♪ host: good morning, everyone. welcome to "washington journal," america is 61 days away from election day, 2020 four, and

early voting begins this month in several states. this morning, our conversation in the first hour is about whether or not you vote in elections. do you always vote? if so, call us at (202) 748-8000 . if you sometimes vote, call in at (202) 748-8001. if you rarely vote, your line this morning is (202) 748-8002. if you are a newly registered voter, call in at (202) 748-8003 . that is our same line for texting. all of you can text, (202) 748-8003, include your first name, city, and state. you can also post on facebook.com/c-span or on x, handle [video clip] -- handle [video clip] http://twitter.com/cspanwj --

from vote.org on the hill, 17% of new voters came from the top seven swing states. 376,000 registered since late july. they have seen a surge approaching november, election day. voters under 35 made up 70% of new registration. voter.org says there's an 81% conversion rate from registration to voting. so, if you are a new voter this morning, if you just registered to vote, we want to hear from you this morning as well, especially on those numbers. there is also a pulling out from cnn and those seven swing states, the battleground states that political pundits say will decide the election. look at these numbers.

arizona, the vice president trails the former president 49% to 44%. in michigan, she has a five-point lead over the former president. nevada, 48 to 47%. the vice president with a one point lead in nevada. pennsylvania, a dead heat. wisconsin, the vice president with a three point lead over the former president. we want to know if you vote in elections. we divided the lines by always, sometimes, rarely, or the new registered voters.

pete, are you a regular voter? sometimes? rarely? caller: regular voter since 2008. i had been a passive voter, not as engaged, but when the republicans got so crazy, i saw that i was compelled to have to vote. i'm always leaning a little bit to the vote -- the left door center left. when sarah palin came on the scene, that was a big motivator. you know, obama was a transformative figure. that was some of the stuff that made me become more engaged. obviously with trump and the people that he brought, that got me, you know, completely engaged , to where i had been totally engaged in the whole process now, i feel like i have to be for my kids. i'm a vet, i come from a family of that's. i disgusted, the way the trunk

gets away with how he treats vets, i thought i would throw that in for the vets out there. host: on a scale of one to 10, how enthusiastic about -- are you about this election? caller: 12. host: what were you before biden dropped out of the race? caller: well, i was always going to be a 10, i felt like i had to get out there to try to defeat the, you know, the people that trump represents. but you know, it's off the charts. host: why is that? caller: why is what? host: your enthusiasm is off the charts? caller: biden, with the unfortunate issues, it was hard to rally around him. he was just, you know, he's not trump, so, at least we have a candidate that, she's young, she's articulate, she's got

policies, and she's got a future. host: ok, pete. we will leave it there. anne, always vote, which party do you vote for? caller: i usually vote democratic. good morning. host: good morning. why do you always vote? caller: first of all, i'm a woman in my late 80's. i had a grandparent who could never vote in the south, so i will always vote. and because voting is very important to me. that's the only voice i have, the vote. so, i will be voting, especially to have a woman of color this time, it's very exciting, very. host: explain why it is very exciting for you. caller: because first of all, i came from the background of an african-american woman. i come from people who could

never vote in this country. so, this is very, very exciting to me. when obama was president, it was tears. tears. i took my little grandchildren to vote and it was just an experience and this will be another experience. host: have you always talked to your kids about voting as they grew up? caller: oh yes, i told them, don't you ever forget to vote. you come from people who could never vote. host: and do they follow your -- caller: oh yes, they do. host: ok. stan, oregon, you rarely vote. why is that? caller: yes, i rarely voted until 2009 -- i can't hear you, i'll listen to the replays. host: we're listening. caller: in 2009, october, there was a gal, i think her name was shaw.

she was telling the guys in the group that we need corruption. i go -- what the heck? that was about fundamentally changing america. i want to vote because i seen president kennedy get shot. host: stan, that is why you rarely vote? caller: -- [indiscernible] partly given as individuals. when you vote, you register their name. kids don't learn cursive, how can they write their name? host: ok. chicago, always voting? caller: can you hear me? host: we can. caller: yes, i think it's, it's a civic duty to me.

it's the saying that, you know, if you look at the elections throughout the years, we never had i think 78% of voter turnout. i think we all need to vote. particularly with the middle class on down, because policy affects us. you know, when you are rich and wealthy, it doesn't affect you at all. unfortunately, we have a very important election coming up. even though if you don't believe that your vote doesn't count, your vote doesn't count. i just don't like the people that complain when something happens as far as policy, but didn't vote. so it's just, it's mind-boggling that people don't vote. host: all right, that was shea in chicago. we hav divided the lines by always vot, metimes votes, rarely, and new registered

vote. there's been reporting aut new registered voters, vote.org is seng a surge in new registered voters. in this piece from "the atlanta voice," according to data, the voter registration rate for young black women in 13 key battleground states has skyrocketed to 175%, nearly triple the rate from the last presidential election four years ago. the registration rate for black women in general experienced similar growth, 98%, where overall black voter rates also grew by 88%. this is target smart data. a lot of outlets wrote about this in recent days. if you are one of the newly registered voters, we want to hear from you this morning, along with those who always, sometimes, and rarely vote. tell us why. matt, new york. you sometimes vote. guest: sometimes, i didn't think

i would get on the air, i'm not that prepared. host: well, tell me when you sometimes vote, when and when not? caller: politics, i'm more mature, got children, wanted to talk more about it and i saw a few things with donald trump. i don't know how people cannot see through his lies. he's a con man. he's been bankrupt six times. trump university went bankrupt. if you look at his presidency before, he had the worst rating ever as a president. he's got 32 felonies. he continues to push past election day, so that he can be turned to the president so that

they don't get taken care of, so he becomes the president and it won't get addressed? gets pushed back by the supreme justices that he elected. host: matt, let me ask you, did you vote in 2016? caller: and where's milani and a ivanka trump without sunglasses on? i'm interested in seeing them up close and personal. host: all right, richard, delaware, you always vote. richard? caller: yes. host: ok. why do you always vote? caller: i believe it is our democratic duty to do it. weed, you know, we are citizens of a republic that works to elect people that represent us. if you are not in, if you are not in the government process or the civic process, i should say, you know, then you don't really have much to complain about. you can sit there and say sour

grapes or like a policy or something, then get out and do something about it. that's our system in this country. we should all be proud that we have a system that does work as well as it does. i think it can be improved. there's definitely russian influence. i was just watching the piece on c-span before, you know, on the fbi and the justice department responding to the latest intrusions in our system. point being, we have a tremendous opportunity every four years to change the direction of policy and i think we should all participate. i believe that in my heart. host: richard, do you always vote for the same party? which party is that? caller: i'm a liberal democrat and proud of it, progressive.

that choice was made long ago. i have voted occasionally for republicans, governors, that sort of thing, but for the most part i have voted for the best person for the job. generally i have found that to be the democrats. host: all right, richard, is the vice president progressive enough for you? caller: the vice president? yes. i think she has a good track record when you look at the details. people are, i think, not paying enough attention to the details of her. i like the fact that she is a prosecutor. i predict she will do well in the debate with trump, too. host: thank you for the segway, richard, that's what we are talking about next. two months away from election

day but the debate is less than a week away. september 10, abc is hosting a debate. the former president yesterday in a fox news interview talked about, casting a doubt on the fairness of the upcoming debate. here's what he had to say. >> abc is the worst network in terms of fairness. they had a poll where i was 17 points down a couple of days prior to the election. 17 points down in wisconsin. they do that so that people don't vote. hey, i love trump, he 17 points down, i'm not going to go out and vote. hey, i was 17 points down and i called them, called the best pollster, why would they not say 5, 4, three, because at three you go and vote, at 17 your people say i want to vote, but i have other things to do, let's go see a movie and we will watch the results later.

they are the most dishonest network. the meanest, the nastiest. that is what i was presented with. i was presented with abc, george slopadopolis, he is a nasty guy. he's a nasty guy. i've had it up to here. let me tell you. let me tell you. he's a very bad, very bad kind of a guy. i watched his interview of joe biden. it was like the softest interview i've ever seen. it was softer than the cnn interview of kamala. they are very nasty. i think a lot of people will be watching to see how nasty and unfair they are. i agreed to do it because they wouldn't do another network. the other thing is, her best friend is the head of the network. her husband's best friend is married to the head of the network. they are going to get the

questions. i already heard that they are going to get the questions in advance. they even have donna brazile. remember donna brazile? she gave, donna brazile, she's another bill -- she's in a real, she's a real beauty, donna brazile, she gave, she gave hillary clinton the questions. you remember that? and she works for abc and she works at the round talking about the debate. so, i will watch very closely, which you are not allowed to do. we have a clause in the contract that you can't give them the questions, but i probably i'm not sure, i'm not sure it's going to help her much, though, you might give her the questions and the answers, i'm not sure it's going to help. host: that was the former president in a town hall last night on fox news. abc yesterday put out the res for the upcoming debate. here they are. 90 minutes of debate time. there will be no audience, just

like at the cnn today -- debate. mikes will be be ended. no prewritten notes allowed on the stage. no opening stents. closing statements will be two minutes per candite the former president wonhe coin toss and chose to deliver his closing statement last. the vice president selected the right podium position on the screen. the debate will be moderated by david mere and lindsay davis. ill ve coverage of that debate. quickinde we will have fueragof the presidentialebates between the viceresident and the former president. th c-span coverage begins at 8 d then at 9:00, the news debate simulcast begins. following thee, wwill take calls as well.

h ve debate coverage on c-sp two, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. we want to know, do you think debates matter? will it impact your vote this fall? you can start voting right now at c-span.org on this poll. use the qr code on your screen. we will be showing you the results throughout the week and again, you can vote. c-span.org/pole, or use this qr code on your screen right now. do debates matter? we want to hear from you on this . this morning, our conversation, do you vote in elections? richard always does. delaware, hi, richard. you are still hanging on the line, richard. let me go on to larry in salisbury. larry, how often do you vote?

caller: 2020, i just turned 65 and it was the first time i ever voted. i never cared about it before, but when donald trump got in there, he showed me who he is and like the previous caller said, he's people. all you got to do is just listen to him talk. host: why do you rarely vote? caller: i never cared about it one way or the other. when trump got in there, he showed me who he was and i had to vote after that. host: so, 2016 was the first election you voted in? caller: no, 2020 is. host: so, not 2016. caller: i didn't. host: will you be voting in november? caller: you better believe it. host: you are motivated to vote against the former president? caller: i'm motivated against

him and for her. host: monique, louisiana, good morning to you. tell us, why do you always vote? caller: it's a strong indisputable country. it's in god we trust. free and happy. we do not cheat, we do not lie. it's a good life, happy life. that story, you should vote for the right person, trust in god, trust in this country, it's the most strongest and best country in the world and we want to keep it that way. we want everything to go haywire crazy for people that are insane

and don't know what they are talking about and don't know nothing about this country. people who don't like this country should go where they came from. i'm an american citizen since 1964, retired military. i love this country, i stand for this country for what all these believes. i'm a republican all my life. i vote for trump and i'm happy. he's telling the truth. god protect him. in god we trust. this is a beautiful country. we can have peace again. no other country, they are failures with voting. nobody should interfere, they should mind their own business about their own country. host: that was monique in louisiana. always voting we are asking

folks if you vote in elections. if so, describe that. is it always, sometimes, rarely, new registered voters, there has been a surge since july ahead of election day 2024. a couple of you have mentioned the justice department announcement yesterday about election interference. i want to show you a couple of headlines. front pages. uss kremlin trying to sway elections. the justice department announced a seizure of funds from the russian government to direct malign influence efforts against the u.s., from "the wall street journal." "the new york times," front page

story about this, u.s. response to interference by the kremlin, their headline was in "the new york times," this morning, and from the reporting the state department has offered a $30 million reward for information pertaining to foreign interference in american elections. the department said that they were seeking information on a group called rote -- angry russian hackers did it, including state-funded news outlets like rt and sputnik to restrict the issuance of visas to people working for the kremlin supported media institutions. the department of justice held a conference on this yesterday with a task force looking into it. here is the attorney merrick garland. [video clip] >> in a separate action, the justice department is seizing 32

domains that russian actors have used it to engage in a covert campaign to interfere and influence the outcome of our country's elections. as alleged in our court filings, the vladimir putin inner circle, including sergei [indiscernible] directed russian information companies to promote state-sponsored narratives as a part of a program to influence the 2024 u.s. presidential election. internal planning documents created by the kremlin stated that a goal of the campaign is securing russia's preferred outcome in the election. the online infrastructure used by the russian public relations company known as the social design agency or sta and related actors, including what are sometimes referred to as cyber squatted domains. these websites were designed to

appear to american readers as if they were major u.s. news sites like the post or fox news, but in fact they were fake sites, filled with russian government propaganda that had been created by the kremlin to reduce international support for ukraine, bolster pro-russian policies and interests, influencing voters in the united states and other countries. internal documents of the kremlin describe the content as "focused stories described as newsworthy events." the malign influence campaign has been referred to as doppelgänger. the russian public information companies drove viewers to these websites by deploying influencers and paid social media advertisements and created fake social media profiles posing as u.s. citizens, posting comments on social media

platforms with links to the sites. according to records, they actively sought to eliminate the possibility of detection of russian footprint. host: that was the attorney general yesterday on election interference from russia. we are 61 days out from election day. we want to know, do you vote in these elections? if you always do, dial in this morning and let us know. sometimes, rarely, new registered voters, we want to hear from all of you, those are the lines on your screen. david and franklin, tennessee, rarely votes. why is that? why is it that you rarely vote? caller: i live in a very red state, a very red area. i figure it's not going to make much difference one way or the other. i know that our area is very conservative that i live in and

it will probably go one way pretty much all the time, so i didn't bother. but this year is different for me, because i'm very, very, very worried about this country, about the things going on, especially having to do with the border and a lot of low information voters coming in, which, i hope they vote, but i think they need to do a little more studying as to the issues of what the different candidates actually stand for. it's difficult to listen to that sometimes. so, this year i'm voting for the first time and probably a long time, years that i've actually voted. host: who are you voting for? caller: i haven't decided, exactly. i'm leaning toward trump right now, simply because i liked what he did the four years he was already in. i wasn't very happy with president biden and kamala.

so, just looking at what they did and how it ended up, i would just, i just believe that trump did a much better job. host: anything concerned you about the former president? caller: my gosh, yes, all the time. i think he says things that are just out of line. he says things -- i think he has trouble with some of his language. but i'm much more afraid of the policies of kamala, actually. host: so, here is a "washington post" article this morning. "the fear factor is hurting the former president." i wanted you to react to this reporting. "significantly more swing state voters view the former president as a threat to the country than the vice president, a number that wasn't always that way, a number that changed since the president dropped out of the race. if you go down to the polling

numbers, they found swing state voters are more likely to view the former president as to extreme. david, do you relate to that or what is your reaction? caller: i totally disagree with them, myself, and my observation through my study retired, i got a lot of time. i've got a lot of time to study the news. i've always been a political nutcase. so into it. for me, the policies are the issue. i'm going through the mall. i'm still studying what's going on. we will make the right decision. host: interesting, you call yourself a political nutcase but rarely voting? are you still there, david? caller: what's that? host: it's interesting that you call yourself a political

nutcase who always has been but rarely voted. caller: yeah, because i'm in a red red red state. i figure it's going to go where it goes anyway, so i never bothered, but i am this year. host: all right. chad, rhode island, always votes. chad? caller: thank you for taking my call. i've voted five times in four years, been doing it for quite a while. host: all right, explain. caller: well, i got friends that don't vote or rarely vote. i asked them, do you have to maintain your house? yes. your car? yes. well, you also have to maintain your democracy, or you will lose it. then they kind of get it.

democracy does require maintenance. democracy is not a spectator sport. you have to participate. if you do not participate, you will lose your democracy. host: all right. robert, springhill, florida. when did you register to vote? [shuffling] caller: sorry, good morning. host: morning. when did you register to vote? caller: me and my wife are going to vote for the first time in our lives. host: what motivated you to do so? caller: we've been watching what's going on and we both believe i trust donald trump. i'm going to vote republican. but i have seen so far with the former president, this president, joe biden, kamala harris, they lie. my opinion, you know, ma'am?

i strongly believe that donald trump is the best for this country, you know? because i see it. i look at it. for the last four years we have been struggling within every aspect of livelihood. groceries, gas, this and that, the other thing. the taxes, you can't buy a house. i mean, we own a house, but you can't buy a house. now they are going to do everything that trump said he was going to do and harris is going to do it? she picked up on every lie that this man told us. harris came out of nowhere. she's going to do all of this now. she actually thinks, i feel, my opinion, ma'am, she actually thinks that us american people, 17 generations in this country, i'm 17 generations in this

country, she thinks that people are stupid. that they can't see through the propaganda and the falsehood of what joe biden said he was going to do when he first became president. he did none of that. complete opposite. that's my opinion, ma'am, good morning. host: you just registered to vote for the first time in your life. you are voting for the former president. you were not motivated thousand 16 when he ran for 2020? why not then? caller: i, i never participated in these things until just recently, my wife and i made a decision to vote this year. it's i can't even tell you. i was never interested in politics or the country. i look at it different now than i did in my younger years, you know what i'm saying? it's what comes now, ma'am.

-- counts now, ma'am. host: because? caller: because the way the country is going. host: understood. robert, springhill, new voter this election cycle. ray, good morning. caller: high, good morning. host: and you always vote? caller: always voted since i can't remember how far back. host: do you always vote for the same party? caller: i started as an independent, but that changed after w got to be president. after that i never voted for a republic and the rest of my life in any election. i've kept my word. host: what was it about george w. bush? caller: the lies. no weapons of mass destruction

anywhere. you know? i just couldn't handle that. but you don't want to hear my theories on 9/11. let's just say he lied. brought in all the neocons, now trumpeters -- trumpers, into the government, put them in all these different positions. i couldn't live with that. i have a question for you, greta , as far as the statistics that you gave at the beginning about voting. am i still there? host: we're listening. statistics on voting. caller: you gave all the statistics except the one that i wanted to hear and i know you have, how many people registered democrat and how many registered republican and independent. that's they are, they gave all the others. i can't believe they would have left that one out. host: all right, we'll look for it. will look for it to share.

caller: can i say one more thing? host: yep. caller: i'm interested to see how the trunkersa will vote -- trumpers will vote now that he admitted he lost fairly and squarely and has been lying for the last four years about it. he is lied about it and i'm interested and maybe you can ask them, now that trump has said he lost the election fairly and squarely, having been saying it was taken and stolen from him, how are they going to vote now that they know he was lying and says he's done? let's hear what they have to say. host: what are you referring to? caller: when he said he lost by a whisker. he admitted he lost. he admitted he lied. host: in the same interview he

referred to the election as a fraud. caller: he's weaving, he's weaving like his hair. host: admitting he lost the election by a whisker, the headline this morning. there's a shooting in georgia. this is the atlanta journal-constitution, the state newspaper there, identifying that four were killed in the georgia school shooting in the 14-year-old in custody. here's the reaction from the vice president at the campaign stop in new hampshire, yesterday. [video clip]

>> our hearts are with the students, the teachers, the families, of course, but this is a senseless tragedy. on top of so many senseless tragedies. it's just outrageous that every day in our country in the united states of america that parents have to send their children to school worried about whether or not their child will come home alive. it senseless, we've got to stop it. we have to end the epidemic of gun violence in this country once and for all. we have to send our prayers and thoughts to those families and those affected i'm going off script right now. you know? at the -- last year i started a college tour.

these are college-age young leaders. i love gen z, i just love gen z. [cheers and applause] one of the things i asked every time i went to the auditorium, and it would be filled with the students, i would ask them -- raise your hand if at any point between kindergarten and 12th grade you had to endure and active shooter drill. a lot of us, speaking for myself , from california, we had earthquake drills, we have fire drills, but our kids are sitting in a classroom where they should be fulfilling their god-given potential.

some part of their big, beautiful brain is concerned about a shooter coming through the door of the classroom. it does not have to be this way. [cheers and applause] it does not have to be this way. host: other topics that we can discuss as well, "the washington times," front page today on the former president, protective agents with no practice, front page story. "secret service relied in part on agents who had just two hours of training to provide protective detail to the former president at the july 13 rally where he was nearly assassinated. this is according to a whistleblower who came forward to josh hawley, saying that they

had been pulled off of their duties including child exploitation cases for protective candidates, including the former president. whistleblowers told him that more homeland investigation agents then secret service agents were working the rally in butler county, pennsylvania. many had never worked a protective detail did not know proper procedure." this is from whistleblowers to the missouri senator, josh hawley, and it is "the washington times" with that this morning. it's an impossible task on dealing with trump in new york.

mr. trump as planned, "september 8 -- "mr. trump as planned, the veteran judge faces his greatest predicament waiting until after election day as trump requested." mr. trump already deemed a felon, but the sentencing has been postponed until after the number of the election. the delay would reward the stalling tactics of the case and that's one case from the new york times the no-nonsense judge that will resume presiding over

the election interference case and on thursday the judge is set to preside today over a hearing in washington where she is likely to explain how she intends to approach the parts of the indictment that have to be tossed out under the immunity ruling in which can survive and go to trial that happening today in the district court for d.c. with more news on that in washington back to the conversation with all of you about whether or not you vote and if so, how often. jack lane, you are new. you are registered to vote this time around? caller: trump, to me he has

always been honest. he speaks out before he has to say anything. i know that people don't like the way he speaks. he was four years in office. i don't know, we gained money. we are middle year. he sent us those checks. what were they called? stimulus checks. we paid off bills with those. the doctor next door to me said that he would quit before he took the shot. he says wait until people find out down the road what it did to the body. host: so, that is why you have registered to vote now? why not 2060 north 2020?

-- 2016 or 2020? caller: i was never into politics until it seemed the world is coming to an end. host: it sounds like a covid and how it was handled is what motivated you? caller: yeah, that's number one. number two, the country is going to hell, excuse my profanity. putin loved trump. he didn't want wars, he kept saying. but i feel that the democrats started this war, i really do. host: ok. that was jacqueline in michigan. john, you really vote? caller: rarely. host: why is that? caller: i graduated at 88 and my first election was 90 for the senate. steny hoyer was running it. i was living in maryland. he was running against a guy

named mohammed. after the election took place, it set on the news that a buns -- a bunch of ballots were found in a house and i was painted then about the election system. so, i stopped voting. then i watched the 2000 election and it further enhanced my thoughts about the elections being fixed. then we went to electric voting machines. they weren't supposed to be online now, you know, everybody talking about the voting machines that are not supposed to be connected to the internet. that's all it is. host: he believes it's all fixed. as we sat at the top, early voting begins in several states next month. some of those swing states as well. this is from trump axios. when early in person voting

begins and they break it down by states, the darker colors are 35 days out or more. as it gets lighter, 14 days out, that's across the country, north carolina will become the first state to mail out 2024 ballots on friday with key states like pennsylvania starting early voting this month. election day is two months away. tens of millions of voters will not wait that long. five states begin early person voting in september, pennsylvania september 16, minnesota september 20, virginia september 20, vermont the next day on the 21st, illinois september 20 sixth. early voting begins this morning and we are asking you do you vote in elections. if you are newly registered to vote, we have a line for you this morning along with always, sometimes, rarely. alabama, annie, why do you

always vote? caller: good morning? i've been voting ever since you [indiscernible] i will be voting this time. host: why is it you feel it's important to vote if you have done so since you were 18? caller: [indiscernible] [inaudible] [garbled] host: annie, i apologize, it's breaking up and i hope you can go back. peter, staten island, sometimes votes. caller: sometimes. i live in a heavy blue states. being conservative, when voting in an election in off years, it's not worth it. except for now we have a caucus for every two years and i get

out to vote for her, but i vote in the important ones, like this year, very important to me, the presidential election. i just can't even fathom voting for kamala harris. just watching what joe biden and her administration now, she's in charge of it, have done in the last four years. two wars, and economy in the tank. millions border crossing. we don't know who these people are. they are flying them in. h1, whatever it's called, flying them indirectly, it's insane. new york, 12 million, they just came out with a statistic, nypd, 75% of illegal immigrants are committing crimes in new york city. it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there is something wrong with this picture. not only that, under joe biden and kamala harris we have

started two wars. the middle east and europe. there is a possible third. i believe that china is just now waiting to see who wins the election. if it is kamala harris, he's going to invade taiwan because we are weak. host: you mentioned not voting down ballot or in off a election years. you are motivated to vote for nicole mollo talk us? caller: yes. host: is it because of her support for the former president? do you tie them together? what is it? caller: she's common sense. she wants common sense things. to me. at lower gas prices. lower food prices. illegal immigrants not allowed to come into the country, come in the right way. my ancestors are from italy.

we all say do it right. host: you like the way she is talking about immigration, is that it? caller: not only that. i like the way she fights for new yorkers and fights for things that are right and common sense. host: all right, those are peter's thoughts in new york. some tweets and texts fromur ews, here's brian in cleveland ohio, i've been following politics for a decade and have never voted for president. this year i registed an independent but cannot. i blame the democrats. my vote s en suppressed. sue is in new jersey, i vote d i skipped the last primary. it would be nice to see more choices on the balt and know more about the independent candidateny background and skills. this froms, i always vote in

presidential midterm elections, my first was for jimmy carter. casting my vote for the likes of reagan, carter, bidentimes for the leadership skills sometimes on policy and as you can see sometimes i am pleased with my decisions and sometis i have regretted them and that docracy, baby. tony, florida, vote in every electioneste not always being able to vote in primaries or independents, there is always something to vote on kevin says i have voted for 50 years. the republican party has shifted in the last 10 years. hosted by duke university school

of public policy, saying she would vote for the vice president. here she is. [video clip] >> because we are here in north carolina, it is crucially important for people to recognize not only what i set about the danger that trump poses, something that should prevent people from voting for him. i don't believe we have the luxury of writing in candidate names, particularly in swing states. as a conservative who believes in the constitution, i have thought deeply about this. because of the danger that donald trump poses i will not only vote for not donald trump, but i will vote for kamala harris. host: that was liz cheney,

saying that she will be voting for kamala harris. here's the reaction from arizona. [video clip] >> the best thing i can say about the next presidency of donald j. trump's he's going to make sure that people like liz cheney are left out of the oval office of rewarded. this is a person, this is a person whose entire career has been about sending other people's children to fight and die for a military conflict in her ridiculous idea that somehow we are going to turn afghanistan , a country without running water in a lot of places, into a thriving liberal democracy. for that, she was willing to kill thousands of your children. liz cheney, you know what?

it's the best thing in the world she's supporting kamala harris. blessed are the peacemakers. kamala harris and liz cheney make interesting partners. they get rich when our sons and daughters go off to die. they get rich when america loses wars instead of winning wars. they get rich when america gets weaker. we want american strength, security, and most importantly, peace, let's bring peace back to the world, donald trump is the candidate host: to do it. host:that was jd vance in arizona, yesterday. our campaign 2020 four coverage continues today d we will have live coverage of the former president, in new york city today, talking about the u.s. ecomy aanvent hosted by the economic club of new york. noon eastern, c-span, c-span now, our free video mobi app, or online at c-span.org. you can follow our campaign covege if you go to

c-span.org/campaign 2020 four. gloria, warren, ohio, good morning. you always vote. is that right? caller: i do, i'm 80 years old and have been voting since i was 18, i'm a democrat proudly. when it came to trump, do they forget? do they forget the people on the breathing machines? people dying on that hill? host: got to leave it there, you have to mute your television when you call in. reminder to you and others, so that we don't hear the feedback. leroy, minnesota. caller: how are you? host: please mute your television. caller: ok, i thought i had it

muted. ok, is that good? i voted twice in my life. the reason why i have, i had dyslexia and don't have a true understanding without a right to vote. not knowing what i should vote for. it's scary when you are out there to vote and you don't understand the issues. a lot of c-span, thanks for that. i've voted twice in my life. it wrong. the green party is something i would like to look at. i've been trying to check it out. host: leroy, when you watch

c-span, are you going to try to learn as much as you can? campaign 2024? caller: i don't do well with computers, phones, i catch what i can. i'm afraid of the news that i watch. everyone says i don't watch the right news if i don't vote for trump. trump scares the heck out of me. seems like he gets to avoid. i don't get to avoid anything i ever did wrong. i don't know how he gets away with it. bottom line, i'm going to vote, vote possibly for the green party. definitely, trump is going to be on my record. host: if you can, if you can, get help finding, if you go to c-span.org, we have candidates on "the washington journal," you caught that, along with the libertarian candidate. they were on and took your phone

calls. for those who missed it and are interested in learning more, and we have covered the conventions of those parties, head to our website, c-span.org and you can learn more there. a couple of other political headlines for you, usa today, low income voters flocking to the vice president, leading the former president 55% to 58% in that group. we are talking about people who make $20,000 or less per year. then she talked about this yesterday at a stop in new hampshire, democratic presidential nominee, kamala harris, proposed a less drastic increase in the top capital gains tax rate on wednesday, breaking with the plan by president biden outlined in his budget blueprint this year. a 33% all in top capital gains rate would be the highest since

1978. not as high as president biden wanted to go with capital gains. she was campaigning in new hampshire. she talked about small businesses as well. if you want to learn more, our website, c-span.org for all our campaign 2024 coverage. you can watch these candidates in their -- their events in their entirety. and watch for yourself without interruption. carol, in iowa city. you always vote, carol, is that right? caller: i do vote always. i have been a democrat forever. i think my first vote was probably for jack kennedy. i stayed up all night to watch the election just hoping that he would win, and he did. part of my family is republican. one lives in the south he's

definitely a republican. and so we have some hefty arguments about that. but i'm voting for kamala. she's for the women's rights, which i totally believe in. other than that i think the rabid republicans are on the wrong path. you'll never be able to convince them of that because they think that trump gave them everything, he gave them nothing. he gave us covid. he gave us other things that we just don't need. and he never can say the right thing. he switches too many times on what he says. he is a liar. he's a cheater. he's a crook. i hope when all of these judges get their things together that they end up sending him to prison or giving him some kind of a sentence that he can never infect the -- america again.

thank you. host: carol in iowa. we'll leave the conversation there. we'll take a short break. when we come back a discussion about the challenges facing low-income americans when it comes to affordable housing. that conversation with diane yentel, president and c.e.o. of the national low income housing coalition. later, joshua jacobs, veterans' affairs undersecretary for benefits will join us to discuss veterans benefits and implementation of the 2022 pact act. stay with us, we'll be right back. >> attention, middle and high school students across america, it's time to make your voice heard. c-span's student cam documentary contest 2025 is here. this is your chance to create a documentary that can inspire change, raise awareness, and make an impact. your documentary should answer this year's question -- your message to the president, what issue is most important to you or your community?

whether you are passionate about politics, the environment, or community stories, student cam is your platform to share your message with the world. with $100,000 in prizes, including a grand prize of $5,000. this is your opportunity not only to make an impact but also be rewarded for your creativity and hard work. enter yourssio today. scan the code orisit student cam.org for s on how to enter. the deadline is january 20, 2025. >> nonfiction book lovers, c-span has a number of podcasts for you. listen to best-selling nonfiction authors and influential interviews on the afterwards podcast. on "q&a" hear wide ranging conversation was the nonfiction authors and others who are making things happen. book notes blues episodes are weekly hour long conversation that is feature fascinating

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>> "washington journal" continues. host: diane yentel is the president and c.e.o. of the national low-income housing coalition here to talk about rental housing access and affordability. let's begin with low income. how do you define that? guest: low income is defined by the u.s. department of housing and urban development. and they define a low income person as somebody who is at 80% or below the area's median income. at the coalition we focus on housing affordability for people who are extremely low income. that's defined by people who are at or below 30% of the area's median income. it's for those people who are at that extremely low the greatest housing affordability challenges lie. host: "new york times" recent headline, more renters than ever before are burdened by the rent

they pay. a neujahr srard report says 22.4 million households in the united states now spend more than 30% of their income in rent with 12.1 million spending more than 50%. tell us more. guest: that's right. the housing affordability crisis has really reached new levels in our country where over half of all renters can't afford their rent. they are paying more than they should to be able to keep a roof over their heads. while the challenges are facing more and more people in our country, the challenges for people with the lowest incomes, unfortunately, have been much more long-standing and pervasive. we have -- nationally we have a shortage of 7.2 million homes, affordable and available, for people with the lowest incomes. another way of saying that same number is for every 10 of the

lowest income households, there are fewer than four apartments that are affordable and available to them. while the shortage -- the severity of the shortage ranges from most severe to least severe throughout the country, there is no place, there is no state, there is no metro area, there is virtually no community where apartments are affordable to people with the lowest incomes. host: let's take a look at some of the highest median rental prices in the country. hawaii is the highest with $1,868. california follows that, d.c., maryland, and massachusetts. take a look at the median rental prices by state in the united states, the lowest, kentucky tops that list, mississippi, south dakota, arkansas, and west virginia.

these are the lowest by state median rental prices across the country. what is your reaction to those numbers, diane yentel? guest: one of the things we saw after the pandemic when there were tremendous protections and resources provided and put in place to help renters stay stably housed and pay the rent, once those protections expired and those resources were depleted, we saw skyrocketing, historic increases in rents across the country where there were communities that were rents were increased by as high as 20%, 30% increases in rents. this created a tremendous squeeze on the budgets for people with the lowest incomes. we have seen over the last year and a half a leveling off of those rents. in some cases even a slight

decline in some communities. overall the rents remain still far above where they were prior to the pandemic. in those places where the rental costs on average or median are lower the ones that you shared just now, those are the places that tend to also have lower wages. so the challenges of affordability remain in those communities as well. one of the ways that we at the national income housing coalition look at rental costs is we create what we call the housing wage. that's how much somebody needs to earn in an hour just to be able to afford a modest one or two bedroom apartment. nationally the housing wage for a two bedroom apartment is $32 an hour. and the housing wage for one bedroom apartment is $27 an hour. again that really ranges throughout the conthink. it can go much higher or a little bit lower.

but across the board for low-income workers or for people with disabilities, seniors on limited fixed incomes, the rents are far out of reach for what they can pay. host: what are those folks making? you just said what they need to make, but what are they making? guest: 14 out of 20 of the most common occupations in our country pay median wages that are less than what somebody needs to afford to rent a one bedroom apartment. there are about 64 million people, or 42% of our country's workforce that work in those jobs. so they are getting paid wages less than what it costs to afford a one bedroom apartment. that's why we are seeing more and more people having to pay 40%, 50%, 60% of their limited

income just to keep a roof over their heads or having to make really difficult tradeoffs in their budgets, questions whether they can fill up the tank for their car to get to work, or whether they can pay the rent, or whether they can buy that medication they need, or whether they can pay the rent. these challenges are persisting and increasing for many of the lowest income people. host: you said supply is one reason for this situation. what is the solution? guest: supply is one piece of it. we do have to build and preserve affordable housing, especially throughout the country, but there are many communities where we need to build more rental units at various income levels to meet the demand. supply's certainly a piece of it. as we are building more apartments, we need to make sure that a good percentage of those are affordable to people with the lowest incomes. there are a number of programs available that could allow us to

do that if they were fully funded. there is also the reality that in some communities there is a sufficient supply of apartments, but the people who are living in them can't afford them. we need to bridge that gap between what people earn and what the rent costs. we do that through rental assistance. rental assistance can take the form of more traditional section 8 housing choice vouchers, or it could be a newer kind of program that could be implemented by congress like a renters tax credit. something to help people bridge that gap between what they are earning and what rent costs. those are the two primary solutions to the housing affordability prices. but at the same time there is a tremendous power imbalance in our housing market that tilts heavily in favor of landlords at the expense of renters. especially renters with the lowest incomes, people of color,

some of the most marginalized people in our country. we need really robust and enforced tenant protections throughout the country. the messenger: -- host: what about rent control? guest: that's been more of a topic of conversation recently. it's reached presidential campaigns. i think certainly in places likr where we see these rent increases, we saw after the pandemic of 25%, 30%, 35% rent increases that cannot be justified in terms of any costs that the landlord is holding. those rent increases happen simply because the market will allow for landlords to raise rents as high as the market will allow without any consideration of its impact on tenants. reasonable rent stabilization, preventing obvious rent gouging,

is an important tool in the toolbox that more and more communities are putting in place with positive effect. host: to mary in new york, a renter, marry. mary. caller: yes. concerning the difficult situation with people having to pay rent and it's too much and the availability, i would just urge everybody to vote forker president trump because he knew how to run the economy. it was better for everybody. and the economy now is just stretching and hurting too many americans. host: let's ask our guest. diane yentel, during the first trump administration what did they do on low-income housing?

guest: sure. what president trump was in office, he continuously proposed major cuts to programs that make housing affordable to people with the lowest incomes. in some cases he proposed eliminating crucial programs all together. congress on a bipartisan basis rejected those proposals several times. but he regularly proposed eliminating or cutting those key programs. he also proposed evicting certain tenants from public housing which would have certainly exacerbated the housing crisis for those individuals, for communities, for the whole country. he had a mixed record on local zoning. at times he proposed and put in place some white house counsels

to look at what are the local zoning challenges that inhibit the supply of housing, and especially affordable housing. but at the same time he would often talk about the importance of these harmful local zoning laws that didn't allow for apartments to be built. he also, though, was the president who put in place a moratorium on evictions during the pandemic and that was a really crucial protection that kept many people who otherwise would have been -- would have lost their homes during the pandemic. stably housed during it. he had a mixed record. did he have that -- he did have that very positive policy he put in place. at the same time he put forward even more harmful proposals that would have, if enacted, greatly exacerbated the housing crisis.

host: diane yentel, does the national income housing coalition endorse candidates? guest: no. we do not. we are strictly nonpartisan. host: do you take any role in political campaigns? guest: we do not. host: who funds your organization? guest: we are funded by foundations. we actually have a policy where we don't request or receive any funds from government entities. we are entirely funded by foundations and donations from individuals. host: marion in grove town, georgia. hi. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have been reading a lot and seeing lots of videos about what's happening in florida where desantis has put in that rule that because of the collapse of the building that they now have to all -- condo owners and all the buildings have to get assessed and fix their buildings. it can be millions and millions

of dollars. and that is actually making the people that own those sell them. and then it's going to be, i guess, what's going to happen then developers will come in, swoop in, take it over, and put up rents. it sounds to me like there is a problem with these big wealthy, i guess -- coming in and taking away homes from people that own them and making them into rentals. almost like what's going to become -- where nobody owns their homes anymore the way it's happening in florida. it sounds really scary what's going on in florida for those poor homeowners that are going to actually end up leaving their place and not having any -- in other words, they can't really sell their homes. they owe more for the having to fix their condo or assessment than the condo's even worth.

can you talk about that? guest: you raise a lot of really important issues that are happening throughout the country in your question. first and foremost it's essential that we ensure that apartment buildings, any multifamily housing, are safe for the people who live within it. so some level of regulation and ensuring the safety and soundness of those apartment buildings in florida, especially after the tragedy that happened several years ago, is very important. it comes with costs. the issue that's also coming up in florida and in all coastal communities and increasingly even beyond the coastal communities is insurance rates are also rising really skyrocketing in some communities. in part because of increased disasters whether man-made like the one that happened in florida

or natural disasters are occurring more regularly and with greater severity. but we are also seeing in someplaces where there aren't these natural disasters, insurance costs are going up very significantly for multifamily housing. and that is having a -- creating a tremendous challenge, especially for affordable housing developers and owners who by design don't want to and can't raise rents to offset the costs of those increased insurance costs but still have a bottom line they have to make. and we are seeing developers and owners of housing that -- apartments that house the lowest income people permanently, supportive housing for people who were formerly homeless who are very challenged in keeping their bottom line on those units.

and are considering not developing more even where it's most needed. this is really becoming an existential crisis in the multifamily housing industry. many people are discussing what those solutions might look like. whether there could be a federal intervention, state and local inventions, public-private partnerships. something has to shift if we are going to ensure that we even preserve the affordable housing that we have and if we are able to build more housing that we need. you also raised the issue of corporations for major investors purchasing properties. the impact that that can have. that's also a challenge and it adds to the affordable housing crisis throughout our country. overall there is a low percentage of wall street investors who have purchased and

owned properties, but in some communities the percentage is quite high. like in places in nevada and other states, florida as well has a high level of institutional investors. and one thing that the data and evidence have made very clear is that those institutional investors often tend to be among the worst actors when it comes to landlords. so they have been found to be it serial eviction filedders as a profit making strategy. they have been found to add what are known as junk fees, increased costs for regular day-to-day living that they add to the rent costs that exacerbate the affordability challenges. so there is -- there are also efforts and some bipartisan efforts in congress to limit the ability for institutional investors to continue purchasing

properties in communities. but it also goes back to the importance of tenant protections. the reason why corporate landlords are able to put in place these harmful practices is because in many places there are very few protections for tenants. we need to do multiple things at the same time to address all of the challenges within the housing market and the housing crisis. host: diane yentel is our guest, president and c.e.o. of the national low-income housing coalition. we have divided the lines by renters and all others this morning. if you rent, 202-748-8000. all others can dial in at 202-748-8001. you can text us at 202-748-8003, including your first name, city, and state. tim is first. caller: good morning, ladies.

given the fact in the last eight years we probably put close to $14 trillion into the whole area of the united states from donald trump and joe biden without just giving out money for the p.p.p. loans. we have people from chicago come out and they bought -- they paid for their houses scot-free from the p.p.p. loans that they got because they owned a business. so that made our housing around here go up astronomically. host: tim, what's the impact of inflation? guest: one of the driving forces within increased inflation has

been the increased cost of housing. when you break down what was causing increased and high inflation rates, much of it related to the high cost of housing. that was one reason why we and others were really pushing the administration and congress to do all it could to lower housing costs to also bring down inflation. but the fact of the matter was, again, as i mentioned earlier, after the pandemic where we did have really significant resources provided by federal, state, and local governments to help people maintain their housing and jobs during the pandemic, p.p.p. loans were one important resource that saved a lot of jobs during the pandemic. there was also $46 billion in emergency rental assistance. there was the federal eviction

moratorium. once all those resources were spent and those protections expired, renters re-entered a really brutal housing market because rents were skyrocketing and inflation increased as well in large part because of those skyrocketing rents, but costs across the board had increased. so those tenants were facing not only 20% or 30% increase in rent, but they were also paying more at the gas station. they were paying more at the grocery store. and all of it was really squeezing those lowest income renters. that's why we started to see those eviction filing rates significantly increase and it's why a little while later we saw homelessness increasing to its highest level throughout the country. it's because of that increased inflation, those skyrocketing rents, and those limiting resources and protections available to keep renters stably

housed. host: alexandria virginia, tina, a renter. caller: good morning, greta. i was wondering how come you guys haven't brought up the recent lawsuit from attorney general merrick garland against real page. it's one word. realpage. it's just been in the last week i think. because he has a lawsuit against them because they have this algorithm where they make alt landlords in a given area charge the same rent. so there is no competition. and i think that's racketeering or something that merrick garland said that they are going to make -- change their ways and the algorithm they use is no longer going to be able to be

used. and that will give some relief to people who have to rent. i have been in my apartment since 2007. so i don't pay utilities. however, on my rental report tool where i pay my rent, they keep showing me the utility that i owe. and they won't give me anything in writing saying i don't pay utilities. it's like up to $4,400. this company only been here since may. this property manager been here since may and the utility they are running up on me and they not holding me to it. it's like $4,400. host: ok. we'll take your comments. guest: it's a great point. the realpage -- lawsuit against realpage is one we are certainly watching very carefully. there was a hearing about a year and a half ago that i testified

at in the senate before the judiciary committee that was looking at this issue. these allegations of rent gouging and rent setting through algorithms as you say. it may be one of the reasons why we saw those skyrocketing rents after the pandemic. those increased rents that could not be justified through the increased costs. one reason why rents were skyrocketing to that level may have been this algorithm being made available to large landlords. we'll have to see how that lawsuit plays out. but we are certainly watching that very carefully. one of the things that we discussed in the hearing and you raise here as well is other fees, often called junk fees, that landlords, especially larger corporate landlords, can add to the cost of rent that

really add up and make it difficult for tenants to afford to stay in their apartments. and one of the tenant protections that we could put in place is simply ensuring that tenants have full transparency into what are the costs that -- what are the fees that they are being charged, and to have some level to be able to appeal feels that are unfair or shouldn't be applied to their particular unit. that's one of the really simpler and more obvious tenant protection that is we should but don't already have in place throughout the country. host: what is president biden's track record on low-income housing for renters? guest: president biden has -- i honestly i have done this work for several decades now. i have seen him and his administration place more of an

emphasis and attempt to do more on the affordable housing crisis than i have seen from any other administration. his was an administration that invited renters and other impacted people to the white house to hear from them about their challenges and then to put forward a blueprint for renters rights, for example, which was the first of its kind from a white house. he's also proposed increases to essential programs like rental assistance and public housing repairs, eviction prevention programs that model the successful emergency rental assistance that his administration helped implement and get out to tenants across the board. the challenge is that for the housing crisis for many of the solutions, an administration acting on its own has limited effect on the housing crisis.

it requires congressional action. so we have to see bipartisan action in the congress with equal urgency advancing and passing protections and resources to make housing affordable if we are really going to be able to address this crisis. host: the two candidates, the vice president's housing proposal includes construction of threeillion new housing units in the next four years. $25,000 down payment support for first time homeowner take on corporate landlords and cap unfair rent increases. the former president's housing proposals, detain and deport unauthorized immigrants to free up housing, cut taxes for american families, eliminate costly regulations, and free up portions of federal land for housing. your reaction to both of those? guest: again we are a nonpartisan organization. we don't take any stance in the elections. this close to the election it's difficult to compare one

candidate's record to another's without doing that. so i have to be careful in this space. i will say that one place where there is a commonality there is in some protections against evictions. one thing that both of the candidates have proposed is to use -- free up federal land to allow for more supply of apartments. or an ability to build more apartments which could have a positive effect on overall affordability. and place where there is a pretty stark difference both in what has been proposed and in the track records of former president trump and former senator harris where former president trump acted to eliminate or cut funding for key housing programs, and former senator harris and vice president harris has acted to work to try to increase funding or increase even programs that

can make housing affordable for low-income people. host: james in buffalo, kentucky, hi. you're next. caller: yes, ma'am. thank you. i love your show. thanks for your guest coming on. i have experienced low-income housing. the very first place i ever bought was a beautiful place in north carolina. the problem is it was low-income housing. i managed to buy it. the problem with it is the people that moved in -- i got back there first before development got even started, but it was really nice. the people started coming in and they were tearing the place all to pieces. they made a ghetto out of the place. i had to get out of there. i'm like here you got this really nice development. they come in and tore it all to pieces. and then i had to take my truck and get out and ride around and

clean up the place so i could sell my place. and the whole time i'm like why wouldn't you take care of something that the government is trying to help you put a roof over your head. host: we'll take those comments. diane? guest: i can't speak to the experience you had. it sounds like it was a challenge for you. i can say that people who live in affordable housing are people like those who live in housing that's not affordable. they care about their homes. they care about their communities. they are raising families in their homes. they are seniors looking to age with dignity in their homes. and, in fact, people who are low-income and extremely low-income who are most in need of affordable housing are predominantly seniors, people

with disabilities, both who are living on extremely limited fixed incomes that make it very difficult for their -- them to afford their housing. or they are families families working very low wage jobs, service jobs, home health care workers, childcare workers. earning wages that make it very difficult for them to afford their housing. and everybody in this country deserves to have a home that is accessible and affordable and in communities of their choice. we need to do more as a country to make that possible. host: sally is next in charleston, west virginia. caller: good morning. thank you so much for this important segment. i am a renter and our rent consistently continues to go up

and up. but also i want to particularly point out that my sister, who lives in tennessee, outside of nashville, had to move outside of nashville and is disabled is facing incredible increases. she has tried to find affordable housing -- excuse me. i get very nervous. host: you are doing great. she's trying to find affordable housing. caller: yes. affordable housing. and they will not rent to somebody, she's disabled, on a fixed income. they will not rent to anybody who doesn't have an income coming in that exceeds the fixed income she has. so she is in a really tough spot right now. host: all right. let's have our guest respond.

guest: it's a challenge that she and many others, unfortunately, are pace facing throughout the country. -- are facing throughout the country. people with disabilities or seniors have extremely limited fixed incomes. talking about for a single senior or person with a disability having income of around $12,000 to 15*d,000 a year -- $15,000 a year. having to try to find a way to pay rent. it's near nearly im-- nearly impossible to do unless they are doubled or tripled up with other families unless they are paying exorbitant amounts of their income for that roof over their head and having to forgo medication or store bought food as a result. or there are a very lucky few o who receive federal rental assistance to make those homes affordable. but we have a system in our

country where we only fund one in our households who are eligible and in need of housing assistance to be able to receive it. in other words, 75% of people in our country who are extremely low income and in need of housing assistance get none. and they are households who have to add their names to years or sometimes decades long waiting lists. hoping to win what's essentially a housing lottery system in our country where only the lucky 25% get the help that they need. it doesn't have to be this way. we have clear solutions, proven successful programs like rental assistance that should be made universally available to all elingeible household -- eligible households in need that requires congress to fund it adequately. i would suggest you call your

member of congress and share with them this story and urge them to do more to expand rental assistance. the other challenge, sally, that this person faces and other people with disabilities face, is a lack of accessible apartments throughout the country. that is also a real challenge in our housing market and one that needs attention and more resources to make more apartments accessible for people who need those accommodations. host: george, petersburg, virginia. hi, george. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i am a landlord. i have a solution to the situation that we have. during the covid-19, the corporate landlord, they benefited from the funds that the federal government gave. the smaller landlord we did not. i lost over $100,000 because

they gave the commonwealth $1 billion. and the funds was depleted. the remedy to this situation is that what the federal government needs to do is have funds set up for the landlord and we tap into those funds and we are able to help those who are less fortunate in our community. i think that we had a program throughout the united states that would be the solution to helping those who are struggling and trying to find houses. host: all right, george. i'll get a response. guest: thank you, george for that question. and for your concern about low-income renters and your properties or in your community. you are absolutely right that the emergency rental assistance that congress provided during the pandemic was a lifeline for millions of tenants who had lost

jobs or lost income through no fault of their own and couldn't pay the rent for them to be able to stay stably housed. and for smaller landlords to continue getting the rental income that they rely on to be able to operate and repair and continue to keep their rental properties. there wasn't enough emergency rental assistance provided for everybody to get the help that they need, but it was a tremendous amount of resources. it was historic. and it kept millions of people who otherwise would have lost their homes stably housed during it. we are working with bipartisan members of congress to build off of these lessons learned and this incredible success story of emergency rental assistance and create a permanently authorized and funded emergency rental assistance program into the future. i think that could be helpful for landlords like yourself, and

certainly for the tenants who live in your properties. the other solution as i was just discussing with the earlier caller is rental assistance. that is a win-win for tenants and for landlords. and more property owners should urge their members of congress to expand rental assistance. there are a number of landlord associations who do support expanded rental assistance, but we really need even more to get the bipartisan support we need to make rental assistance universally available to all eligible households in need. host: all right. last call here, crystal river, florida, caller. caller: yes, hi. i was listening to this conversation here. i just made this observation how your guest has talked about how

donald trump didn't do this, didn't do that, and then she talked about the biden administration and how they did all these things for renters and how to help them. once again the biden administration has taken an issue that was already bad because we had crisis for people that were homeless, in the streets, and didn't have or couldn't afford housing, and what do they do? they bring in millions and millions of more people into the country that have no work, that need housing, that need food, that need medical care, and how they want to help the problem. again, the problem that they themselves caused. host: ok. guest: the housing crisis predates the current administration and the former administration. and especially as we look at the housing challenges forepeople

with -- for people with the lowest incomes, extremely low-income households. this has been a long-standing, pervasive feature of our housing system. and until we really recognize the tremendous need for congress to act on a bipartisan basis and fund solutions at the scale necessary to make homes affordable for the lowest income people, that will continue to be the case. i just want to urge all of your callers who called in today -- your viewers, those who called in today and those listening who care deeply about the rental housing crisis, who are impacted by them, themselves, or know people who are to call your member of congress, share your stories, and urge that they do more to fund proven solutions to the housing crisis. host: diane yentel, president and c.e.o. of national low-income housing coalition.

you can learn more if you can go mlihc.org. thank you for the conversation this morning. we appreciate it. guest: thanks for having phaoefplt. host: we are going to take a break. coming up here on the "washington journal," joshua jacobs will be joining us later. he's a veterans' affairs undersecretary for benefits talking about veterans benefits and implementation of the 2022 pact act. before that conversation, we are going to open up the phone lines. open forum here on the "washington journal" after this break. start dialing now. any politics or public policy issue on your mind. we'll be right back. ♪ >> discover the heartbeat of democracy with c-span voices 2024. as we engage voters ahead of the first debate between vice president kamala harris and

former president donald trump asking what issue would you like for them to address and why. >> hi, my name is olivia. from south jersey of the the issue i want to hear more about with the woman's rights and protection of women and children, especially within cities. >> i'm molly, from denver, colorado. i think the he issue most important to me is abortion rights. >> we need to do something with these guns, these people with these guns. a lot of innocent people losing their lives. it must stop. it has to come to an end. >> i would like to hear them talk about childcare in the future as well as housing crisis since that's the future that a lot of us would like to get into. and i would like to know how best can i go into that in the future. >> c-span's voices 2024. be a part of the conversation.

>> the c-span bookshelf podcast feed makes it easy for you to listen to all of c-span's podcast that is feature nonfiction books in one place so you can discover new authors and ideas. each week we are making it convenient for you to listen to multiple episodes with critically acclaimed authors discussing history, current events, and culture. from our signature programs about books, afterwards, book notes plus, and "q&a." listen to c-span's bookshelf podcast feed today. find it at c-span bookshelf podcasts on the free c-span now mobile video app or wherever you tkpwed your podcasts and on our website c-span.org/podcasts. >> attention middle and high school students across america. it's time to make your voice heard. c-span student cam documentary contest 2025 is here. this is your chance to create a documentary that can inspire

change, raise awareness, and make an impact. your documentary should answer this year's question, your message to the president, what issue is most important to you or your community. whether you are passionate about politics, the environment, or community stories. student cam is your platform to share your message with the world. with $100,000 in prizes, including a grand prize of $5,000 this is your opportunity not only to make an impact but also be rewarded for your creativity and hard work. enter your submissions today. scan the code or visit studtcam.org for details on the deadline is january 20, 2025. >> 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, unfiltered coverage of government. taking you to where the policy's debated and decided, all with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back in open forum this morning. we want to hear from you on any public policy or politics issue. we are 61 days out from election day. so politics is on the mind of many people. you have seen a surge in voter registration since july leading up to election day. new voters, if you are one of those, call in this morning as well. and any public policy issue that you have heard about -- that you want to talk about as well from the candidates. the vice president was in new hampshire yesterday rolling out her proposal for small businesses. this is the election section of

the "washington post" with their headline about the vice president's stop there in new hampshire. harris touts tax relief and small business agenda in new hampshire. listen to a little bits of what she had to tell the crowd there. vice president harris: i want to see 25 million new small business applications by the end of my first term. and to help achieve this we will lower the cost of starting a new business. here's the thing. on average it costs about $40,000 to start a new business in america. that is a great financial barrier for a lot of folks. it can hold entrepreneurs back. and the current tax deduction for a start-up is just $5,000. then you got to make up the delta there. have to figure out how to do that. not everyone has access to that

kind of wealth and capital. part of my plan is we will expand the tax deduction for start-ups to $50,000. [applause] it's essential a tax cut for starting a small business. second, my plan will help existing small businesses grow. we will provide low and no-interest loans to small businesses that want to expand. we will -- this is very important. cut the red tape that can make starting and growing a small business more difficult than it needs to be. more difficult than it needs to be. [applause] for example we will make it cheaper and easier for small businesses to file their taxes. similar, similar to how individuals can take a standard

deduction. i said to my team, kind of like -- i'm going to date myself again because they no longer do t. remember the 1040 easy? that kind of idea, right? let's just take away some of the bureaucracy in the process to make it easier for people to actually do something that's going to benefit our entire economy. third, my plan will invest in small businesses and innovators throughout america. and here's why. we know that talent exists everywhere in our country from rural towns to city centers. but not everyone has access to the financing, to venture capital, or expert advice. it's not that they don't have the skills. it's not that they don't have the work ethic. it's access to these resources. so under my plan we willxpan

access to venture capital, we will support innovation hubs and business incould you baiters, and we -- incubators, we will increase federal contracts with small businesses. [cheers and applause] and we will have a particular focus on small businesses in rural communities like right here in new hampshire. host: c-span's coverage of the vice president in new hampshire yesterday. our coverage of campaign 2024 continues today. live at noon. the form psident will be in new york at the economic club talkg out the economy. you can watch it here on c-span. or-span now, our free video mobile app, online at c-span.org. go to david who is in illinois, republican. david, we are in open forum. what's on your mind? caller: yes. hello, greta. in listening to that lady a

minute ago i was -- it baffles me. she did not address at all the open borders from the south. the last 3 1/2 years. are you telling me that hasn't affected housing? host: david, that's an important issue to you. this campaign cycle as well? caller: well, i think it's an obvious issue. yes, it's important. but also you see what's happening -- you see the reportw york city or l.a. or phoenix and how it's affecting the city life especially. but she didn't address it at all is my problem. host: david in illinois, republican. glenn, pennsylvania, independent. hi. what's on your mind? caller: hello, greta. there's a lot on my mind this morning. let's start with this gentleman -- tell this gentleman to tell donald trump to support the bipartisan immigration bill.

hang on, greta, the bipartisan immigration bill that he do not want his buddy to vote for. why he don't want that bill to go through? the immigration bill. and the democrats, play the tape with mitt romney what donald trump has said about the immigration by the bill. he did not want it to go through. the democrats play that record. play that tape. next thing, inflation. inflation, the republicans. well, let's talk about it. the democrats and republicans print $4 trillion to stimulate the economy. that's what caused the inflation. so both of them should get blamed for it. not just the democrat.

that bill was passed bipartisan to invest in the economy, to bring back the economy. that cause inflation. host: let me go to shirley, garland, texas, democratic caller. caller: good morning. what i have a problem with, i wish somebody would ask this, our governor and trump when those babies got killed here in texas, they had a gun show. and they went and support the gun show to continue selling those guns. and those babies, parents was crying and moaning their children. and the two teachers that got killed. what the government has to say about that? that's what i'd like to know. why they keep supporting the gun show. host: shirley there in garland, texas, talking about gun

violence. following yesterday's school shooting in georgia. here's the "atlanta journal constitution" their headline this morning that the state has identified four killed in that georgia school shooting. and it was a 14-year-old who is in custody and charged with that shooting. two teachers and two children. ann in indian trail, north carolina, independent. ann. we'll hear from you. caller: hi, good morning. i'm calling because i called about a month and a half ago and was on the line for -- not knowing which way to go, which way to vote since i'm independent. and i the men or women who is running. i have watched tv on all chance. and information from every place i could get it since then. last night i watched biden -- excuse phaoerbgs not biden,

trump give a speech or whatever he calls it, it was supposed to be answers and questions from the guy on fox. and i have never heard -- i'm an honest christian person. and i have never heard anybody be so ugly, critical, use every negative thing he could against kamala. i have never heard anything like it. and anything like it. he does not have a chance with me because i cannot take the chance -- cannot take the fact that he is involved. i live near south carolina and go to that beach. and they had a beautiful, beautiful boardwalk down there, the oldest one. well we were down there for a

concert, and a rock 'n' roll concert about 10 years ago. and we were standing on this property and we said this looks like where they used to have the pavilion and things and he said it is. he said that trump tore it up to build a casino and then it went bankrupt. now do these people not realize and think back because i really have tried to think what was great happening four years ago and i can only think that he went off the deep end when covid hit. host: the former president did sit down with fox news to sit down with a townhall meeting and sean hannity moderated that. here is what the president had to say about the upcoming debate on tuesday, september 10. [video clip] >> abc is the worst network in

terms of fairness. they had a poll where i was 17 points down a couple of days prior to the election. i was 17 points down in wisconsin. and they do that so people do not vote because i love trump but he has 17 points down so i will not vote. i was 17 points down and i won and i said why would they say four or three? because at three you go and vote and at 17 your people say i want to vote but i am busy and i have other things to do. let's see a movie and we will result -- watch the results later. they are the most dishonest network, the meanest and nastiest. that is what i was presented with. i was presented with abc, george slopadopoulous. he is a nasty guy. i have had him up to a year.

but let me tell you, let me have -- let me tell you. he has a very bad kind of a guy. but i watched his interview of joe biden and it was like the softest interview i have ever seen. it was softer than the cnn interview of kamala. they are very nasty and i think a lot of people will be watching to see how nasty and unfair they are. i agreed to do it because they would not do any other network. the other thing is her best friend is the head of the network. her husband's best friend is married to the head of the network. and they are going to get the questions. i have already heard that they will get the questions in advance. they have donna brazil. do you remember? donna brazil, she is the real beauty. donna brazil, she gave hillary clinton the questions, do you remember that?

and she works for abc and she has at the roundtable talking about the debates. so we are going to watch very closely but you are not allowed to do it. you have a clause in the contract that you cannot give them the questions. but i am not sure it will help her that much. you might give her the questions and give her the answers, but i am not sure it will help her. ok. [end video clip] host: the former president during a fox townhall after the upcoming abc debate. abc did issue their rules and it will be 90 minutes, no audience. the microphones will be muted except for the cdidates who started -- you are speaking. no prompts or prewritten notes are allowed and no opening statements and closing statements will be t mutes per candidate. the former president won the coin toss and chose to deliv his statemenla.

the vice president selected the right podium position seen on screen no topics in advanced and the debate will be moderated by an anchor and managing editor david mirror and abc news crime anchor y vis. we will have coverage on the debate on c-span and w begin at 8:00 p.m. with a peer re -- preview and at 9:00.mthe abc news debate. simulcast begins a following we will take your calls and get rctions. watchive, the debate cover on c-span2, c-span now or c-span.org. ahead of the debate we have a question for all of you, do you think these debates matter? and you can take the poll to say yes or no. vote now at c-span.org/poll. use the qr code on your screen

and we will be showing you the results throughout the week leading up to tuesday. can vote now at c-span.org/poll, or use a qr code on your screen. joan, in virginia. republican. open forum. caller: yes. i wanted to address the previous guest. at the end of the hour, a lady called from florida pointing out one of the big problems with the present housing crisis and the increased rent. that being the influx of illegal immigrants that the biden administration has not really done anything until it gets to election time to try and stem. when the lady brought that up she backtracked and said it was a problem before trump got into office and that is absolutely true.

i worked for the department of social services for 15 years and was a fraud investigator and you would go to -- if you look up this low income housing coalition website it was a same type of people that were on that board that i would have to deal with in trying to get fraudsters out of this program. and you could not get any cooperation. they were complicit. i remember that trump got into office he put ben carson in charge of trying to get rid of the fraud and the democrats thought it like crazy. my idea is that we are never going to solve the problem instead -- until instead of lobbyists we have everyone at the table and we are discussing who should be in there and who should not be and everything is just, and not the system that they want to set up where they want everybody to have everything for nothing on the back of the taxpayer. and that is what i wanted to

say. thank you. host: gary, dayton, ohio. democratic caller. caller: i believe in a lot of correlation with a certain thing. i saw a movie, a classic movie, "forbidden planet." and i just saw the monster in that movie looks exactly like donald trump. so donald trump is america's id monster where we put all of our patriotism sayings into and then he spits it out and he looks exactly like the monster from the movie. that is all i have to say about that. thank you. host: don. richland, michigan. republican. what is on your mind? caller: so many things happen -- happening so i will just say one of those things that happened on open forum, that lady is dumber

than a box of rocks and a sheet of drywall. where does all this money come from? we are millions and billions into debt now. and it is unbelievable. how much money some of these people think there is and it is nowhere. where we are at right now, we will never get out of debt. never. my great-grandchildren will be in debt. unless we have a depression and that scares the hell out of me because i was born during the depression. the depression is not fun. host: in richland, michigan. some other topics for you. here is "usa today." january convict receive certain's shortened sentence. "a former police sergeant convicted on the capital attack

on january 6 received a shorter sentence after the supreme court limited the use of a federal obstruction charge. the move could shed light on how prosecutors and judges will deal with charges filed against hundreds of capital defendants and the former president. thomas robertson has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison and charges of his conviction of obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder, entering and remaining and a disk -- in a restrictive meeting -- building and disorderly conduct. but the u.s. district judge reduce a sentence to six years, the first time a january 6 defendant was resentenced under the high court's ruling." from "the washington post." jury selection began in hunter biden's second criminal trial. "jury selection is set to begin in los angeles for the second trial of hunter biden, a case that over the next few weeks could detail for a jury his

lavish lifestyle while she had -- while he was addicted to drugs." from "the new york times," reporting judges are facing and possible task on when to sentence the former president. this is the hush money case. "the veteran judge faces his greatest predicament. he must decide whether to sentence mr. trump as planned on september 18 or wait until election day as mr. trump has requested." that from the new york times as well as is headline below that one, no-nonsense judge will resume presiding over trump's election interference case. that is today. "the judges set to provide overhearing in a federal district court where she is likely to explain how she intends to approach the task of figuring out what parts of mr. trump's indictment will have to

be tossed out and which can survive and go to trial. maria in new jersey. independent. we are in open forum. good morning. caller: good morning. talking about the previous speaker, i mean she has a real joke. first of all, i feel so sorry for these people who cannot afford to live in a home. why doesn't the federal government help them like they help all of these illegals coming into the country that the democrats have invited over here. they are provided with shelter, food, clothing, debit cards, drivers licenses. we can spend billions of dollars on these rapists and terrorist

-- host: i'm going to leave it there. jd, oklahoma city. independent. caller: i would like one of these candidates to tell me how to reduce the national debt. we hear how they are going to spend money, but unless you reduce the debt you will not have enough money to do any of these programs that they are talking about. host: larry in florida. democratic caller. caller: hello. how do you do? i kind of wanted to point out something. i notice that you and others that work for c-span, when somebody is talking, some of these people that -- are you there? host: we are listening. caller: some of these people get to go on for a long period of time just not making any sense. they get to talk a long time and sometimes when people call and

it seems like if you do not like the topic or something your hand goes right over to the shut off button and you kind of cut them off. i am not trying to be pointing this right at you. but it reminds me of the old show and i am 70 years old. the gong show and when the act stunk you got gonged. i know you do not have much time to talk but some of the people calling in, what happened to common sense? that seems to have gone right out the window. i saw a little while ago all of these young people, the main topic is abortion. let's put close the border at the top of the list. come on. we cannot go on like this anymore. i am 70 and in the last four years i am devastated. i cannot pay my bills and you know what?

what has happened with all of the veterans, it is like a slap in the face what is going on to them. my dad was in three wars and i do not know how that man survived. he went over in germany. i know, time is getting short and there goes that hand. i appreciate you letting me spell my spiel. host: once people make a point that we do try to move on for the sake of all of the folks that are listening. so that there is not repetition. try to keep the conversation moving which is the job of the moderator. let people have their say that the same time keep the conversation moving. you might want to stick with us on the washington journal, coming up at 9:30 we will talk about veterans benefits. the undersecretary for benefits at the veterans affairs department will be joining us. in toronto. republican. caller: hello.

i just want to quickly mention this. number one, i do not think abc should have any business with any republican. but i have had this person before. c-span is the only network that has the objectivity to host the debate. can you try and explain to the public, because we wonder why c-span is not holding a debate? because you would only do -- you are the only one who would do justice. and i wonder why kamala did not agree to any other debates. i understand that she only agreed to the abc debate and that is it. and she is running to be the president. why not have the traditional three debates that we are accustomed to? why only one debate?

if you can just allow me. number three. whose idea was it not having any interviews? she just had one interview. i think that is the media -- that is because the media is allowing her to get away from things. they should be demanding interviews and press conference as -- press conferences. i do not know why she has not held a conference. they were insisting wants that candidates must speak to the press. host: i think we heard your point. jim in pennsylvania. democratic caller. caller: my problem is with the willful misinformation from the

voters out there that are repeating the same republican talking points over and over. the price of gasoline has dropped down to two dollars and gallon with covid. they have -- it went down that low because the gasoline market had bought enough. companies were paying to store the gasoline. no one was going anywhere. that is why the prices went down. the prices of eggs went up because you have all of these flocks that had to be destroyed because of the sickness out there. the same talking points are going on and on again and it is like the information is out there and the reason is out there. but, because of their political stance they keep saying the same thing over and over again. it is depressing. it is just plain depressing. host: the front page of "the wall street journal." the u.s. as the kremlin is trying to sway the election.

the department of justice held a news conference yesterday. "the justice department announced the seizure of 30 internet mains weaponized by russian government to direct malign influence efforts against the u.s.. "the new york times" reporting on this story. there front page, the u.s. response to interference by the kremlin. they note that "the state department has offered a $10,000 reward. the department is seeking information on a group known as russian anchor rehab occurs -- russian angry hackers. it would designate news outlets including russia today and -- as foreign government missions and restrict the issuance of visas for peoples working for kremlin supported media institutions. if you missed the justice department's news conference you

can watch it in its entirety on our website, c-span.org. also, this story this morning in "the new york times," the trump media stock price jumped -- drop 74 percent. shares of the former president trump's social media company has fallen so much that his one-time $6 billion stake is now worth $2 billion. the price of trump media closed at $16 and $.98 and is down more than 74% from the high watermark that it hit after the merger in march with a publicly traded shell company. mr. trump is the single largest shareholder. it is the parent company of truth social, and he owns 150 shares, at roughly 60% stake. the slide in price has accelerated over the past few weeks as the campaign has heated up. vice president kamala harris has

narrowly overtaken mr. trump in most national polls. shares often rise and fall at random -- in tandem with investor perception of how mr. trump is doing in the presidential race. the stock is falling in advance of a pivotal date, the expiration of a contract -- contractual lockup that has precluded mr. trump from selling any shares. on september 19, he and other early investors can start selling shares which could further depress the stock price." john in columbia, south carolina. independent. caller: good morning. i wanted to respond to a couple of things. but, this thing about the wars in israel and hungary, and how they kind of keep putting it on biden. and you know, i was around for 9/11, and if you said this was

bush's fault, everybody went crazy. he did not read his daily briefings, condoleezza rice, they knew that stuff was headed their way. there was a lot of intelligence gathering that said something is in the works as far as terrorist attacks on the united states, nobody is supposed to blame bush. but they can polar -- turn around and pull out of thin air because we had some strength around the world that it is bided's fault -- biden's fault when the weaker individual was george w. bush. that is one thing that irritates me. it is easier to throw than take punches. host: we are a public forum so any public policy or political issue that is on your mind we want to talk about. angela in bakersfield, california. independent. caller: am i on?

host: yes. caller: i am calling regarding the rental assistance lady that you just head on. i am not against it. i believe that assistance is meant to be temporary. it is not a permanent solution. and she -- the way that she made it sound was that it was a victimless issue and it is not. because that assistance is coming from other people's wallets in the form that it is coming out of their paychecks. it is not victimless when they are giving other people assistance. temporary assistance is good. temporary assistance is meant to be where the person has time to come up with another solution. whether that be moving in with family, getting help in different ways other than just here, government let's give them money.

they are playing robin hood, and they are taking from other people and bring it to these assistance programs where it is supposed to be temporary and not a permanent solution. i disagree that when she was talking regarding rentals and talking about the protections of the renters and i agree. but she failed to mention about the renters who do not take pride in even having that opportunity to live in a home, where others would be grateful. so, those renters wants to degrade the house. they do not notify the owners that something is not working. so the owners can fix it. she failed to mention about the squatter rights. she failed to mention about cost of increase of owning a home to be able to rent it out. that insurance goes up every

year. property taxes go up every year. she is failing to include those in the rising cost of having to rent to others. host: in newport beach, california. republican. your turn. caller: i wanted to say a comments. these proposed democrat programs that people in the door, and then they leave them hanging when they need to pay for supplies to keep their businesses open. paying for tripled insurance rates, the cost of living, and all of the talk is smoke and mirrors. democrats help the poor and the top wealthy people and not the middle. during president trump's reign middle-class people made more money in our paychecks and tax returns. that was a given. with open borders and home

invasions increased assaults and carjackings and lawlessness in the streets, who wants to open a business or open a home where violent robberies are committed every day. we cannot even feel safe at our local neiman marcus and platinum health status will not cover an ultrasound after a mammogram which are preventative measures that hurt us women, especially middle-class therapists. having a debate on pro-dem media sources is biased and we allow it and we think it is fair. many reported dollars -- reporters on fox news are not republicans but libertarians and independents. "a queens man was sentenced to 13 months in prison for making more than 12,000 harassing phone calls to members of congress over an 18 month period, and threatening to kill a

congressional aide. ade salim lilly pled guilty to one count each of making interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure and making repeated telephone calls in 2022 and 2023." rodney in manassas, virginia. democratic caller. hello. caller: good morning. i want to talk about wasted money in government. and i know the lady before was talking about affordable housing which i agree with, we need more affordable housing. my comment was about trying to go to mars. the budget for nasa is topping at $200 million and i know the engineers make really good money in texas and florida and even in maryland. but itms we have wasted money trying to go to mars. they should be trying to figure

out more ways to have efficient housing or desalinating water to have more adequate water in nevada and arizona. it seems like the money is going to outer space. i could see setting up a moon base on the moon before they think about trying to go to mars. host: ok. rodney in virginia. more campaign programming for you day. 6:00 p.m. eastn time, two candidate events, senator jd vance will campaign in phoenix, arizona. and tn tim walz will be an eerie, pennsylvania. -- in erie, pennsylvania. follow the live coverage on c-span.org or at now. stephen in arizona. republican. caller: good morning. i would like to talk about taxes and what the democrats do that

is like a jedi mind trick. they said the rich will pay their share and everyone that is rich, biden, obama and trump have the same lawyers and they will not pay more taxes. i have been retired six years and put two girls through college, sold a lot of cars to do it. i have an ebay business for the last six years. i get under $10,000 a year. and since biden and harris, i have netted 2000 last last two years and my taxes went from $300 to $1200. i could use at $900. i must be one of those billionaires that will make under -- over 400,000 that they are going against. people, they are taxing the middle class and they are not taxing the rich. they say they are. and they have the same tax write

offs that the corporations have and until congress passes something to pay more taxes or to change the tax system, we are going to be paying the bulk of all their overspending. i could use that $900. host: stephen is the last one there for open for them. when we come back joshua jacobs joins us from the department of veterans affairs. we will talk about veterans benefits and the implementation of the 2022 pact act. we will be right back. ♪ >> 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 with live streams of floor proceedings of hearings.

white house events, the court, campaigns, and more from the world of politics. you can also stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling information for the tv networks and c-span radio plus a variety of compelling podcasts. c-span now is available in the apple store and google play. scan the qr code to download it for free today. or visit c-span.org/c-span now. c-span now, your front row seat to washington anytime, anywhere. >> watch the abc news presidential debate simulcast live tuesday on c-span2 as the candidates go head-to-head in their first debates in securing their party's nomination. coverage begins with a preview show at 8:00 p.m. and a debate at 9:00 p.m. eastern. the abc news presidential debate simulcast live tuesday, on

c-span2. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics, powered by cable. >> as a 2024 presidential campaign continues, american history tv presents -- presents a new nine part series, historic presidential elections. learn about the issues and what made these elections historic and explore their lastinimct on the nation. this saturday a closer look at the election of 1800, john adams versus thomas jefferson. vice president thomas jefferson of the democratic republican party defeated john adams of the federalist party in a race ultimately dided by the u.s. house of representatives. watching historic presidential elections saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span2. >> 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 unbalanced -- islands and unfiltered coverage of congress. all with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting, powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: here with us is the man in charge of veteran benefits, the undersecretary for benefits. talk about the va, how big is it and what do you do? guest: thank you for having me. i have the privilege of running the veterans benefits administration which is responsible for delivering nonmedical benefits to veterans, their families and survivors. there are 34,000 employees whose

job is to deliver these earned benefits. they range from disability compensation to home loans, to education benefits and life insurance and support for service members as they transition into civilian life. host: nonmedical, is that designation important? guest: it is because the v.a. is a very large organization, the second largest department. the largest component is the veterans health administration that serves 9 million veterans and is responsible for delivering health care in hospitals and clinics across the country. host: we are marking the two year anniversary of the pact act. describe what the law did and what it did for benefits for veterans. guest: it is the largest expansion of benefits and health care in a generation if not beyond. and what it does is that it allows us for the first time to

provide benefits and health care to millions of veterans whose lives and health has been negatively impacted as a result of their service and exposure to toxic substances. veterans who served in iraq and afghanistan and were exposed to burn pits, particulate matter and those who served in vietnam and were exposed to agent orange have a series of health conditions. this allows us to provide benefits for the impacted conditions and to open up access to health care for millions of veterans who we were not able to do so. host: what changes were made for how you would distribute or give benefits before the pact act? guest: before veterans would come to us with respiratory and cancer issues and we did not have the evidence to make a determination. but what this law did was a created presumptive service connected conditions. that enables us to assume that if a veteran served in one of

the covered countries and they have one of the health conditions that we presume that their service in those countries is related to their health condition and that enables us to grant benefits. host: where are you with the implementation of the law? is there a backlog and complications and challenges? guest: one of the great things is that it opened up access to benefits and we have had a significant number of veterans and survivors file their claims for those earned benefits. in the two years since the law was enacted we have been able to provide over one million veterans with those pact act eligible benefits more than $7 billion worth of benefits. that enables them to access more earned care either in additional benefits. what we have seen in a total growth and number of claims that we have received and the backlog is 250,000. it peaked a little north of

400,000 in january. but it is well below where we anticipated we would be when the law was passed. and that is because we have grown significantly to meet the demand. host: why the backlog? guest: we have simply received so many claims. as an example in 2023 we had a 40% increase in the number of claims received relative to the previous year. and that is a good thing. we are encouraging veterans to file and holding claims clinics and engaging in media campaigns and trying to connect veterans with earned benefits. it does mean that we have more work. and as we have tackled that work , the way we have done so in a long -- and a large prop -- part is through a massive growth in our workforce, over 45%. host: i want to invite the viewers to call in and join us for this conversation. veterans and families you can

dial in at 202-748-8000. current military members the line is 202-748-8001,. all others 202-748-8002. remember you can always text us at 202-748-8003, and include your first name, city and state. how many claims are granted? guest: packed act claims, we are able to grant 75% of all of the claims. you compare that to the broader population of claims at about 65%. the packed act --pact act enables us to get you more often. host: what type of benefits? guest: these are monthly benefit -- payments to compensate for the economic impact of military service and opens them up to eligibility for of their benefits like education, home loans and life insurance.

host: how can people know that they are eligible? guest: they can apply by going onto our website and filing a claim. they can walk into one of our offices and ask for help. they can call 1-800-my v.a. or work with a service organization that can help for free. host: because of the backlog how long might someone have to wait before they apply and then the claim is granted? guest: we define the backlog as any claim that takes more than 125 days to process. right now we have an average of about 150 days to complete claims. there are claims that take longer and claims that we can process more quickly. it really depends on the nature of the condition and the number of conditions. the bottom line is that we want to get to yes.

we have a duty to assist so it is our responsibility. if we do not have evidence we have to go in get it and sometimes that takes longer. host: "the military times" reporting that there is a surge in the rise of companies trying to work with veterans who might be eligible for these benefits and then taking money -- predatory business. what is the v.a. doing about it? guest: it is a concerning trend and we see it happening at greater frequency because there are more veterans accessing these benefits. what is happening with claims sharks or predators, they are making false promises that they can provide a more timely decision at a higher benefit. that is not true. what we have done is that we have worked with the and fellow agency colleagues to launch a new program called be safe, and veterans and family members can

go online to learn about it and we have launched a campaign to make everyone aware that th should not pay to file a new claim. there are plenty of bso's and the v.a. who can help you do it for free. and then ultimately we want them to know and you can find information on the website that feel like you have been a victim of one of these companies to know that -- what your resort -- recourse is. host: are veterans reaching out because the process for applying is complicated? guest: it is complicated and there is a lot that many people do not understand and we are working to get information out to better explain the process. but what is really important to know is that we want to get to yes. in order to do so we need military records and health records. and so we help veterans obtain those. but there are also many veterans organizations that do it for

free and very well. host: ronnie in erie, pennsylvania. go ahead with your question or comment. caller: yes. i know you are with the veterans affair but i have not heard you talk about toxic water syndrome. my brother has lost one kidney, one lung, cancer of the bladder and has negotiated a settlement for his claim and i understand that senate bill f.378 has been holding out payments since february of 2023. and i am just wondering if there is anything -- he is waiting for his payment so he can help pay for his funeral expenses because he is close to death. even doctors from walter reed have come to see him because they have never seen anyone with so many chemicals in their body as he has. i am anxious to hear what

anybody has to say about escalating the payment to the marines. guest: thank you very much. and i am really sorry to hear about your brother. there are unfortunately many who served at camp lejeune and had severe impacts as result of the exposure to contaminated water. we have benefits -- we can provide benefits to veterans who served for 30 days there and i would like to follow-up and make sure that your brother is accessing those earned benefits. what you might be referring to is a new authority to pursue justice in the courts. that is something being handled by the department of the navy and apartment of justice. and so there have been a number of court cases where servicemembers and their families and veterans are suing the government to access funds as a result of the impact of

their service. what i would like to do is follow-up and just make sure that we are taking you in any -- taking care of you in any way we can. host: henry in virginia. a veteran. hello? henry in virginia. caller: can you hear me? host: your turn. caller: i would like to ask the gentleman because i certain vietnam in the 69th in the 70's. i had real bad damage to the point where i stopped breathing at night and my wife had to wake me up to keep me from dying. so the v.a. would not do anything for me back then and they flat out denied me everything pertaining to sleep apnea. so i had to have surgery done for myself. is there any way that i can get some retribution for what i had to pay for the surgery that the

v.a. would not provide to me as a veteran? guest: i am sorry to hear about your experience and i hope that you are doing better. i would like to follow-up and make sure that we get your personal contact information so i just ask that you share that with the c-span colleagues screening the call so we can follow up to better understand your individual situation. without knowing what happened with your claim and with your engagement with health care it is hard to know what we can and cannot do. but we are trying to do everything we can within our legal authority. we will make sure that we follow-up to try and help. host: henry, i will keep you on the line and try to get your phone number before we go to the next call. marlene from michigan, "i am a widow of a 100% di veteran and he just died. my income of course have because of that and i wondered if widows of a military on percent disabled people soldiers.

he was a marine is eligible for the benefit?" guest: they are. we have the disability indemnity conversation -- compensation program and a survivor pension program. you need to apply for the benefits and you can find anything about the programs on va.gov, or 1-800-myva-411. host: dayton, ohio. a veteran. good morning. caller: good morning. the reason i am calling, right out of high school at 17, and i was in the military from 1984 through 1988 and i went in under a weird contract called the canine special reserve where i did five years active and one

year inactive. anyway i was a kid going in and my recruiter told me as long as you do 181 days of service you are designated a veteran. i went straight through boot camp and had a little break of three or four days and then went to my school and i was a communicator. i wound up with 187 days, i think in 1984 and then i went to my reserve unit and i had to do the regular monthly drills and then during the summers. but i would also volunteer for extra duty. so a lot of times i would have 30 or 40 days continuous duty at different times. i did not find out until later that even though i am a veteran i am not a protected veteran as far as benefits which i did not know until i was well into my 30's. because, the only way because it was the reagan years and then bush senior, there were no wars

or campaign medals awarded and by law you need to have active duty while a campaign medal is being awarded or 60 days in a certain area. and even if i had done a lot of active duty time as a reservist, i did more active-duty than 95% of people in the reserve but it was always intermittent. host: let us get a response. guest: this is unfortunately a situation i hear about that the law governing the definition of veteran, for purposes of v.a. benefits eligibility are determined by congress. there has been significant debate about whether and how to change that to be more inclusive of folks who served in the guard and the reserve like you did. ultimately, we have to implement the laws as they are written. i know that the conversation is

ongoing and there are active bills being debated right now in congress to address this very matter. host: carl. west milton, ohio. a veteran as well. hello. caller: hello. i wanted to call to make sure that there was a good va hospital around the country. the one in dayton, ohio is very good. and i think that most of the problems are with people who want to get too many things done through the v.a. that are not eligible. and they go in with an attitude that causes problems. so i hope that they will look into the ones that are not doing very good and have a lot of complaints. and they get those taken care of. host: any thoughts? guest: i am glad to hear that you are having a good experience at the dayton medical center and i will share that with my

colleagues who run the house system. host: congress returns next week and the v.a. warned that they might be facing a budget shortfall of $50 million. is that correct? guest: correct. host: what is behind it? guest: we have been delivering more benefits and care to veterans than any other time in our history. for the vba, we have asked congress for approximately $3 billion in mandatory spending by the end of this fiscal year which is the end of the month. what this means is that those are dollars going into the pockets of veterans, family members and survivors to pay compensation and education benefits. the reason we are asking is that he set very aggressive goals at the beginning of the year to how many benefits that we would able to deliver and our workforce of 35000 and over half of them are veterans and they have over delivered.

we set very aggressive projections and estimates and our workforce has over delivered. we are nearly 30% of had -- ahead of where we were last year, which was the biggest year in vba history. we have a concern that we might over deliver and need additional funds, which is necessary to ensure that we pay benefits on time on october forest. host: annie, cleveland, ohio. caller: hello. good morning. i was calling because i am calling because of my husband who is a vietnam that. he did two tours in vietnam and he was exposed to agent orange. he filed a claim a few years ago and they denied his claim. and he has not filed since the bill that had been passed in washington. he is older and he really does

not know what the next step to take. and he was hesitating about filing because they said he will not do anything anyways. he takes that attitude, and i pray for him for that. but what is the step and what can we do? i do not know what to do. and he does not know what to do. so what is the next step? and i have seen the effects from it. so what should we do? guest: first of all thank you to your husband for his service and thank you for all you do to support him and for advocating on his behalf. there are many veterans who have tried to engage with the v.a. and have had poor experiences. i do not know the details of your husband's past claim but i would suggest that you consider a number of different actions. one is to call the v.a. at

1-800-myva411. and if you live by one of the regional offices you can talk to one of the employees in the public contact center who can help you with filling out a form and then you can also work with an accredited representative like a veteran service operation to go through your husband's particular details and his service in vietnam and his health conditions. and they can help together another claim and consider what the appropriate next step is. host: excuse me. john and colonial beach, virginia. veteran. caller: hello, i have not talked to you in a while. mr. jacobs, do you read your mail? guest: i do. caller: i live in virginia beach and it would be cool if i could have an audience with you. i want to talk to you about the

fire that took place in 73. are you familiar? guest: i am. caller: have you seen any motion picture films of the fire? guest: i do not believe so. caller: i have some and i would like to show the damage. i had been to that many times and some of the staff that i know and worked with. and yes, i have been honored as a member of the military to help veterans. i want to talk to you about the fire quickly. they think now it -- it destroyed military records from the army and air force up until the early 60's. i had one military case where the husband was a veteran in the air force and they cannot find his dd214. when they passed away -- when he passed away she went into debt and lost her home and she still has financial issues. she cannot pay her funeral bill

which is $5,000. now, page number three of the dd 214 is sent to the veterans affairs department. if i can find that i will find page three. that is what i want to write you about. if we could do some searching and find that if you do store page number three, page one is the individual and page three goes to the divide -- to the jacket. page four goes to the department of labor. a lot of people do not know this stuff. that is one thing i would like to get back to you, and using the fire the damage you've done -- it has done. the fire took place on the top six floors. you can see that on the films that i have. but that is one thing that i want to ask you, you read your mail and i will write you over the next couple weeks and hope that i can speak to you over the phone and explained some of

these things to you. host: host: i am going to jump in. guest: thank you for your incredible advocacy on behalf of so many veterans. the fire that occurred at the national archive damaged a lot of veteran records and we worked closely with them to restore many records of the best of our abilities. there are some that we have simply not been able to do. what i would love is to hear from you. it sounds like you have incredible knowledge of the system and the process and the challenges and i would love to follow-up to make sure that we can help individual veteran that you mentioned. but also verify that all the steps that we are taking are sufficient. and if there are other ideas that you have that we can appropriately consider. host: kansas. pam. hello. caller: hello. my question is we have been trying to look for records and

letter after letter they will go it is not in our database. we cannot find the records we need. what do we do? we have written numerous records. guest: can you tell me what type of records you are referencing? caller: ok. we are trying to find out a specific date like twentynine palms and california on july 26. and we just got a record back from the archives the other day and it said it is not in our database. will he was there and he was injured. and we are just having a struggle getting anything from the v.a.. it is like they do not want to let papers go. and if it is not exactly like every dot on the letter correct that you send will send it back and say to have to send it in again. it is just such a struggle. what can we do? guest: i would ask if you could

share -- stay on the line and share your contact information so we could follow-up. we work closely with different military services as well as the archives to obtain records. we work to expedite them and we have been proactively scanning records from the archives so we do not have to make the manual requests to each of the services and the archives in order to expedite the time it takes to obtain them. without knowing the details of what you have experienced, i do not know what the issue might be. i am happy to follow-up and to do everything we can to get those records. host: is there a way for the folks to contact the v.a. when they have questions like this? they are not finding records in etc. and they need help. guest: the best way is to give us a call at 1-800-myva411. we have thousands of call center agents to help answer this.

you can walk into the regional office, and many other outreach areas located across the country. host: joshua jacobs is a undersecretary for benefits. thank you for the conversation and we appreciate it. thank you for joining us this morning, calling in and watching. we will be back tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern time for another conversation. thank you for watching. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> today, 2024 republican presidential nominee and former president dona tmp talks out the state of the u.s. economy at ste of -- at a talk hosted by the economic club

of new york which will be live on c-span, c-span now or c-span.org. discover the heartbeat of democracy with c-span voices 2024 as we engage voters ahead of the first debate between vice president kamala harris and former president donald trump asking what issue would you like for them to address and why? >> my name is olivia from south jersey and the issue that i want to hear more about is women's rights and the protection of women and children, especially within cities. >>-- >> hi, i met molly from denver, colorado, and the most important issue is abortion rights to me. >> people losing their lives, it must stop. it has to come to an end. >> i would like to hear them talk about childcare as well as housing prices, since that's the

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connection is something no one can live without. we are there for our customers with speed, reliability, value, and choice. more than ever, it starts with great internet. >> wow supports c-span along with other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> next, a discussion about free speech and protest on college campuses amid the ongoing israel hamas war, featuring nadine strossen and other civil liberties scholars. the event is about one hour and 25 minutes. dir. ungar: i'm direct -- delighted to have this qualified panel