it, what is it? caller: it is -- guest: it is a super pac that gets involved in local school board elections. we have won over 200 school board races across the country. i believe we have been involved

in 25 of the 50 states. the main goal is to get more conservative but also responsive school board members onto the boards so we can start reversing all of the pandemic learning loss that has taken place. host: such as what? guest: lower math and reading comprehension. 66% of students in america cannot read at grade level and we have had the biggest drop in math comprehension since the 1990's according to the national association of educational progress. adding onto the fact that we have had more violent schools, the students are not recovering even with the billions and billions of dollars that the federal government has appropriated. we are not bouncing back from all of the lockdowns and the mask mandates and we need to figure out why in reverse that. host: do you have thoughts on why that is not happening? guest: a few things. number one we are not teaching

students how to read correctly. that is one of the core issues. i think we are forgetting the fact that putting these really young kids in a virtual environment or forcing them to wear masks and learning online is not the best way to learn in general. and, the most important years of learning and academic development happen the younger the kids are. that is the biggest roadblock we have. adding on to years of being behind. if you are behind when you are in third grade, you will be behind in eighth grade and in high school and when you are in college. host: you come from a conservative approach, putting people of that like on school boards. why is it necessary? why will a conservative school board change things? guest: we believe that conservative school members are the most responsive to different aspects of the community because they take into consideration what parents feel and what students feel.

and they do care about teachers despite -- even though many people say otherwise. 70% of these teachers feel overworked and these liberal policies add more burdens on the teachers. we want to take restrictions off and have school boards do the job they are supposed to do, which is to manage the schools. a lot of the school boards now rely on the superintendent and administrators to make the decisions without taking responsibility for themselves as a local elected body. we want to reverse that trend and so to the people we help. host: is it just greatly education approaches or are there social stuff like certain books you can read or certain things you can teach. is that is also what you are proposing? guest: we do not focus on the educational issues. there is a lot of talk about the culture war and a lot of talk about books and what it -- and what doesn't does not belong in school. even in a hypothetical

situation, if we could take all of these culture wars out of the school. the locker rooms and books are no longer an issue what are we left with? we are left with awful schools and students that are functionally illiterate from the time they enter third grade until they graduate. that is the real problem and that is what we are focused on. and if an individual community feels like they need to tackle " social issues" that is up to them and that is the reason why have -- we have the local governing bodies. we are focused on people who want to turn the public education system around and not privatizing it and leading 80% of our students behind. host: if you endorse or support a candidate are they required to then focus on certain books you can read or certain things you can teach in classes. it is -- is that a requirement? guest: no. the only thing that we want to know when we talk to them is if they are committed to reversing

pandemic loss and transparency in the government -- governing body and to fulfill those requirements and we know they will do a good job we support them no strings attached. host: collars if you want to call and ask questions it is democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. you can text us at 202-748-8003. how are you funded? guest: we are funded primarily from grassroots donors. we have tens of thousands of donors and the average donation is less than $20. this is a grassroots organization. we might have a nationwide focus but parents across the country are giving us their pocket change because they know that something is wrong. host: wended this idea for this need to this approach start, when was the genesis? guest: the genesis was our

founder was that his nephew had been assigned the book " racecars" which is a book about police brutality and realize that the school system was not being responsive to the needs of his parents, all of the police officers in the community were outraged and they were outraged but nothing happened. he did some research and found there is no conservative group that is focused on school boards and this was really before it took off. we ended up launching in the spring of 2021 and won 80% of our races and it just took off. we are the only national group focused on school board elections from a conservative perspective. host: it was last year that the american federation of teachers put out this saying "one public education was on the ballot publ ecation won. an aft analysis of approximately 250 races where the far-right backed anti-public education candidate found that aft supported candidates one 80% of

the time. anti-public education candidates publicly supported by liberty -- monster liberty and 1776 project won." that is not true. we have gone head-to-head with school boards with teachers union candidates where they were running television ads and we were doing traditional outreach and they won with an overwhelming majority. they are afraid of the parental rights movement and they know that we have long-term momentum and we will fight them on every single term. host: they defined you as anti-public education. guest: we are not. our focus is reversing the decline of the public education system and we have no stake on some of the usher -- the other issues. we are focused only on public education and being there for students. host: you just said the founder started it because of a book and you are not necessarily going that route. is there a disconnect? guest: i do not think so.

this book issue was during the peak of the covid era. that has largely died down. parents have settled on what they do and do not want their communities to do. that is not an issue we way and onto. there are candidates that are concerned about what is available in schools and the curriculum and it is the school board's job to set the curriculum. yes, this is a component of education as a space, but we are focused on public education and being focused on racial and systemic injustices is not the right path in the public education system. where those intersect we talk about that but probably we are focused only on reversing our public education system's decline. host: if all of those things that took place with how students were learning and how well they were learning, how long do you think that is going to trend to a point where they are learning before covid or learning the way before? guest: i think it will be a long time.

even with student behavior, absenteeism rates, missing 18 days of school or you -- or more a year is up 40%. stop matter -- it does not matter if your school district is rural or suburban, students are missing more school now than ever and aei is saying it will not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2030. we have a lot of work that we need to catch up on. it will be a long time and lest we put in the right solution to fix the problems in our public education. host: is the solution more time in the classroom or interaction directly with the teacher? what are the best practices? guest: mississippi did something interested -- interesting. they passed a bill that among other things prevented third-graders from advancing to fourth grade if they did not score at a certain level in reading proficiency and in just five years they went from 49th to 29th in the country from

reading proficiency levels. this is not the only solution and there are plenty of other things we can do. preventing students from advancing grade levels when they do not understand the material is one of the key aspects of providing our system. host: aid in joining us for this discussion of the 1776 project pac. if you want to give him a call. you can do so. kim in illinois. you are first up. go ahead. caller: good morning. i was listening to him and i read up on his project. he is with the moms for liberty banning books. are you going to tell the truth to children? the whole truth and nothing but the truth of american history, not part. i have a grandson that is in third grade and they just labeled him the best reader after the pandemic. so he was through the pandemic.

wearing a mask is protecting others which you do not realize and he needs to stop lying. thank you. host: illinois. guest: i will say that in regards to the reading, most of our teachers, 70% of teachers use an outdated instructional method using # q-ing relying on guessing or figuring out watchword works. our candidate support something called the science of reading which is more focused on phonics and more focus on decoding sentences so they understand how to put words together. that is one of the main solutions. host: are there other skills that students typically learn in school? guest: the science of reading is focused on reading and there are arguments that you can apply it on the math side.

host: i'm sorry, what i meant is your organization is concerned is it just reading? guest: we are focused on other subjects. we had the biggest drop in math comprehension since 1990. the student disciplinary standards are out of control. the number one issue that we have found with parents, teachers, and students is safe schools. and one of the biggest problems that we found when i interview candidates is that the schools are not enforcing disciplinary standards and it is making everybody in the classroom uncomfortable and not able to learn including the teacher in the first place. host: why do you think that discipline is the problem? guest: it largely has to do with restorative justice and, in fact it is promoted by a large number of democratic governors and education professionals. they want to focus on growth for students. they want to focus on growth instead of punishing the students because they believe

that punishing them is bad. but students and kids are smart and they know when they can get away with things and they will push it to the limit and we have found an increasing number of violence in schools and a lot of the school districts also are not transparent enough. host: when you are fielding candidates, what do you put them through as far as you are determining whether you are supportive or not? guest: my job is to interview every single candidate. in 2023, we got involved in over 200 school board races. i probably interviewed 500 or 600 candidates. we do an interview process and we talk with other groups on the ground to make sure that we work in tandem because we believe we should be team players and not work against the candidates of other groups. and we put them through this hour-long or more interview to make sure that we understand what they stand for before we support them. host: 202-748-8000 free

democrats, -- for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. independents, 202-748-8002. do you have a strategy for the november election? guest: we are getting involved in one purple and one blue state. we believe we can make an impact in local races and we have a belief that the result of the mayan -- our involvement might trickle up the ballot. this is a way that we can get more conservatives engaged on the education issue out to vote in general. host: what are the states if i might ask? guest: we will be getting involved in arizona and maryland. host: what made the decision for both states, the determining factor? guest: in large parts we get involved in the weakest widespread act -- widespread impact we can have.

our endorsements usually come up in clusters because we believe that we can work with our partners that have a wide geographic impact. and the more people we have supporting each other for the same or similar agendas in these school districts, the better because they can go to the legislature and advocate for specific changes. host: if you are a parent with a child in school or an educator you can call us at 202-748-8003. that is where michael is. he has implored a. go ahead. caller: yes. i taught seventh grade science class and all my kids got an a, which is what i expected of them. i do want to point out something. i would be very curious to know what he thinks of mr. desantis having gone and bullied all of the textbook publishers into removing what mr. desantis calls

woke. that is welcoming, open and kind to everyone, honestly. the fact that he has removed and had those textbooks altered means that i am basically in agreement. because we need to have the textbooks being decolonialize and that we are teaching accurate history. we do not want statues giving amos reputation of -- amos reputation of act -- of history. our science textbooks teach evolution as being competition. it is not. it is about cooperation. if i say evolution to a typical person off of the street, the parts of their brain that activate when i say the word competition and evolution be the same parts that light up. we have been brainwashed where we need to decolonize our education. the kids failing, that is true.

we need to do what the ivy league schools do within them at regular grade schools. they make sure that kids who are able to graduate come into the ivy league -- ivy league schools on 60% plus. host: you put a lot out there so i'm going to pause you. thank you for the call. guest: i will say a few things. number one, it is up to florida to decide what kind of materials that they want in the classrooms. i will say that the concept of eolonization -- decolonization is a pedagogy meant to influence students a certain way and i think desantis is right in taking it out of the schools. i want to hit on the point of ivy league schools. they are not what they used to be, unfortunately. it is clear that the standards

of those students are also not great. we have had rampant grade inflation in college is and high schools that want to get students into college in the first place. and i have to say that while i understand the concept of decolonization, i think it is right for governor desantis to take that out because we should not in fact have that in schools. it is a complete distraction from the basics of education. host: compare that approach to the idea of just generally teaching american history with slavery. should that be taught? guest: i think slavery is part of history but that is not what decolonization is, and that is not what they are advocating for. they are saying that slavery is a sin that america cannot wipe away and that it is the fault of the current white population of the united states and that we constantly have to make up for it in some way.

give reparations in some way or feel bad for being part of the united states of america or being descended from the founding fathers. that is not the way we should be teaching our history. we can talk about slavery and the negative effects. we can talk about how awful it was. that is not what they are advocating for. they are advocating for a racial hatred. and we see this with governor walz's term in the minnesota department of education because they want to teach antiracism training to teachers. the government website links to an article that talks about why white students need social justice education. this is not about teaching slavery but about teaching white people that they should feel bad for their entire history. host: he had some things to say about education a couple of weeks ago and i want to play a couple minutes of it and share your response. [video clip] >> and we make sure that every

kid in our state gets breakfast and lunch every day. [applause] so while other states were ba nning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger for mars. [end video clip] host: that is governor walz, your reaction? guest: if they were banishing hunger they were not teaching their students. every single year their scores have been going lower. they do fine proficient as 50% or more. that means that half of their students are not scoring 50% on the standardized tests. giving students food is fine, but school is not just a social program. it is supposed to be a place for learning. host: republicans in the trump administration have criticized him because of his approach during covid and what he did for

schools. how would you define that and what is the end result? guest: if it is the exact same as a lot of other states we saw a bunch of lockdowns and mask mandates and the parents were kept out of school and some of the teachers, i do not think he did something different functionally and the result is the same, a bunch of learning loss. host: tony in delaware. you are on with our guest. republican line. caller: i am happy to have you take my call. you are my favorite host except for jim. it is unfortunate to have to call in today. i do not want to be disrespectful but i have made myself familiar with this young man's organization before i called in to educate myself. and i looked at his other organization and you know, i am a little confused about what he

is talking about because i am from louisiana. so i am a white man, i grew up with black folks, dirt poor. i do not think this young man understands history to begin with when it comes to white people in this country. he is misrepresenting fundamentally one of the struggles of the soul of our republic and the things that make us americans. school should be a place where children are inspired and where they are all equally afforded for. saying food is fine but, are you kidding me? listen. i would like to know what exactly this young man expects people to learn at school? about slavery, and about these issues because i suspect that he does not have a proper view.

host: that is tony. you can elaborate a little bit or elaborate more. guest: what i expect students to learn at school is to learn how to read, i expect them to learn how to do math. i expect them to behave well in the classroom and listen to their teachers. as far as slavery goes, i already talked about it. there is obviously nothing wrong with talking about slavery in the classrooms. again, we face the fundamental question, the kids do not know how to read. they do not know how to do math. they are performing worse on every metric, every single year. i think the focus on slavery and the focus on this critical theory is misplaced. there is no problem with talking about slavery. there is a problem with talking about how all white people in america should feel bad because we had slavery several hundred

years ago and it is a constant problem which is not quite true. you want children to be inspired, so do i? i do not want to dunes to be taught to hate each other because of the color of their skin because of something that happened before our grandparents are born. host: jim from illinois, the democrat line. caller: hello. i am from a blue state, i guess. as far as what i notice on education when we get the votes in illinois -- we had somebody who moved from illinois to tennessee and there got their child promoted and that is because they had such a good education. no, it is because a child is more advanced in education in that state so they had to bring him up a grade to keep up with their education. what i believe instead of bringing it to the state level we should bring it to the federal level. everybody gets the same education.

unionize the teachers of all the states and they get the exact same education from each state and at the end of the year you take a test. you do not pass, you redo the great again. what is your opinion on that? caller: i -- guest: i will say the federal role in education is a little bit difficult because of the power of education is one of the specific in the constitution that is delegated to the state government. i do not believe we will ever have a national curriculum. i do think that whatever the federal government's role in the education system is, it will be focused on using the power of the purse and block grants to achieve certain outcomes. we have seen a little bit before. a lot of the current department of education contracts are focused on giving money to school districts for consultants to try out new instructional

methods and things like that. it is a little bit difficult to say that the federal government can take over our education system because the constitution does not really allow that. host: former president trump had a recent interview with elon musk and one of the things he touted was eliminating the department of education, would you go that far? guest: that is a complicated thing because it has been on the republican platform for however many decades. if they manage to accomplish it, then any role of the federal government will still give block grants and it will be moved to another department or minimized. moved to another department or minimized. i do not know what the impact of that would be. most of our education process is still carried out on the state and local level. i do not know how much would actually change unless they started cutting a bunch. he insinuated -- host: he

insinuated some states may do well, if that were the case some states may not. guest: some states are more reliant than others. the covid relief fund helped but a lot of states mismanaged it which is why we do not see a big learning bump during the pandemic. host: this is bernie in florida. go ahead. caller: i want to know if they are banning books why not ban the bible? it has all kinds of stories about sexism, racism, slavery, everything else. are they going to ban the bible? guest: nobody is banning books. there is a pretty acceptable standard of what is and what is not allowed in school libraries and public libraries. it is one reason why we do not have hustler in school libraries

because everyone agrees that kind of material would be inappropriate to have. a lot of the books that are removed or challenged do contain very graphic scenes, and especially if they are graphic novels i think it is right people in the community should debate and talk to school board members what they can and should not do. as far as the bible goes, i do not know how often the bible is in the school library in the first place. if it is, that is certainly up to the community to decide although i imagine there would be a lot of debate about that. host: jeff in michigan. republican line. caller: are there any books that are inappropriate to the left for children? if child poured is written on paper it should receive almost -- if child porn is written on paper it should receive sacred status.

the talk about the bible, the teachers unions want that back into school. they reject the 10 commandments alone. one last thing. host: you're on with the guest so if you want to address a question to the guest, go ahead. caller: i am addressing the question to you. you are drilling down on the questions funding. -- you are chortling down on the gentleman's funding. -- you are drilling down on the gentleman's funding. host: funding is regular question for us. matthew is in massachusetts, independent line. caller: thank you for c-span very much. i wanted to address some things that have been set. -- that have been said. the speaker you have talked about violence in the schools full up i would like to point --

violence in the schools. i would like to point out that in 1955i saw a student stabbed another student when my daughter was in the fifth grade in 1998 someone grabbed her bookbag and hit her over the head with it because she was considered to be too smart. i am presently in an educational role in the community, which is largely puerto rican. the great complaint of many puerto rican family members is a kind of social violence is being

done to puerto rican students by not having anything to read or to see individual literacy. host: what would you like our guest to address? caller: you are saying that violence seems to be a critical issue in the classroom life today. what i am saying to you is it is a big issue but it has always been a big issue. when students do not have any way identify with the educational world, with the educational material -- the minimal is a of the -- the minimalization of the importance of the civil war. guest: i will say it is true

that students who cannot understand the material are more likely to act out or not pay attention in the classroom. they functionally give up, which is why being able to read by third or fourth grade is so very important because the lower your literacy is as an individual the higher likelihood you are to end up in jail for one reason or another. violence -- violence has always been an issue in some schools. and a lot of we get involved in they are not used to it. it is not a common occurrence. it seems to be happening more and more often. in all likelihood a bunch of the administrators are letting the students get off with a slap on the rest. it is clear a lot of the disciplinary practices are not working and we need to take another look at it. host: we have a viewer yi it seems your ageiedoes not want to teach about sial

issues that still exist in this country. where should students learn about the issues of not at school? what if students are not taught about such things at home? guest: i guess i am confused about social systems. i will assume they mean systemic injustices. to use a more liberal talking point, they can learn about it in college if they really want to. this is not something they need in k-12 education. we do not need to teach kindergartners about ethic -- about ethnic studies like what minnesota does under governor tim walz. they can learn about critical theory in a more advanced program in college where they can buy a book because the books are not banned. host: governor landry in louisiana just signed an order about forbidding schools from teaching critical race theory.

will you find a course is such in schools? guest: the concept of critical race theory is interesting. if i was debating somebody to the right of me they would say critical race theory is not taught in k-12 education. literally this might not be the case. there might not be of course title critical race theory that they teach to a sixth-grader. they teach it in colleges. this is widely acknowledged. most of our teachers come from teachers college. the critical theory is a pedagogical structure they used to inform education for students. they may not say we will learn about critical race theory today but they might say we will learn about systemic injustices in america today. we will learn about white supremacy today. we will learn about why black students are oppressed by the current american system. this has popped up individual

models. it may not be explicit curriculum a lot of teachers take it on themselves to insert in their lessons. not all teachers, but some of them do. this is why does on the school board to make sure this does not happen. host: will hear from tim in maryland on the republican line. good morning. caller: i have a comment. we celebrate american history, our independence. i think personally not only should we celebrate and recognize the joyful parts of american history, we must also be comfortable enough to the point where we can discuss the darker parts of american history. we cannot have one without the other, otherwise we do ourselves a disservice in teaching our

children about the founding of the country, of history, the direction it can go, how things can be better. in my opinion it is not about making anybody feel bad. it is about having people cognizant of the reality and the struggle and the mechanism that has got america to where it is today. that is my comment. host: thanks. guest: this is not about not teaching the darker parts of america's history or where we may have gone wrong in the past were made bad decisions as a country. this is not about avoiding that. we are still going to teach slavery. what we are not going to teach in this country is we are not going to teach black students they are oppressed because they are black and we will not teach white students they are ahead of

everybody else and they are responsible for everybody else being behind, whether or not they took an active role in something that happened before their parents and grandparents were born. this is not about putting people down or making people feel bad. the way the programs are structured is to blame something inherent to your identity, race, on ills that continue to this day. this is not about avoiding an issue. this is about not giving people guilt for something they had no involvemt in. host: this is a viewer off of x saying certain states like massachusetts and connecticut are always in the top in education. why are you focusing on their education systems? guest: i will say everybody's test scores are slipping and there are still systemic issues in the education system that need work, like teachers not teaching students how to read

correctly. i would have to double check what massachusetts and connecticut are doing, but i would be willing to bet they've put a higher emphasis on phonics and the science of reading that other states. the ones that are doing that are catching up. as far as connecticut goes, they have taken a lead on an issue that is now becoming bipartisan, which is restricting cell phone use in schools. the governor of connecticut has done it, the governor of virginia has done it, and more and more states are picking up the slack. host: why do you think that is? guest: i think it is because 70% of teachers agree cell phone use is a distraction. students are not paying attention. they are addicted to their phones. what we want his students to sit down and learn. to engage with the teacher and engage with the content and it is not up to the teachers to try to outmaneuver a phone. it is up to the school districts

and the legislature is to make sure students have all the incentives they need, including negative incentives, to make sure they pay attention. host: one more call from maryland. independent line. this is gregory. caller: i would like to make a comment first and then ask a question. the comment is this guy is giving a smokescreen for white people feeling that. that is not the intent -- for white people feeling bad. that is not the intent. the is tent is not the scores of the students. he is just a smokescreen for trying to make white people not feel bout about history. my question is how in the world does the history of the united states have anything to do with a student not being able to read? host: gregory in maryland.

guest: you are absolutely right. teaching students how to read has nothing to do with the specific history of the united states. that is why we are focused on teaching students how to read and not engaging in issues over white privilege and white guilt that our more liberal detractors seem to push heavily in the curriculum. you are exactly right. host: 1776 project pac.com. adrian biz eddie. thank you. host: thank you -- guest: thank you for having me on. host: will take your calls when washington journal continues. ♪ >> friday night, watch c-span's 2024 campaign trail, a weekly

round up of c-span's campaign coverage providing a one-stop shop to develop -- to discover what candidates across the country are saying to voters along with first-hand accounts from political reporters, poll numbers, financing data, and campaign ads. watch c-span's 2024 campaign trail friday nights on c-span, online at c-span.org, or download as a podcast at c-span now, or wherever you get your podcasts. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. >> if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage you can find it anytime online at c-span.org. videos of key hearings, debates, and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights. these points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen.

this timeline makes it easy to get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's point of interest. >> the house will be in order. >> this year c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979 we have been your primary source for capitol hill, providing balanced coverage of government. taking you to where policy is debated and decided with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: give us a call, (202) 748-8000 free democrats, (202) 748-8001 republicans and independents (202) 748-8002. you can post throughout the

show, sending us a text. our social media site is facebook.com/c-span and on x that is @cspanwj stop the pittsburgh post-gazette highlighting a visit by president biden and vice president harris making the pitch for labor support in pittsburgh, talking about unions, talking about steel, here is a portion from yesterday. [video clip] >> when you are in pittsburgh, you are standing with steelworkers. i believe in american steel companies, american owned and operated steel companies. the best steelworkers in the world. i made it clear the last time i was in pittsburgh. united states steel, and iconic american company for more than a

century, will remain in american company. >> the president mentioned it. u.s. steel is an historic american company, and it is vital to our nation to maintain strong american steel companies. i cannot agree more with president biden. u.s. steel should remain american owned and american operated. i will always have the back of american steelworkers. [applause] and all of america's workers. host: that was from yesterday. you can still see it on our app at c-span now. on this open forum, we'll hear from debbie in georgia, democrats line, good morning. caller: hi. speaking of the democratic campaign this year, kamala

harris running for president, i think the democrats would do a better job if they would do more digging into donald trump's history, talking about all the negatives and evils from his 50 year history being in the public eye. this race should not be as close as what it is if they told the truth about who he really is right now and what his true history was. no one would want to vote for him. host: tony is in houston. republican line. caller: good morning. i am calling on the republican line. i voted for democratic presidential candidates all my life except i stopped in 2016. your last caller talked about truthfulness and honesty and go back to donald trump's history. donald trump is not a politician.

he was president one time for four years. what he did 50 years ago has nothing to do with it. talk about truthfulness. how about kamala harris who claims she is black which we know is not true. august 20, 2020 there was an article by an indian journalist who detail her family history in india. she is no more black than anything. she was never a child in segregation, she grew up in canada, she graduated high school in canada. kamala harris is a fake. as a 68-year-old man i'd never thought i would see america in the situation with somebody like that. no way in hell. host: rachal in florida, independent line. caller: i wish we could turn off the personality politics. i think discussing sex and race

at all is unmerited. we should talk about policy. i wish we could not see who these candidates are and we could look and understand that both of them support record spending. both support war, both support foreign aid, both support the continued genocide israel is perpetrating. both candidates support protectionism. both candidates support a tariff or with china that is raising cost for all of us. i am tired of the personality politics. i would like to talk about policy. unfortunately, law has not -- unfortunately kamala has not shown us her policy. host: this from the hill, congress currently out, but lawmakers have until september 30 to pass legislation to prevent a funding lapse. while the november elections could make the chance for a shutdown less likely leaders

have their work cut out for them amid deep divides on spending. there are some things that hill says could complicate efforts. bipartisan backing behind a continuing resolution that would keep the government funded at current levels beyond the november elections when either cycle pains an advantage in funding talks. some republicans in the house and senate bullish on former president trump's chances of reclaiming the oval office have been pushing for a stopgap bill that would push the deadline into next year. proponents -- opponents of the idea say the bill -- proponents -- while potentially giving the former president more input into legislation if he wins the white house this fall. more aspects to this story about what could take place when it comes to the possible shutdown of government due to funding. pamela in florida, democrats line. good morning. caller: i tried to get in during the gentleman before this open forum. my allowed to make a statement

about that? host: sure. caller: that gentleman before, it starts at home. today they expect your kids to know how to read at least three letter words and do all of their alphabets before they are in nursery school. if the parents do not teach them , they come to school -- it is not the teacher's job to teach them manners and how to potty train and stuff. i have volunteered at many schools where these parents use it as a day care. he is complaining. it is not a red or blue thing, it is a parent thing. if you do not take time with the kids they are not going to. i have three grandkids and my five-year-old is reading at an eighth grade level. it starts at the home. they blame the teachers. i live in florida and the teachers are running from

florida because desantis did that with ban the books and dumbing down the schools and no one can fail because they have this deal you cannot give them an f. it is a no fail thing even though they flunked. they just push them through. that is where we are getting all of the idiots in the world. host: let's hear from andrew in staten island. caller: i was looking at benjamin netanyahu yesterday when he was giving his remarks concerning the hostages that were returned dad from gaza -- that were returned dead from gaza. i noticed the policies he was pushing seem to be similar to the treatment that the jews were put under -- during germany's

treatment of the jews during world war ii. it seems to be the same thing. they are starving the people out. they have blocked them in where they cannot get water or food. people are dying. is he a fascist? that is my question. as far as education is concerned, i believe the young lady is right. they are afraid of teaching our true history. why? because they are trying to rewrite history. host: the new york times reporting president biden issued a one-word rebuke on monday to prime minister benjamin netanyahu's commitment to reaching a cease-fire and hostage deal. as he exited marine one on the way to a meeting of his national security team mr. biden was asked a series of question by reporters about whether mr. netanyahu was doing enough to achieve a deal to get the hostages back.

the president responded simply, no. as advisors briefed the president and the vice president , it became clear that far more than just benjamin netanyahu's own political calculations was getting in the way of a hostage exchange. administration officials live locked down 90% of the 18 paragraph long preliminary court , hamas has not approved a final list of which hostages to release and who would be released to the first phase. in return israel would release an arch -- would release a large number of hamas and other prisoners. santa clarita. we are next with tony. caller: kamala harris and tim walz have known each other since high school. i went to high school in hollywood, california. they were both social studies teachers assistance. kamala harris said at her convention speech she attended a lot of high schools in the

middle of the country. they need to find out if she and tim walz ever attended the same high school or if she ever attended tim walz high school in the brassica. the trump campaign already knows about -- in nebraska. the trump campaign already knows about this show is coming. they were student activists in the 1980's. kamala harris was living in a social studies teachers house for one semester. she only attended our high school for one semester. she was never be -- she was never there before that. she said she was going around to be an exchange student -- she was going around to different social studies teachers. we need to see if -- she is in our yearbook, 1982. check the yearbook. host: republican line, delaware, this is bob. caller: thank you, c-span, for having different points of view expressed.

as i listened to those things this morning, it reminds me i used to teach in schools in journalism and one of the reasons i left is because journalism and the commitment to objectivity, the search for truth, the alignment of facts, the respect for the constitution , all the things that seem to matter at helping the electorate and helping everyday citizens understand what is real and what is fantasy and what is puffed up and what is genuine has been very murky. i hold media responsible, largely for contributing to the acrimony, to the distaste and dislike of right-wing and left-wing for each other, and i find it to be a horror that we are on the precipice great domestic tranquility being thrown over the edge of the cliff because the media has not helped the public understand what is factual, what is real, what is true, and continues to

do this and play into the biases . i regret to say that what have seen over last 30 years is the degradation of journalism integrity, and the media plays a huge role in this by shaping opinions and by directing people to support their biases, and the facts cap lost in the mess. -- the facts get lost in the mess. host: jacket virginia, independent line. good morning. -- jack in virginia, independent line. good morning. caller: i am on? host: your listening your television so there is a delay. caller: you want me to go ahead

with what i have to say? host: we will put you on hold and come back to you. that was jack in virginia. let's hear from david in texas. you are next up on the open forum. caller: good morning. i am calling about the abortion thing. back in the late 50's and early 1960's i was a teenager and young adult. abortion was against the law. my cousin came to me asking me for $100 to have his girlfriend where she could have an abortion in a back alley somewhere. we have had six cases in the houston area, four dumpster babies, one baby on the side of

the highway died stop happen to find one -- one baby on the side of the highway died. happen to find one that they came across and he was ok. four of the six babies they had them because they cannot get an abortion. that is all i have to say. i wanted to find out -- in the other areas where the abortion laws are, is this starting to show up? i don't know. host: this is ed in philadelphia. republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am an educator, i had a hard time trying to get through

during the previous segment with the guest. i'm a little hot under the collar today so please forgive me. i find it unfortunate -- c-span is supposed to be an independent organization which ireland respect and i love the show and i preached -- which i really respect and i love the show and i appreciate the work you do. i do not appreciate the flatly racist viewpoint that young man was putting out which is antithetical to the nature of the human spirit and the american experiment. ben franklin said "a republic, if you can keep it." four most important words in american history are "a more perfect union." everything that young man said was a perversion of history. what we want as educators is we want to provide a healthy environment. we want kids to come to school and be inspired and feel safe and feel nurtured. when i hear people speak under

the guise of school choice or parents rights, it is obvious of eustachian and malfeasance. they are alliance. the programs this young man is talking about. he was pushing and obviously racist agenda. nobody is making white kids feel bad about learning history. even jefferson himself talked about slavery being like having the wolf by one ear. it is something we have to deal with. it is the original sin of this country other than the subjugation of indigenous people and it is unbelievable to me we would continue to platform someone like that who pretends to be -- obviously well healed -- he is opposed to young people receiving information they need

to allow themselves to be a proper countrymen, to have compassion. host: let's go to virginia in houston. independent line. caller: i am calling it about the young man you had earlier. he had the right idea. once we get back to getting rid of hate and racism we will have a better country. we have a god who is in control of everything and once he gets back in our lives and in our churches our children will be happy and have a free world to live in. until these subjects are done away with we will not have a good country. thank you. host: one of the things you can see later on on the network today, 1:30 this afternoon a conference taking a look at the topics of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

it will be with government officials and business leaders. it will include the biden harris administration policy on topics concerning ransomware and ai. this will be hosted by cybersecurity. 1:30 this afternoon. that is where you can start watching on c-span, our mobile app on c-span now and you can also follow along on c-span.org. if you want to participate (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, and independents (202) 748-8002. host: nate in milwaukee, democrats line. caller: i am one of the 200,000 u.s. citizens in wisconsin that trump tried to steal the vote of when he was trying to steal the election last time we had an election. people who believe in the integrity of election stopped him. i was going to mention something

else since approved as person mentioned minnesota. i would recommend people look up a couple different websites. worldpopulationreview.com/state rankings/sat scores by state where it shows minnesota is among the top 15 states when it comes to sat scores. i would also point out that minnesota is in the lowest 15 states when it comes to murder rates. you are less likely to get shot while you're in minnesota. since texas has been making the news for the republican attorney general potentially trying to harass people for registering people to vote while being hispanic, i would point out that texas has above the national average in terms of murder rate. it also has above the national average if you go to

welfareinfo.org/poverty rate, the national average in terms of poverty, minnesota is much lower. in case people are thinking it is the border, i would recommend looking over at mississippi or alabama, which are usually among the worst states when it comes to murder rates and they are farther away from the border. host: kevin is next in illinois. republican line. caller: good morning. i am here to talk about god and trump. they can say what they want to say, god saves the man's life. there is hardly any man that can go through what that man has went through. and what his family has went through. would you allow me to say a prayer for the country real fast? host: quickly, sure. caller: our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,

thy kingdom come, they will be done, as earth as it is in seven. forgive us our debt as we forgive our debtors. fine is the power in the kingdom and the glory forever and ever. god bless our country. get rid of the racist, get rid of the hate. if you don't like somebody, just don't go around them. host: let's go to qe in connecticut. independent line -- let's go to huey in connecticut, independent line. caller: i think the guy from pennsylvania hit it right on the head. three weeks ago you had a lady on here and by the same token she was another person speaking with this smokescreen in front of her. it seems the racist overtones can be seen but he tries to soften it to the point where it is easy to speak about it

without any credible evidence. i lived in europe for four years. germany embrace their history, the things they have done wrong, the cause and effects of life. what makes institutions hate a person or hate a race. when it comes to the institutions and the people say these things about race and the cause and effect and which will apply to you and not somebody else, those things do need to be studied because it is a fact of history that shapes america. host: that is huey in connecticut. npr reporting united states has ceased an airplane belonging to

venezuela's hard-line president nicolas maduro. this took place in florida. the justice department alleges the aircraft was purchased from a company in florida for $13 billion -- for $13 million by people affiliated with maduro through a shell company and smuggled out of the u.s.. the justice department saying the aircraft has flown almost exclusively to them from a military base in venezuela and has been used to the benefit of maduro and his representatives, including to transport him on businesses to other countries. the department said it was working with the dominican republic to seize the plane provide leading u.s. sanctions and export controls. host: ron in pennsylvania, democrats line. caller: i would like to say the reason why we are stuck with trump as president or as the nominee is because 70% of republicans believe he won the

last election. the news outlets let them believe this. it is not true, never was true, never will be true. we are stuck with the biggest lying crook in american history as one of the nominees. it is because these people live to their selves. these people who watch fox news, they are lying to their selves. it is ridiculous he is even the nominee. host: illinois is next. republican line. peggy in illinois. hello? one more time for peggy? armando, independent line. he is in san antonio. good morning. caller: good morning.

i want to make a point. i do not like either of the candidates at all. i want to make a quick comment -- host: you said you did not like either candidate. tell us why. caller: for one, trump, i voted for him last time. 2016. he did not accomplish all of those things. he does 1% of the people. host: vice president harris, wire not supporting her? -- why are you not supporting

her? caller: she does not have been agenda for me. i am living out of my car. i am homeless. housing is so expensive. thank you. host: massachusetts, democrats line. caller: good morning that i am calling about your guest this morning. he seemed very on creditable to me. he failed to say why the problem with children not learning how to read has anything to do with children being given good history lessons. what does one have to do with the other? i would say nothing. i thought he was a thinly veiled white supremacist whose argument is more white supremacy. host: beth in massachusetts.

the new york times reporting that when the investigation has completed when it comes to the plane crash that killed iran's president, they cite officials -- officials with the country's site that whether saying the state news agency reported that technical failure contributed to the crash. on sunday and said the final report with an investigation determined "the accident was primarily caused by the weather conditions, including thick fog. the investigation found all major repairs and replacement of critical parts for the helicopter had been carried out in accordance with standard regulations and the brief so no deficits that could have contributed to the crash but the report found no signs of sabotage or tampering." there is the complete story. you can read more in the new york times and others. oklahoma, independent line, richard is up next. caller: good morning.

i am a veteran and i'm extremely frustrated with the country. i want to set that aside and think about possible solutions. i am thinking about it all the time. when you have an organization called the united nations, i wonder why they are not tasked with more of a hand in straightening up immigration, may be like with border schools. i think whenever we talk about legal immigration, we are asking for is the people that come here to be educated to the point where they can function in a civilized manner. it seems that border schools in the united nations being tasked with that and funded by all the

countries equally should be able to reeducate a person that wants to go from one country to another and possibly even sent the bill to the country they are leaving. i think that would make it a lot more civilized and a lot more organized. that -- host: that is richard in oklahoma. the associated press reporting two russian ballistic missiles struck a training facility in the central and eastern region of ukraine, killing at least 41 people and wounding 180 others. the strike occurred to the capital of the region. it is located about 350 kilometers south of kyiv. the city is located on the main highway and rail route between kyiv and kharkiv close to the russian border. open forum. (202) 748-8000 free democrats.

republicans (202) 748-8001, and independents (202) 748-8002. let's hear from debbie on the line for democrats in illinois. caller: hello. i wanted to talk about what is going on in the middle east after the horrific slaying of the six hostages. my feeling is that while the united states -- a lot of the protesters put tons of pressure on israel and they do not want to the united states to supply our largest ally with anymore weapons, nobody seems to talk about the other arab states. qatar and the money they put in. turkey. countries like egypt to put no pressure on iran to stop the military aid coming into a terrorist organization like hamas. there does not seem to be solutions ending knowledge meant in this country that it takes

two to tango -- there does not seem to be solutions or acknowledgment in this country that it takes two to tango. israel, to man's are being made on them. i am not a benjamin netanyahu supporter but i believe the majority of people who live in israel want to live in peace and they cannot do it when they are constantly barraged by rockets. host: let's hear from clarence in north carolina. republican line. caller: i want a statement to the guy from pennsylvania who called in that the guy was talking about the school system. why are you worried about slavery? black men in america cannot read, cannot write, cannot get a job, cannot fill out an application to get a job. knowing about slavery cannot help these people. that is the past. we cannot relive the past. think about the future.

this is something i hate about most people. i am a black preacher. we have young black men we have to help read. 21 years old. you are worried about slavery. that will not help them. what we need to do is educate our kids where they can get a job and better themselves. otherwise we will have a generation of people who will always be poor. get out of this race stuff. slavery will not help you. host: apologies for that. mark in new york, last call. caller: last night there were demonstrations in new york city, pro-palestinian's. my concern is for the jewish students who have to go back to college walk to their classrooms. this can be very concerning to me as we approach a situation in

america where we have to either back israel or step away. that is my concern this morning. host: that is marked in new york finishing off this open forum. one more just to join us this morning, democratic strategist simon rosenberg talking about topics related to campaign 2024. we will have that discussion with him when "washington journal" continues. ♪ >> watch the abc news presidential debate simulcast live on the c-span network tuesday, september 10 as the candidates go head-to-head for their first debate since securing their party's nomination. coverage begins with a preview show at 8:00 followed by the debate at 9:00 eastern.

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continues. host: we are joined by simon rosenberg, democratic strategist, here to talk about campaign 2024. a little over 60 days until election day. what determines who wins at this point? guest: is only 18 or 17 days until early voting begins. the election is really here now. we have a slight lead in the national polls. to me the biggest new story about the election is our financial and organizational advantage in the states. if the election is close, and i think we have a slight advantage now nationally, who will be able to prosecute the campaign over the next two months? i think we have more money, a superior field organization. host: if you look at real clear politics, they aggregate the polls, vice president harris

1.8% lead. should that be higher? guest: 538 has it at 3.2%. we will take it. given where things were in june we will take it. i think we also have momentum. we have a better candidate and better arguments. i think we have a far greater capacity to close. politico has a story about how republicans are terrified by the cash imbalance between the two parties. this will start to become meaningful. we will have the most powerful grassroots army any party has ever had to close out the election. gallup had our intensity and the democratic party equally what was in 2008. that is new data. we go in with enthusiasm and great unity and a stronger campaign. the republicans are divided, struggling. trump has had a really wobbly

few weeks. i come back to the basic thing of having been doing this for 30 years. i would much rather be us than them right now. host: you have heard republicans saying we still did not know who kamala harris is or what she would be as president. guest: i think that is a silly argument. when democrats are in power jobs are created and deficits go down. we are committed to helping everyday people get ahead. the democratic party, and our approach which we have seen, bill clinton talked about this. since 1989 and the cold war ended their been 52 million jobs created, 50 million under democrats. we have been the party of growth and economic opportunity. the republicans have been the party of recession and higher deficits. the democratic party has understood. if you want to know who she is, she has been part of the biden

harris administration which i think has left america far better than they found it. host: what is the standout of her portfolio? guest: as vice president you are there to be second in demand and she was part of all the major decisions. the president talked about this in his remarks in pennsylvania. she was part of every major decision the administration made. what is important if she did a lot of foreign travel. this is not been covered as much. some foreign policy experts have argued she has more foreign policy expertise than anyone that has come into the office in recent years. i think she has a long track record. we all know who kamala harris is , she has been in public life for decades. she was the attorney general of california, she was a senator. she has far more experience than most people do when they become president of the united states. we cannot great a woman presidential candidate on a curve.

she is clearly experienced based on the history of recent presidential candidates. host: critics will say she is changing policy positions she is held previously. guest: i do not think that is unusual in a political career. as she has moved through the political system, you can change your mind. i think you would rather have candidates and leaders evolve and grow as they get to know and understand things better than before rather than being rigid and sticking to positions that might not be as good for the country. i am sure politicians views have evolved. i am sure your views have evolved. my views have evolved. i think that is a sign of maturity and growth. host: are you concerned about who she will be when she is president? guest: i've known the vice president for many years. today she is who she was 20 years ago in my view.

she is a fighter for everyday people. she is strong. we have also learned she is an incredibly capable politician. she has laid out some of the cornerstones of what she will do. to me the most powerful new thing that harris is doing is her commitment to creating more affordable housing in america. joe biden got a lot done during his presidency. the country is far better off today than when he came into office. we have made tremendous progress on many fronts. the housing issue is a major issue that we've not been able to wrestle to the ground. she has made this the cornerstone of her economic agenda. for people who want to build a better life this is a critical step and i applaud -- the plan is ambitious and smart and i think it will be effective in be critical to helping working families across the country get that first step on the housing wrong, which is critical to what -- that first step on the

housing wrung. host: our guest is with us until 10:00. (202) 748-8000 free democrats, -- (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, independents (202) 748-8002. you mentioned housing. how much will that be dependent on a congress that goes along for the ride? guest: it always is. i hope we have the election we want to have where we keep the senate and flip the house and win the presidency. i think the opportunity is there for us but we have to do a lot of work to make sure we have the election we all want to have. it is within our grasp and a few months ago it did not feel like we could achieve this but now i think democrats are very optimistic that if we keep working hard we will have the election we want to have. host: what does the machine look like as far as the battleground

states are concerned? guest: i think this is an underreported story in our current discourse. the democrats, part of the reason we've been doing so well in election since jobs -- so well in elections since dobbs. since dobbs in spring of 2022 democrats have been over performing poles. republicans have struggled. part of the reasons why is because of new tools that allow people from all around the country to text and phone call into battleground states that we now have millions of democrats who get up every week and do some work to help advance their democracy. democracy. the tools we have make it possible for you to be in california and not just export your money to michigan but labor. you can make phone calls. the campaign has documented the financial advantage is enormous.

we have been raising more money than they have and will have a lot more ads in the next few months. but the volunteers are more meaningful and significant. we have never had the grassroots outpouring of volunteers signing up for shifts. it means the grassroots army at the end will be so superior to the republicans that it has been making a huge difference in performance and it will again in november. host: jo said that of all the battleground states concern would be pennsylvania. do you share that? -- it has been said that all -- of all the battleground states concern would be pennsylvania. do you share that? guest: we have had encouraging pulling there appeared one of the biggest developments of this election is something without would happen is that the

extremists at the top of the ticket in north carolina and arizona look like they will be dragging down the whole republican ticket in those states. there is a significant development, nominating people out of the mainstream and have put in danger trump's election because of these candidates they nominated in north carolina. i am very bullish on both of those states. host: this is anthony in green town you are on. caller: good morning. i have a couple of questions concerning the tax cuts that are going to expire in 2025 but mr. biden and ms. harris have said they will let those expire but

they also say no one under $400,000 will pay any more under their new administration. the second question i have is on social security. the first question is, that is not true because once the tax cut expires, the standard deduction which most people in the lower income tax bracket use will go down quite a bit, for even single and married jointly. the second part of the question is will ms. harris endorsed mr. trump's no tax on social security? most elderly people are getting hammered by the inflation being caused by the biden administration. the biden administration's inflation. it is a fact. we had inflation at 1.9 percent when trump was there and 20% since. that is a fact.

host: if you have made your point. we will let the guests to take a moment. guest: and economic plan for the harris is to let the tax code expire but she will have tax cuts on middle and lower class families. she has a two-part strategy which is to let the tax cuts expire and then running from the on middle-class tax cuts around the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit which would be disproportionately benefiting lower and middle-class working families for the idea that taxes would go up for working class people is not true under her plan. the second question was. she would -- donald trump has

said he was going to cut social security and you can't believe anything he says. so the point is, he is a liar on the matter of social security and has repeatedly said he would cut the benefits. he presented it in his own budgets and so the democrats -- the harris campaign has made it clear that what they want to do is expand social security benefits for the working people. we are also seeing huge increases in social security to account for inflation. inflation now has been conquered. we are on the other and we will see interest rate cuts in a few weeks. we managed it more than any other modern country in the world. we have now seen inflation being

close to zero the last few months. it was a global phenomenon created by covid, supply chain problems, opec raising war prices in the war in ukraine. we managed it better here than anywhere else in the world. so much is possible for the american economy given we have put inflation behind us. host: conquered? is that the word you would use? guest: i think we have conquered it. if you look in the last three months, it has been close to zero. prices have been falling on many items in the united states. in the last few months it has been below 2%. we should feel good about where we are here we have a lot of work to do but the fed will cut interest rates and that is assigned we have gotten to the other side. the inflation issue that happened to every country in the

world wasn't unique to the united states. we managed it far better than any developed country. i think democrats should be running towards this. we don't have anything to fear around the conversation. joe biden promised us that he would get us to the other side of the covid challenge and today our economy has grown faster than any other developed economy in the world. we have gotten inflation and are on the other. the economy has recovered and the country has come back here joe biden met the fundamental promise he made to the people. host: this is maria in georgia, democrats line. caller: i have a question come in the course of talking political with my friends and

family, we want to know regardless of what affiliation, why do they always say middle-class. why do they never mentioned the poor class? we just want to know why it is always the middle class. could you explain that to us? guest: it is an interesting question. i will take that under advisement. it is an interesting point. i think we was middle-class because most americans are in the middle class and it is a word we use in political english to serve everyday people. when i spoke earlier i said working class, middle-class. i think the better way to think about it is we need economic policies that work for everybody and particularly those who need a boost and not focus the economic strategy on people who

need it the least which is the wealthiest among us. i think it is a great question and i will think about it and it is good advice you are giving us. host: what is behind the president's policy for unrealized gains? guest: it is a very small number of people. i think this will be an interesting debate. as a way of recognizing the extraordinary wealth among people well everyday people are still trying to get by and struggle, i think if we win, and i think we will, the tax debate around fiscal policy will be intense. we are proposing to reinstate taxes on wealthy people and cut taxes on the class and working

people and republicans are against that and want to keep the tax for wealthy people. we are going to have a fierce debate and we will have an intense argument over the size and scope of all of this. she believes the wealthiest among us should pay more in working people need to pay less. host: if she wins and you win both the house and senate, do you see individual tax cuts expire? guest: think that is the goal. the overwhelming, virtually all the benefits of those tax cuts went to the wealthiest among us. as i said to the previous caller, we are going to offset some of those. host: from wilson, north carolina, byron, independent line. caller: this is something else i want you to think about.

as far as the abortion thing, pro-life so-called republicans, why don't you ask them, bring out some bills that would guarantee that they take care of their mother and just like they force me to wear steel toe boots and they buy it for me. put out some bills in the seat will they go along with these since they will force these people to have kids. the other thing i wanted to point out to you is the identity politics. i don't know why the democrats sit and let the republicans, they come out on the better side of this. they call you a liberal. i am a liberal and a

conservative and it depends on the point. you let them identify you guys as far left, right. this is all dividing us. everybody is going through it. obama made a great speech and this is what got him into the presidency, he said we are not a red or a blue or left or right in america, we are the united states of america. i would like to see more bringing us together and to not engage in division stuff. host: got the point. thank you. guest: a lot of interesting points. if you watched the democratic convention, what you saw was a democratic party that wasn't centrist or moderate or progressive or neo-populist but was really a party that was basing its whole argument around

the country and patriotism. there has been an evolution in the democratic party in the way that the caller would be happy with it we had lots of speeches and all voices were heard and the democratic party right now is it doing exactly what the caller would want is that we will basically welcome everybody. if you're a former republican or a republican that doesn't like donald trump, you are welcome in our party. the vice president said she would put republicans in her cabinet and i think she is trying to work out and democrats have struggled to get into a america and rural areas and she pick someone from a part of the country that was always a hard place for us to go. she is letting people know that

you are welcome in the democratic party. the vp is from that part of the country. there is a welcoming message under kamala harris and it has been one of our greatest strengths. host: how do you gauge if governor walz has been effective? guest: we are going to find out in the election. let's see how he campaigns. they just went into rule georgia -- rural georgia and they are trying to go into small towns and rural communities and help people in those communities to understand that they are not only welcome in the party but we have a strategy to help their lives get better. i think it has been one of the most remarkable parts of the harrison candidacy how much she has made it clear that she wants

all americans involved in her campaign and all americans be a part of her presidency and the she is doing exactly what the caller asked is to separate us but put -- bring us together. it is a contrast from the republican ticket. host: gary on the republican line. caller: i am just wondering if this guy really believes that any party would try to cut social security or do away with social security. it is amazes me the stuff the democratic party puts out and actually believes in some fairytale story that they are going to believe all of that. i believe kamala harris selected, not elected volaris and wanted to say something

about doing tax cuts. there is already one in place and it is for the middle class. i am middle-class and it affected me greatly. i am on a fixed income in retirement pension and it affects me greatly. i get tired of hearing and another country does two of the stuff you think people are going to really believe it? that they're going to do away with social security and medicare? they are not going to do it. guest: i never said they were going to get rid of medicare and social security but they are going to cut benefits. i think that whether the caller believes that are not, this has been central to the republican strategy certainly since trump became -- look at his budgets there in the original budget.

even though you can't trust anything he says but you can look at the budgets to get him a sense of where he wants to go. this is a legitimate area of engagement between the two parties. host: from duane in maine, independent line. caller: i just have a question and a comment. a wise man in your own party said it is all about the economy . i think several colors have mentioned the fact that inflation is still there. you have not defeated it. it is almost like you are asking us to question who are you going to believe, us or your eyes, bank account, grocery bill. we have to live through this every day. it is still there. i am wondering how you expect to

win if you are kind of ignoring inflation and how it is affecting people. you don't mention poor any longer, the middle-class economy is turning into the working poor right now. you have become the party of a and the neocons. comella -- kamala harris is a nice person but gave a poor speech. guest: let's just go over data. inflation over the last few months has been close to zero and prices have been dropping. it doesn't mean prices have been accumulated and are higher in some areas but the issue is are they continuing to rise the way

they were two years ago and the answer is no. inflation has come down. the vice president has made it clear she wants to continue to work on prices even further to have a better life for people. we've capped insulin at $35 a month for seniors and we want to do that for everybody. she has a plan to cut taxes on middle-class people to make housing more affordable and to make health care more affordable. want to make it easier for people to live their lives and that is the central argument of her entire candidacy. i go back to the basic point that inflation was a global phenomenon. we did a better job and if you are angry about inflation you should be angry about trump's mismanagement of covid and mad at russia for you tacking -- for attacking ukraine.

we know that you cannot pin the inflation we had on joe biden and kamala harris because it happened everywhere in the world and actually happened here a lot less than it did in other places . today we are on the others. we have conquered inflation. and paul krugman said it himself . we should be proud of what we have been able to do. we had a bumpy times but we are on the other side of the break and i give joe biden a lot of credit having navigated the united states through choppy waters. when he came in he had one of the worst first days of anyone in the country coming in you at the insurrection in this community where you live was under national guard protection and the economy was in free fall . covid had been grossly mismanaged. hundreds of thousands died unnecessarily because of the mismanagement of covid.

the economy is booming. we had the best job market since the 1960's. the country is prosperous and we are doing well. did you get everything done we needed to get done? no and that is why if we elect kamala harris we will continue for growth and prosperity for people in america. host: let's hear from pamela, maryland, democrats line. caller: what can be done to safeguard the vote? i've heard legislatures plan to delay the count in georgia. what can we do to ensure that votes cast are counted and voters are not purged from rules? i will be ensure they are --

what else can be done? guest: the first and most important thing that everyone watching today can do is to in your state will as early as you possibly can because the earlier that you vote -- i think it is important to the american people to see the election working properly and by voting early you will send allowed signal of those showing up in large numbers and that will confirm the election is working properly and make it difficult for there to be a manipulation as it was last time by the republicans in the 2020 and 2021 election and aftermath. the one thing you can do is have all of your friends vote early and show the american election system is working. the second thing is the harris

campaign has an unprecedented number of hired lawyers to make sure if there are any election in challenges in the aftermath that we are more prepared this time than we were last time in recognizing that it is core to how the republicans operate to contest elections in the united states. most important thing we can do is to try to win this election by the biggest margin possible so that it makes any manipulation harder. if we were in -- if we win the election and people vote for several weeks in early voting without incident it will be much harder for there to be any manipulation. host: what are you looking for for next week's debate? guest: it is important. host: is a make or break for her? guest: i don't think it is make or break but more information can fade about both candidates.

for people not decided it is important that we have this debate. will have a vice presidential debate and we will also have a very important day on september 18, donald trump will be sentenced for the 34 felonies he was convicted of that will be another important day for conveying information to people about the two candidates. to your point, from the very beginning, there is still a lot of election left. we still have consequential events that will shape people's understanding of the election. it is terrific we will have the debates in the coming weeks. host: and marie in tampa, florida, republican line. -- anne-marie in tampa, florida, republican line. caller: people work mentioning the economy and saying it is better but i don't see it better. everything is so expensive.

going to the grocery store is ridiculous. how is that going to be changed in the future? probably not. my question is, why is kamala harris so afraid of debating trump, it seems like she is scared to be -- and now she wants to change the rules by have -- having notes with her. since when have you ever seen that? why can't she just talk. if she knows what she is talking about, why would she need notes? guest: i have notes in front of me and i make notes before anything just as a way to remind myself of the important things i want to say. people having notes, you have all sorts of things in front of you. the idea that having notes in front of you is weird, it is the way we talk in public when we

give speeches. i don't think there is anything unusual about that. often times it is a way of reminding yourself about what you want to say. i often will write down dated to make sure i get it right. there is so much stuff in our head we want to have an obligation to get it correct. i don't think she is scared. there is a debate next week and we have two important debates coming up in the next few weeks and i think the american people should welcome that. democrats will never debate on fox news. it is unreasonable given that in the last election fox has admitted to lying to the american people about the election results and what happened and misled fox viewers about what happened. it would be unreasonable for us to go on that network which is openly aligned with the republican party. there are plenty of independent news networks and we will see debates on two of them. host: wisconsin, independent

line, peter. we are line short on time but jump in with a question or comment. caller: did covid really start the inflation? also -- guest: yes. caller: because of robo calls, nobody answers the phone. if we don't recognize the phone number, nobody answers the phone. so really, nobody has said anything about hole -- polling. guest: we do our best. it is from her like a sketch than a photograph. i think sometimes people who analyze polls exaggerate the accuracy.

it can only tell you or things are today. it doesn't tell you where things will be in two months. what is interesting about the p olling, it is remarkably consistent and shows harris with a lead, small lead in the battleground states. in 2022, if i was senior in september, it was much more all over the place. there were polls showing us doing well and republicans doing well. i think we have a slight advantage and i think we have a significant advantage in terms of money and on the ground which i think will be in my view assuming things stays level, it can be determined -- you can determine the election. we have 60 days to go and as we have learned, anything can

happen and democrats need to keep working as they happen. one of the reasons we keep doing better than expected as we are hungrier and fighting harder and republicans were more motivated. i think you are scared what would happen if donald trump became president. i am proud of my party and the way we are winning because it is being driven by the love of country and grass roots organizing. we are staying true to being a democratic party. i feel good about where we are but we have a lot of work to do and the election is going to change a lot. we have good and bad days. we have consequential dates. host: how effective will president biden be between now and january? host: i think you will be -- guest: i think you will be effective.

he is going around and talking about historic investments he made in the future is really important. i think his legacy 20 years from now or 30 years from now, the investments he made we are only beginning to see the early stages of will be opportunities and jobs for american people for decades to come and i think he is right to be doing the campaign to help educate people about the smart investments we have made in their future. for smitty who is young today, this country has invested more in you young person than anyone in 60 years. i think he is smart to go out about how he has made america better by the large investments. host: host: that's it for the program today. another addition of washington journal begins tomorrow morning.

see you then. ♪ >> a look now what is coming up later today. first, we take you live to a conference on cyber security with government officials, business leaders and others to topics will include biden-harris administration policy, ransomware and artificial intelligence. a discussion being hosted by billington cybersecurity. later this evening, we continue showing encore presentations of our weekly inter-program q&a. new york times white house correspondent katie rogers discusses her book american woman that evolution and impact

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