♪ host: good morning. from the nation's capital for the light is lit this morning as senate democrats keep the senate

in session for an all-nighter. more coming up on the washington journal. also, federal employees face a deadline. take the buyout offered by president trump or don't. unions say they should not. it may not be legal and they sued to block it. a court hearing scheduled for today at 1:00 p.m. eastern. at least 40,000 have taken the deal so far. that's about 2% of the government's almost 3 million civilian workforce. this morning, federal employees only. your plans. we want to hear from you this morning. if you live in the eastern and central part of the country, (202) 748-8000. mountain and pacific, (202) 748-8001. you can join the conversation in a text if you are a federal employee. (202) 748-8003. on facebook at

facebook.com/cspan or on x at @cspanwj. we will get to that conversation with employees in just a minute. let's go live to the senate floor. the senator from maryland talking now as the senate democrats have held it open all night long. >> how shameless. how reckless. how callous. how depraved. there have been so many actions this administration has taken to villain eyes and hurt our civil servants. i want to be explicit about exactly what they are up to. they fired inspectors general, the people who conduct independent audits and investigations within government agencies to detect and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse. to replace independent

watchdogs. this is the plan with loyalists. you want to talk about making government efficient? might i suggest not firing the very people committed to rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse of our taxpayer dollars. host: marilyn senator angela alsobrooks -- maryland center. the senate remains in session this morning. they pulled an all-nighter over in protest of russell vought to service the budget director and president trump's second administration -- in president trump's second administration. yesterday a procedural hurdle was overcome with a vote to limit debate on the nomination. democrats said they would not yield back the 30 hours of debate. they have held the senate floor since then. vought is expected -- a vote is

expected on vought's nomination at 7:00 p.m. tonight. senator brian schatz of hawaii and chris murphy of connecticut, they had the early morning shift. listen to a little lighthearted moaned between the two senators. [video] >> they really are cutting the stuff that matters to regular people. then they will book that as savings. they will shove it in the direction of billionaires and billionaire corporations. i see my friend senator murphy is here. it's a little like old times to see you on the floor at 2:00 a.m. it used to be easier when i was on hawaii time but i have been here for a couple of weeks so this is actually late for me. i want to recognize we have most

democratic senators speaking at some point through this 30 hour period. merph decided to take the 2:00 to 5:00 a.m. shift i hope you have not had too much mountain dew but i would happy to yield to the senator from connecticut, with the permission of the chair. i ask unanimous consent to engage without having to go through the chair every time. >> without objection. >> for the record, senator, it is diet mountain dew. mountain dew is disgusting. diet is except of. >> let me say one thing about the -- i did not know this whole senate is powered on celsius. i've never had celsius before. i was offering people coffee. everyone had a celsius. >> i think it is two or three times the minute caffeine a red bull has. there's a reason why the

conversion is happening. not that i have an intimate understanding which beverages have which amounts of caffeine. host: on the senate floor, what powers the u.s. senate. the exchange between two democrats as the party holds the floor in the upper changer all -- chamber all night long in protest of russell vought serving as budget director. you can watch our coverage on c-span2. it will continue throughout the day with the vote slated for 7:00 p.m. eastern time. here on c-span this morning we are talking to federal employees only as they face that deadline today on whether or not to take president trump's offer of a buyout. here are the lines. if you are a federal employee and you live in the eastern and central part of the country, (202) 748-8000. if you live in the mountain and pacific area, (202) 748-8001. this morning we want to know

what is your plan. have you taken the offer? are you thinking about it? are you going to refuse it, as the union suggest federal employees do. they have sued to block it. 1:00 p.m. eastern time, a court is taking of the issue as the unions sue to block the offer. the federal government has 2.3 million full-time employees. this is from usafacts.org. look at the breakdown where most of these employees work. most are in the defense department, followed by veterans affairs, homeland security, justice, treasury, agriculture. it breaks down even further. the least amount at the energy department. which states have the most federal workers? it is not just washington, d.c. most are in california, virginia, and maryland.

around washington, d.c. they represent .8%, 3.3%, and 4.6% of the states' total workforce. virginia and maryland is due to proximity to d.c. as of march of 2024, 6.4% of california fiddler please police work for the department of veteran affairs. 23.5% work for the navy. the remaining 50% work for other agencies. federal employees across the country, what do you plan to do as he face the deadline to take the buyout? this morning is cnn reporting as well that in addition to whether or not people take this buyout, whether these employees take this buyout, there are plans from the administration to move

towards layoffs. the administration plans sweeping layoffs among workers who don't opt to resign. the headline from cnn.com. federal employees only. robert in d.c., good morning to you. the mill you received was a fork in the road -- the email you received was a fork in the road. caller: i'm not taking it. really appreciate the stats. i'm one of those navy people. i did not realize how big we are. i can't take it. the only people that are taking it are people that are going to retire soon. i think it is -- someone called in two days ago. i think it is a scam. as soon as you sign up for this, you are on a list. they will schedule you and just fire you. you won't get anything.

set aside the fact it is probably not legal and they won't pay you for it anyway. host: are you represented by a union? caller: i'm not personally, no. host: why do you think it is not legal? caller: well, i don't think they are able to pay you for that long. administrative leave is what i would assume they would put you want to keep you on the books. that is what i have seen in the past. i don't think it can go for that long. i think you're only allowed to do that for three months. i have not verified it but i heard someone talk about some limit for a severance package. i don't think this would be considered a severance package. they will just give you your benefits and let you, you know, basically stay at home. my wife works for the department

of defense as well. she was thinking about taking it because she wants to get out of there. it feels like at the pentagon the atmosphere is toxic, especially for women. and transgender. she has a friend who is transgender and she's worried about them. she wants to leave. she was thinking about taking it but i told her i think it is a trap to get your name and a list. host: explained for folks who may not know, the offer is to pay you not to work for how long? caller: you will resign at the end of the fiscal year. it's a forced resignation. there is a letter you're supposed to sign that says -- that's the other thing. i read the letter.

it doesn't say you don't have to work. this whole buyout to me reads like it is really for the people that are remote and teleworking. they should essentially -- if you are remote, you can stop working to the extent you can't do it remotely anymore. it even says in the resignation letter you were supposed to sign and send to them that you will continue to work and support a transition of your position to new employees. it is not even a complete, in my opinion, you get to piece out tomorrow -- peace out tomorrow and collect paychecks until september 30. host: robert, thanks for calling in. we are talking to federal employees only. the email can be found on o

pm.gov. fork in the road is what it is called. the same language used by elon musk when he took over twitter. send in email to hr from your government account. only any email from your .gov account and type the word resign into the subject line of the email that is sent. federal employees, will you do that this morning or not? we want to hear from you. we are taking federal employees from across the country. shane in wisconsin, let's hear from you. what is your plan? caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i was going to apply for the program. i was all set and was informing family and friends. last friday, we received an email from our own hr department stating that field office

employees and certain other employees of the social security agency are exempt from applying for the program. that kind of sealed it for me. i will not be taking the offer to resign. host: what do you do? caller: a field representative with social security, a claims specialist. host: explain what your job entails. who do you work with? caller: i take claims from people, retirement claims, processed disability claims, ssi applications. host: do you go out to people? caller: they come to me. host:host: why are you exempt? caller: social security is at a 50-your loafer staffing -- 50-year low for staffing. our workloads are quite high. host: why were you thinking

about taking? caller: i'm in a pretty good situation where in april i turned 60. i have 30 years in. i will be eligible for full retirement. it was pretty much a no-brainer for me to get paid and full benefits an extra four month past my retirement date. host: what is your retirement date? caller: it would be april 18. host: you are in good shape. would you get a pension if he had taken it? -- you had taken? n it? caller: yes. that is what they are saying we would. there are a lot of uncertainties. a lot of people are skeptical of

the offer. it is kind of mixed emotions. in a way i am glad we are exempt from not taking it. i don't have to worry about anything happening during the resignation period. something that could go south. you know what i mean? host: are you represented by a union? caller: yes. host: what kind of communication did you get from the union? what did they tell you? caller: well, we didn't receive any correspondence from the union. i was in touch with my union rep who i personally know. host: what did they tell you? caller: nothing either way.

i asked some general questions but i did not receive any kind of official correspondence from the union. host: the federal unions who represent these workers sued to block the move. two you agree with that? -- do you agree with that? shane? caller: yeah. they are looking out for our -- the time we have invested with our work and i think the uncertainty is if in this period between now and september can some sort of decision revoke this and then you're out on the street without anything. host: what you think of the president's decision here? what do you think is behind it?

caller: who knows what they are thinking? it is hard to say. are they looking to trim the size of the government? i'm sure in every type of agency, you know, there's probably something that can be done, but is this the way to go about it where you can cause a huge void in certain agencies? yeah, i don't think that is good for the american people. host: shane who works for the social security administration in wisconsin. sandy in washington, d.c. have you made a decision? caller: i'm not taking the offer. i serve the american people.

i'm continuing to do my job. if there are huge layoffs and i'm subject to them, that happens. i'm putting my head down and continuing to work. host: what do you do for the government? caller: i work in hr. i don't have any additional information about the fork in the road email apart from what has been provided publicly. it seems like there is somewhat of a lack of additional information. i also -- it would make me hesitant anyway. i work. i'm going to continue to work. host: you are doing it because you serve the american people. explain. why is that important to you? caller: when we begin working

for the government we take an oath. it is not to a particular administration. whichever administration is in office, we are working to help achieve that administration's goals. even though i work for the government, it is the least political environment i have ever worked in. i have no idea what the politics of video my coworkers are. we comment -- of any of my coworkers are. we come in and we work. we keep to the goals in front of us. that is what benefits the federal workforce and the country as a whole. i would feel almost guilty taking the offer. i don't like the idea of being paid for such a huge amount of time and networking. -- not working.

i'm sorry that is not a particularly exciting answer but it is what it is. host: sandy ken washington who works for the federal government. she will stay put and not take the offer from president trump. from the letter to federal employees, the last day to accept the deferred resignation program is today. deferred resignation is available to all full-time federal employees except for military personnel, employees of the u.s. postal service, those in positions related to immigration enforcement, and national security, and those in any other positions excluded by your employee agency. this is a copy of the letter they suggest you send back. please accept this letter as my formal resignation for employment. effective september 30, 2025. i understand i have the right to accelerate but not extend by resignation date.

i also understand if i, or become eligible for early or normal retirement before my resignation date, i retain the right to elect early or normal retirement at any point prior to my resignation date. federal employees only this morning. mason in south carolina. good morning to you. what do you do for the government? caller: good morning. host: what do you do for the government? caller: i work for i.t. host: a specific agency? caller: i will not go into that. host: what have you decided to do? caller: i will not be taking the offer. i serve the military -- i have served the military for a good bit of my life. that is what this job is about. host: what is your hesitancy?

is it the loyalty, as you just explained, or are there other reasons as well? caller: principal. i will serve my country and serve the military. this is a curveball that does not pass the sniff test. it is not a here to any type of order or decorum or chain of command that we have ever seen. this is not how things work. host: what do you mean this is not how things work? caller: there are official orders that will have backing by -- they are vetted. there's references. there are things you can look at if you have further information questions. if there's a question asked about these fork in the road

emails, we have crickets as answers. host: do you report to an office? caller: i always have. i work in a facility that is a certain security clearance. i'm always coming to work. there was no working from home option for me and that is ok. host: explained what it is like right now since you received this letter at the end of january. what is the work environment like when you show up every day? caller: um, slightly chaos. not too much. more stress, because there is always personnel trying to anticipate the next move as to what may happen next. am i going to be affected by the reduction of force? should i take it or not? there are stressors you can sense in the air. host: you said this is not normal, not how it's done.

i'm paraphrasing. caller: correct. host: houthi you blame for this -- who do you blame for this? caller: above my pay grade for that one. i take this as a paradigm shift. the pendulum will always swing when you change administrations. i could point a finger at the head of -- mr. musk. i understand the rationale behind it. there are certain personnel who have been in the government who may or may not do or pull their weight or work as they once used to. i understand that. yet i also know if you apply up like it policy for an organization, not all those rules are applicable to, you will wind up in situations where you lose talent. those two have not been the bad

apples and are going to be treated as such. host: speaker mike johnson held his weekly news conference yesterday. he was asked about elon musk and the role he has played in the trump administration. the doge efforts. here is what the speaker had to say in response to a question from a reporter. [video] >> is there an inconsistency that republicans? we don't want unelected bureaucrats in charge of things downtown, yet seating article one powers to the executive branch under elon musk. is there not inconsistency calling for the elimination of the department of education? we don't want women playing sports with men. argue seating that power if you eliminate the department of education? >> you know me. i'm a fierce advocate and defender of article one.

we are the legislative branch. there's a reason the founding fathers with the congress and legislative branch is the first article of the constitution and we will defend that. i think there is a gross overreaction from the media to what is happening. the executive branch has the right to evaluate how executive branch agencies are operating. to ensure that not only the intent of congress in funding mechanisms would also the stewardship of precious american taxpayer dollars is being handled well. that is what they are doing by putting a pause on these agencies and doing these internal audits. that is a long overdue, much welcomed development. that is what the american people demand and deserve. we don't see this as a threat to article one at all. it's an active, engaged, committed executive branch authority doing with the executive branch should do. they have broad discretion in the funding. one congress funds an agency,

they are given broad discretion on how it is administered. they are using the authority now in a way it has not been used in a long time. it looks radical. it is not. i call it stewardship. i think you're doing right by the taxpayer and would support that principal. when it comes to codification of legislation, we will evaluate all those things. i think they are acting within the scope of their authority. the courts will have some things to say about this. as far as i'm concerned, this is not a usurpation of authority. it is not a power grab. they are doing what we exposed t -- expected and hoped for and asked for for years. host: mike johnson defending the moves by the trump administration, elon musk and the president in their freezing of funding and analysis and audit of the federal government. today the deadline for federal employees to decide whether or not you take the buyout offer from this administration.

the hill is reporting gop support for elon musk and his influee with the president falls dratically in a new poll. in the economist pa take -- poll, 47% wanted musk to have a lot of influence in the trump administration. today however the share of republicans who say they want musk to have a lot of influence has fallen substantially for 26%. dave, prairie hill, texas. what do you do for the government? caller: i work in the agriculture department. we couldn't be happier. i'm not going to take the buyout. i don't have to. it is mostly for corrupt fbi agent that don't want -- that try to go after trump. they can just leave.

they can't do the right thing. one try to prosecute him illegally. in our office we are so glad we finally got a good president that kicks out murderers, killers, drug dealers, child molesters. look at what marco rubio did. i think he cut a deal yesterday. our ships get to go through for free now through the panama canal, because we give 30,000 lives building it. that is a kind of deals trump is cutting. great, great deal. just like the one yesterday that he passed. signed the executive order to get men out of playing in women's sports, which is a bunch of silly nonsense to start with. host: sticking to this deadline,

this offered by the trump administration you say you and others in your office are happy about, anybody in your office going to take the offer? caller: we got one democrat. i think he's going to take it. i'm not sure. the rest of us are extreme the happy. we finally have a great president that's kicking at all this -- cutting all this fat and pork stuff out. these corrupt fbi agent. these killers and these murders and drug dealers out of this country. host: rob in upper darby, pennsylvania. caller: hi. i actually work for the defense logistics agency in philadelphia. i'm also a union rep with the afge. i work in the subsistence area. , contract specialist, -- i am a

contract specialist, gs-12. a lot of folks close to retirement are taking the deal. this is the time not to be making a decision on principles. it is time to be making a smart, informed decision. that is what people are forgetting here. first of all, elon musk is not authorized to make a buyout offer. he is not really a government employee. that is why the union is saying this deal is illegal. first of all, you know, they can offer early retirement not to exceed $25,000. that is a legal offer according to the laws of the land. federal employees need to realize this. i'm not taking this offer but i think it is illegal. it says deferred resignation.

it does not say deferred or phased out retirement. host: we are running at time for this conversation. let me ask about this court proceeding. the union is suing to block the offer. what can you tell us today about it at 1:00 p.m. eastern time? caller: a federal judge will hear it. president biden put in many federal judges. based on the information presented, he might actually block it. he might actually block it. host: robbie represents the federal worker union and works for the federal government. we have to leave the conversation at that point. we will take a break. later, health advocate calley means discusses robert f. kennedy, jr.'s nomination to lead the department of health and human services. up next after our bright, democratic congressman al green discusses his new impeachment

effort against president trump over the president's proposal to "take over gaza." here is president trump's remarks were he first made that proposal. [video] >> i strongly believe the gaza strip, which has been a symbol of death and destruction for so many decades and so bad for the people anywhere near it, and especially those who live there, and frankly, who have been unlucky. it's been another key place for a long time. -- an unlucky place for longtime. it should not go through a long process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood there and fought for it and lived there and died there and lived a miserable existence there. we should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts. there are many of them that want to do this.

build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million palestinians living in gaza, ending the death and destruction and frankly bad luck. this could be paid for by neighboring countries of great wealth. it could be numerous sites or just one large site. the people will be able to live in comfort and peace and will get -- we will make sure something spectacular is done. they will have peace. they are not going to be shot at and killed and destroyed like this civilization of wonderful people has had to endure. the only reason the palestinians want to go back to gaza's they have no alternative. it is a demolition site. this is a demolition site. virtually every building is down. they are living under fallen concrete that is very dangerous and precarious.

they instead can occupy a beautiful area with homes and safety. they can live out their lives in peace and harmony instead of having to go back and do it again. the u.s. will take over the gaza strip and we will do a job with it too. we will own it and be responsible for dismantling all the dangerous onyx footed bombs and weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area. >> washington journal continues. host: back at our desk this morning, congressman al green, democrat of texas, here to talk about your new impeachment effort. you came to the floor to offer this over the president's remarks on gaza. we were just playing them for viewers in case they missed

them. where is the crime here committed by the president with this proposal? guest: thank you for asking. impeachment does not require a crime that is statutory. many people think so. it gives me an opportunity to explain. article two, section four indicates one can be impeached for high crimes, misdemeanors, or -- felonies, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. that's important. many people assume that means a statutory offense. it is not. misdemeanor means misdeeds aside from some minor things. it would shock your conscience. the president can be impeached for shocking one's conscience. andrew johnson was impeached for

saying bad things about congress. speaking ill of congress. it was article 10 of the articles of impeachment. we can impeach the president for things he might do that are immoral and hurt society. these are the things we should focus on. host: why do you think this hurts society? what he said at the white house this week? guest: this week? let's focus on one thing right now, what he said about gaza. the president and the prime minister of israel on stage together. the president talks about moving people from gaza to some other place. he has not talked to the people who live there, the palestinians. they talk about them as if they are animals that can be herded and pushed and moved. with some assumption they are going to have great appreciation for what they will do and taking

them from their homes. for the prime minister of israel to indicate this is something worthy of consideration, maybe not his exact words but that was the that's worthy of consideration, mr. premised her? -- prime minister? with your history? 6 million and the holocaust. -- in the holocaust. he should be more sympathetic to the palestinian people. he said that without the people he was at war with. he's at war with hamas, and other palestinian people. babies have been killed by the thousands. people are being relocated from one part of gaza to another part. the president and the prime minister, what they said will live in infamy. i don't know they will recover from it. quite frankly, i think the president -- that alone in my world with cause him to have to

resign. host: let's listen to the press secretary of the briefing when she was asked about the president's comments. [video] >> the president has spent his career criticizing foreign entanglements, nationbuilding, sending american troops to fight abroad. particularly in the middle east. this seems like it could ultimately involve all of those things. can you explain this reversal and help building and owning gaza squares with america first policy? >> i reject the premise of your question this forces the united states to be entangled in conflict abroad. the president has not committed to putting boots on the ground in gaza. he said the data states is not going to pay for the rebuilding of gaza. his administration is going to work with our partners in the region to reconstruct this region. let me take a step back here. this is an out-of-the-box idea. that is you president trump is

and that is why the american people elected him. his goal is lasting peace in the middle east for all people in the region. as i said, we have had the same people pushing the same solutions to this problem for decades. it has been made clear to the president the united states needs to be involved in the rebuilding effort to ensure stability in the region for all people. that does not mean boots on the ground in gaza or american taxpayers are funding the effort. dave meets donald trump, the best dealmaker on the planet, is going to strike up deal with our partners in the region. host: al green, does that alleviate your concerns? guest: not one scintilla. the president did not say that. aside from that, the president has been talking to what this real estate deal, how gaza can be re-created. peace and talking about this for some time now. he was serious about it. we can't let him announce it was

a joke. you don't joke about things like this. i said he should resign. so should the prime minister of israel. both of them will live in infamy by the way they are treating people, human beings. not dogs, not animals, not cattle. these are people. they have lives. they should be consulted. you make a plan to deal with where they will live and how they will live, that's an insult. for the people who think that this is all just something that will blow over, per member this. the president was serious when he said he wanted to eviscerate the department of education. the department of education was something congress created and the president cannot just do that with a stroke of a pen. he says that. he is serious because he has said publicly he wants his department of education person, the secretary of the department

of education, he wants the person to put herself out of a job. those are his boards. -- words. the president has a record he will have to run from. the president should be impeached.said that on the floor the house. it's a target rich environment in many things may be placed in these articles of impeachment. he's unfit to be president. unfit. one these impeachment signs the wealth around the country, i assure you the pressure is going to be on congress to do something. impeachment does not mean he will be removed from office. it will say to the country that this is what we stand for. it has been said the protests don't have a plan. the plan is here. this is the plan.

protest now, impeach later. host: richard in savannah, georgia. republican. you are first. caller: i watched you yesterday with your democrat party out protesting everything elon musk is trying to do for the american people. the usaid is a money-laundering scheme around the world. kickbacks back to the democrat party. whether it is through the clinton foundation, $4.4 billion . all y'all have is impeachments and race and gender, etc. you do nothing for the people of america. i think the democrats can sit back and let america see what it's like to reduce the people in government. the wasteful spending. all y'all can do is complain and be negative.

we are sick of it. host: let's have a congressman respond to your argument. congressman green? guest: i'm appreciative that you called, sir. it's about more than usaid, which came to being by way of an executive order from president kennedy. the president has authorities he doesn't have the department of education. look at what he's doing to the cia and the fbi. he's doing it because he wants to be in total control of any agency that might investigate him. if you recall, he fired comey, the fbi director because comey was investigating him. when we did not impeachment for that act, he takes a license to try to eviscerate to the extent he can these other agencies. the fbi or specifically and the

cia. the question is, aside what you said about usaid, which can be refuted, do you want a president who has been immune -- even some immunity by the supreme court who now knows he can pardon people who participated in an insurrection and send that signal to others? that he's above the law to a certain extent. he has the power to pardon. if you commit a crime, a federal crime, you can be pardoned by him. do you want a person to have that power and he's reckless and ruthless with it? this is serious business. i believe the way he's going about this is not just to purge but to prevent anyone from standing up to him. who is going to stand up to the president and the fbi when you know the president can fire you with impunity?

host: chris from brooklyn, massachusetts. democratic caller. caller: trump receives his instructions on israel palestine from his israeli-born donor, marion adelson. she has donated $100 million to trump. an exchange for trump recognizing israeli sovereignty over the occupied palestinian west bank. the larger scheme is for the israeli to suck the data states into another war with iran. -- the united states into a war with iran. when the body backs come back, you will know to thank. guest: i'm against any additional work. i'm a peacemaker. -- additional war. too much suffering has already taken place. i know that the laws of

proportionality are not applied by mr. netanyahu. they obliterated and decimated gaza. with a good many dollars from the american public, the american people, tax dollars. our fingerprints are all over those rubbles and buildings in gaza. yet we want other people to rebuild what we helped destroy. i'm a liberated democratic. i will speak truthfully and i appreciate c-span. many stations will not allow this kind of conversation to take place. they fear what can happen if the truth is told to the public. the truth will be known. if you know it, it will set you free. we are trying to free some souls. host: congressman aguilera was asked about your impeachment offer. he said it is not a focus of the caucus. your response? guest: he's right.

he's a good man. i don't differ with him. it is not a focus now, but the impeachment started yesterday. i laid the foundation for impeachment when president trump was first elected. i filed three articles. the last one had 99 numbers of congress on it. it was approaching half of the democratic caucus. speaker pelosi did the prudent thing. she said let's move forward with it. we laid the foundation for then. we will lay the foundation for it now. i will bring articles of impeachment. what the house will do, i have no way of prognosticating. be assured i will bring articles of impeachment. host: the former speaker nancy pelosi also would say there's a high bar for impeachment.

she included what they said were violations of statutory law. he was not impeached ultimately in the senate. guest: he was not convicted. host: are you concerned that putting the impeachment on the table right now is making the party look less serious? if you were to move to it later? guest: i have not said we would impeached tomorrow. i'm not saying that. it makes the party look more serious. these signs are going to go up around the country. as they go up around the country, people are going to conclude in congress that maybe we need to take a look at impeachment. i don't differ with pete. he's a good man. i respect him highly. someone has to be the first. someone has to lay a foundation. i have no problem standing alone.

when i stood yesterday in the well of the house of representatives, i stood alone. on some issues it is better to stand alone then not stand at all. host: frank, philadelphia. independent. caller: good morning, representative green. back in 2017 when you impeached the president before he took office and everything, i want to know what your real opinion of president trump is right now and why you want to do the impeachment again. thank you. guest: my opinion is now what it was then. i said he was unfit to be president. i brought the articles of impeachment. laid the foundation for his impeachment. i think he is unfit. i don't think he is the proper person to have liberty and justice for all and the palms of his hands. he doesn't seem to care for all. he cares a great deal for a plutocracy.

he surrounds himself with billionaires. they seem to believe the rich need more to do, the billionaire class, and the poor can do more with less. they see the government of the united states as a tool to acquire greater wealth than what they already have. the president with this meme he came out with has made an untold meta-money. -- amount of money. is this what we want a president? i don't have a high opinion of him in terms of what he does. i do have a deep abiding affinity for his humanity. his humanity is important to me and i respect his humanity. his behavior is just on acceptable. he needs to leave office. host: chuck, a republican in syracuse, new york. caller: i find it disappointing that mr. greene for waste time

on another impeachment effort. he's on the financial committee. i saw six month ago he was -- poverty rates are highest among u.s. major metros. if you go to the fifth ward that mr. green represents, you see people who are selling drugs, selling sex, suffering. mr. green is chasing headlines. the same goes for aoc who is chasing headlines and try to get her face on tv. there is nothing wrong with that but if you go to her district, who is she representing? herself or her district? yesterday you had mr. cohen. host: let's have the congressman responded what you said about his district and where his focus should be. guest: thank you for your call. i appreciate it. by the way, those conditions you brought to our attention, they

are all over this country. there are pockets all over the country were these things take place. i want to end them all over the country, which is why i have been at the forefront of fighting against these poverty issues we have in front. i will continue to do that. that doesn't mean i can do other things as well. it is not unusual for people who don't want me to do something to try to distract me by saying you should be doing something else. there are many other things i may be can do at some point in my life. this is a focus i believe is important for my country, not for al green. i'm not trying to make headlines. we are making headway as it relates to an unfit president who should not be in office given his behavior, not his humanity. i respect that. host: chris in dallas, texas, independent. caller: good morning. host: go ahead.

caller: how are you doing, representative green? i understand your stance on impeaching trump. i want to ask, being a fifth-generation foundational black american, i wonder with trump's stance on the 14th amendment and allocated towards black americans, i wonder why did the democratic party continue to fight for immigrants more than they fight for foundational black americans on american soil. guest: thank you for that question. it provides an opportunity to tell you about some of the things we are doing. we do fight for lawful immigration and lawful immigration allows people to come here and say i'm a

refugee, i'm fleeing persecution or prosecution in some cases if it is unlawful. we have laws that say those persons should be given certain considerations. we don't like that, we should change the law which is what comprehensive immigration reform -- something the democrats have been touting for years -- this is what we should do. we can clear up all these issues associated with the borders, all these issues. it is beyond that. i appreciate what you said about the african americans in this country. i have been a person who has not only wanted to see african americans respected, i want to see our ancestors respected. they are the economic foundation of this country. they have been disrespected. we have a 911 remembered state, holocaust remember stay, and we should have them all. we should also have slavery

remember stay -- remembrance day and not call slavery involuntary relocation. they should also be honored with a congressional gold-medal. in 1956, congress awarded the gold medal to confederate soldiers. we have not to this day honored the enslaved people who had a hand in building the capitol, the white house. they fed the nation. they ought to be honored in a similar fashion. i am a person who will say on national tv in primetime -- this is not primetime but i will say it. there should be some remuneration for the suffering of those who were enslaved, for the suffering of the descendants who were also discriminated against with discrimination known as segregation and racism. they should -- there should be some renumeration for that suffering. i stand for righteousness

and i'm sorry other people would have you do other things. host: sylvie, a democrat in pennsylvania. you are talking with congressman al green. good morning. caller: good morning, al green. i want to talk about trump, the first time he said the mexicans will pay for the wall. they would pay for it. guest: thank you for your call. president trump said that. that never occurred. the president of mexico at the time was specific. i never use profanity. i think it but i never use it verbally. i don't know if that excuses me in any way.

the president of mexico said they would not pay for the wall and they didn't. i think that the president in saying he's going to do these things like illuminate the department of education in some way, the department -- the financial protection bureau. consumers have an agency devoted to protecting them. my republican colleagues on a daily basis are doing all that they can to lemonade that agency. the president is conspiring with them to get it done. i'm going to try to protect consumers and the consumer financial protection bureau. we need the department of education. these are important to the country. we also need to make sure the president is not the person who gives orders to the cia and fbi and prevent them -- to prevent them from looking into his past.

he's talking about firing people simply because they were investigating. they were not a part of the decision made for them to do the job. he's going -- he wants them out. if he gets them out, the only people who will look the other way, we will have a problem. the watchdogs. the watchdogs. the people who were there to -- to make sure things are done properly. i think if he is given an opportunity, the inspectors general will no longer be watchdogs. they will becomewatchdogs but l. they will be people that report to him and only report what he wants to be reported. this is not the kind of country we have had or ought to have. host: governor abbott was in washington yesterday talking to president trump behind closed doors and told reporters he had

asked the president to reimburse $11 billion for building the wall and defending the border. he said that is how much texas taxpayers had to pay and wants reimburse and for it. here is randy in michigan cap --, "the democratic party on the -- needs to concentrate on the voters of this country and not impeach trump again. he is only a one term felon. guest: 34 convictions one time, maybe. with reference to what the governor said about the federal government reimbursing. this is the same governor who turns down $100 billion, billion , $100 billion for medicaid to help poor people in the state of texas. $100 billion. he is not about doing the

righteous thing. he chose to do it. texas can choose to do what it wants. that is the way the system was set up. but, i would like to talk to the governor about the $100 billion that he will not take for medicaid. the glo, the government land office was charged with the responsibility of dispersing money for hurricane harvey. trillions of gallons of water in houston, texas. the glo has been charged by hud with discriminating against blacks and latinos in the disbursement of the money. you tell me that al green is not trying to look out for people of color. lacks and latinos. i want to talk to the governor about this. i am sending him a letter to ask for a meeting to discuss these things. host: john in new hampshire. independent. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my

call. first thing is first. i am 65 years old. i have never voted in my life. this is the first time i voted because the campaign was a lot different -- the candidate was different than the others we have seen. all of the other candidates in the past seem the same to me. you seem like a typical democrat, sir. i do not like saying it. basically, you yesterday on the floor of the house and the senate and the other democrats that were out in the street that looked like a saturday light -- live -- saturday night live skit. i cannot believe why your people are doing. host: get to your point because we are running out of time. why did you find it ridiculous? caller: it is ridiculous because it looked ridiculous and what they are saying is ridiculous. they are spending money like crazy and throwing it out the window and trying to defend it. my real comment is again, tell

us how joe biden made his millions and how his family made his millions. tell us and explain one of the felonies that you said trump was convicted of. you said there were 34. can you explain why because neither one was a felony that you tried to put together. host: you are talking about two different things. go ahead. guest: let me take the notion you voted for him because he is different. different does not always mean good. it can go either way. yes, he is different. you and i agree on that. he has different in a bad way. he is -- he should be impeached. i never said i will bring the articles of impeachment tomorrow or next week. i said that in time there will be articles of impeachment. and i think that when the public starts walking around went these sides -- with these signs.

by the way i support peaceful protest and i do not support violence. if a person commits violence they should be dealt with. this is where we are going. people are going to have to say here is our purpose and here is why we are doing this and this is why we are in the street. we want to impeach president trump and the senate to convict him. if it does not happen we will at least know who supports what appears to be a need to remove a person who has now been given almost immunity by the supreme court and has the power to pardon people who participated in an insurrection on the capital. host: thank you for the conversation as always. we appreciate it. good to see you. we are going to take a break and when we come back coming up later, health etiquette collie means -- colley means discusses

rfk's nomination and the priorities for health care but first we will be an open forum. any public policy or political issue on your mind. there are the lines. start dialing in. we will be right back. ♪ >> saturday's watch american history tv's new series, first 100 days exploring the early months of presidential administrations with historians and authors and through the c-span archives. we will look at accomplishments and setbacks and examine how events impacted presidential terms and nation up to present day. we will look at the first 100 days of andrew jackson's presidency. he was elected in 1828 and a rematch with john quincy adams from the 1824 election. he came to office with a vision for the country but his agenda

was stalled by controversy. early issues included states rights, payment of national debt, tariffs and treatment of native americans. watch american history tv's new series, first 100 days, saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span two -- c-span2. >> john dickinson was one of the most significant founders of the united states who is not well-known by all of the american public. author jane calvert is trying to change that with her biography. he is known for his nine essays under the title fabius, published in honestly -- anonymously and newspapers during the times that the states were deciding whether to approve the new constitution. john dickinson of maryland, delaware and pennsylvania was the only founding figure present

and acting in every phase of the revolution from the stamp act crisis to the ratification of the constitution. >> jane calvert talks about her book "penman of the founding" booknotes+. it is available on the c-span now free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back. we are in open forum, a public policy or political issue is on the table. want to let you know what is happening now in washington. the national prayer breakfast is taking place and this is a gathering on capitol hill, traditionally with the president and members of congress as they gather to break bread as it has been called and prayed together for the nation. we are expecting president trump to attend this gathering and deliver remarks shortly and when he does we will bring you live

those remarks. there he is entering the capitol building this morning. slate is reporting that there are two prayer breakfasts happening in washington today. traditionally it is just about on capitol hill. let's late is reporting that there will be two prayer breakfasts. the official prayer breakfast which will accommodate a couple hundred people will involve bagels and coffee and shared among congresspeople and administrative officials and their plus ones. that is held at the capital at the u.s. visitor center. it will be run by a brand-new organization called the national prayer breakfast foundation. the unofficial breakfast will be run by the same secretive nondenominational religious group that used to run it for decades and it will host more than 1400 people. president trump is expected to talk at that second prayer breakfast at the washington hilton in washington around

9:15. until we see the president, let us hear from jim in west virginia. democratic caller. go ahead. caller: hello, good morning. yes. i wanted to speak to the representative while he was on. and i wanted to speak in support for him. he is a good man. host: why would you support impeachment efforts at this point, two weeks and? caller: say again? host: two weeks in, why do you support it now? why do you support his effort? caller: he never should have been around -- allowed to run to begin with after january 6. not only america but the whole world watched what he and his henchmen were trying to do. he was trying to return a free and fair election. he tried to steal the election and he called it stop the steel. and republican saw this.

and it was a plot and plan with fake electors. he tried to get his attorney generals that there were fake fraud and 60 court cases. he was trying to steal the election and overturn the election. he should have been condemned and lucky enough not to be sent to prison for what he tried to do. host: lake charles, louisiana. melissa is an independent. caller: hello and good morning. thank you for taking my call. i wanted to speak with representative green. he always seems like a nice gentleman when he is on the program. so, i do appreciate how frequently he shows up to take our calls and listen to what the people have to say because it is good. i hope to encourage him to let it go. he needs to let the silly crusade go. yesterday, i saw a completely

unhinged democrat from tennessee, mr. cohen say some of the worst things about all sorts of people from caroline levitt to the president. i am an independent voter. i voted for many democrats in my life. i voted for republicans. i voted for ronald perrault. i have voted all over the spectrum. host: why do you think democrats are unhinged, your word? caller: yesterday mr. cohen, anyone can look at c-span.org in the war cut -- in the archives and see how the man behaved and his nose was red. so, he was unhinged and calling people names. he called karoline levitt a young girl and i might be misremembering the exact words. he was just saying all sorts of kooky things to be honest and i

do not want to disparage the man. but the democrats have these terrible ideas. that is why they are acting out in the streets and coming up with his impeachment talk two weeks into the new administration. they never can seem to work together with other people. host: melissa's comments in louisiana on democrat efforts to oppose the president as she said. they have been holding protests around washington. upon capitol hill they were protesting the shuttering of usaid. the usaid agency. they were protesting that. and then senate democrats decided to take the cement floor and pull an all-nighter. and they continue this morning over on c-span 2, we have been live all night with the senate democrats as they hold the floor in protest over russell vought serving as the president's

budget director. alex padilla is on the floor right now. let us listen in. [video clip] >> health centers in san francisco, met to assess their ability to provide services if grant funding and medicare reimbursements were frozen. the oakland fire department raised alarm bells about having to cut staff if an outstanding fema grant support paper 35 firefighters was pause. narnia california, central california -- northern california and central california, they have seen what the fires have done to southern california and they do not want that. we will jeopardize firefighter staffing? really? not to mention, president trump is still holding up hundreds of

millions of dollars that were promised for key infrastructure projects in california. [end video clip] host: senator alex padilla on the floor. democrats working all night long on holding the floor. they refuse to give back any hours. this is from roll call's reporting. they were invoked limiting debate on the vote nomination to 30 hours. democrats decided not to yield time and scheduled speakers to keep the floor occupied through the night. if all of the debate time is used vote will likely be confirmed around 7:00 tonight. live gavel-to-gavel coverage over on c-span2 of the senate. on c-span in the washington journal we are in open forum. while we wait for president trump to deliver remarks at the national prayer breakfast. this gathering happening every year with the president and

members of congress to pray together for the nation. mark in kentucky. republican. let us hear from you. caller: i was calling about mr. green voting to impeach donald trump. how about what -- why didn't they impeach biden for open borders and for forgiving student loans that the supreme court said was not supposed to be? they are a mess. they look like a bunch of kids yesterday crying. that is all i got. they are disgusting. host: mark in kentucky, a republican. antonio, democratic caller in hollywood, florida. go ahead. caller: good morning, first time caller and a longtime listener. two quick points. i agree with one of the previous callers. unfortunately, the democratic party seems to be unhinged but

for slightly different reasons. as illustrated or actually mentioned by representative green that he is willing to stand alone. they are unhinged because there is a painful lack of unity in the party. he is willing to stand alone. our country is seemingly in chaos. you have him wanting to try to impeach again. you have democrats grandstanding on the senate floor. and then you have another segment of house democrats wanting to have yet another federal holiday. where is the unity? second point, as a lifelong civil servant versed in the military and now as a civilian, i wish congress had received the fork in the road email. and what that looks like is that senators with more than two terms need to be primaried.

representatives with more than four terms need to be primaried. we need a shift because the way things are going right now is nonsustainable. and i am questioning my loyalty to the democratic party. host: questioning his loyalty to the party. democrats and republicans are gathered at the capitol this morning for the national prayer breakfast. there is the scene on your screen. let me tell you as we watch this and wait for president trump to speak to those gathered, what else is happening. punch bowl news reporting this morning that speaker johnson and republicans will go to the white house to meet with president trump over his plan to extend his 2017 tax cuts and border spending. how do republicans with control of congress and the white house yet his proposal across the finish line? a law signed on his desk. that is the conversation that

the president will have with house republicans because there is disagreement between house republicans and senate republicans over how to move on this. i hear hail to the chief and a capitol building so let us watch live. [video clip] ♪ [playing hail to the chief] [applause] >> thank you very much. this is very beautiful, i must say. this is a beautiful place. and our country is starting to do very well again. it is happening fast. a little faster than people thought. thank you, especially to senator

marshall for the beautiful introduction. i appreciate it very much. thank you. what a great senator you are. i also want to thank a friend and man of profound faith, and tremendous patriotism who has also become a great friend. you have become much friendlier when you have a majority of 2, 3 or four. it could even be five pretty soon. for a little while it was one. that is mike johnson, speaker. thank you very much. [applause] and thanks as well to somebody who is doing a fantastic job, senator thune, thank you very much. [applause] it is not easy. it is not easy. it is really great. and leader scalise, wherever you might be. i think you are here someplace.

mary is, a brave -- there he is, a brave guy. and senator chuck schumer. chuck, thank you very much. thank you. senator howson, thank you very much. very nice to see you. congressman jeffries. thank you. and many other very distinguished leaders in the room. it is a great group of people. if we could ever come together, it would be unbelievable. it might not happen. but it should. and maybe it will. from the earliest days of our republic, faith in god has been the ultimate source of strength that beats in the hearts of our nation. we have to bring religion back. we have to bring it back much stronger. that is one of the biggest problems we have had over the last fairly long period of time.

we have to bring it back. thomas jefferson once attended sunday school class. this affirms that america is and will always be one nation under god. that every stage of the american story, the country has drawn hope, courage, and inspiration from our trust in the almighty. and in this mission. and that plan is going to happen. it is going to happen and i hope that happen sooner rather than later. it is his hand that guides us every single step of the way.

and all of you and the things that we have to do is to see that the defining role that faith and prayer have played in the life of our nation and we just have to look at this building and you can look at each other. and you can really look at each other. it has defined almost everyone in this room. fate has been strong with the people in this room. just steps away from here in the hall of columns is a statue of john winthrop, who famously proclaimed that america would stand as a city on the hill. light to all nations with the eyes of all people upon us. today almost 400 years after that famous sermon, we see that with the lord's help the city stands taller and shines brighter than ever before, or at least it soon will. in that same hall, we also find

the statue of the great roger williams who founded the state of rhode island. named the capital city providence, and built the first baptist church in america. it is williams that we have to thank for making religious liberty part of the bedrock of american life. and today we must protect the fundamental freedom with absolute devotion. we must stand strong, just like generations of americans have done on the battlefields around the world. feet away from the magnificent rotunda, another statue watches over visitors to the capital. george washington, the founder of our country often called for americans to join together in prayer. very often. in more than -- and more than two centuries later, we heed

president washington's wisdom and follow in his mighty footsteps. he was a strong man of great religious strength. the stories of legends like washington, winthrop, and williams remind us that without faith in god there would be no american story. every citizen should be proud of this exceptional heritage. we have an unbelievable heritage. and we have to use that and make life better for everyone. that is why as we approach the 25th times 10 anniversary, think of that, 250 years we will be celebrating next year. of our country's founding, i have signed an executive order to resume the process of creating a new national park full of statues of the greatest americans who ever lived. we are going to be honoring our

heroes. honoring the greatest people from our country. we will not be tearing down building up. it will be called the national garden of american heroes. some of you will be on that soon to be hallowed ground. some of you. not me see i can pick a few right here now by looking. there is a couple of you right now, i can see. let's see. [laughter] it is the president's sole opinion. [laughter] and i have given myself a 25 year period, and then somebody else by that time, it will be very built up. it will be something very special. and i hope that congress will fully fund this wonderfully unifying project at the first possible opportunity.

it is not going to be a lot of money and it will be very important, however. so that more of our people can be inspired by the faith and courage of patriots like those we honor in these halls. one of the incredible americans whose memory my order will celebrate is also recognized with a statue in the capital representing the great state of north carolina, and that is a man who everybody loved, reverend billy graham. he was something. my father used to take me to watch the crusades. he would take me to yankee stadium. i remember well. i remember it more than i remember any yankee games and i have seen a lot. can you believe it. billy did not have a bat. it was amazing. he would have 60,000 or 70,000 people and they loved him. they loved him. i saw him with franklin. i do not know if franklin is

here. but i've got to know franklin and he has done a good job with helping on tragedies and problems like in north carolina and california. he is always a first one there. his father is proud of him, i can tell you that. but billy graham was very special. one floor below us, reverend graham's statue stands with an open bible, the page turns to a lateral -- a letter from the apostle paul which reads "let us not do -- grow rearing -- weary of doing good. because if in a season we would reap-" do not give up. if i gave up who the hell knows where i might be. it might not be a good place. if it was up to the democrats it would not be a good place at all. never give up. there could be no better message for the leaders gathered here

and you are real leaders. you must never give up. and we must never grow tired or weary and we always must practice good. as you know only a few miles from here a witness -- a nation witnessed a terrible tragedy and 67 people were killed in a horrible accident near reagan airport. we take solace in the knowledge that the journey that night did not end in the icy waters of the potomac but in the warm embrace of a very loving god. none of us knows exactly when our time on earth will be over. you never know. a truth that i confronted a few short months ago when there was an incident that was not fun. it was not a good thing. but god was watching me. the chances of me being here, my

sons are shooters and they are very good. and they said the chances of missing from that range with that gun are, don equated it to a one foot pot. two feet i can see missing but one foot you cannot. it was the equivalent of a one foot pot is what he told me. he gained some religion. he went up 25%. and if you know him, that is a lot. [laughter] he said, there had to be somebody that saved you and i think i know who it is and i said you have come a long way. he is a good guy. but, my two sons, really just could not believe it. had i not turned just at that time, and 55,000 people standing this way, there were just a few people on the back on the bleachers.

there was nobody over there except for my all-time favorite chart in history, the chart on immigration. immigration saved my life. so we are going to be good for immigration, ok? had i not made that turn and quickly, it was almost as though a deer bolted. the only way you miss when you are a good shot is if it bolted. i turned to look at the chart and i said what was that? so, you never know. but god did that. it had to be. there is no reason to turn to the right. you know the chart is rarely brought down. maybe 20%. and 20% of the time. and it is never on my right, it is always on my left and it is always at the end and never at the beginning. if i was a little more than the 90 degree angle, then it would be no good and if it was a

little less it was no good. it had to be perfect and that thing went right along the edge. it did not affect my hair, can you believe it? [laughter] it might have touched it but not where it counts. not the skin part. but, honestly it changed something in me. i feel even stronger. i believed in god, but i feel much more strongly about it. something happened. [applause] thank you. thank you. but that event, like the tragedy last week should remind us all that we have to make the mostryu are in space and two things collide, the odds of that happening are so small. even without proper control, and we should've had the proper control. we should've had better quit

equipment. we have obsolete equipment. they were understaffed for whatever reason. i guess the helicopter was high, and we will find out exactly what happened. even if you had nobody, the odds of that happening are extremely full. did you ever go to a driving range and you are hitting balls. hundreds of balls and thousands of hours, i never see a ball hit another ball. the balls are going all over the place and you never see them hit. it was amazing that that could happen. there were a lot of mistakes made. and it should have never happened. but, regardless, it is amazing that it happened. and i think it will be used for good. i think what will happen is that we are going to sit down and do a great computerized system for the control towers. brand-new, not pieced together and obsolete like it is trying to hook up a land-based system

to a satellite system. and the first thing that some experts told me when this happened was you cannot hook up land to satellites and you cannot hook up satellites to land and it does not work. we spend billions of dollars trying to renovate an old broken system instead of saying cut it loose and let us spend less money and build a great system. done by two or three companies, very could companies and specialists. they used 39 companies, that meant that 89 different hookups have to happen. and i do not know how many people of you are good in terms of all the kind of things necessary for that. that is very complex stuff. when you have 39 different companies working on hooking up different cities and different people, you need one company with one set of equipment. and there are some countries

from that -- that have unbelievable air control systems. bells would've gone off when the helicopter even hit the same height because it traveled a distance before it hit. but, bells and whistles would have gone off. actually, they could virtually turn the thing around. it would have never happened if we had the right equipment. and one of the things that i will be speaking to john, and to mike and chuck and everybody. we have to get together and just pass where we get the best control system. when i landed my plane, privately, i use a system from another country. because my captain tells me i am landing in new york and i will not tell you what country. but i use a system from another country because the captain says this thing is so bad and obsolete and we cannot have that.

we will have the best system. and a lot of money, but not that much. and it will happen fast and be done by total professionals and what it is done you will not have accidents. they are virtually not possible to have. each of us is blessed with a plan -- a precious chance to help lead america to renew our pledges of faith and everything else and wring us to new heights and create a future of promise for our people and for ourselves. we have the most important people in the country because you are the ones that will make the decision. you are the ones that are leading us into so many different things. whether it is the right air control system or the right size of the military. or what to do or what not to do. the most important people. and, many of you are very religious. many of you are very religious. i just think that our country

has been so badly hurt. we are very hurt by what covid did to religion. it really hurt it badly. people could not go to church for a long period of time. even going outside, they were given a hard time. i am not blaming anybody for that. it was hard to gather, so they started using computers, if that. and when they come back, it is a whole new experience. that they have to get used to. it is starting to come back. we had a fantastic thing happen yesterday. the army had the best recruitment numbers that they have had in more than 15 years. they think it could be 25 years. more than 15 years. [laughter] -- [applause] just now. and we were worried about it. we were talking about it numerous times that we do not have people joining our military service.

we do not have people joining the police force. we have to cherish our police. it is so dangerous you open a car and somebody start shooting. you do not have an idea of who is in the car. oftentimes they have the dark windows, which are not in theory they are supposed to have. the door opens and there is a gun pointed at your face. and you cannot do a thing about it. there is nothing you can do about it. your friends will take him out. this has happened so many times. but it is such a dangerous thing. we have to cherish these people. so today we joins our heart -- join our hearts and prayers and recommitting to putting our country first. we have to put our country first. making america stronger, greater, and more exceptional than ever before. and we have to make religion a much more important factor. we have to make it an important factor. if we do that, the job will be

much easier. it unifies people and brings people together. democrats will be able to have lunch and dinner with republicans. i remember growing up i would see and i revered senators and congressmen as something very special. but they were out to dinner all the time. we had an old congressmen, maybe some remember sai halpern from queens and he was a friend of my father. he was a democrat, but he would have dinner with republicans. and it would not even make a difference today. today it is like shocking. and it should not be. you have to get together. we all know what is right and wrong. and there are going to be compromises on both sides. we have to do the right thing and get together. you did it with marco rubio. you got everybody, 99 votes. and the only vote was the vp,

who maybe should've been there to make it 100 but i would've been angry. that would've been a step too far. [laughter] it is great to see a boat -- a vote. pam bondi had support from democrats and some of the others had pretty good support. it is doable. we had a recent bill having to do with a very beautiful young lady who was killed from georgia. and that bill was very bipartisan. it was a very beautiful thing to watch. and so, if possible, we have to unify. there is some big division. some people want an open border and some people one a close border. we want it closed and they wanted open, and that is a big difference. how do you solve that problem? some people want men and women sports and some people do not.

i was with somebody yesterday who was so upset that the bill was signed where men cannot participate in women sports and i said -- he has a very smart guy. he went to a great school. he was a great student. and he actually feels you know that that should happen. men should be able to play. meaning transition into women sports. and you talk to him and he says, i do not understand it. i do not understand how the problem never got started in the first place. it just seems so simple. but, he has a good person. and he just believes that. it is not going to be easy to convince him otherwise. so where is the middle ground? it is hard to have the middle ground. you can either do it, or you cannot. a lot of good things will happen. a lot of people might be surprised here me say that. a lot of good things are going

to happen because the country has some big headaches but we have tremendous spirit right now. the spirit is as high as it has been. it is up 49 points this morning. 49 points, that is the biggest increase in the history of whatever the poll was. so the spirit is there and that is a big factor. that is the hardest thing to get back. the rest is easy. the rest is easy. thank you and i congratulate a lot of the new members. i see so many that ran great races. david. that was a great race. but so many that ran great races on both sides. you ran some incredible races so it is good to be with you. and god bless everybody. we want to come together and -- the happiest person, the element and the everything that is going to be happy, people of religion

are going to be happy again. and i really believe that you cannot be happy without religion. without that belief. i really believe it. i do not see how you can be. [applause] so, let us bring religion back and let us bring god back into our lives. thank you very much. a great honor. thank you. ♪ [end video clip] host: happening on capitol hill today, president trump finishes up his remarks to a gathering of members of congress, republicans and democrats for the national prayer breakfast. that happening on capitol hill this morning. over in the senate chamber, democrats are holding the floor as they have done all night long in protest over president trump's nominee to serve as the budget director and his second term.

russell vought. they are opposing his nomination and holding the floor in an all-nighter and they said they will continue to do so, not yielding back any time until the senators vote on the nomination at 7:00 p.m. tonight. tina smith, a democrat of now must -- of minnesota taking her turn delivering remarks. we are live in washington on the washington journal continuing this morning. we are in open forum. any political or public policy issue that is on your mind. tom from ohio. republican. hello. thank you for waiting. caller: yes. i would've liked to talk to mr. green. but i did not get the opportunity. it kind of turns my stomach in a way when i hear people like him talk. i went into the military twice. luckily, i was never in combat.

i am 85 years old. guys like him never went into service. i have talked to my grandkids to go into the military. i'm going to quit that. i'm going to tell them do not go. there are too many people like him that they sat around and they want to hold up and whine and cry all the time. that is all they do. host: tom talking about al green who was our guest this morning on the washington journal. and he is moving to articles of impeachment against president trump, citing what the president had to say about taking over gaza. that happening earlier this morning and you can find it on c-span.org or the free video and mobile app. let me tell you what is happening on the networks. we are live on the washington journal taking your phone calls as we do every morning. c-span2, the senate is in session because democrats have

been holding the floor as we said, gavel-to-gavel coverage over there. on c-span3, the national prayer breakfast continues where we just heard from president trump. you can watch the breakfast as it continues with members of congress over on c-span. also on c-span.org or the free video and mobile app, c-span now. president trump will attend a second national prayer breakfast at the washington hilton later this morning. his remarks are expected around 9:15 a.m. eastern time. you can watch those online on c-span.org or the free video happening today on capitol hill at 10:00 a.m. eastern time on c-span3 is a confirmation hearing for jamieson greer to serveu.s. trade representative. he is iinternational trade lawyer and chief of staff of the

former u.s. trade representative under the first trump stration. he will takeionsuring his hearing. you can watch it live on c-span three c-sp or c-span.org at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. you can expect him to take questions on tariffs, and what will happen with the president's tariffs proposals. sophia in raleigh, north carolina. independent. we are in open form. it morning. caller: good morning. this is about representative green and i will just give some of my thoughts about gaza. i wanted to say as a christian i have empathy for the palestinian people and the israelis and not to forget that we still have hostages. i wanted to ask him, in terms of trump, what is wrong with -- i do not think we should own gaza.

not trump or the americans. and i do think the palestinians should come back to their own home. but, when he was talking about trump not even considering the people of palestine, i do not even know who their leader is and i watch the news all the time. i wanted to ask who is a leader of the palestinian people because right now it seems like it is still hamas. in my understanding. so, who is the leader that trump should have gone to to discuss this as an offer? host: let me pick up on your point. had -- how do you react to this and this is the "washington post editorial." "the cease-fire is held and now the war should end." and they write "if the president wants to build upon the abraham accords" which was a deal made with the first ministration "he

will have to turn his attention to saudi arabia." in his first term, "the abraham accordance saw ball rain, united arab remembrance morocco and sudan normalize relations with india. the saudi crown prince says that he plans to invest $600 billion in the united states, but first he wants to see an end to the war in gaza and a path for statehood for palestinians." your reaction there to who should the president have consulted with? caller: who was the last person -- the last country? host: the saudi arabian leader that the editorial notes that he and a phone call to president trump said i will invest what i want an end to the war first, and i want there to be a statehood solution for palestinians. caller: ok. so i would say i and i am

assuming and i should not assume anything, that president trump is interrupted -- in touch because of the abraham accords for some of these arab nations like saudi arabia, jordan, egypt or qatar or the uae. so i guess, i am assuming he is in consultation with them so that is an answer i do not know about. i do not hear a lot about those countries really stepping up to say that we are going to i do not know, flowing -- form a joint coalition. host: understood. caller: and get a government together for the palestinian people that does not involve terrorists. i really do not hear that. two other quick thoughts. host: i have other people waiting so i'm going to go to those calls. thank you those. i will show some quick headlines on this story from the national newspapers.

trump's proposal for gaza is rattling the middle east. a plan put forward without details or consolation an expert ask if he is serious or bluffing. the front page of "the wall street journal" middle east powers reject trump's gaza proposal. saudi's and turkiye reaffirm support for the palestinian cause. and then there is this from the front page of "the washington times," palestinian relocation only temporary. the out-of-the-box idea stuns lawmakers and the arab world. "the washington times" citing what the white house press secretary had to say. "the washington post, " the white house softens parts of the pitch. the removal to remove all palestinians draw swift backlash in the arab world. henry in michigan. democratic caller. what is on your mind?

caller: good morning. we were treated to another trump rally stating he is a liar. i think the people have to keep up the pressure. the protest must continue and intensify because we need to get physical control over these agencies and these buildings once again because this information that elon musk is stealing is just too important. another thing, howard lutnick, everyone remember the name. he has trump's nominee for commerce secretary, i believe. he is a crypto king. they are about to affect the largest robbery in u.s. history. they have moved the crypto operations into el salvador, where the president of el salvador himself is heavily invested in crypto. trump and elon are invested in

crypto. we the american people have to keep up the pressure. we have to be more vocal. we have to be more organized and we have to go to these places and take physical control of all of the mechanisms that elon musk and these people are employing to steal our information. they are taking our taxpayer numbers, dose -- our social security numbers and what is paid to us. they are trying to destroy our country. host: i am going to jump in because there are two stories related. the first from "roll call" on the nomination. "the senate commerce, science nomination to lead 16-12 with all but one democrat in opposition. although his promise to bring supply chains on shore and boost competitiveness on artificial intelligence and other technologies was met with

bipartisan approval, democrats took issue with his lack of commitment to funding from the log dubbed the chips and science act as well as the tariff plan." that was yesterday. also sharing with you about protests across the country. this is from "the associated press" with the headline " protests in the cities across the u.s. rally against trump policies, project 2025 and elon musk." not just in washington, d.c. but the associated press reporting on rallies that have happened in philadelphia, california, minnesota, texas, wisconsin, indiana and beyond. that is from the associated press. devon in dallas. independent. good morning. caller: i was just going to ask, now that the 14th amendment has

been challenged in multiple ways, do think that the democratic party will ever be able to lure black americans back to the party without pushing for identity politics without -- especially since more black americans are saying -- are now expressing conservative views. host: that. marilyn. democratic caller -- maryland. democratic caller. caller: so, that suggestion by trump to take over gaza, people are not really listening in very carefully. they hear there certain words and then they miss the other words. he said, humanitarian.

he did not say take it over as make it a part of the united states or make it a colonial thing. he said no, humanitarian project. and that is all it is. the people in the middle east and the protesters are saying -- you have to be kidding. that is because they are ashamed. it is all shame because it is out there. to be honest, really, i am no fan of trump. but hamas, hamas is the enemy of the people over there. i mean, 30,000 of your citizens get killed. on october 7, you go and do something horrific like that. and -- i did not get the logic of it. and then in the end the hostages

are free -- no. hamas is the enemy. what the people of palestine need is their own gandhi. what they need is their own martin luther king jr.. that is what they need to get to the place where they are trying to get to, which is statehood. host: his thoughts. we are in open forum. president trump this morning on capitol hill for those national prayer breakfast comments. he will attend a second breakfast in washington this morning. according to punch bowl news, he will meet with mike johnson and republicans on the way forward to extending his 2017 tax cuts and border security spending. the republicans wants to move those proposals through reconciliation. that is a vehicle that allows him to get it through the senate with a simple majority. the problem is that the

republicans in the house and senate do not agree right now on how they do that or how they use reconciliation. the house gop leaders are stalled on a plan and republicans are starting to look at other options. this includes a short-term tax cut proposal which would allow republicans to contain costs and satisfy some hardline demands. that is from the wall street journal. gop downshifts from the tax cut plans. "shorter extension as little as five years would cheer the party's deficit hawks." and then from the "washington times," the senate moves on trump's agenda as how splinters overspending but both chambers must adopt identical resolutions. lindsey graham, who chairs the budget committee announced that he is going to mark up his own

$300 billion budget resolution next week, throwing a massive ranch into speaker mike johnson's plans. he announced it as johnson insisted that the house needs to move first. so the president meeting with house republicans and speaker johnson today. and then politico reporting that the republican senators will be at a private mar-a-lago dinner with the president on friday where they plan to discuss their budget resolution. bob, in ohio. republican. hello. caller: i am doing great. i am a first time caller. host: welcome. i am glad you called in. what is on your mind? caller: i used to be a federal government employee and i'm concerned about the friends that i left with the federal government when i retired. a lot of those federal workers are friends of mine and i do not want to see them resign.

there really is no backup money for the eight months of pay that they have been promised that the legislature has not passed. any bill that would provide money for many of the people that might people who might resign. they were not told when they would get the eight months of pay, whether they would get it in a lump sum or over time. what kind of rights do they have, what say do they have about that procedure. i am very proud of the fact chuck schumer got a group of people to spend the whole night talking about the nomination of russell vought and the fact that he did -- was one of the major writers for the project 2025. this bill basically would ruin the equal division of the government in three parts,

judicial, legislative and executive. i heard there has been over 300 executive orders by the president already. and what russell vote -- russell vought wants to do is to take federal workers and reduce them in number which would reduce the spending, but a lot of these people are needed by their particular government branch and a large number you can just bring in trained and ready to go. host: a couple reminders of what is happening today. the deadline for federal employees to take the buyout offer from president trump. fork in the road was the email sent out at the end of january

days after the president took over for his second term. offering a buyout to federal employees. 40,000 of the federal employees have taken it. there's 2.3 million total nationwide. the deadline is today. bob also talking about what's happening in the senate. democrats have been protesting all night long holding the floor, not yielding back any more time over the nomination of russell vought to serve as the budget director. up right now is tina smith in minnesota. you can watch our coverage at c-span2. we are in open forum on washington journal this morning hurry want to share another headline with you and picture this morning the new york times. take a look at this image featured in the new york times this morning. human rights groups site overcrowding and reports of mass torture at prisons in el

salvador that have become a symbol of the president's dusty el salvador ins president administration. the headline on this story is offer to house trumps deportees in el salvador's prisons raises alarms. that image today in the new york times. bob in nevada democratic caller, go ahead. >> good morning. what i am curious about this morning is our leaders where these prayer breakfasts shoving bagels down their throats is there any consideration or mention about the people out there in our country that do not have breakfast this morning? or the people that are having to crawl down the dumpsters to get theirs? or was there mention about yahoo! -- netanyahu bombing the

world food kitchen? host: bob in nevada with his response to the national prayer breakfast. if you want to hear what was said at the national prayer breakfast, you can go to our website c-span.org. it's live on c-span3 this morning. or are video mobile app c-span now. we will take our short break bread when we come back, health advocate calley means discusses rfk juniors nomination for health and human services pride later, matt barnum discusses his report on the trump administration's plans to dismantle the education department. we will be right back. ♪ >> american history tv saturdays on c-span2 exploring the people and events that tell the

american story. this weekend at 2:00 p.m. eastern historians discuss resent lincoln's views on race and slavery. we will talk with four new media creators on sharing history topics on tiktok youtube podcast and sub stack. at 7:00 watch american history tv's first 100 days as we look at the start of presidential terms. we focus on the early months of prison jackson's term including his policy agenda of controversy surrounding his cabinet. louisiana state university journalism professor john maxwell hamilton talks about the u.s. government propaganda efforts during world war i. exploring the american story. watch american history tv saturdays on c-span2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online any at c-span.org/history.

>> book tv every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. here's a look at what's coming up this weekend. angela merkel, who served as german chancellor from 2005 discusses her memoir freedom with former president barack obama. it ate :00 p.m. eastern former georgetown law professor argues there's a decline of intellectual diversity, academic freedom and civil discourse at law schools creating a climate of intolerance. he is the author of the book "lawless." at 10:00 p.m. , omo moses talks about being black in america with the voices of three generations of the moses family. he's interviewed by university of maryland emeritus president. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2. to find a fulschedule on your

program guide or watch any time book tv.org. >> washington journal continues. host: on your screen this morning is the cofounder -- and co-author of good energy. here to talk about rfk juniors nomination and health care policy. let's first talk about your connection with rfk junior and president trump. you made that relationship happen i understand. can you explain? guest: my sister and i have been advocating about the need to get away from our siloed system of health that seats every condition as a separate one and get more to the root cause print we've been out on the podcast circuit in the media, joe rogan, tucker carlson. bobby kennedy met the trump

campaign through that and when president trump was shot in butler i had the privilege of working with democrats on the trump campaign, bobby kennedy paid there is really a bipartisan awakening on this issue. i called bobby, suggested he talk to trump that night. was able to facilitate that conversation. i was extremely small part of it. i had the privilege of viewing this bond develop between two men and it was a bond over not a partisan issue but the true legacy item of reversing the harrowing chronic disease crisis on our children. 50% of teens overweight and obese pre-30% of them prediabetic. it is a national scandal and bobby and president trump captured the conscience of americans with this issue. i got a lot of voters in the fold. >> where do you agree with rfk junior on this issue of chronic conditions? guest: i think you saw in the

hearing. he's being quizzed by senators who are bragging they have been working on intricacies and medicare and medicaid policy from the past couple of decades. when bobby is not talking about what the reforms need to be in page 300 and medicare part d, his fundamental premise which i fully agree with and what the book is about is that we have a two part problem where we are incentivizing and subsidizing and recommending ultra processed food, that 70% of food stamps go to ultra processed food, 18% by last count go to soda. the usda recommend added sugar for children, humans alter processed food for children. through corporate capturing corruption we are recommending subsidizing alter processed food for kids and when you get to the health care system 90 to 95% of our health care costs are tied to food related practices. you look at diabetes, heart disease, and highly related to metabolic dysfunction.

chronic disease is the most profitable invention in the history of american capitalism because a patient get sick and stay sick so the problem is in the intricacies of medicare and medicaid as we are poisoning our population and the health care system is profiting from somebody being sick for a longer amount of time. we need to exchange the incentives on our food also really go after the medical codes and corruption where the standard of care for high cholesterol is a statin. for being stat -- set it's an ssri. now they're pushing those and pick on 12-year-olds. the medical codes and the entire philosophy needs to be much more preventative and much more getting to the root cause. so bobby really painted this picture and will have specific policies to preventive health system. host: what do you think he will recommend to do away with food incentives, processed food and then at the same time undo those medical codes. how would he push preventative care and what is preventative

care do you think so that we don't have these chronic conditions? guest: well, well any american would assume our four point $5 trillion in health and ra, and medical codes which underlie every medical decision in the country, everyone would assume that those money and that logic is tied to the goal of reversing and preventing disease. it is not. 95% is spent on management of disease. so it starts up the value chain at nih. 85% of spending at the nih is pharmaceutical r&d. it means they are accepting the fact we are getting sicker and sicker and the nih itself is just studying band-aids to profit from chronic disease to help the pharmaceutical industry print is why they liable sloppy so much for nih funding. the first step is resetting the mission and president trump talked about the question and answering the question why are we getting sick.

that then underlies eventually what is everything, the american medical association code, the goal is to provide the most efficacious treatment for the reversal. it does not do it now, 95% of that is after we get sick. you could have codes for exercise. in europe if a woman has pc os they get an insurance subsidized diet because that is a metabolic condition that can be brought down very quickly if you limit sugar in your diet. right now in america women don't even hear that they are jammed on hormone pills right to ivf. same thing with obesity. novo nordisk, that company the market cap is largely the entire gene pool of denmark. it's the largest company in europe, 90% of their profits are excited to come from bilking the u.s. taxpayer. in denmark the standard of care

for obesity is not lifetime ozone pick shops -- ozone pick -- ozempic shots. we have a totally wrong framework that led to a situation where we are spending three times more per capita on health care than our european friends and living eight years less then a person in denmark. so i personally am excited president trump is taking on denmark on greenland. we should also take them on their entire economies. >> what food will robert kennedy tell americans they should eat? guest: the biden administration is a monstrosity making dietary complicated. our book and what robert kennedy is talked about this simple. if you throw out the entire tens or hundreds of millions of dollars we spent on nutrition and the u.s. government all the nutrition advisors would fire everyone and cut every single funding and replace the monstrosity that says beans are

the best source of protein in meat is bad, that's is added sugar can be for two-year-olds. if you throw it out and has three words, eat whole food, we would be much healthier country. we need to be empowering american farmers, get away from alter processed food and let local communities decide their individual guidelines. we have a big country and different dietary preferences. around the world you have cultures eating high carbs, cultures more carnivore, cultures more plant-based. there's very healthy cultures that have different terry -- different dietary philosophies. the one common strain is they are eating whole food. host: and what does that mean? guest: actual real food that is not in a package with ingredients you can pronounce. host: what is your background in health? guest: i was a lobbyist for the food and farm industry in my career. i have been a lobbyist for the past -- i have been an entrepreneur for the past 10 years. my sister was top of her class

at stanford med school, had an awakening when she realized every single surgery she was doing on sinus inflammation she didn't know why they were inflamed. became an advocate after the death of our mom in 2021, an abrupt death from pancreatic cancer where the top oncologist said it was unlucky. one of the highest cancer rates in american history this year isn't unlucky because my mom was on five other comorbidity medications that were seen as a rite of passage instead of an exploration of why her cholesterol was high, like your blood pressure was high. we think this is the biggest problem in the world so my sister and i put our experience and wrote good energy and then advocating and working with any politician who would listen. for whatever strange reason the left has completely advocated the idea of protecting -- abdicated ejecting kids, they

are demonstrably the party of big food and big pharma and bobby kennedy and donald trump took up this mantle and we are very happy. the country should be happy for them. host: carolyn in charlotte, north carolina democratic caller, go ahead. caller: good morning. i have two questions. my number one question is i remember -- i am pro-good food. but i remember when michelle obama tried to initiate the school systems and the pushback from the right i remember that very clearly and i also want to know is it just the food -- is it just the food, or is it the environment and how they feel about climate change and its contributory effects to bad health? thank you. guest: respectfully you know this is today it's not 15 years

ago i hope you are wearing mg hat. there was one candidate talk about this and they were really passionate about getting back to whole food. just as a statement to kind of revising the history, michelle obama talked about healthy food for the first year of the administration. the big food got to her unfortunately. teresa heinz kerry and -- um john kerry talk to her and she completely change the focus of let's move. so the big arm of you know, the corrupt industries actually totally co-opted and thank god -- thank god bobby kennedy and donald trump have advocated in that way. where we are at today with is a metabolic health crisis among kids and president trump and bobby kennedy put the mantle in the ground so i don't get

matters what happened 10 or 15 years ago. um -- host: what is were generative agriculture? guest: yeah -- it gets to the climate change point. bobby kennedy -- i think politically democrats -- i think bobby kennedy and donald trump will reclaim environmentalism. i think the whole point of the spiritual dynamics are connection between the earth and us through carbon credits is totally broken and bankrupt. it's obviously just been a totally corrupt griff. i think what were generative farming is we are just not respecting the cycles of our crops and our soil, were generative farming, not industrial farming which bill gates is trying to do with long rows of crops and pesticides because of this unnatural process but it's easy to mechanize. it's where animals and plants and you know vegetables are already growing together in an ecosystem that produces natural fertilizers and sequesters

carbon. the problem with co2 emissions is when you have industrial farming where animals are in pens and actually raised as they are supposed to be in a dynamic ecosystem and it actually is carbon sequestering, the cows don't produce co2 emissions. so this is something bobby kennedy is talked about a lot. we need to get out of this idea of quantifying carbon credits and realize our health crisis is environmental crisis were we lost her spec for air and water and the way we raise animals. right now tomato in the united states is 70 sent less then it was because we are the soil so much. so i think bobby kennedy's painting the path for a much bolder and much more optimistic vision of environmentalism where we really understand the spiritual connection to our soil, food and health. host: randolph in charleston, a republican. caller: good morning. there is no more important issue than children's health.

it's why i hope to find -- be a founder of this industry with my small business called virginias for education. interesting that i had built this business because of a personal net injury and now i am looking at stage iv cancer and unfortunately i can't train my way out of this later in life. but how i accomplished this goal with my fitness initiative was with a 50 foot mobile custom trailer with 30 stationary bikes in it. over the last 22 years has served many host organizations and schools on site with a self-contained health education and safety program. i follow the children. host: we will have calley means respond. guest: i think we should be

incentivizing so much of what you are doing. everyone has their own community and i think the goal of bobby kennedy and donald trump is to be incentivizing root cause preventions. thank you. host: judy in farmington, arkansas. caller: i have a question to you sir. i have taken people before to shop, people who are on food stamps. i think it says something about -- i haven't seen that they are able to do that, that there are very strict -- guest: it's the number one item is soda on food stamps. host: well the people i have taken -- guest: that's great -- it's it's , by far reported by the new york times the number one item should not be subsidizing altar processed crap and it's a huge item on food stamps. host: let's let judy finish. caller: i have another question per yes, thank you.

you mentioned about whole foods. explain to me then how are people who are in food deserts going to be able to get whole foods? how will the build to get fresh vegetables at some local shop somewhere that selling cigarettes, beer and fast food? guest: well -- so to confirm your question is how can lower income americans possibly not poison their kids is that your question? host: her question was about food deserts. guest: her question is a nihilistic question. her question is what the left is saying. no, her question is how can lower income americans possibly not poison their children. well ma'am, i think american mothers don't want to poison their kids. i think americans don't want to be poisoned themselves and i think president trump cares what americans more than that. the reason there are food deserts is because the fourth

largest entitlement program the country is rigged through tens of millions of dollars of lobbying spending by our food companies to be totally going to addictive altar processed food like soda and twinkies. that is what the $150 billion annually of our snap program does. so i will give you a little secret. if president trump and bobby kennedy are able to take soda and twinkies offer food stamps, the food deserts would disappear because the food deserts are driven by the incentives of snap. i am personally offended and i think this was litigated in the election. but i do appreciate you sharing the left. i think americans want to be healthy. i think americans have it within them not to poison their kids just happening en masse. i think the incentives of the problems and that could change very quickly. host: do you agree with robert kennedy's view on vaccinations and what he has set in the past? guest: i -- i think that's a

radical's question. bobby campaign said the word -- the democrats in the media quite frankly are saying the word uh measles, they said it 25 times in the hearing the first day. i mean, you haven't said were diabetes, obesity, crying -- chronic disease. evolve is the asked about vaccines. it's not what bobby kennedy is talking about. there are 300 people year in america, just 300 the died of measles before the invention of the vaccine yet measles was said 25 times. we have 240 million americans right now focused on chronic disease so that's what bobby is focused on and this -- it's what it goes how the democrats disgraced themselves and show no care about chronic disease. if the media or the democrats care at all about chronic disease -- excuse me just children's health in general, uh let's put measles to the side for a while and let's focus on the fact the 38 percent of teens

have prediabetes. i would love you'd ask a question about that. host: we talked about that i was moving onto the vaccine because it was the work he did before he ran for president and it was brought up at the hearing. guest: yeah sure and the democrats did bring that up at the hearing even though it wasn't talked at all about in the campaign the entire premise of president trump's existence and political life's promises made, promises cap and the bobby kennedy and donald trump said insistently during the campaign is that they are going to reinsert goldstar science get to the bottom of why kids are getting sick to -- getting sick. adding politics out of our scientific policies and american people more choice with their doctor using that informed consent for better research on attacking chronic disease. those of the promises they made. you are right, the democrats did only talk about measles and showed no curiosity for the chronic disease crisis even though that's what bobby and president trump talked incessantly about during the campaign and that gives the

media licensed only talk about vaccines and not about the generational bipartisan -- that's my response to the question. host: we will go to robert in north carolina, republican. caller: high there everybody. the reason i was calling was to talk about the effects of noise pollution on society. and also since we are talking about vaccines i've had psoriasis in south 17 years old and i'm getting close to 50 now and the back of my mind sometimes i wonder if i got psoriasis as a result of the vaccine somewhere along the way. it's something that cannot be proven, i know i pay a five dollar co-pay and stick a shot and it kind of makes it go away but it is had a huge impact on my life. in my day-to-day life now the issue i'm having is i live in a part of the country where a lot of people are moving to as i've

told others before, i feel at the west coast's been kind of ruined and now it's coming to the east coast and particularly my area. a lot of trees being cut down, highways being put in. a lot of vaped shops popping up. i see alcohol bottles on the side of the road, lottery tickets all over the side of the road. and in particular noise pollution i think has a huge impact on the health of people. if you go into a grocery store and walk around especially on a day when the music is really pumping, i noticed people grabbing alcohol. they grab what's by the register. i feel like it is all planned. guest: we will get a response -- host: we will get a response. guest: you are so right on, robert. let me say something very clearly about vaccines. obviously, all pharmaceuticals cause harm. and there are many people that are injured by vaccines and it

is criminal that due to the vaccine orthodoxy on the left we can even ask a question, where it's a religious issue and you can talk about how there's different schedules in europe. obviously there is significant injuries because the pharmaceutical product and every pharmaceutical product has risk. i think it's criminal they have been left out to dry and we all agree there are injuries and we should figure out and discuss the therapeutics and talk about that. number two, you're explaining exactly what our book is about. you are asking why it happens. it is not any evil person of the controls it is that there is an incentive in america, there's nothing more profitable than hijacking our attention and us being in fear and is a demonstrable state of economic fact, the largest industries in the country profit when we are sicker. the biggest and fastest growing industry in the country's health care. that goes into our media, our social media. it goes into how chronic stress

is being treated by all the noise, it goes into our circadian rhythm and sleep which ties into that which makes us sicker. it ties into our food. i think it's all we are living in a complex mill you where are metabolic health is under threat. these aren't all bad or good things, it's not like you should ban all noise or artificial light which disrupts our hormone, if you put an artificial light in the chicken coop they play two times more eggs. there are many things that are disrupting our hormones. we shouldn't be banning all of these things but we should be aware of them. we are not getting sick because we have a ozempic deficiency or statin deficiency, we are because there is an assault on our dopamine and metabolic health. we should have the research on noise pollution and how that's helping -- affecting our circadian rhythm and if you have your sleep woken up or constant state of chronic stress how that impacts the overall research on that.

and then be able to emilio rate it. this is i think what bobby kennedy is getting at. we need to get to the root cause and emilio rate that where we have the funds to do that with our health care system. host: calley means the cofounder of true med telehealth platform and the co-author of the book "good energy: the surprising connection between metabolism and limitless health" you can learn more if you go to kc means.com. thank you for the time this morning. guest: good discussion, thanks. host: we will take a break and when we come back, education reporter matt barnum joins us to talk about the trump administration's plans to issue an order that would dismantle the education department. stay with us. ♪ >> c-spanshop.org is c-span's

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guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org/history. >> washington journal continues. host: we are back this morning with matt barnum, of the k-12 education reporter at the wall street journal here to talk about this headline. trump advisors away plan to dismantle education department. matt barnum tell us about your reporting. what did you learn. guest: what my colleagues and i reported earlier this week is the trump administration officials are weighing executive orders at dismantling the u.s. department of education. it is consistent with the campaign promise he made to end the department. we don't know when or if for sure they will be issued or what they will say. this is still in flux but we are reporting they are considering an order that would shut down all functions of the agency that aren't explicitly written into the statute and considering in

order to come up with a legislative proposal to abolish the department. host: why is it that they would have to come up with a legislative proposal and why is it they can only eliminate those parts that are not written in statute? guest: because there is a lot the department does and the departments existence itself that are in statute. so the department was established by congress with the support of jimmy carter in 1979 and there are things the department does like title i funding just funding for low income students at k-12 schools or funding for students with disabilities that are in statute. so you cannot just stamp your fingers through executive order legal experts say, to get rid of the department or the things it does. host: what we know about congress taking up legislation that would abolish the education department? guest: there has been legislation introduced by republican members of congress to do so but it is a pretty

steep hill to climb to make that a reality. legal experts i've talked to say you would need a 60 votes super majority in the senate to eliminate the department. i'm not aware of any democrats who support ending the department. and some of the things the department does are pretty popular even in red areas and conservative leaning areas. and polls showing that illumine -- eliminating the department itself is not to do any favors. that said, voters are also pretty dissatisfied with public schools right now and we don't know how much political capital trump might spend on the issue. i don't want to make any firm predictions. host: what is popular with americans -- with the education department and the functions. guest: i would say generally the least locally funding for low income students and students

with disabilities if that -- if at commute he sees cuts coming out of the local school where you have to lay off a teacher or an aide that is going to get a lot of backlash. student loans are popular with the constituents who receive them. though there are some who are skeptical. i think what's less popular is a sense of federal meddling in local education decisions and it's also worth noting that some of these issues are very sensitive to how the questions are worded. so we don't necessarily know for sure how voters feel. host: how if the unions responded? guest: the unions are very skeptical of eliminating the department of education. and i think they are especially skeptical of eliminating the funding that comes with the department of education. the interesting history is the international education association, the largest teachers association pushed for the department to be created under jimmy carter but the other

big teachers union, the american federation of teachers at the time was against creating the department. that said, by now, the associations of teachers and other people who work in the department -- who work in schools are very skeptical of eliminating the department. host: we want our viewers to join us in this conversation about the education department here in washington. here is how you can do that. republicans dial in at 202-748-8001. 202-748-8000 democrats202-748-8000. and independents 202-748-8002. you can send us a text at 202-748-8003. include your first name, city and state you can post on x with the handle @cspanwj or on facebook.com/c-span. el mk tweetingunning campaignebt rating campaigned on ending the federal pa o education but it was bigger when

reagan left office and when he started pride not this time. what role is elon musk playing in this? guest: what we reported is the education department is among the agencies that his department of governmental efficiency is looking at as part of its efforts to evolve federal pre-chrissy. some of his representatives were working out of the main education department building in washington and obviously he has been very enthusiastic on social media about ending the department. host: want to show the viewers what our president had to say about this to reporters in the oval office on tuesday when he was asked about his plans for the education department. take a look. [video clip] >> why nominate linda mcmahon to be the education department. >> because i told him linda i hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job. i want her to put yourself out of a job. education department. we are ranked number 40 out of

40 schools. we are ranked number one across so we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world and we are ranked at the bottom of the list. and what i want to do is let the states run schools. i believe strongly in school choice but in addition to that i want the states to run schools and i want linda to put herself out of a job. host: matt barnum. guest: yeah, there's a lot to unpack. one thing i would note is i believe president trump is right that the u.s. as a very high spending country in terms of education. also a very wealthy country but we are not ranked quite as low as he is saying. we are typically in the middle of the pack which is nothing to brag about. so i'm not aware of the 40 out of 40. his appointment of linda mcmahon was interesting, she was a cofounder of wwe, world wrestling entertainment and a donor and supporter of trump. her background in education is

limited but she trained to become a teacher and served on the connecticut state board of education. he has obviously told her that he wants her to work to dismantle the department that she will likely run if she is confirmed. host: talking about the education department. here are some statistics for you. u.s. pre-k ecation system has more than 49 million students, more than 3 million full-time equivalent teachers in public elementary and secondary schools. public school per student expenditur is $1591 according to the national center for education statistics. the u.s. to partner education began operating in 1980 and employs over 4000 people and its budget for 2024, 238 billion. howard in salisbury, north carolina, a caller. what are your questions on the education department? caller: top of the morning to

you. i am a proud product of public education. and as you can see, it is very vital to not just african-americans, it's for all americans. for one thing you're all on the same court. to me it sounds as though 20 project went 25 is in effect because if you look at the 2025 project, it has that in there. not only that, it will also divide our children which we do need diversity to be able to survive when you're going through adolescence. so i look at what they are doing is trying to overturn brown v. board of education because segregation i believe is trying to make a comeback. host: matt barnum. guest: on projects 2025 it is

true the head of projects 2025, had the goal of limiting the department of education but that was also a trump campaigned on separately from project when he 25. it was not a secret during his campaign that that is what he wanted to do. i cannot comment specifically on the goal and the link to segregation, that certainly isn't something that i have seen. there has been evidence that our schools remain quite segregated and stratified by race and family income. and that has not really gotten better in a few decades. there is little indication the policymakers of either party are interested in tackling that issue. host: deborah in columbia, maryland, independent. caller: i am a schoolteacher and one of the concerns that i had about the department of education being eliminated is the lack of standardization of curriculum throughout the state.

so there are some basics that i think all citizens should know with regards to science, mathematics, social studies, especially in this day and age where you have interactions between different countries, they need to be respectful. so my concern is again the states being able to decide the curriculum instead of suit organization -- certain standardization that all need to know. i would appreciate if guest could try to address that. thank you so much. host: i don't -- guest: i don't think a limiting the department of education would necessarily have an effect on that because states set standards and curriculum and the district also set curriculum. the department of education by law is restricted in its ability to dictate local curriculum. so i don't necessarily see that as overlapping.

that said, there are some folks who want the department of education to take more of an aggressive stance to intervene when schools are struggling. that is what it did under no child left behind. under current law it has some provisions for that but relatively limited. host: patty in florida, republican. caller: how are you. my concern is the ranking. the part of education is showing it's been a bad system. we had school choice and some of the states and it showed that the children do much better with this. all we hear about is the teachers, of the union but we don't talk about our children and education. i -- i had a much better curriculum than what is being taught today. so when you get to these different areas, money is thrown at certain sections but the basics of teaching our children

is no longer there. and i believe that is the biggest concerned. host: matt barnum. guest: i think you've sort of spoken to the heart of the question, is that apartment of education helping or not helping schools. certainly advocates for the department say what it does is important and the money it spends is important and critics say it has not been helpful and has not made a difference. host: you said president trump would target certain functions of the education department through executive orders paid which ones? >> i don't think we know yet. i think the ones that he could more easily target are some of the smaller ones that are not written into statute. those are not the ones that are going to really make a big difference or have an impact either on the budget or at the school level. >> he has signed a number of executive orders related to education since taking office prude what do they do? what changes would they bring to classrooms. >> he signed several so there is

one that aims to expand school choice which means could be public funding for private schools, though the executive order is relatively limited. he's also signed an executive order aimed at restricting transgender women from participating in women's sports. then he signed an executive order trying to get what he calls a radical indoctrination of k-12 schooling which target certain practices related to gender and transgender rights as well as race and what supporters call diversity initiatives or antiracism in schools. he has directed his apartment -- department to investigate school systems that are pushing what might be described as liberal policies. what's interesting is this is in tension with his promise to limited the department of education and get the feds at public schools print so we will see how this plays out. >> a headline in the wall street journal from your reporting, trumps school choice agenda hits pushback from red state voters.

what did you find out? guest: a lot of red states have passed school choice initiatives which typically means some sort of public funding or public subsidy for private schools. that has passed in red state legislatures across the country. however it was recently similar initiatives were recently put up for a vote in kentucky and nebraska. voters in these very red states even as they were electing president trump in 2024 voted down private school choice efforts. and that caught a lot of people by surprise and suggests at least in those couple of states that there is a disconnect between what the red state voters want and what some of the red state elected officials are pushing. host: edna in chicago, a democratic caller pretty here from you. caller: good morning. my question was why?

everybody is talking about the education, speaking of the 25th. i suggest they start looking at the 25th amendment in the constitution. to get rid of a president who can no longer govern. this is what we have now. not only education but if you educate yourself and see what's happening with this guy we have for a president, you will see. he has dementia, he is an old man with dementia. host: we will stick to the topic. eric in massachusetts, independent. guest: -- caller: thank you. what i want to ask about is the cost of college. i think one of the biggest problems in the carter administration was the department of education a cabinet level. and as a result it came into

effect. but that happened during the time a lot of people going to colleges were men. i agree with the equality. but that does increase the cost for college exponentially over the years. and that's that people ask me why college is so expensive, i point to hillsdale college that had to go all the way to the supreme court to maintain their independence. and once they did, once they were successful, and they don't use any federal lines it cap costs reasonable. host: let's talk about that

connection. once the education department became a cabinet level position he says that is what raised college cost because of the federal loan system. guest: i think there are certainly some folks who would argue that and i think there is some credible research to suggest that. i would be interested in seeing whether alternatives that are not aligned that he mentioned not reliant on student loans have also seen costs grow. i know in k-12 education private school costs which did very little subsidy they've also seen their costs grow so i know it remains up for debate what is driving these costs for efforts in k-12 and higher education. host: what about research done into that people will pay this cost. the cost keeps going up and people keep paying. guest: that is another interesting you know reflection. i think these loans people do look at in most cases though we

have seen some forgive and had to pay back and that does reflect the willingness to pay or at least the willingness to take out loans reflects some belief that there is at least some evidence for going to college is worth it and some sort of investment in some sort of premium. host: michelle in wisconsin, a democratic caller, good morning to you. caller: thank you for taking my call. my question is in the department of education and the schools k-12, what do you think is going to happen to the special education classrooms and the services that the public schools provide through their schools to help students keep up such as your physical therapy, your ot

and your speech and language services. host: we will have matt barnum respond. guest: i think you are referring to the individuals with disabilities education act which is a federal law which requires public schools to serve students with disabilities. and it also sends money to schools to pay for the cost of serving them. schools will say they don't get enough from the federal government. and i think that's a huge question if you were to dismantle the department what would you do with that law and the money that goes to it that is written into the statute. i am not aware of president trump or his administration saying that they would target that it is a very big question. >> jacob republican. >> hello and good morning. >> my question was to bring attention to what i feel is a problem in our public school

systems is cell as an acronym and k k cell. i listen to a long discourse by james lindsay who was speaking about the marks of the acacian of education. and instead of basic academics they are being taught how to become essentially activists and activism. and it's concerning to me and i was curious if you had any more information on that subject. >> so i believe you're referring to scl or social emotional learning which is a set of practices that have grown in k-12 schools that advocates say are designed to help students manage their emotions and behavior. and that conservative critics say are a distraction from regular academics reading,

writing and arithmetic. i would have to look at the particular examples that you referred to to really focus on that. host: daniel in pennsylvania, a democrat line. caller: i want your guest to address lobbying efforts and soft moaning the goes into public schools. and in addition to your past guest about farming and soft money lobbying efforts that keep the chemicals in our food. host: we will take the education part of that. >> they're certainly spending, political spending around education and if there isn't, that spending includes folks on both sides of the issue of teachers unions and one side are major spenders and you also have critics of public education and school choice and other folks on the other side. so it is a political issue and

like any political issue there is spending on it. >> leonard in westfield, massachusetts, independent caller, good morning. >> good morning. i have a question. i know they passed a law for no children stay behind. that means if you're not doing well in that class you are not going to do well in the next one or the next one. i mean i stayed back a few times which helped me. and also, they should not have devices from the first grade to the sixth and seventh. they should do everything by pencil or pen and learn how to write and read and multiply and everything, learn and use their brain before they start using devices.

host: we will go to charlestown, massachusetts. independent, good morning. caller: my question is sort of related to the real potential implications of the policy. i haven't had a strong opinion on this because it hasn't really been talked about the idea of abolishing the department until now pretty much and when i look at my media feed i see is if it's going to destroy education in america. talk about what some of the actual negative implications that this could have and if they are a little bit overblown on media sources today. >> so obviously there is a debate about whether there would be negative implications, advocates for limiting the department do not think it would be beneficial. i think how big the

ramifications would be depends on how they go about abolishing it. i sort of think either a soft abolished or a hard abolish. a soft abolish would be doing, taking with the department of education does and putting it in other agencies. but getting rid of the department. that would probably not have a big effect on your typical school because the federal government is still doing the same thing they are just not doing it under the auspices of the department of education and that's what happened before the department of education existed. there were actions the federal government did under the department called health education and welfare. the hard abolish would be eliminating any or all of the things the department of education has. that would have very big ramifications in schools. even though most of the money for schools comes from outside the federal government it still makes a meaningful chunk. so that would really matter at

your local school. if they went that route. >> next from john. republican. >> good morning. my question is about the department of education is how can people graduate from high school and they find out they cannot read at a fifth grade level. how can this get through with failure like this? if nobody addresses it. guest: i cannot speak to the specific situation in baltimore. i know many urban school systems and school systems across the country have struggled and in some cases that is because the schools are not doing a good job teaching kids to read, write and do math. in other cases students are facing really big challenges outside of the school. they are exposed to violence or

they are evicted or they face poverty. so all sorts of things may get in the way of learning. there is a lot of evidence the student outcomes we see are not just driven eye the schools they are also driven by what happens to students in their lives outside of school. host: john in maryland, independent. make it real quick. the house is about the gavel in. caller: i will make it real quick. i have a question as a relates to closing down the education department federally. how much funds does the federal system contribute to local cities in terms of education. we pay high property taxes now and part of that goes to the school system locally. host: quick answer from you. guest: the k-12 level the federal government spends about 10% -- $.10 on the dollar