♪ host: good morning. it is thursday, december 12. the murder of brian thompson last week in new york city prompted a nationwide conversation about the health insurance industry. this first half-hour, we would like you to weigh in.

it is your experience with health insurance? mostly positive or mostly frustrated? how would you improve the industry? our phone lines are by region. in the eastern or central time zone, called (202)-748-8000. mountain or pacific, (202)-748-8001. we have a line set aside for health care professionals that includes those who work in the health insurance field. that number is (202)-748-8002. you can send us a text at (202)-748-8003. include your first name and your city, state. and you can post to social media, facebook.com/c-span, and at x at --@cspanwj. welcome to today's new washington journal. the house will gaveling at 9:00 a.m. and we will take you there at that time. as you are calling in, a reminder that we don't accept

calls that celebrate violence or the shooter or congratulate the alleged shooter in any way, so keep that in mind. here is a headline from cbs news that says as anger at united health care boils over, americans' needs more than ever for health insurance. it is outpacing inflation, leaving consumers on the hook each year for thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses. at the same time, some insurers are rejecting nearly one in five claims. that leaves americans paying more for coverage and sometimes feeling like they get less in return. frustration over denial and medical costs field an outpouring of vitriol against health insurance companies in the wake of the murder of the united health care ceo brian thompson. asked week, a similar outcry led blue cross blue shield to

reverse a decision to limit anesthesia coverage during surgeries. also wanted to show you this real quick from kaiser family foundation, a survey they did that highlights problems with denied health insurance claims, and it says -- here is the chart , denies claims are somewhat more common among those with employer-sponsored or marketplace insurance. this is the percentage of adults who said the past 12 months that their health insurance is not paid for care they received that they thought it covered. among total, 18%. employer-sponsored, 21% said their health insurance did not pay for care they received. the marketplace, 20%, medicaid at 12%, medicaid at 10%. we wonder what your experience

has been with health insurance. we are focused on that this first half-hour. take a look at a recent yahoo! finance interview with one ceo who discussed the frustrations with the health care system in the u.s. [video clip] >> security agencies talked about a rising violence in the house sector, largely in facilities themselves, especially the last year and a half. what does that tell you about what you need to expect and how you are thinking about the companies and where it needs to go in order to help reduce this tension that is clearly being felt by the american public? >> the american public exists in a system designed after world war ii, designed in a way that we built a lot of hospitals across the country, and we also provided benefits to employers as a way of making wage control after the return of soldiers

after world war ii. that system has been broken for some time. i've been an advocate for change for a long time i believe we have ways to get a better in this country. and i think it largely starts with making sure our health care system meets the needs of individuals, not the needs of groups. right now, our system is built around the needs of groups. [end video clip] host: we are getting your thoughts on the health insurance industry in the u.s. we hav from facebook, janesays the american health care system is profit driven, which is a significant problem that requires real solutions because it is not focused on serving people. jim says never had a problem with the private system, and i typically use it over at the v.a., which has really been good. stephen says my mom paid in for 50 years, and they denied her therapy for stroke.

debbie says, good, but i have always thought it was wrong for them to be for-profit. and we will go to the phones. george, pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. you put out a lot of fodder, but i'm going to keep it on your topic the best i can. i paid $2500 a month for health insurance, and it is the kind of health insurance that you do not want to use. i'm a contractor, always have been, 60 years old, and i did not want to end up needing something drastic and fighting for my life and not have a home to come home to, so i have this hefty plan. i see you are not moving on the tv, but i cannot hear you because my tv is muted.

anyway, it is not really that good, and now i'm hearing cases where they are not covered. that's a lot of money. that's $11,000 easily every four years. and it changed the name of it. it is not health insurance, it is something else. and now i'm skeptical it is going to work if i do need anything. i was watching c-span the other night, and we replayed the hearings with bernie sanders on the food and how it is causing all the problems. it is deplorable. i don't know what i'm going to do, but right now i will do what i'm doing, but i don't know. host: by the way, you can always hear me and my phone. you don't need to hear me on the tv, but i appreciate you muting the tv. that is what we need people to do.

sam, hillsdale, michigan. good morning. caller: i've had two week hospital stays since 2011. i don't know how much i spent on insurance, but i have not had any trouble at all with my insurance. i go to the hospital, i come home. i'm quite happy with mine. host: do you have employer-sponsored insurance? caller: no, i'm on medicare. i have united -- whatever that stuff is. the man who was shot -- what's his company? host: united health care. caller: united is one of my

insurers. i've never had any trouble with any of my insurance companies. everybody should have it. everybody should pay for it. it is what takes care of us. host: let's go to newport, new hampshire. eric. good morning. caller: good morning, america. it has been a good month for us. my experience in health care, recently, it was for a heart procedure, and i work for the government. and the bill was very expensive. i was there for five days and had multiple procedures. however, i came out with a $900 bill, and what is frustrating to me is people will overlay the

topics that don't pay for any insurance and the government pays for every dime, and i pay for health insurance, i pay a good premium, and i still have a $900 bill want to come out of the hospital. people who are not paying anything for insurance, not one dime out of their pocket, and they get the best health care, just like i would get. and also say this because i think while we are talking about this topic, obviously it is the shooting and i don't want to go too far, but what if someone thought that people are not paying for insurance, and they for instance did violence on that person with a narrative for the people supporting the shooter be a little different? host: this is npr that says sick

and struggling to pay 100 million people in the u.s. live with medical debt. and they have a map of the united states, and what this shows is the percentage of people with medical or dental bills in collection, so these are bills that have gone to collection. you will see here the dark red is over 40% of the county that are people living with medical debt that have gone to collection. you can see it more clearly here when you go like this. these other top counties, and you can see it is pretty much in concentrated in the south of the united states. here is texas, so that is about medical debt. and this is sarah, maryland. good morning. caller: hi, i'm a broker and i

deal with medicare supplement coverage. i don't so medicare plans. the reason why i don't sell those plans is because of the large number of complaints i've experienced when they are on one of these plans, and i have talked to seniors and family members who have complained to me about the fact that with their medical claims, they were denied, so i choose not to mess with that. and one thing that they don't explain to seniors is when they sign up for medicare a and b and they have the original, if the bite a medicare supplement and by -- stand-alone drug plan, they can go to any hospital that accepts medicare anywhere in the country with no exception because it is a primary coverage. medicare advantage, you are now in a private insurance company that now has to provide you with the medicare a and b benefits, and because you get other

benefits through that private insurance company, that insurance company dictates what goes and what does not go. this difference is not explained to seniors. here's one other thing i would like to point out, it offends me as a taxpayer to read for years investigative reports from multiple news outlets like "the new york times" and other news outlets that have pointed out that there has been so much fraud going on with medicare advantage plans where companies defrauded the federal government by hundreds of billions of dollars with this medicare advantage plan and the problem is if i or any other agent or a licensed individual professional commits fraud, we are license and livelihood, but the insurance company doesn't. they can still continue to offer health insurance to millions and

millions of seniors -- host: help us understand how companies would be defrauding the u.s. government so private insurance companies defrauding the government through medicare advantage. how does that work? caller: there have been reports, it is called coding. and it explained what happened, but there was also "new york times" talking about that, so every senior that signs up for an advantage plan, they paid $3000 a month for that senior to be enrolled in that plan and what happens as you can read this online so they take the companies that have the medical condition and added up but they

could get more money for the government, and the purpose is to get more money from the government so now instead of thousand dollars, they give you 1500 or three thousand dollars, so there was a lot of stuff going on where companies literally run through medical records and well somebody went through medical records and they made health conditions for seniors worse to get more money out of the government. as i said, there were some reports on that with the new york times. host: thank you for that information. very useful. mike, ohio, your next. caller: good morning.

how are you today? host: good. caller: i had surgeries done years ago, quite extensive surgery. i had problems with my bowel. i was very ill. the doctor that operated on me did the last surgery and tried to straighten me out. that afternoon, he came in to see me and i asked, unlike get out of the hospital -- when will i get out of the hospital? he said that is up to the insurance company and i could not believe it. i said you are the one that did the surgery on me and i found that quite amazing. host: when in-depth happening? -- what ended up happening? caller: nothing good for me. they put this mesh inside of me

to fix a hernia and it all rotted out, and i had to get back into the hospital and have another surgery to remove the mesh. host: in that initial surgery, were you able to stay in the hospital as long as you felt like you needed to? or as long as your doctor wanted you to? caller: no, the doctor told me it was up to the insurance company. i cannot believe that. anyway, they put this mesh enemy and it had to be removed about a year later because it rotted out inside of me, and they had to cut through my abdominal wall, and the doctor came in and told me to sign up for disability. i said, what are you talking about? i said i don't know anything about that. that was the last thing i had in mind. i never thought of that. i wanted to go back to work. he told me you are disabled now.

we are going to cut through your abdominal wall through the mesh rotten inside of you. the whole thing is -- i mean, it is all based around money. today i'm disabled and i have been now for about 12 or 13 years. i had to quit working and the government doctor told me i was disabled and they put me on disability, and it ruined my life financially, totally. host: sorry to hear that, mike. this is david on facebook who says this about the health insurance industry. preventative health care is a scam. it guarantees they will find something, anything to treat. and nothing guarantees a steady paycheck like subscription services are in this case recurring treatments for payment.

sometimes unscrupulous doctors en make stuff up. ed from north texas sent a text, i've been retired 15 years. i have united health care under medicare. i've had a number of health issues, and'm satisfied with the insurance with the exception of hearing aids, where i will not pay $5,000 for a pair. angela in maryland by text, i worked in the appeals depament of a health insurance company. it is rotten what they do to people and in all caps -- all legal. this is john. caller: good morning. i've been fortunate i guess. just turned 70. i've had no complaints against the health care industry, and have had no problems so far, but

the older you get, you get more concerned. health care in the united states is definitely being stressed out right now. i just hope, you know, and the insurance companies, i don't know that much. i never had an issue. i've had maybe two or three different insurance groups throughout my lifetime. they all serviced me very well. problem is, this thing with the shooting of the sky has brought this front and center of our narratives with what is going on today, discussions about this, but you cannot go out and shoot people. i thought that was a little out of line. but at the introduction of the

show, you said you don't want people calling in and saying things terrible about individuals where the violence and anything like that, and then you read a whole litany of media stories you had that totally condemned the insurance company and that says that american citizens should hate these companies. host: there is a big difference between hating the insurance industry and being frustrated with the insurance industry and murder, and that is where we draw the line. caller: can i finish my comment? host: sure. caller: you don't represent much -- you are losing the constituents you represent on this program. you are so far left of what america -- host: thank you for your feedback. joseph, new york. caller: good morning.

my experience with health care currently, i tried to switch over to a different carrier, and i'm still waiting on the cards. i've never gotten them. i'm just sitting there going, what in the world? i call the lady, where are the cards? currently i have a health issue, and they have not done anything except give me medication to put on it, and it is a horrible feeling. i currently have knee problems, and i've been trying to get knee replacements but i get the runaround. nothing ever happens. it is the most frustrating thing in the world. i'm not that old, but i've been

medically retired for maybe 10 years now. it is the most horrible thing in the world. i just sit here, take a bunch of medications and nothing. and the person i was trying to switch coverages with, i still have not gotten the cards. all she says is, well, they're coming. well, it is supposed to be before 2000, i have not seen card one. i remember when i went into her room -- i live at a senior living center -- and there, and i said, ok, what am i going to get the cards? i've never seen a card once.

not one time. host: is this something you can download from the internet or anything like that? can you access an electronic version of the card? caller: i never thought of that, but i can try that to download it. i will see what happens. host: this is marion, iowa. good morning. caller: yes, good morning. i'm 91 years old and i have blue cross-blue shield and my supplement is plan f. my supplement is with blue cross. and i have medicare, and i have had shoulder replacements because of arthritis in both shoulders, and i have shots in my knees because i have arthritis, old-age arthritis, and i would like to say that

i've had very good service with blue cross blue shield. i've had other surgeries, and that has been my experience. i wanted to share that. i had no compliance with my insurance companies, what they charge me or how it has been handled with medicare. thank you. host: this is kathy in ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i've had good experience with the health industry. i had major health and she's with cancer -- health issues with cancer and a car accident. i'm completely happy even though i'm not completely recovered. i have almost 20 years experience working with dental insurance for a job, and i wanted to speak out because what

i've seen over the years is a systematic approach to slowly but surely stopped covering procedures, and what has bothered me recently is that a lot of policies that are older, patients -- they won't cover the cleanings older patients need, like one little specific policy limitation, and that is how the kind of get you, and they seem to increase their profits by doing it, and it is to the point where it is compromising the standard of care in the dental industry when they do that because patients freak out because it isn't covered, and they don't want to get treatment, so they might not even come in for a cleaning, which is so important, especially for older adults. it is scary for me personally because of my health issues. i can understand and see what is

going on when i work with them every day, but i understand how that will affect my future health given my personal history. that is what i wanted to say. thank you. host: steve, california. caller: hello, thank you for taking my call. i have had very good experience with my health care. i suffered a stroke about three years ago. i was hospitalized for five days. i did not pay a dime. however, i have the original medicare and physician mutual as my secondary insurance. i get phone call after phone call every day during the sign-up period because i called inquiring and they've got my

number about the medicare advantage program. they are always trying to switch me over. and one thing that i know, i cannot say this for every advantage program, but if you sign up for an advantage program , you get enticed by this is free, that is free. you get $175 returned to you, but beware, you cannot choose your doctor. you have to get a doctor out of their network. you cannot shop around, and number two, because it is run by wall street, they are in a position to deny you surgeries, life-saving surgeries and drugs, especially if you are old and they feel they have invested too much money in your health at that point. so beware.

host: this is james, kentucky, good morning. caller: good morning. i always like your show, it is entertaining. here's the whole scenario. all these bleeding heart democrats that are calling in with this and that medical problem, first and foremost, they deserve what they get because they voted for biden and they allowed the whole country to be flooded. now money is being spent on people from around the world, and they are getting better medical care than all the bleeding hearts calling in. they deserve it. there is no reason for us to be taking care of the entire country of the whole entire world, and then he wanted to put 2 million, the republic stop

that, he wanted to put 2 million people on the medicaid-medicaid -- medicaid-medicare roles. all these people calling in, bleeding democrats, they deserve that. host: how has your experience been with health insurance? caller: i have got good health. host: have you never had to go to a doctor? caller: i've never been to the doctor, and i'm an old man. but, at the same token, that is probably because of my upbringing. i had to work from five years old up to now, but anyway, make a long story short, the democrats that are calling in, they deserve what they get. host: we got that point. james, michigan, i had serious brain sgery last year, united covered one of the required two

anesthesiologists needed and i was off with the bill and they did not approve. finally albert on facebook set i paid over $1500 to see a nurse for 10 minutes. they charged me 30 minutes for two tylenol's alone. next on "the washington journal," we will speak to carlos gimenez of florida about next week's government funding deadline and the gop trifea in washington come january. and later, the former acting cdc director richard besser discusses robert f. kennedy, jr.'s hhs secretary nomination and potential changes to public health policy. we will be right back. ♪ >> books tv every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books.

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host: welcome back. we are joined by representative carlos gimenez, a republican of florida on the armed services and homeland security committees. welcome. to caller: -- welcome to the program. you recently held a hearing on the security threats posed by drones. i wanted to ask you specifically what is happening over the skies in new jersey. this is the guardian talking about drone cluster sightings. you tell us first what is happening there in new jersey and then a little bit more about the hearing you held. guest: from my understanding is they have seen hundreds of sightings of drones in new jersey and the problem is nobody knows who was flying them or where they came from, nobody knows what they're doing or where they went. that is a problem. so the hearing really outlines

the fact that most of america is really unprotected from the threat. and this is a threat. i'm not saying there something nefarious going on. we don't know. it just does not seem right. it is certainly odd, but most of america is unprepared for if a nefarious factor would like to do some harm to us, either by surveillance or god forbid put some kind of payload on these drones and we are ill prepared to defend ourselves. that was highlighted down here. host: what is the solution? how do we protect ourselves from the various actors? -- nefarious factors? guest: it is going to get worse because as you invest artificial intelligence into these drones, they don't need to be piloted anymore. some technology we have actually

interrupts that pilot to a drone interface. we do have some defense capabilities, but one ai -- once ai is inputted into the drones, it takes more than interfering with the pilot and the drone itself. it will take more and more measures. the problem we have with the federal government is there are too few resources really aligned to seen to how we are doing with a stretch. there is a potential threat, and instead of waiting for something to happen, we need to take action now to protect the nation. host: look kind of action are you taking? you said there are too few resources. is there something coming up in the budget negotiation to address this topic specifically? guest: i think we need to

centralize. we have too many agencies that have a little bit of money to deal with the issue. we need to focus our federal efforts on what we are going to do as a nation about this threat. before something happens. i don't have a specific plan right now. we need to talk to more people and agencies and say, here is a threat, how are we going to deal with it, not only now but in the future? and how can we focus on the nation to make sure as much as possible that we don't get burned in the future. host: this week you were elected the new vice chair of the republican governance group known as r.g.2, house gop caucus of the center-right. can you tell us about that group and what your priorities are going to be? guest: we are really like the majority makers, most of the

members would have in our group, we sit down on tuesday and we talk about policy, different bills, etc., and what our stance is going to be. we are conservative, but more to the center and there are about 40 or 50 of us in that caucus, so i'm greatly honored i was elected as the vice chair and my job is to make sure that leadership understands the position of our caucus and to help our leader and our chairman. again, it is a great honor, but that is the makeup of this group, and it is one of about four major processes we have in the republican conference. host: if you would like to join the conversation with carlos gimenez, you can do so. our lines are by party, republicans, (202)-748-8001. democrats, (202)-748-8000. independents, (202)-748-8002.

you serve on both armed services and homeland security committees, so i wanted to ask about the nominees that will come before the senate, starting with the director of national intelligence and your thoughts on that. guest: she has got some controversial statements she made in the past, and i'm sure those will be brought up again. the senate has to do their job in confirming the nominations. the president has a right to choose the people who would like, but the senate also has the job of confirming them and vetting the candidates. she has made controversial statements in the past, and i'm sure she will have to explain that to the senate before she gets confirmed. host: and the nomination of pete hegseth, where you stand? guest: certainly an

out-of-the-box nomination. he went to princeton and harvard and served in the armed forces, and as a member of armed services, the pentagon needs to be shaken up. we have a lot of people in there, the bureaucracy i think is way too burdensome. we have to be much more nimble as we face the facing threats that china poses to the united states, and the acquisition of weapon system and the development of weapon system, industrial base, all of that needs to be upgraded, and we need to be much more nimble, and you have to have someone who will shake it up. i don't know him personally and i've never met him personally. i know there are accusations of things in his past, and the senate will have to do their job, if that is who the president would like, but the senate passed a role to play in this, so i will defer to the

senate, but i have confidence the senate will do the right thing. host: you mentioned china, so i wanted to ask about the news from cbs news that mr. trump has invited china's xi jinping to the nomination. your thoughts? guest: china is our number one threat now and will be into the future, and it is good to speak to our potential adversaries. so i know president trump likes to engage when he is trying to deal with people. whether they be friends or foe. so inviting xi jinping i think is away to extend an olive branch to china, but i know president trump is going to

watch out for america's interest when it comes to china, and he will not be fooled by anything they tried to do. i think he is trying to highlight that with president xi jinping by bringing him here and hopefully they can have dialogue and hopefully we can start this adversarial relationship that we are heading into, i think we can avert that, but we have to maintain that strength. host: we have callers lined up, stephen, lexington, kentucky, independent line, you are on with carlos gimenez. caller: thank you for having me. thank you, representative for your time. my question is regarding -- and i'm using air quotes -- "drones" flying around new jersey in the northeast. i'm seeing this as a global phenomenon. this is not just happening in the u.s.

this same thing is happening in the u.k., china, and the media does not like to talk about it because it is a bipartisan issue. both sides would like to know. that is why we are just getting a hint of this after almost a month of this happening. my question for you is the only way we are going to be able to attack these things over our country is probably through you guys. you have to vote on how to deal with this congress and the government has to vote on this. i would like to know if this keeps going on, are you guys going to vote on settling this? this ties to a bigger issue if we cannot figure out who was above us, the we are in trouble, the most powerful military in the world is failing us, and we are still giving them a lot of money, and i think we have to really think that we are very

vulnerable right now. host: go ahead, congressman. guest: like i said in the beginning, yeah, our defenses against these drones here in the homeland are woefully inadequate. to have some facilities with cape yes, yes we do. but as the drones become more and more autonomous, i think their danger increases. i'm concerned about that fact and we don't know who was flying them. we don't know where they came from, what they are doing or where they went. that is the problem. so we need to better answers from our personnel, especially the federal government. if they know something, we need to know what that is. if they need some authorities that we don't have right now, we need to give it to them. i do fear the threat of

americans getting hurt by drones in the future, and i used to be the mayor of accounts you were we ran the airport, and i had this fear for 10 years about drones and their capabilities and what they could do. i'm with you. we just need better answers and better solutions of how it is we are going to deal with drones that pose a threat to america. they are getting cheaper. we have so many drones right now that are owned by private citizens. what is a threat drones and what is a recreational drone? those are difficult questions we need to answer, but we need to protect america and find the answers. host: on the republican line from oregon, beverly. caller: good morning. how are you? host: good. . good. caller: good.

why isn't the coast guard looking out over the ocean to see where those drones are going? also, i think the government knows what the drones are, otherwise they would have fighter jets out there chasing them away like they do with everything else. what about that? guest: i don't know why the coast guard does not know if they are flying back over the ocean, as some have said, they come out of the sea and then they go back to the ocean, i don't know why. i'm just as frustrated as you. we should know why. we need to know where they came from, why they are buzzing around and where they are going. just follow them back and see where it lands. i don't understand why they couldn't answer those questions. i may congressman, i'm a member of government, but if some of the agencies that we are supposed to be overlooking know the answer and they don't tell us, that is sitting to us just

as well. so fighter planes are not the answer to this because they fly real slow that really the fighter will not be too affected but helicopters are. so i don't they do that and follow them back? i don't know. i don't have the answer to read we need to get the answer. if this phenomenon continues, that we need to get to the bottom of it. host: patrick, california, independent. caller: good morning. one of the groups i'm on, i noticed the last few days they have talked about multiple drones that have flown over temecula in southern california. i turned on c-span this morning and saw the congressman talking about this and what is happening out here. guest: again, it is a phenomenon that happens not only in

different parts of the u.s., but around the world. again, we need to get to the bottom of this because people are now starting to get spooked and are afraid. we do not want to cause any mass hysteria about these issues. these drones have not harmed anybody. host: congressman, who would be in the government dealing with this issue? is it the faa, the defense department? guest: dod has a role, some of the drones buzzing around sensitive areas of our defense, defense apparatus, so i have an understanding that dod they have answers on this, and the faa has a role. obviously, these are aircraft's in our airspace, so there are various agencies with homeland security have a role to play. we need to start focusing our attention on the issue federally

, and one of the problems i see is that we have too many agencies and not enough resources, and we need to focus those resources and come up with an action plan, what are we going to do about it? we have a bunch of drones flying in a certain area. how are we going to deal with that? we need to come to an answer as a nation, and i would expect that trump administration will be looking at this issue and recommending course of action and we in congress have to pass authorizing legislation and we will do so. host: beria, louisiana, good morning. caller: good morning -- thank you. i have a license to fly drones commercially. they don't even get off the ground if they are in a restricted airspace, so they have to be authorized by the faa. good chance they are masking something, and it is probably a

simple solution. i will hold on and see what you have to say about it. guest: you have a license and you fly with faa rules, but that does not mean everybody is flying these drones and are abiding by the rules, and if you have a nefarious purpose, you certainly will not abide by the rules. my concern is not about the recreational drone pilots flying for their own entertainment or to gather information or to take pictures of infrastructure. you may work for an energy company, and they know they are using drones together information on infrastructure, which is valid, but my concern is about nefarious characters who may be using it to gather information they should not be gathering or carrying payloads that may harm americans. again, it all depends on the

pilot and their purpose. host: janet in florida on a different subject is asking on x , why does donald trump want to make enemies of canada and mexico? i believe she is referring to tariffs. guest: it is not really making enemies. look. we have had a problem with the southern border where millions of people are coming from mexico into the u.s., and if mexico is not going to help us with the problem then you have to demonstrate to them that you are serious about it. they are not our enemies, but they are not acting as our friends either as they allow millions of people to flow into the u.s. through their country, so it is time for mexico and canada to control their immigration and their borders with the united states, and if it takes twisting of the arms to say, hey, to you it doesn't

matter because, hey, come on in to our country, it is not our problem, well, it is your problem and now you share our problem and that is one of the ways that president trump in the previous administration was able to get mexico to remain in mexico policy. it reduced the emigration in the u.s. by 70% and mexico, it was in their best interest to enforce their immigration. so it is a way to incentivize mexico and canada to cooperate with the u.s. i think it is valid what he is doing. host: carol, republican, new york. caller: the previous caller expressed my sentiment, but i'm shocked at how cavalier our government is with these bus sized rooms flying in our

airspace. i think you be demanding answers. you keep saying that they are not doing anything. you should be doing something as a member of homeland security, and our adversaries are watching. don't you think they are aware that they could get away with something like this, invading our airspace and we are not even responding? i'm absolutely shocked. guest: ma'am, we had a hearing on this subject a couple of days ago just to bring it to light, so from the hearing we had it was brought to light from the american people. we were expecting answers and we got no answers, which will now lead to more hearings, either on a public setting orton up classified setting. i expect the next thing we do ghost to classified setting, so maybe some things they cannot tell us in a public setting but it classified setting, and once we have better information about what this is about, we will take

action if we have to take some in congress. remember, the executive branch has a lot of authority to do a lot of things, and why they are not doing certain things, well, we need to get to the bottom of it, and if we in congress have options to authorize them to do so, we have to get that information first. unfortunately in that first hearing, we did not get much information which in itself is troubling to congress, so, yeah, we will take further steps to alleviate this problem and then further steps if we have to pass authorizing legislation, we do so. and the oversight over that i ministered of branch to make sure america's protected, yeah, i say that about homeland security, but this was not too well-documented until we had that hearing a couple of days ago. host: that hearing is on her

website in its entirety at c-span.org. security threats posed by drones. you can watch that if you put drones in the subject line. you will be able to see that if you are interested in the topic. judy, democrat, new york. caller: good morning. as a taxpaying american citizen, i'm disheartened by the lack of progress from our elected officials. it seems like you know how to place blame, but you are totally useless when it comes to solving problems. one over going to solve problems instead of laying blame? it is this or that person's problem. you are the federal government. fix-it. fix-it. host: judy, what problem are you talking about specifically? guest: i just listen to him talk about the drones. host: we will get an answer for you.

guest: we have a role to play in congress, and there are three levels of government, executive, legislative and judicial. in congress, people seem to think we can snap our fingers and things go away. it doesn't work that way. so you need to be a student of how government works. i'm just as frustrated as you are. i had more power when i was mayor than congressman. as mayor of miami-dade, i could look at a problem, fix-it and it gets fixed. in congress, it doesn't work that way. in congress, we have to have an act congress to fix a pothole, and that is the way the government works. we have oversight over the administration, we have asked questions about that issue. there are no answers in the classified setting. we need to get to the bottom of what is happening, and if the administrative branch needs legislation for them to act on this issue, then we need to pass

that legislation and that is the weight it works. you may not like to hear it but that is the way it is. host: cin a kentucky is asking, if oil was supposed to make us rich and powerful, white are the republicans not drilling all that oil in florida? guest: there is not much oil to drill in florida, and by the way there is oil being drilled in the everglades in florida as we speak. so we have pockets of oil and resources in different parts of the nation. the oil we have in this nation are in other parts, but we are drilling oil right now and we are pumping oil in certain parts of florida, but we don't have as much as they have in texas, pennsylvania or as much gas as may be what they have to new york and other parts of the country, so where those natural resources lie is where we need to get them, but we do need to

start drilling for more oil and we need to start using america natural gas more than we are right now and we also need to increase our refining capacity so that we can become not only energy independent but energy dominant, and what does that mean? that we can now supply the world with energy and substitute american oil and gas for iranian oil and gas, russian oil and gas, and gas, and that has a number of benefits for america and a number of benefits for the security of america, also. host: james, texas, independent. caller: yes sir. mr. gimenez, i'd like to say you are doing a great job, and when you get back to the u.s. house, shake mike johnson's hand because he's doing a great job.

he has his work cut out for him -- can i hear you? are you there? host: yes. caller: also, when trump gets in, ask him about the drones. guest: i hope that will be the end of the drones or at least to get an answer to what is going on. host: the funding deadline is december 20, are you looking at march or what do you think is going to be happening with funding? guest: i think we get the answer to that when we come back on monday. right now we don't have that answer. it is going to be a cr, without a doubt. there is no time to do the appropriation but the senate is there any way, so there will be a cr and it will take a certain amount of time. i really would expect something around march to give us time when the new congress comes in

and determine it will probably some kind of reconciliation bill, and how we can get appropriations to move through and what the new administration the sinking in terms of funding. just thinking in terms of funding. and we are going to be helping them, and there is a lot of money is a lot of money to be saved. there is a lot of waste in washington and we need to trim down our government and establish a new phase of what our government is, what we will be doing, the things we should be doing and should not be doing and focus more on those things we should be doing and not wasting american taxpayer dollars. host: representative carlos gimenez, republican of florida, thank you so much for joining us. more of your phone calls after the break in open forum.

start calling it now. later former acting cdc director dr. richard besser scusses robert f. kennedy, jr.'s hhs secretary nomination and potential changes to public health policy. >> james bradley's biography of martin van buren is the first full-scale portrait of the eighth president in four decades. he is the coat editor of the martin verne buren papers and teaches the public history program at the state university of new york at albany. in his introduction he writes "as this biography will show reaching the nation's highest office was not been buren's greatest achievement. he built and designed the party system that decided how power was wielded in the united states. "

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all with the support of america's cable company. c-span, 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress from the house and senate floor to congressional hearings, party briefings, and committee meetings. c-span gives you a front row seat on how issues are debated and decided with no commentary, no interruption, and completely unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. this is a two our journal so we will be with you for just under an hour and then take you to the house. something already underway on

c-span2 is officials at the v.a. testifying on multibillion-dollar modernization projects. that is going on live at the house veterans affairs subcommittee hearing on c-span2. at 10:00 this morning, a look at ways to empower people with disabilities. the senate aging committee witnesses will talk about challenges faced by the disabled including home care, employment accessibility, and economic security. that is at 10:00 eastern live on c-span3. you can see those on c-span now and online at c-span.org. before i get your calls for open forum, news. fbi director christopher wray to resign at the end of bidens term , clearing the way for trump's pick. that is at cnn.com. let's go to the phones to joe in north carolina. democrat. caller: i am sorry the

representative. able to address -- was not able to address -- i was in his district not too long ago. about the drones, people have a reason to be concerned about these things. in 2003 i was taking a securities course that dealt with coast guard weapons of mass destruction capability and they were saying how difficult it is to check all of the bolt carriers at sea and the scenario was even back then was the issue of drones being launched from chinese bulk carriers out there. you tell me the coast guard does not know where these things are coming from.

people reported them from the beach. it is a concern. we have the civilian air patrol, we have helicopters. it seems like a lot of misinformation. i think it is something people have a right to be concerned about up in a lot of states you cannot even fly a drone unless it is registered and it cannot be above 200 feet. it cannot be flown over certain areas. thank you very much for your time. host: william in cleveland, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i am here. like i was saying earlier in reference to the drones, that is a matter for the department of defense. they monitor those skies, they monitor unidentified aircraft coming into our territories,

either off our coast were within our country itself. with regard to the drones that are over military bases, the only thing i can figure is since obviously the department of defense is fully aware of them but they are not reporting it is because it was already reported to the commander at the commander happens to be the president of the united states. he is obviously aware of these craft and he is obviously authorized these craft to travel across our country so that they can gather the intel they need that they cannot.

they can then learn how to invest their funds in the chinese power markets and make their money and then to hide those funds that they profit tiered through their alleged llc's offshore so now they are exempt from any federal tax liability. that is why these craft are not being fired upon. host: virginia in riverside, california. independent line. caller: i am just checking in on china again. i heard yesterday, i heard for about a year china has been buying up our farmlands in the midwest and i'm curious who is selling this? is this the federal government or is this independent person off the farm and selling it right next to our bases? does anyone have an answer? i am interested why this would be happening. it is happening all over the country.

where there is vacant military -- where there is vacant land by a military base. could someone help me with that question? host: we will do our best. in the meantime here is pete h egseth spoke to the press following a meeting with senator susan collins of maine. here it is. >> it was a great meeting. office after office, having the opportunity to spend time with the senators who have invested their careers and ensuring that our war fighters get what they need has been an amazing educational process and senator collins, like her colleagues before her, reiterated that.

we focused on what needs to be done to make sure this pentagon is focused on war fighting and lethality and we look forward to staying in touch with her. i am not going to assume anything about where the senator stands. this is a process that we respect and appreciate and we hope through time when we get through that committee and to the floor we can earn her support. earning support in this process in ongoing conversations and we are doing this for the war fight ers. host: just answer the colors question about the chinese -- to answer the caller's question about the chinese buying land near military bases, the atlantic council has this from july. china's ability to buy land near military bases got more restricted. in early june the u.s. treasury department announced a proposed

update to committee on foreign investment in the united states, rules that would expand the committee's jurisdiction over foreign real estate purchases and these rules were announced after several recent high-profile and controversial planned property purchases by initially undisclosed chinese buyers. a growing number of state-level restrictions on real estate investment and increased congressional scrutiny on greenfield investment. you can see that at the atlantic council if you would like to read that. this is lee in kansas. democrat. caller: mr. gimenez is either lying or ignorant on oil production. i can fix a great but i cannot fix lying. united states is the number one producer of oil in the world. 13.5 million barrels per day. we are energy independent. energy independence is defined under the trump administration as exporting more oil than we

import. we've been doing that for several years. according to the trump definition the united states is energy independent. go to eia.gov, for all of my naysayer republicans, and they will tell you. 13.5 million bottles -- 13.5 million barrels of oil. when trump says drill, baby, d rill he is not talking about oil , he is talking about stormy daniels. host: time magazine has announced the person of the year and that is donald trump. you can see that at time.org. there is the cover of person of the year for time magazine. mike in huntington, indiana. independent line. caller: i don't understand why somebody don't shoot it down, those drones. host: and paul in the u.k.,

democrat. caller: i think in the next few years there we better times -- world peace. i think world peace is what we want and that is what the u.s. government should strive for as well. host: he is gone. here is patrice in spartanburg, south carolina. republican. caller: you have american devastation. open borders, human trafficking. host: we are listening, go ahead. caller: this administration has allowed open borders, human trafficking, right in our faces.

you have balloons flying. now you have the drones that seem to have ai intelligence within them. you have people still calling in defending this administration. then you have the news, including c-span that has allowed for this talk to continue on about a president elect trying to make america better. if the news media is part of the biggest problem. when people call in -- host: houthi listen to? -- who do you listen to?

caller: i get my news from alternative sources on youtube. rogan, etc. there are a lot of us out here that is in tune to what is really going on. you all, c-span included, allow this to go on. it is awful. when someone with bad information calls into c-span, you hang up on them. they do not get their point across. you interrupt, you do not let them speak to get what they are saying out because they have valid information the public needs. host: are you good? caller: calling into c-span. host: roger in kansas, republican, good morning. caller: thank you for c-span. it is a megaphone for people who want to talk a little bit about

what they feel. i called in four years ago about the illegals crossing the border and everyone that came on your show said we need to stop this. here we are four years later, it has not been stopped. i just saw this last congressman mentioned they don't know what this is. are we going to go four years with these drones coming over us? what is going to happen. i know we have billionaires in this country that would embrace the challenge to shoot one of those down and they would love it. host: do believe it would cause a problem on the ground if people started shooting up in the air? caller: i could see that. they can say they could only be shot down in the ocean. the billionaires would love

this. this would be exciting for them. we have those in this country. host: susan in massachusetts. republican. caller: i agree with that other lady. the mainstream media is dead. they are all liars. they are all corrupt like the democrats. i listen to joe rogan, tucker carlson. if you read the reports on alex jones -- democrats try to take it away from him. these people are crazy. joe biden, when he is going to tell the american people about the drones. he knows what is going on. it is unbelievable.

we have a psychotic -- i don't think it was him, i think it was obama. she was a lousy candidate. we want a smart woman, not an idiot. we would like pam bondi to run for president. i haven't seen her since she lost. where has she been with all the drones and all of this? host: this is cynthia in ohio. democrat. caller: good morning. i kind of agree that the media

did not do its job, but i also think the democrats are responsible. the democrats number one priority should have been calling trump and the other people who tried to overthrow our democracy and calling them to task and making sure they would never come into power. the democrats have always had this approach, we will take the higher road and get work done, which is what they did come and biden did deliver us from the pandemic. that has not been looked at or talked about at all in the media , the devastating effects of the pandemic and how long it took us to move forward the supply chain issues. on the others, they just figure

out ways to manipulate the media, manipulate their message, and the fact they were able to convince so many people and brainwash so many people that the democrats need to do something about that. that is the elephant in the room. people really believe we have had a bad economy for four years and if you look at the facts it is one of the best economies we have ever had and they will go in there and they will change the message and say it is good and then they will take credit for all of the work the democrats did and that is what they always do at the democrats need to strategize better all the way down to the local level. our local democrats failed us. they should've had a candidate long before kamala harris. they should have been prepared and they were not. if the democrats do not look in the mirror and look at what they did wrong, they will never overcome this. host: and some news from nbc.

biden to commute sentences of 1500 nonviolent offenders and the biggest single day active clemency to date. the president said "america was built on the promise of possibility and second chances." it says he is commuting the sentences of almost 1500 offenders, he is pardoning 39 others and explaining what may be, a defining act and the dying days of his presidency, he said in a statement "america was built on promise and possibilities and second chances. as president i have a great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for nonviolent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenders." robert in kentucky.

republican line. caller: good morning. i was an air traffic controller for 15 years and i wanted to talk about the drones. the drones have a restriction on how high and no restriction on how low. they cannot get on your property and look in your window, that is against the law. what are they doing that is against the law? they are bothering us. they are not doing anything else. unless we come up with different laws, i don't know what they can do? if you try shooting one down he better be a way from a city because you cannot discharge a firearm inside a city or suburbs. host: this is matt in virginia. democrat. caller: listening to a lot of people today, it is amazing to me how many people think we

should be extremely worried about this and this is a terrible thing and america cannot stand for this. i just feel like what world are you living in? america is not invulnerable anymore. we haven't been since 9/11. there is this idea we can send -- i heard people say we should give billionaires the ability to shoot these things down. i think we should figure out what happened first and just be patient. so many people want to jump to conspiracy theories because nobody trust anybody anymore. the person who said the mainstream media is dead is correct. the number of people who watch the mainstream media is down. i do not know what is the fix to that. the person who said democrats should find a new media strategy, i think we should

figure out where do people get media from these days and figure out are those people trustful sources? i ask everyone to look inside yourself and figure out where you get your information from to find out is that a trustful source? that is my comment. host: him in washington. -- jim in washington. independent line. caller: i think c-span is the most important thing on television and i think everyone on washington journal does a great job facilitating and inviting discussion. my comment is that we have so much political division in this country. we have had for a long time. the only solution i can see is there has to be an open discussion about the rights of the individual. there is a lot of discussion

about the rights of certain groups. groups do not have human rights. only the individual human being does. host: here is peter, seattle, democrat. caller: good morning. i am thinking about the drone situation. if it was going to be a foreign country or something like that why would they be running lights all the way around these things so everybody can see them? amazon was interested in drones. maybe amazon dropped that plan because of the hysteria we are hearing right now and sold them off to somebody and maybe they are using them. i don't know. it is just so stupid listening to people whine about these drones. we will find out what is going on. host: melanie in seneca, south carolina. republican. caller: i am calling about the

drones. when people don't know what is going on, maybe there is a reason we do not need to tell anybody what is going on. no other country that is not our ally needs to know. maybe the word classified is all that needs to be said. that will ease some people's anxiousness about these drones. they will say they have got it under control, it is classified. that is all they need to say. how do you think we became the best nation in the world anyway? china has caught our tail and we have had a horrible president for the last four years. i just hope trump can do something before something really bad happens. i have faith he can do that. thank you very much.

host: steve in lynnfield, massachusetts. democrat. good morning. caller: all of these people are so upset these are potentially chinese drones when trump is inviting china to our inauguration. he has a terrible record on the economy. our economy is booming. we have people calling in hoping he will save our economy but they do not watch the news because the news will not tell them the truth. it is infuriating to listen to people so angry about drones and how the media is terrible but they're facts are so terrible. trump added double to our deficit than obama did. obama had two terms. yet we are worried about chinese drones that have a logical explanation i am sure. so many people are so upset about the media maybe should

take a second to look around and get your facts somewhere else other than fox news. host: oh right, steve. that is it for open forum. up next, the former acting cdc director giving us to take on robert f. kennedy, jr.'s nomination and potential changes to public health policy in this country. we will be right back. >> attention middle and high school students across america, it is time to make your voice heard. the ccn student documentary contest is here, your chance to create a documentary that can inspire change, raise awareness and make an impact. you documentary should answer the question, your message to the president, what issue is most important you and your community. whether your passion about

politics, the environment or community stories. this is your platform to share your message with the world. there are $100,000 in prizes, including the grand prize of $5,000. this is your opportunity not only to make an impact but be rewarded for creativity and hard work. scan the code or visit student cam.org for all the details. >> since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress, from the house and senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings and committee meetings . c-span gives you a front row seat to how issues are debated and decided with no commentary, no interruptions, and completely unfiltered.

c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> the house will be in order. >> 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 policies are 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: welcome back to the program. we are joined by dr. richard besser, former acting director of the cdc during the obama administration in 2009 and also currently president and ceo of the robert wood johnson foundation. welcome to the program. guest: thanks so much for having

me on this morning. host: you said in an up and in the president trump's nomination of robert f kennedy junior's nomination to leave the cdc is dangerous. explain that. guest: one of the things you didn't mention is i am an pediatrician. i know as a pediatrician taking care of children all over the country, there was nothing i did that had more prudent value for the health of my patient than making sure they wear it vaccinated a fully and on time. i would get questions all the time from parents about different vaccines and what they were for and how i felt about their safety and we would have great conversations. there was a trust there. the reason i say the a selection of rfk junior as a potential

secretary of health is dangerous is that he has done within than just about anybody to undermine people's trust in vaccines and their safety. having some with that microphone, so there in the cabinet is undermining the belief in our vaccine system, we have the safest vaccine approval system in the world. we need someone in that position who puts it squarely on parents to ask the questions and get them answered but believes the system we have in place is ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective. host: i want to play this clip for you of the portion of a meet the press interview with president elect trump when he was asked about rfk junior and his skepticism about vaccines and i will get your reaction. [video clip] >> let me ask you about rfk

junior. he has obviously talked about his skepticism of vaccines and has expressed opposition to childhood vaccines. do you want to see childhood vaccines eliminated? >> if they are dangerous for the children it. so when you look at some of the problems and you look at what is going on with disease and sickness in our country, something is wrong. >> are you talking about autism? >> go back 25 years, autism was nonexistent. it was one in 100000 and now it is close to one out of 100. what is happening? i did something the other night that was a little unusual. i called the drug companies and i called rfk junior and dr. oz into some of his people and i said, let's all get together and figure out where we are going. we are going to reduce prices.

there is a middleman that makes more than drug companies and we don't know who they are. in our drug prices are higher than same medicine for the same stuff. so we met and we met for a long time and talked about pricing and vaccines in terms of what happens. we talked about pesticides. we talked about everything. i think a lot of good things are going to come from him. he is not going to offset any system. he is not looking to reinvent the wheel totally, but when you look at the numbers come up we really don't have a very healthy country. >> going back 25 years, studies show there is no link between vaccines and autism and yet it sounds like you are open to the possibility of him looking into it? >> i think somebody has to look out. when you look 25 years, we had

very little autism. >> they say because they are better at identifying. >> it was one in 100000 and now it is one and 100. that is a bad number. host: your reaction to that, specifically the vaccines and autism. guest: unfortunately the president elect is sharing this information in the year 2000, 1 out of 150 children was diagnosed with autism. that was the rate of autism. it wasn't one in 100,000. at that time, a lot of work was done to try to understand why are we seeing autism in children and since then there has been a lot of work to understand why are the rate of diagnosis going up. one thing is clear, i need two thousand four, the institute of medicine, and ended big -- independent body of experts

released their it reports an extensive study looking at the study of is there any connection between vaccines and autism and their conclusion was clear that there is not. since that time, there was been a lot of research to try to understand the rise in autism. some of it has to do with better diagnosis. it has been a big push back to him so they can get the services they need and in many states having that diagnosis is critical to being able to access those services. as a part of it is due to increased diagnosis. we need to do more research to understand what is causing the rise but diverting research into looking at a question that has already been answered is cruel and unfair to parents whose children are autistic and who have questions as to why. it is unfair to parents who are

concerned about the safety of vaccines. it is unfair to the nation that may have to see us treating diseases that have almost been wiped off the face of the earth coming back. i am old enough and have practiced pediatrics in enough places that i have seen a number of these diseases that would prevent through vaccines. i've seen people with polio, meningitis. we don't want to go back to a day when these are the big concerns in communities. and we don't need to. we want to make sure parents have the information they need to make really informed decisions about the health of their children. if you look before the covid pandemic which was the most politicized public health response in our history. before that there was almost no difference by political party in terms of how people trusted

science and the ability of science to provide answers to improve our lives and health. since then there has been a major difference by political party with more democrats believing the science provides truth far more than republicans. that is dangerous. we don't want to have a situation where politics and science are so interlaced. host: regarding vaccine safety data, mr. kennedy has said he wants to make that data public. is it not already public? guest: i don't know what data he is asking about. the day that used to approve vaccines is a public. in after vaccines are licensed, there is for information collected about anything that may have happened in a timeframe related to the vaccine to try to

understand is there an issue. when you first approve a vaccine, you really want to make sure that once it is used in millions and millions of people there aren't rare side effects you weren't able to detect when the vaccine was initially being studied. that information is all public. i would encourage people to go on to the fda website and google and look for that information because it is there. i am not sure what he is talking about in terms of making information public that isn't. host: we are going to be talking with dr. richard besser for about 20 minutes until the house gavels in. if you would like to join the conversation the lines are reasonable, eastern or central time zones, it is (202) 748-8000 , mountain and pacific is (202) 748-8001. we have a line set aside for health care professionals. if you work in the health care field, give us a call on (202) 748-8002.

dr. besser, i want to talk to you about removing florid from drinking water. the studies that have indicated that at high levels it could be dangerous especially to children. guest: this is a trickier one to talk about than vaccines because where you live, the community you are in will affect in a great way how much fluoride you consume in your diet and in your water supply. the addition of fluoride it to the public water system was ranked as one of the top 10 public health interventions of the 20th century. the reason it was ranked that way is small amounts of a fluoride to strengthen our teeth and prevent cavities. by putting small amounts of florida into the public water system, we saw a dramatic

decline, 25% decline in childhood cavities. that goes on to stronger teeth for adults and that is a wonderful thing. i grew up in new jersey and our water system was not fluoridated . a good visit to the dentist for me it was two or three cavities. children exposed to low levels of fluoride were not experiencing that. one of the beautiful things about it is independent of your income, everyone had the benefit of that small level of fluoride in their water supply regardless of how much money their family had. host: how is that level determined? is it determined at a local level? could certain localities be putting too much? guest: it is determined at the local level and tested at the local level. the reason i think it is

important for parents to have conversations with their doctors is that now there are other sources of fluoride. there is fluoride in toothpaste and there are some vitamins that children receive that have a fluoride in them. so having the conversation so that you understand what is in your water supply, are you drinking bottled water that may not have it and are you drinking the water from your system. those are important questions to have. if you are in a community that has not fluoridated the water at all, you should be able to find it on your local community public health website. you may want to talk to your child's health care provider about florid supplementation. one of the challenges there is for individuals who have lower income, that is another cost they may have to bear that they wouldn't have to if there was fluoride in their system.

this is one where you want to be informed and know what is in your water supply and whether your child needs to have additional florid supplementation or not. host: let's talk to deborah in west chester, ohio. caller: i have the privilege of working with my parents who had a daycare and i ran the program for food for 12 years regarding nutrition for our children. i was just appalled at the beginning of the obama administration when the united states department of agriculture allowed all foods on snap, sugary soft drinks, etc.. 50% of our children in the head start program in new york are at an unhealthy weight. i don't understand why because

the government has on my plate that is to be the food pyramid, it is 20% protein, 20% fruit, 30% greens in 30% vegetables and one small serving of a dairy a day. why on earth would we make that. why can't we make the change back to what we had before 2008/2009. that is my question. host: dr. besser? guest:-ish your question about the food plate versus the food pyramid. host: she is gone now but you can answer that. guest: one of the things that i think would be wonderful is if the new administration decides to take on childhood nutrition. one of the ways that could be done that i think could get

bipartisan support would be to look again at the school lunch program. during covid, there were a number of government actions that i felt were terrific. one of them was providing universal school lunch to every child in america. there are 30% of children in america who get over half of the calories from the school lunch. what would it mean if we as a nation said we want to make the school lunch in america the healthiest lunch possible? it would take investment. there are a lot of schools in america that either never had kitchens or had to pull them out because they didn't have the resources to maintain them. if every school had a kitchen and to provide a healthy, nutritious lunch for every child in america, that will go far to address some issues. if the discussion is around what goes into the school lunch and what makes up that healthy

plate, we keep big agribusiness out of there and eliminate the processed food and have real food. children would not only get a healthy lunch but would appreciate to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy foods. that will go a long way in terms of diet as people got older. i think one of the biggest things that could be done to address nutrition in america is to raise the minimum wage and make sure everybody had a living wage and could buy healthy food. healthy nutritious food costs more and there are so many people in america who lack the resources to provide the food that they know they want to give to their children and they are forced into positions of giving processed food they know isn't healthy. if we raise the income of people in america, that would go far. host: our caging is about to scrutinize the additives in food in the united states.

as well as regulators that oversee them. what are your thoughts on that? guest: could you ask that again? host: about scrutinizing food additives. guest: food additives are regulated and scrutinized. it is very important that they are to make sure that nothing we allow in our food system is dangerous. any additional efforts in that area i think our a good thing. i think it is a bad thing to put forward a message that anything can go in her food supplies. it is heavily regulated and that should continue to be the case. host: mark in st. paul, minnesota. caller: is my recollection that dr. fauci said that he was the

science. i have two questions. was the six put distancing thing based on the science? was wearing cloth masks based on the science as well? guest: what was the first part? caller: the six foot distancing. guest: right, right. these are good questions. i ran emergency preparedness and response at the cdc for four years and i started when katrina hit in new orleans and i left cdc shortly after the swine flu pandemic. i can tell you this. early in an outbreak, and make recommendations based on the best available information and it is critically important that you let people know what you know and what you don't know and what you are trying to do to get

additional information, and you let people know as you learn more, recommendations are going to change, and that is important. whenever a recommendation changes, it can undermine the trust and be a sense of, there is flip-flopping going on here during covid, there was a lot of information at the beginning and terms of what people were asked and told to do that changed over time. i had a close relative who was in the hospital with covid in nearly a year later what was done for my relative early on turned out not to beat the way to go and it changed. and i understood that was based on learning and over the course of time with learning we learned what was most effective and what was not. this applies to things like distancing and how far should distancing be in a classroom or between people. it has to do with masks and

which masks are most effective and whether others could provide benefit whatsoever. these are areas where science early on in particular it was incomplete and as more information was learned there was a lot more effort put around ventilation, in particular in schools than on the distancing. host: we have a question on text from nick in gettysburg, pennsylvania. what is your opinion on the covid vaccine for children? guest: i think that the covid vaccine is critically important. the covid vaccination saved millions of lives during the pandemic around the world. over time, it is important to look and see at the vaccines like covid, who is at greatest risk and provide vaccinations for them. i recommend covid vaccines during the pandemic. i just got my booster this fall

for covid and got my flu shot. i urge people to look at the recommendations. vaccines are recommended for children and talk to your child's health care provider about that could we vaccinate children for a number of reasons. we vaccine them to protect them from an infection. we also in -- vaccinate them to make sure they aren't going to make someone sick at home who may be at higher risk of disease. host: ingrid in florida, you are next. caller: good morning, dr. bester. i recently i think it was on the washington journal within a week , a gentleman on talking about a product in a pesticide that other countries have banned and talking about autism. think it started with a g and

was such a long name i didn't time to write it down. could we talk about that being the cause of autism instead of the vaccines? guest: thanks, ingrid. i think your question raises an important point. if we are diverting our government dollars, the national into the toots -- national institutes of health into questions that have already been answered, the case of vaccines with autism has already been answered. your question about could there be a pesticide related, that is a valid question. i don't know if that particular pesticide has been studied. maybe it has. it is so important that people are able to look up questions and we can turn to scientists to provide answers to that. once an answer has been provided that we are all on board that we can move on to addressing additional questions.

host: here is john in schenectady, new york. caller: thank you for taking my call. you said the vaccines are good and you said that the chemicals not allowed in other countries are ok here. the vaccines have been proven to be at for us. interviews that focus on vaccines, my son is learning disabled and does have high functioning autism and i do believe it is from the extra vaccines that he got, because like jump said, some of the vaccines are good like polio. how can you being a pediatrician be for, like you said it is

so-called proven that the chemicals that are at in our foods are not harmful for us. they are harmful to us. and what rfk junior wants to do is get rid of this and make us healthier country. it has to start with the food that is given to us. host: the question is about the food and chemicals in the flu that are pager you want to try to remove impossible leaks with learning disabilities in kids. guest: i think that asking questions about connections between what we eat and what we are exposed to in the environment and all kinds of different ways and health are really important questions. i know parents whose children have different developmental disabilities want to know, is there a reason for this.

is there something that could've been done differently and is there some kind of questions. i think when a question has been addressed and a leader continues to put that forward as an explanation, that does a disservice to everyone in our nation. one of the challenges is, mr. kennedy puts forward some good ideas for us to focus on mixed in with miss information. he led one of the largest anti-vaccine organizations in the nation. that is the piece that really troubles me. i am not at all troubled by the desire to look at chronic diseases and say what can we do more. we do a lot of lip service in this country about how much we

care about children but when you look at congress and the amount of resources they put in to address issues around the health of our children, it is inexcusable. it is such a small fraction of resources. children don't vote and it shows in terms of how congress acts. host: anthony, new york, good morning. caller: dr. bester, please define safe and effective and can you explain why the congress and senate and staffers exempted themselves from vaccines and why are there no black box warnings. and were you ever in the military? have you been enlisted in the army? host: dr. bester? guest: -- dr. besser? guest: i probably served our nation but was not in the army.

when you look at safe and effective for each vaccine, there are clear standards that the food and drug administration puts forward in terms of what does effectiveness mean and how much of a protection should you see. no vaccine protects 100%. that is a challenge. some of the best vaccines provide 95% protection and that basically means 95% of people who get the vaccine will avoid getting that disease but 5% of people who get the vaccine for some reason they won't get the immune response for the protective factors and they still are at risk for that disease. in terms of safety, there is a whole number of issues that are looked at when vaccines are being studied. they look at local reaction, swelling or soreness in the arm. they look at fever and all kinds of symptoms in that way. they look at longer term, are

there any conditions that are seen in people who received the vaccine more than people who received saltwater or something else. and that information is shared publicly. it is debated and there is an external advisory committee to the food and drug that looks at that and reaches a conclusion. then it goes to an external advisory group at the centers for disease control and they look at that and say, should this vaccine be recommended and if so, who should it be recommended for and then it goes forward and the cdc director makes a recommendation to the nation on that. the requirements for vaccination in america are handled at the state level so each state will determine what vaccines are required for children to go to school and that varies from state to state. host: we will have to leave it at that. the former acting director of the cdc, thanks for joining us. guest: