♪ host: good morning. it's friday, february 7, 2025. the house is in at 9 a.m. eastern, meaning we are with you

for the next two hours. we begin with the trump department of government efficiency. under elon myth -- elon musk they have moved to reduce the federal workforce and cancel contracts. he has pulled the public on which agency you should audit next. what programs or agencies do you think need more scrutiny? are there cuts that you would propose for the federal government? phone lines split as usual by political party. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can also send us a text. (202) 748-8003, please include your name and where you are from. otherwise, catch up with us on social media and on twitter, @cspanwj. good friday morning to you. you can start calling in now. we begin on x, a question that

he proposed to his 216 million followers earlier this week, asking -- would you like doge to audit the irs? one of the rpoes that he received was from the ways and ans chairman of the u.s. house , congressman jason smith, posting a cartoon showing elon musk as the grim reaper, knocking on the door of the irs. other federal agency doors that have been opened after being knocked on, the fbi and the u.s. agency for international development. a lot of scrutiny around cuts and changes that usaid, whether that agency will be folded into the larger state department. it was yesterday at the white house that the press secretary, caroline levitt, answered questions about those changes at usaid. this is what she had to say. [video clip] >> secretary rubio is the acting administrator of usaid, we have

streamlined it into the state department -- hello, rachel -- and we want to be sure we are being good stewards of taxpayer dollars. he's going line by line to make sure that foreign aid to private and public organizations, government organizations, line up with american interests. >> 2% of federal employees have accepted the buyout offer. is that less than the white house was anticipating? >> last time i checked in with the office of personnel management, there were more than 40,000 federal workers who had accepted the buyout program. we expect the number to increase. that alone, just the 40,000, is going to save the american people tens of millions of dollars and we encourage federal workers in the city to accept the very generous offer. if they don't want to show up to the office and rip off the american people, they can take the buyout and we will find highly competent individuals to

fill the roles. host: caroline levitt from the white house yesterday. we are asking this morning what cuts would you make to doge the federal government in the wake of the cuts that have already come down? it was the congressional progressive caucus that held a press constant -- press conference expressing concerns over what they've done already. this was a part of that meeting, yesterday. [video clip] >> today we are here with one voice to say fire elon musk. unelected, unaccountable billionaire who now has seemingly unlimited powers over american private data and over american taxpayer dollars. it seems that every hour brings more news about a new threat that elon musk poses to working people. a new way that elon musk wants to take your hard earned money and keep it for himself. just yesterday, he threatened to

go after medicare and medicaid. just yesterday we also learned that head start programs serving 20,000 young students are locked out of their federal funding by elon musk. to be clear, that means that you have a billionaire, the richest person on earth willing to take away your health care, willing to take away kids lunches and meals, willing to take away pre-k, just so that he can finance a tax rate for himself and his billionaire buddies. just last night, elon musk came out and we found out that he is interfering with air traffic control. when muska took over twitter, he repeatedly crashed that platform. it's not a big deal if your app does not load one day. it is a huge deal if you don't know if your plane is going to

crash or not. if we don't fight back, elon musk will take dollars away from our public schools, our health care, social security, away from our own safety systems and use the dollars to line his own pockets. we are here fighting for a country that is by and for the people. not by and for the ultrarich. host: texas democrat greg gosar there, focusing on elon musk. elon musk posted this cartoon of a sign in front of the white house, beware of doge. if you were to answer his inquiries about where he should target the priorities of doge, what cuts would you make if any? phone lines for republicans, democrats, and independents as usual. starting on the independent line, marlene, minnesota, good morning.

caller: i would like to say that i would like to actually have them go through every one of our federal departments. being as we are speaking about the social security and medicare , i can tell you that as a person that has been fraudulently billed to my medicare, which i reported, there is so much fraud going on in our social security. and in our medicare. and medicaid. i do believe that all he is doing is looking for the fraud and the waste. i don't know why people are getting so wound up and lying about what he's doing. i just, i don't see it. he's not making -- he's giving the information to the president. and then the president will make

the decision. elon musk is not doing it on his own. you know? it's -- he's giving the advice to the president and then they can make the decisions. he is not doing this all on his own. that is what -- i don't understand why these democrats, and the people of the united states, don't want to stop all of this fraud and stuff that's going on in our country. it's our money. why are they being so defendant of our money? host: that is marlene and minnesota. here's two beds today, first from "the new york times," writing "it isn't reform, its sabotage, musk and trump are launching a frontal attack on the government." the lead editorial from "the washington times," "the doge free up --

freak out and flamed the debate over federal spending." that some of the debate in today's papers. your thoughts this morning, mark in oklahoma, good morning. caller:[sneezing] good morning. host: good morning, mark. caller: i think they need to cut the irs, going after people from taxes. they did a big hiring. we could switch them to then border patrol and stuff. one of my main concerns is they are talking about taking whatever, country sides, taking them overseas, building them up and making them into investment buildings and stuff. but he's cutting all of these other government jobs in programs and stuff. if we are going to save money,

are we going to throw it over there and spend it on something like that? host: that was mark and oklahoma. this is robert in texas, amarillo, good morning. caller: the answer to your question is -- i don't know. let me explain why. the significance of good democratic party policy has been demonstrated by bill clinton, jfk, and most importantly fdr. in the book, paul dickinson, the author, explains how fdr established a draft with an 87% approval rating, way before pearl harbor saved the world. today the magnitude of intellectual dishonesty in the democratic party has destroyed fdr's legacy. so, let me provide some evidence of my assertion by mr. hakeem

jeffries. when we call january 6, perhaps pull up the clip, a day of infamy, which fdr used to explain the entire pacific fleet to the nation. by the way, mr. jeffries has no support in his own district, new york eight. he actually received fewer votes than the loser in new york 17. host: robert, he was just reelected in november. caller: let me explain. mr. jeffries was in the wall street journal a few days ago, trying to change the rules to fill the seat of miss stuff ionic. mind you, mr. jeffries should resign immediately, as he demonstrates a high level of intellectual dishonesty. host: that's robert in texas.

back to the independent line. mark, jefferson, colorado. caller: good morning, america. i want everybody to think about this. as doge cruises through the computers of the united states, what is he doing in the veterans affairs computers? disabled veterans, why is he pulling our names, addresses, social security numbers, bank routing and account numbers? this is happening to everybody in america, starting in the treasury department. one of his "experts" is a 19-year-old hacker, freshman at northwestern. what is he doing routing through your computer? the further question arises, how much is that information work on the black web? go to that 19-year-old kid and say -- i will give you a million dollars cash in an offshore account for 50,000 names, bank accounts and routing numbers.

america, concern yourself with our security, because our security portals are in the toilet. good morning, america. protect yourself. have a good day. host: that was mark in colorado. some doge staffers are now getting the spotlight from media organizations, including "the wall street journal." this is one of their headlines today. key staff or over racist posts on x. one of the staffers who gave access to the central payment system resigned yesterday after he was linked to the deleted social media account that advocated eugenics and racism. a 25-year-old who is a part of the cadre of the elon musk lieutenants deployed by the department of government efficiency to scrutinize federal spending resigning after the journal asked the white house about his connection to the account. "for the record, i was racist before it." that account posted back in july.

"you could not pay me to marry outside my ethnicity," it posted in september. "normalize indian hate." has emerged at the center of the legal battle over access to taxpayer information and systems the treasury department uses to process trillions and payments annually. that story again from "the wall street journal" today. vivian, good morning. caller: thank god you have -- you are there to help us voice our opinion. trump is trying to turn us just like apartheid america. elon musk is from south africa. if you remember the pain they put those people through? they are doing the same thing, sir, to us, like my brother-in-law from nigeria, saying elon musk is doing the same thing to us, what they did for all of those years to the people over there in south

africa. please, wake up. democrats, republicans, independents. this is what they are doing. host: to the question we asked, are there any agencies that you think should be cut or should receive some scrutiny in your view? caller: no, we need all the agencies we got. we need medicare, medicaid, school lunches for children. we need the veterans benefits. we need all of it. we need protection for our children in school. they are not talking about that. they are talking about cutting out stuff. what about them getting guns, blowing our children's brains out in school. no republicans said anything about it. democrats need to wake up and put it all out there, let them see what they are trying to do to america. you all will be next, they will want to take you off the air. host: that's vivian in tennessee. fernando, good morning. caller: good morning.

i think that what should be eliminated and must be eliminated if america is going to get by, we are the welfare of the world. america must wake up. democrats, liberals, independents and republicans, stop giving our money to other nations. if they cannot grow their own food, we can't make -- keep maintaining people that want to have 8, 9 babies and are starving to death. this a crooked way of stealing money and funding it to other things outside of this country. these people should be put in jail, just like the governor. trump was good, didn't lock him up. that guy, he let the hollywood burn for a reason. two weeks before that, nobody's talking. i'm mad at the republicans. they are afraid to speak up and democrats are going crazy and saying all kinds of lies in the

street in the cities to rise the people up to turn against the republicans, but they don't look at the facts. they burned down that city. host: that was fernando in new york city. the debate that he started there, usaid overseas, playing out on the floors of the house and senate this week. this from the senate on wednesday, louisiana republican john kennedy repent -- criticizing his democratic colleagues for not expressing concerns over certain programs. [video clip] >> this is the kind of stuff that mr. musk found. he, he, he found that the u.s. id -- usaid gave money, our money, taxpayer money, to vietnam, usaid, he found, gave money to a transgender clinic in india. i didn't know that. i bet the american people didn't

know that. it's he found that usaid gave $1.5 million to a serbian lgbtq group. it's a doge, probably mispronounce that. apologies. 1.5 million dollars to advance diversity and equity inclusion in serbian workplaces and bits this communities. what else did mr. musk found? my colleagues don't want to talk about it? well. he reviewed a study. he went and checked it. the study was done by the middle east forum. they found that usaid spent 164 million dollars to support radical organizations.

we are not talking cub scout troops here. we are talking about radical organizations around the world. they gave $122 million of that two groups online with foreign terrorist organizations. our taxpayer money. according to this report from mr. musk, usaid has given millions of dollars to " organizations in gaza. controlled by hamas. why? why? why are -- my colleagues, talking about that? host: john kennedy on the floor of the senate. that was wednesday. this is today's op-ed page of "the wall street journal." "the left didn't always love usaid.

"it may look like a cherished agency of political progressives but has often faced opposition from centrist liberals. many vocal left-leaning groups behaving as though usaid is an apolitical agency would have employed a more thoughtful multifaceted assessment in decades past. tom nicholson is the author of that piece, the head of a global health nonprofit who points back to the critics of the new left movement of the 60's and 70's who criticized usaid for its nefarious actions, deeming them politically subversive and manipulative. in 1965 the new york times reported the level of funding to india was contingent on india importing certain products likes fertilizer from u.s. companies, an example of the so-called tied aid from the u.s., with usaid support for dictators attracting opposition over the years, the agency generously supporting

many authoritarian figures and regimes in countries from zaire, now congo, haiti, nicaragua, and others. this story, a column in today's "wall street journal," if you want to read it. paul, chesapeake, good morning, you are next. caller: good morning, john. couple of things. one, i agree with senator kennedy. it's amazing. i had just texted my senators about this, that they have budget malpractice is what they have. now, you are asking about what agencies i would cut in the federal government. they, they actually, several years ago, when gingrich was speaker and clinton was president, they tried to do away with the department of commerce and the department of education.

so, this is not the first time. i have family members, many who are educators, and they all agree the federal department of education needs to go. and return it back to the states and the localities. now, it started out as a small division under health and human services or what used to be health education and welfare before they split it up. so, that is what i would do. now that, that is just one agency. but when you have 15, count them, 15 cabinet positions, each one of them must have, must have numerous, numerous agencies that

are being funded by congress. when was the last time, when was the last time they cut a budget that did not dissolve or just move an agency into another department, or just rename it? when was the last time our, our senators and representatives, both chambers, have they done that? for them to say -- they are all screaming about elon musk being an unelected bureaucrat. how many of them -- that is what the chevron decision in the supreme court was all about. that agencies cannot make bureaucratic mandates. now, senator kennedy talking

about money just from usaid that congress did not have, they knew the money was going to usaid, but they didn't know where it was going from there. host: that was paul in virginia. phil, land o lakes, florida, you are next. caller: how are you today? host: doing well. is there an agency that needs more scrutiny that you would cut? caller: not a particular agency, but when you ask yourself, taxpayer money goes into funding with this country does and when it comes to cutting and spending, the first thing we look to is to cut funding at home. i question, why isn't there a similar action taking the cuts to others when it comes to cutting funding abroad? host: the focus on usaid, that agency, international development, money spent abroad.

caller: but who makes that possible? host: congress appropriates money and usaid, it's a part of their funding. caller: no taxpayer money goes into that at all? host: no, that money is taxpayer money, phil. caller: then why are they cutting funding for veterans and social security? all that taxpayer money going to helping people abroad, but when it comes to cutting spending, we cut at home first? that's a question i would ask the government. that's all. host: kent, new boston, illinois, good morning. caller: there are so many things other than the department of education, but that one is paramount in my mind. we spent so much more money than anyone in the world to educate our kids.

that's really the wrong word. our kids being educated, go up to any young kid and ask them what nine times seven is, they pull out their computer and start trying to figure it out. in theory, illinois, where i grew up, i went to school back in the 50's. all the elementary school teachers were ladies from the community. ladies of good character. they taught us how to read. a lot of emphasis on learning how to read. how to write. cursive. english. a lot of emphasis on basic math. these things have all been taken out of the public school now and replace with transgender studies . climate. they believe they are teaching the kids that we control the weather.

they've got climate change here in illinois at this time of year when it snows, we call that climate change weather? in a month or two it'll get nice , the flowers come up, we call that climate change spring. the young kids in school are taught that. they are taught that they are little gods unto themselves and that they and their peers can control the weather. i'm 77 years old. the fact that the public has allowed this stuff to go on and pay all this tremendous amount of money to the department of education to ruin our young kids. host: that's kent in illinois. talking about climate change, environmental issues, the latest shakeup came yesterday when the trump appointees at the environmental protection agency notified staff members they planned to close the office of environmental justice and

external civil rights and put 168 of those employees on administrative leave with hummel there and golfing the justice department natural resources division. they called it a little known crucial office tasked with defending environmental actions of the government in court. the office of environmental justice was created in 1992 under george h w bush as the office of environmental equity. in 1994 the name changed to the office of environmental justice. that's the story from "the washington post," today, if you want to read more. good morning, marty. caller: good morning. this is the duke of the delaware , little tiny karen. i tell you what needs to be cut. you need to cut out the insider information and that crooked trading that is making all of these fat cats rich.

these politicians for years, it's horrible, all of this oil is coming off of the united states land. that is our money. but they are rich off of it. they know what they are doing. they are giving everyone sweetheart deals. now they are scared to desks -- scared to death that elon musk may expose them. host: kiki, massachusetts, democrat, good morning. caller: i'm not sure i'm qualified to state what should be cut but i think they should invest in the irs, because i believe statistics have shown that when you hire more irs workers and invest in the irs, you can recover quite a bit of money for the government. my final comment would be i don't think anyone wants to have waste in government. of course there will be waste. but the way that trump is going

about it is slash and burn and it's not a professional way to go about trying to save money and i really wonder about elon musk's motives i'm sure if someone looked at his company, there would be a lot of waste. thank you very much, john. goodbye. caller: that was kiki in massachusetts, our last caller in the segment. stick around, there's a lot of talk about today, including this morning, two lawmakers speaking on capitol hill on the elon musk efforts at doge. first, brad schneider of illinois, ways and means. later, russ fulcher of idaho, natural resources and energy and commerce committee. stick around, will be right back. ♪ -- we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ >> american history tv,

saturdays on c-span two, exploring the people that tell the american story. this weekend at 2 p.m. eastern historians discuss lincoln's views on race and slavery. at 5:45 p.m. we will talk with new media creators about sharing history topics on podcasts and sub stack. 7 p.m. eastern, watch the american history tv series first 100 days as we look at the start of presidential terms, focusing on the early months of andrew jackson in 1829, including his policy agenda and controversies surrounding his cabinet. 8 p.m. eastern on lectures in history, 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-span two.

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interviewed by the president of the baltimore emeritus, freeman grabowski. watch every sunday and online at book tv.org. if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage, you can find it anytime online at c-span.org, videos of key hearings, debates, and other events with markers guiding you towards interesting and newsworthy highlights with points of interest markers that appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on select videos, making it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on "points of interest." >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us at the table now, the illinois democrat, brad

schneider, in his sixth term in the house and serving as chair of the new democratic coalition, whose mission is what, congressman? caller: it's a group of moderate democrats, people who are looking to solve problems, address the opportunities that we face as a nation, not just with the entire democratic caucus, but reaching across the aisle. we are more than 110 members, the largest ideological caucus in the house as a whole. we are just 110 people looking to get things done. host: what can 110 moderate democrats do in a 218 to 215 split house, the narrowest majority in the house since world war i? caller: i think quite a bit. in the democratic caucus, new democrats are a majority of the group. looking at republicans, they are very fractured.

as you said, it only takes one to vote one way or the other to swing it. to get anything done it's always better to do things in a bipartisan way to start with and i think that the republicans are going to have to reach across the aisle to work with them. the people i think they will reach across two are the new democratic coalition. host: what do you say to those who say it's the job of democrats to give donald trump know winds and resist everything he's doing? caller: it's not about winning and losing, it's resisting the bad things they are doing. the list is overwhelming every day, an onslaught of the under want -- undermining of the rule of law, pulling out of civil service, trying to completely eliminate usaid -- not so much that but american engagement around the world, we face adversaries and risks of failed states and consequently threats of terrorism and the u.s. is walking away from that. we need to make sure we are

protecting american values. the idea that the economy that's growing and creating opportunity for all americans, not just the billionaires at the top. and that the foundational principle of our government, to create a more perfect union, constantly moving in a direction of making it a better country, i think you see a lot of people on the other side wanting to take us backwards. host: as the chair of this group, what's your view on the group of progressive democrats, known as the squad? it's your view on the squad? caller: one thing that distinguishes even the full spectrum of the democratic party is that everyone, from our most conservative or centrist democrats to our most progressive and far left democrats is that everyone in that group wants to govern. we have different visions of what we are trying to do and it is about creating an economy producing jobs and an opportunity for all americans.

it's working to promote healthy and safe communities and make sure we have a strong national security and defense, that's what we are focused on, from folks on the left to folks across the aisle. host: news on the hill this week, and on the other end of pennsylvania avenue, at the white house, benjamin netanyahu meeting with trump, his first foreign visitor to the white house in this term as president. what did you think of the trump proposal for gaza end u.s. involvement there? caller: i'm going to work backwards on that. i had a chance to be in a meeting with the prime minister yesterday and we talked about the idea of the future for gaza. i asked what the strategy was long-term. one of the things that he said was that there is no plan to force palestinians out and that anyone who leaves should be able to come back. gaza has long been a challenge, it's been a challenge since 1967. before that, egypt controlled

gaza with problems and the committee withdrew. 20 23, you had an invasion from hamas with the intent of genocide. so, we need to pursue peace. there will never be peace as long as hamas controls gaza. they have to be eliminated. gaza needs to be rebuilt. d radicalized. with an opportunity for renewal. this is where president trump may have used terms like riviera on the mediterranean. the idea is that gaza should be for the palestinians and built with the palestinians. the u.s. has a role in that, schools and hospitals, not allowing the rebuilding of the terrorist infrastructure, the army we saw on october 7 at 2023. that has to be prevented. a gaza where palestinians live

in security, stability, and peace with israel, that's the goal. as long as hamas is in charge, we can't have that. the president spoke about it in a way where what he spoke about would not just be immoral, it proved to be illegal. but the world is talking about, what we should be talking about is how we create opportunity and hope for the people of gaza without threatening israel. host: you have described yourself as a zionist, what does that mean? caller: i'm jewish. i believe in the homeland of the jewish people and the jewish state and that homeland. that is what israel is today. jumping ahead to the abraham accords, for the first time articulating that the middle east, arabs and jews, belong to the same land and have to find a way to live together. so, i believe in a jewish state and homeland that doesn't disavow or diminish the aspirations of the palestinian

people for a homeland. still, it's not going to happen in my lifetime, but the prospect of finding peace between israelis and palestinians that ultimately leads to a state for the people where they can live in security, stability and peace. host: brad schneider is with us until the top of the hour. phone lines as usual, republicans, democrats, independents, as they are calling in, what do you think, turning to a different topic, on the trump tariffs? when do you think that tariffs should be deployed by a president? host: they should be deployed -- caller: who should be deployed selectively, they are a strategic tool protecting the u.s. economy and interests and should be specifically targeted when someone is taking advantage of us, as is the case of antitrust. they should be deployed in a case where people are being forced onto an unlevel playing field, we can try to level it.

the across-the-board tariffs trump talked about, putting tariffs on the most valued and important trading partners, mexico and canada, across-the-board, it's putting a tax on the american people in it will raise the costs of groceries, it will raise the costs of housing materials and building homes. it will lead to inflation and put a tax on the american people. so, again, tariffs have a role on what we do and developing trade in foreign policy, but they need to be done in a thoughtful and strategic way. host: is there a playbook from the first trump administration that you can look back to to say i think this is how he is using the tariffs? is it a bargaining tool? guest: by reputation the chaos is loved by the president, loves that unpredictability. i find that if you are negotiating with someone in a way like that where you build a relationship and look for common ground, you try to achieve your goals for a better long-term out long -- outlook.

to his credit in the last administration, he negotiated and congress approved a trade agreement, the usmca, and was an important moment and something that should be built on. trump seems intent on tearing it down and on putting the global economy up on its head. the united states is the strongest economy in the world, the largest in the world, but we are not the only large economy in the world and if we try to go it alone, we will limit our capacity to create those high quality well-paying jobs with opportunities for all americans. host: let's let you chat with some collars. jody is up first. good morning. you're on with congressman schneider. caller: hello, thank you for taking my call. i am so concerned about the information that elon musk has gathered on the american people.

pertaining to our address, or social security numbers, our routing numbers, our bank accounts. he is not even an elected official. i would like to know how he got into that position in the first place. caller: thank you for the question. -- guest: thank you for the question. the answer as to how he got there is trump put in their. he was not elected by anyone. no american in the country voted for him and he has gone through no vetting process. wasn't approved by the senate. not technically an official employee of the government, constrained by the rules of what working for the government means. yet he has access, as you said, to our most personal confidential information. bank accounts, social security numbers, routing numbers, how much we are paid, where we live, possibly even health care records. it's even more than that. more than anyone else in the world, he can profit from that

information. he is the owner of one of the most important largest social media platforms in the country, but are formally known as -- x, he can profit from that. this is government information that should be kept secure and private and instead of doing that, they have handed it over to musk and his associates, associates who are young, brash men. one of them as young as 19. something we should all be concerned about. today we are introducing the protect taxpayer data act in the house, the democrats are. i'm proud to say that we are endorsing that bill to make sure that that data is protected and not made available for platforms like x and individuals who have their own agenda and are seeking their own profits. host: asking you about another trump appointee, russell vote,

last night he was confirmed as the white house budget director. the ap story confirmed the architect of project 20 25 to lead the powerful white house budget office. what does the budget director do? guest: they are the key administrative official looking at money authorized by congress. they have the power of the purse as defined within the constitution to create what was supposed to be three coequal branches of government to provide checks and balances to make sure the government is always serving the people. russell vote will be the primary individual overseeing the budget and who has a view of the government and presidential power that effectively says the president is all-powerful. more of a king than an executive. specifically what our founders were trying to avoid, making sure that we were not a monarchy but a government for the people, by the people.

it starts in the house and the senate. we should be determining, as representatives of the 435 districts in 50 states what the priorities are, where we want to spend. it's up to the president to make sure he is executing those programs as defined by congress. it could be a great threat to the relationship between congress, the executive branch, a threat to the constitution and to the american people as a whole. host: harrisburg, pennsylvania, wayne, you are next. caller: i know that we are talking about funding gaza. he wanted to give them people a nice place to live. but what about the nsc's? we need education, housing, jobs. what are you all going to do about it? i don't want to hear about gaza.

you want to spend all of that money and we could do that money over here. even in the white areas. i'm tired of you hearing about talking about taking care of other people and you do nothing for the people of america. guest: wayne, thanks for the question. i think you have an important point. this is where i disagree with president trump. what i'm hoping for in gaza is that the people there have the chance to build up their own cities with neighborhoods and schools, hospitals, etc., without the infrastructure of war and terror. but that is for them to build. we can provide assistance and sometimes that might be in the form of financial aid and sometimes it may be in the form of giving them space and security, making sure that there is public safety and efforts made towards peace in the region. not just for them. it's within our own interests, u.s. interests, gaza, africa, latin america, the more we

promote peace, the more we can promote good government and the more advantageous it will be for american interests. our first priority always needs to be our own people, investing in our cities. earlier we mentioned that the new chair of the democratic coalition has a platform of three pillars. economic growth and opportunity. healthy and safe communities. strong national security and defense starting in the rural communities. not a matter of faith or the color of your skin, but every american getting the education they need. a roof over their heads and provides food, clothing, health care to their kids, opportunities for the future. if we were focused on that, working across the aisle, the economy would be stronger, people would be more optimistic about the future and america could be in a better position to lead the world to a more stable and secure future. thank you for the question. host: you got about 10 minutes

left with brad schneider. nisi is in southfield, michigan, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say how do someone get a person's personal information and he's not even in government? and he was an illegal immigrant. elon musk was an illegal immigrant for 10 years. when america caught up with him, he had already use our system over here to enrich himself. i'm trying to understand what is going on. by and gaza, putting 2.8 billion people out when they visit? where are they supposed to go? lord help us. guest: i not only hear your outrage, i share your outrage. it is truly unacceptable that any one individual, let alone the richest man in the world,

someone who has interests with the government, government contracts, already has billions in profits in his position, is given unfettered access. no one should be given unfettered access to the information that we trust it the government. we do that because we expect to the government to protect the information and hold it in trust. how he got there is trump gave him the power. how did he get that relationship? he invite -- invested in the trump reelection, more than any other individual. it's a fair question, is trump beholden to musk or the other way around? the bottom line is that what the president and the administration is doing, empowering him without guardrails or oversight, again, trump eliminated the expect -- the inspector general, people within the department who are independent overseers who make sure that what those apartments are doing is according to the law but also protecting the

interests of the american people. i share your outrage. we should all be outraged in doing what we can to make sure that the president and i'm not sure who is in charge, trump or musk, but that they be held accountable. host: heading to the show me state, st. louis, mark, independent line. caller: john, love the show. c-span is awesome. appreciate everybody there. thank you to the congressman devoting his time to try to do something for america. i find problems. dei has been found unconstitutional. the climate change thing, i have delved into this. there is a group called the weather modification association that has been changing the weather since 1951. i never hear anyone talking about it. host: when you say you delved into it, where you delve into something like that? caller: tons of research.

calling different departments, the commerce department, they are supposed to hold records on it. noah now has the records on it. if you change the weather, you are suppose to give them a report. can i just also say that there are 59 countries with these programs. host: before we get into conspiracy theories, what's your question? caller: well, there was heavy smog in the olympics in china made ray dig -- made rain to get rid of it. this is happening. host: alright. that was mark. you want to point out the story about trump's latest moves at the environmental protection agency and the department of justice, putting some 168 staffers on notice for leave who were a part of the environmental justice program at the epa, saying that, essentially, this

is a part of an effort, the d.e.i. effort to eliminate the federal government. what do you think? guest: putting it in a slightly different perspective, if there was a long debate about this country, melting pot or not, people come from all over the world to make the country what it is. they brought their traditions, their experiences, it has made the country stronger. if i think of my experience throughout my career, i have had the chance to work with people who have different perspectives and experiences. the work product that we made, working in a business or projects in the communities, those differences of opinions have always been helpful. what we are seeing, and this is why we talked about it with elon musk, what you are seeing from the people around trump who are pushing really hard, it's a move to a caste system where it is

the oligarchs, the people with the most money who determine everything rather than those who have a chance to come here and rise up. i believe that at the end of the day we should be trying to create as many opportunities as possible for americans to get what they need in the pursuit they want to have. don't begrudge successes, but celebrate them. i think that, you know, within the government we should always be looking to create efficiency and effectiveness in the government. i don't oppose the goals stated by the department of government efficiency to always make government better. al gore had that when he was vice president. and within government you often have things where they go too far. a good idea isn't necessarily a better idea if you do it to the extreme. good ideas are to go and build the next one. we should be evaluating all of those things.

unfortunately i don't think the administration is looking to see where they have gotten too fat. create more efficiency. they have come in with the intention of retribution, antagonism, prejudice, meanness and cruelty. i'm happy to have the conversation about how to improve programs. every program in the government, how can we make it better? has it outlived its usefulness? can we replace it with something that takes us to a better place or puts us in a better direction ? unfortunately that's not what we are seeing in this administration. host: other programs that you can see that have outlived their usefulness? guest: i could name a lot of them, we could study them, looking at what we are doing. even at usaid, we could talk about that. not every program in place 30 or 40 years ago has served a purpose or continues to be effective today. looking at each and every one. but the broad strokes, should be

be engaged in development around the world? there is a three legged stool of defense, deployment, and development. our biggest investment is in defense, protecting our borders and our power around the world. that's the hard power. the soft power of diplomacy, having diplomats and others around the world representing the u.s., our interests for our allied governments, it's critical. the money, less than 1% of the total budget that we invested in development around the world, building relationships, making connections with people, making sure the governments of the world don't fail or fall into the hands of russia or china which ultimately become failed states and havens for terrorism, that's money that should be wisely spent and evaluated constantly every year and when you think about it, we should be looking at the goals, where the opportunities have been challenged, where we have established the opportunity to achieve those goals to make sure we are on track to achieve the goals and eliminate the things that distract from that. host: from the buckeye state,

dale, cleveland, republican, go ahead. dale, are you with us? caller: yes, sir. how long have you been on the foreign affairs committee and why have you not found these payments to various places? number two, for the host, john, is that your name? host: what's your question? caller: you sent today in "the new york times," they are receiving money from the government, you claim they are independent over objective. same with politico. same with the bbc and ap. will you no longer reference those articles? host: dale, we will continue to reference news organizations from across the country, we do it every day. congressman schneider? guest: great question.

my fifth term within the foreign affairs committee, our job is to do oversight and pass laws and not waste money. we should be looking in broad strokes at what the goals are and what they should be for defense diplomacy and development. we should be able to empower the administration to do it within the law and on an ongoing basis. over the years i've been on the foreign affairs committee, we have looked at a broad number of programs, changed the emphasis over the years to see where the priorities are. when i first came to congress we talked about changes in the arab spring end of the arab world. you had the invasion of russia into croatia at that time. jumping back to a couple of years ago we had an invasion of russia into ukraine as a whole. we have had priorities in europe, priorities in latin america. we have had various subcommittees in every

committee, divided geographically, folks who look at each of the programs there. my focus has historically been in western europe and in the middle east. we do that collectively. we do that together. you are right, it should be our charge to look to how we can create opportunities for the administration to achieve our goals in the most efficient way. host: we will end up there with congressman brad schneider, the head of the new democratic coalition in this congress. foreign affairs, ways and means, i know you have a busy day and i will let you get to it. guest: host: thank you. -- guest: thank you. host: coming up a bit later, congressman russ fulcher of idaho will join us. and open forum is coming up, any policy you want to talk about, the phone lines are yours. start coming in now and we will get to those calls right after this break. ♪

>> saturdays, 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, looking at accomplishments and setbacks and examine how events impacted presidential terms in the nation through present day. this saturday we will look at the first 100 days of the andrew jackson presidency. he was elected in 1828 in a rematch with john quincy adams from 1824 election. mr. jackson came to office with a vision for the country, but his agenda was stalled by controversy. early issues included state's rights, tariffs, and treatments of native americans. watch american history tv's new series, first 100 days, saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span two. ♪

>> john dickinson was one of the most significant founders of the united states who is not well known by all the american public. trying to change that with "penman of the founding." he is known for his nine essays under fabius published anonymously when the states were deciding whether to approve the new constitution. he was the only founding figure present and active in every phase of the revolution from the stamp act to the ratification of the constitution. >> jane calvert talks about penman of the fndg, a biography of john dickinson on book notes+. booknotes+ is available on the c-span app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> listening to programs on

c-span through c-span radio is easy. tell your smart speaker to play c-span radio and listen to "washington journal" daily at 7:00 a.m. eastern. weekdays, catch washington today. listen to c-span any time. tell your smart speaker to play c-span radio. c-span, created by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: here's where we are on capitol hill. the house is set to come in at 9:00 a.m. eastern. we will go there for gavel-to-gavel coverage when they do. from the other end of pennsylvania avenue at the white house, the japanese prime minister will be meeting with president trump today. a press conference is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. eastern. you can follow our coverage at c-span.org. it is our open forum. any public policy or political issue you want to talk about, now is your time to call in.

we will start in palm bay, florida. dan, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. i just have a couple of things i wanted to talk about. i was hoping to catch the person who was there that you had last. host: brad schneider. caller: i was going to ask -- he did say that he is jewish. did he know that we were funding hamas? did he know that we were funding all these crazy trans things? does he know these things? if he does, why are we continuing to fund these things? i have a suggestion for all of these government employees who are now going to be either laid off or let go. what they could do is pick all the fruit they said all the immigrants could do. they could go do that, maybe, since they were so concerned

about how we are going to be able to afford everything. how we are going to get all our fruit. there you go. host: kalamazoo, michigan. lee, republican. caller: how are you guys doing this morning? host: doing well. caller: good. i agree with the guy who just called. the democrats have known what this money has been spent on. not just being a republican, just being an american citizen knowing that my tax dollars are going to another country for trans stuff, whole just put it that way. that to me should be a wake-up call not just me but to everybody that where our tax dollars are going are not here back in america. i would like to flip through different news mediums, too. i was watching fox and i was watching cnn. cnn, their interview was about how we are sending the indians -- india, not from here -- back

to their country and how deplorable they were treated. well, the democrats are fear mongers. they speak of nothing but fear. they show themselves in their true colors when they rant and rave about stuff that's not true. as an american person, not going with political parties, listen to what their words are. see how they act. see what their actions are. look at their actions. they deceive. they hide what they are wanting to do, they are agendas. for me it is one of the things that americans should wake up and look at. as far as the democrat party goes. if you are a democrat, really look at your party. i am a republican and i voted democrat i voted independent, i vote for what i feel is the best. this time it was for sure donald trump. host: enzo is in new york,

democrat, good morning. caller: hello. thank you for -- i'm sorry. i've never really called in before. i guess i've had one concern, you know. there has been a lot of talk about defunding certain departments like education. do you think if that actually goes through then that will maybe increase division in what it's like to live in different states in this country? host: that is enzo in new york. james in dayton, ohio, republican, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like to expound upon the transparency for which president

trump and elon musk are moving forward. this isn't being done in the dark of night. they have no desire to take our money for themselves. they want our money taken back from the lunacy and the upside down thinking from here on forward. it blows me away to listen to the democrats beat the drum of division and hatred and anger. we didn't do that when biden was in there. i hope everyone can come to a middle ground and understand goodness is obvious as is evil. thank you for taking my call. host: that was james in ohio. this is james in the

magnolia state. good morning. caller: i wanted to talk to mr. snyder about he is worried about money, elon, contracts. why wasn't he worried about all our tax money going to different countries under this usaid? what burns me is they gave vietnam $11 million to not burn trash. why wasn't he worried about that? as a veteran i cannot be seen by the dentist at the va hospital in tuscaloosa, alabama because i am not 100% disabled. i have to pay my own dental insurance. i spent 40 years in the military, army and air force. active duty and reserve. we can give our tax money to countries glorifying perversion under this lgb, whatever it is,

but a veteran cannot even get insurance or be seen by the dentist unless he is 100% disability. we need some help in that part of the v.a. i appreciate you taking my call today, sir. host: patrick is in fairfax, virginia, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i want to go back to the first question you started this morning off with, where to cut expenses of the government. you know, the medicare and medicaid wrongful payments. there is so much waste involved there. the government has been looking at this, and also, another area of waste, fraud, and abuse is if you dig into the major defense contracts you will see what they are charging and your eyes will pop open when you see the charge

for, say, a piece for plumbing that costs $2000. you will find a lot of waste there. again, the government has been looking at this. to me, the department of government efficiency is duplicative, because now the government agencies have inspector generals, the government accounting agency looking at -- and if you look at the write up reports, there are so many actions that could be taken right now to reduce costs without having to lay off people or put them on administrative leave. the cost of putting people, savings by illuminating some of the workers is peanuts compared to actually -- by eliminating some of the workers is peanuts

compared actually taking actions that are in the reports of the ig and general county losses. host: patrick in virginia. do you think that the pentagon is up next or soon when it comes to doge? caller: it will be very interesting, because mr. musk has big bucks involved in defense contracts. i would like to see them peel back the onion under his contracts and see what he is charging for his little items. host: that is patrick in virginia. thomas in new jersey, republican, good morning. caller: good morning, everyone. i have four things i want to shoot out to you, ok? number one, the lady in charge of the department of education said the other day on tv that the states already have control of education. there you go, there is the answer. eliminate the department of education in washington.

we don't need them. number two, el salvador jails, we should be doing that. look up el salvador jails. that is what our jails should look like. musk, democrats are afraid and scared at what musk is going to find. number four, trump is marching on. host: that is thomas in new jersey. this is kirk, independent. caller: whoo! good morning, jon. how are you this morning. host: what is on your mind? caller: i want to thank you and c-span for your last guest. it brings forth and shows the people how truly oblivious these people are. that man was in the ways and means committee. i don't think he could find his -- with both hands. host: rather than insulting,

what do you want to talk about public policy wise? caller: public policy, you have people like that in committees who are supposed to watch out for things. now you need someone like musk to come in and show you the things that they let crews by. -- cruise by. host: this is dion in tennessee, copper hill, democrat. caller: good morning. i was calling to inquire about how it's possible musk was allowed to get into the fdic and get their records as fdic's is not a government-funded agency. if the ic is a self-supporting agency. the only thing that i could see he could need to get and therefore is to eliminate the fdic to eliminate the banking regulations so that the banks will have none. that is the only reason i could possibly see why they would want

to be in the fdic. host: that is dion. this is bill, spring hill, florida, republican, good morning. caller: good morning, jon. i love your show. if you ever leave c-span you could get a job in the movies. you look just like jason street -- jason stayed on. there are so many schools, so many administrative people in the schools and not enough teachers. i thought that computers were supposed to streamline this. all they've done is make more bureaucracy with computers. we are not running the whole system right. i hope that trump and elon musk straighten this out, because this government is so wasteful. especially in the service. i was in the military and i couldn't believe the waste that was in the military. we need to straighten this out. we could save a lot of money. host: do you think that elon

musk's doge is coming for military spending, bill? caller: no, i think that having elon musk, an outsider, is a good thing, because he can look at where the waste is. yeah, he wasn't elected, but he is a good businessman. there is no doubt about it. he is not the richest men the world because he is stupid. the guy is smart. i think he could really help out with cutting the waste in the federal government. host: bill in florida. you mentioned military spending according to the usd ebtclock.org. defense spending in the last year, approximately $900 billion. you can see the numbers as they tick up. information about the national debt revenue and spending.

the national debt is at $36 trillion. and counting. this is dennis in iowa, democrat, good morning. walz rep -- caller: republicans want to talk about waste? president clinton took a huge reagan deficit and when he left office we had a surplus. i never heard of joe biden spending over $100,000 to pay some horn star -- some porn star to keep her mouth shut like wasteful donald trump. republicans are full of bull. thank you. host: sophia, new york city, independent. caller: good morning, jon. how are you? i missed you. you only have two hours.

jon, i never cried in my life. i just told the guy that answered the phone, alex, whenever i hear mr. trump's, whenever i see mr. trump's face, i cry. i cry, jon. it's too much. i was not shocked by kamala harris. this is unbelievable, jon. i told you last time i'm going to work until i died. i just got retired in january and now i am miserable. i have nothing to do except reading a book. by the way, why don't he write a book? he can tell a lot of stories. i will leave you alone to let you know the only person that i

watch on tv is rachel maddow at night at 9:00 p.m.. otherwise i see his face. right now i'm looking at his face and i can't take it. i love you, john. be strong for me. host: sophia in new york city. democrat, good morning. caller: this is dennis in alabama? host: that is you, go ahead. caller: i'm talking about the kennedy speech he gave about the usaid to different offsets, like lgbtq, gaza and all that. this is what elon musk told him that usaid did, gave it to those people. my guess is perhaps usaid gave it to a company or someone in

the companies, and how the money got to those organizations wasn't a result of usaid. would you agree with that? host: that is dennis in alabama. this is kurt in ohio, republican, good morning. caller: i'm calling about, you called the last guy in the last segment a conspiracy theorist. cloud seeding has been going on since 1948. that is proven. a physicist from princeton, he will tell you all about it. host: is there a public policy issue that is happening this week that you want to talk about, kurt? i don't want to get too far down cloud seeding. caller: the government has been giving up our information away for years. so -- host: you think that is happening still? caller: oh, yeah.

i filed for social security 10 months ago and after i signed up i was getting phone calls from medicaid, medicare. i had to change my phone number. how else with that have been -- how else with that information have gotten out there? host: also in ohio, toledo, good morning. gilbert, you have to turn down your television and listen through your phone. are you there. we will go to horace and sherwood, arkansas, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning, john. thank you for c-span. i was calling because of this defecate. i am a 77-year-old man. i remember when bill clinton was the president and we had a surplus. i was wondering if the same amount of people work in the government system, being as they do now, because --

host: i do know that there are more people in the federal government today then there was then. there have been more people in the past decade then there was a decade ago. caller: ok, but is it enough to make the deficit go to $35 trillion? it seems like these people are looking at things the wrong way. instead of looking at the departments that's causing the deficit to go up, what about those wars that was started that caused all of the money to have to go to afghanistan and iraq? are people really looking at that? i think people need to wake up, john. thank you. have a great day. host: it is the national debt at about $36.5 billion. the deficit this year will come to about $2 trillion. $36 trillion for the total national debt, the accumulation of deficits and surpluses over

the course of the united state'' spending history. eric in wisconsin, independent, good morning. caller: i'm calling in on a few comments that i've heard. one was on the health care system that we pay, as far as the high income countries, we pay the most for our health care yet it is underperforming. why aren't we looking at that? in my opinion it is because it all deals with profits. i am also concerned about the extreme takeover of our current president. we have three branches of government, and it seems to be a huge violation of what's going on. especially when we have someone not elected that has large amounts of data, personal information, of our citizens. in closing, i am concerned about the fbi and cia loss of jobs.

we need those agencies to protect america, both foreign and domestic. it just seems that things are getting way too personal and we are missing the boat on a few things. host: eric in wisconsin in terms of elon musk, who you bring up in his doge department of government efficiency. we talked about different organizations that have been the focus of doge. congressn son smith on x stg a political cartoon owg elon musk ashe grim reaper knocking on the doors of various agencies and organizations, including politico. you can see the second door behind the grim reaper, elon musk. the news organization elon musk targeting government subscriptions to various news organizations and politico being one of those. politico putting out a statement to their readers in the wake of

the attention that they received from elon musk and the federal government this week. this is from their ceo and editor and chief. politico has been subject of debate on x and some has been misinformed and some has been lies. politico is a privately owned company and we will never receive any government -- we have never received any government funding, no subsidies, grants, or handouts. not a dime in 18 years. millions of people around the world read our journalism on political.com and politicoeu. politico pro is a professional prescription service used by some government agencies or they subscribe because it makes them better at their jobs, helping them track policy and legislation and regulations in real-time time with news and intelligence, a suite of data products. accountability, businesses and entities find it useful as they

navigate the chaotic regulatory and legislative landscape. it's that simple. government agencies that subscribe do so through standard procurement processes like any other tool that they would buy to work smarter and be more efficient. this is not federal funding. it is a transaction. just as the government buys research, equipment, and software, and industry reports, some online voices are deliberately spreading falsehoods. let's be clear that politico has no financial dependence on the government and no hidden agenda. we cover politics and policy and that is our job. that is part of the statement from politico about the attention that they perceive this week from doge and from members on capitol hill. this is just an in washington ville, ohio. republican. caller: i wanted to talk about musk a little bit. seems to be the topic of the name. i look at elon coming in and going over everything as a third-party auditor.

all of these agencies throughout the entire federal government have shown that they cannot be trusted to govern and manage themselves. we are marching towards $40 trillion in debt. there has not been any substantial action to try to change that path at all. more transparency, the more education the people have, it's not going to hurt anything. usaid, a perfect example. they say -- excuse me. they say you cannot get rid of it with executive action. all right. you have -- you need the senate to take up action to get rid of said agency. what better way than to educate people on the actions that are being taken by usaid? once the people are informed, they can communicate with their senators and elected officials and move from there with an

educated action. so that way fraud, mismanagement, whatever it may be can be culled, removed, and taken care of in the right way. host: this is gary in pennsylvania, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: what is on your mind? caller: i am getting tired of these republicans calling in and saying, let's all get along, all the hate, and this and that. when biden was in charge all they wanted to do was call for civil war. they wanted to start that kind of stuff, and yet they want us to bow down to them and let them take over. elon musk and dopy are just out for the money. that is all they are for. it is not hard to be successful when your mommy and daddy are billionaires. host: larry is in the land of

lincoln, downers grove, independent, good morning. caller: first time listener to this show and i am amazed at the things that are listening. as far as government downsizing, i don't believe in it. the world is getting tighter and we need people everywhere. host: anything else that you want to add besides expanding the size of government? caller: you have to expand the size of the government because we want help. as far as elon musk, i would not trust a billionaire to run it. i would trust a taxpayer to run it. host: that is larry in illinois. this is kevin in seneca, missouri. caller: morning.

just a quick comment. i think what our president trump and elon musk is doing is something that needed done for decades to an the waste -- decades to reign in the wast. something congress should have been doing with oversight committees. a great job by the current president and his administration and keep doing it. thank you. host: that was kevin, this is bob in grand junction, colorado. are you with us? mark in pompano beach, florida. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. senator cassidy voted for a kennedy. i am a doctor.

his note disqualifies him -- his vote disqualifies him from being a physician. i will do everything i can as a surgeon and podiatrist to make sure that his medical license is removed, and i think that the rest of the country should, too. kennedy does not believe in the germ theory. for a senator to vote, who is a physician, to vote for an individual who does not believe in the germ theory -- except, of course, when it comes to protecting his own two children i think he is disqualified from his position in the government, and he certainly did not represent the constitution of this country or the health care of the country.

he does not deserve to hold a position in congress. thank you. host: stephen, huntington beach, california, republican. morning. caller: good morning. my comment is that i'm really having difficulty understanding the people that are calling in and don't understand how much in debt we are. and it is just ridiculous. the government is creating layers and layers of workers that are just ruining our country. thank you for letting me say that. and i sure hope the new administration is able to contain some of it. at least get rid of the waste. i mean, we are not going to make it as a country. thank you. host: clearfield, pennsylvania.

rick, independent. good morning. caller: yeah, i would like to [indiscernible] in pennsylvania. let's do it. host: that is rick. this is kelly, also in pennsylvania. democrat. good morning. caller: hi. yeah, i'm so glad i could actually follow those last calls here. just remind folks that it was trump himself that added 25% of that total debt. since he began -- since we have begun trump himself added 25% of the debt because he decided to do tax cuts. $2 trillion tax cuts to the billionaires, and the rest of us got basically nothing, and it was not paid for. and now basically with elon musk

he is backing the truck up to the united states department of treasury to steal from every american so that they can fund a $4 trillion tax cut to the wealthy. again. please room member that, and also this is not red versus blue. this is a class war between the very, very poor and middle-class folks, against the billionaires. and we just ushered in a billion air who used another billionaire to fund his entire campaign, $270 million, and they are literally stealing from us. wake up, america. this is not red versus blue. we need to stop this. thank you. host: that is kelly in pennsylvania. it is just after 8:30 this morning. i want you to keep calling in. he will get back to your phone calls, but we want to go up to capitol hill now. it is congressman russ fulcher of idaho, a republican, energy

and commerce and natural resources committee joining us from the rotunda. guest: good morning. thanks for having host: me on today. i wanted to lead with the latest when it comes to the budget reconciliation process. the lead story in punch full news today, house republicans racing to show budget progress amid senate pressure. can you bring us up to speed? guest: what is going on is, people are trying to figure out ways to change the trajectory for spending over the long-term. that is a problem we have had for a long time, as you know. we are $36 trillion in debt. and that is difficult to do. the president and doge group are doing their jobs. they are identifying areas that need to be reduced or eliminated, but congress now has to act. just long-term, to put these policies in place and situations where permanently-speaking we change the trajectory of this spending in washington, d.c.

that is where most of the debate is. how do we do that, still maintain the priorities that are important for us to maintain, yet cut the spending stuff so we can have a chance to have a balanced budget someday in the future. host: if you were advising elon musk where would you want doge to look next? guest: probably irs-related stuff. there is a lot of things there. there is also the medicaid area, where there needs to be some changes. we know that there is a lot of fraud going on in that area. we know there are excess dollars being spent that should not be. he is already going after the usaid stuff and the foreign policy and dollars leaving the country. now let's go after the fraud within the country. i think he's going to find a lot of stuff there. host: you mentioned the irs. what is the keep act? guest: keep each and every penny.

the idea behind that is to eliminate federal income tax on overtime pay. that was a bill we released last year. didn't get a lot of traction, but now with president trump, he has caught onto that. what we want to do is encourage work. we want people to be able to keep more of what they earn. especially in this post-covid world there is a real problem with that. the idea is if you keep more of what you earn your going to invest that money and you were going to do it more efficiently than some government program. that is what the idea is. it is similar to the no tax on tips president has come out, but now he has -- he is supporting both of those. hope to put those in the reconciliation package and reward work and people willing to take that initiative. host: when you say it is similar to the no tax on tips, what is the major difference? guest: it is difficult to put a number, like, a cost or benefit

on those things, but what we do know is that when people are able to drive where their money goes it is more efficiently-spent and invested. the no tax on tips is something the president came out with, and, you know, that frankly the idea on the no tax on overtime pay for federal income tax, that came through our office. the president has embraced both, so we feel good about that. host: since you are joining us on a friday at 8:30 a.m. eastern, the first friday of the month, let me ask you about the unemployment situation in this country. the bls report coming out minutes ago. payrolls rose one how to 43,000 in the month, the unemployment rate edged down to 4%. guest: i want to make clear that our keep act, the no tax on overtime pay, does not impact the payroll tax.

so your social security, your medicare, all of that is untouched. the other point i would make on that is, what is going on with our foreign adversaries and what is going on with the jobs being pulled into china and whatnot? and automatically that transitions the conversation to some of the tariffs. we have had an issue losing jobs to other countries and we are not necessarily on a level playing field with those other countries. i think that tells you why the president has taken some of the policies and approach on the terrace he has. everything is related in this issue. you see that report, out on jobs it is tied to our foreign competition and how we handle the policy internally. host: i know we only have a couple of minutes with you. i wanted to ask about the gem state. it suffered one of its worst wildfire season's last year and i know you had a meeting with federal and state officials to

talk about wildfire management. did you talk about lessons that could be applied to 2020 five and the wildfire season that is expected? guest: thanks for bringing that up because it doesn't get a lot of air time in the east all the time and that is a huge issue. we have burned up a million acres in the last year. it is mostly on federal land. we have a tremendous amount of federal land and the reason is it is simply not managed. you heard about the southern california fires. that happened because they did not have their water management in idaho it happened because we did not manage the fuel load. the logging and the clearing of the brush and whatnot. lightning strikes hit these vast, open areas, and it turns into fire. we tried to do is get the four -- forest service, local loggers, stakeholders to the table to try to address that, figure out how to work together. because no one entity has the resources to stop this.

we can do it, but it takes management and we are not doing that collectively. that is the whole purpose of my meeting with those stakeholders. host: on the cleaning and management you need from the forest service, concerns that efforts to downside the federal government, could that impact the number of people out there doing those things that you note are necessary to keep these wildfires from spreading? guest: very good point, and that is all the more importance of why we need to pull the local stakeholders in. they don't have the resources now, and likely with the spending trajectory going down they are going to have less. so, that means they have to rely on the state, they have to rely on the locals, they have to rely on people that are living on the ground. frankly, that is what we want. we on the local level want more control over that land, and this is one of those things where they be not the circumstances

you want to drive that decision, but that is what is happening and it needs to transition to more local control. host: what also you working today on capital -- working on today on capitol hill? guest: we have issues coming up in energy and commerce. name, image, and like this, that is a huge deal. college sports. have to do something in that arena. now it is a free-for-all with money going to student athletes and all kinds of agencies and potentially bad interests getting involved in that. that is kind of on the short-term radar. different topic entirely but important one. we want to save college sports. don't typically like the federal government to get involved, but now we need to because there is a lot of bad stuff going on. host: let's have you want on the road to talk about that issue and others you are working on on capitol hill. a member of the energy and commerce and natural resource committees.

thank you, sir. guest: thank you. host: about 20 minutes left on the "washington journal." it is open form until the house comes in at 9:00 a.m. eastern, and we will take you there for coverage. thomas has been waiting in california, an independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i know this is open form, so i have a question to the listeners of your show. because i know you don't basically answer a lot of questions. but why is it that a temporary worker that we vote for goes in with a modicum amount of money in their bank accounts, but then as they grow in power they become wealthy? a house representative makes how much? how are they millionaires when they leave office and me, a

working man, i can't acquire that much money on my job? so, if special interests are not putting money into their pockets, i know i as the taxpayer, i'm not. i'm not making them wealthy. so, to the listeners out there, when you vote for someone, you should ask the news to find out how much your congressman is worth when he goes into office, and how much is he worth when he leaves? host: thomas, a member of congress generally makes one how to $74,000 a year -- $174,000 a year as a remember of congress. do you think $174,000 a year is a fair salary for a member of congress? caller: yeah, that's not the point. they pay rent, provide themselves meals and toilet

paper and accessories. how do they achieve millionaire status on that salary? that is the question that taxpayers and voters should be answering. and then you find out why graft and greed is such a big part of the power structure of this country. because we elect people who, they don't tend to figure out what our needs are. they figure out what the corporations and the powerbrokers want and then they feed us crumbs while they gain wealth along with their crony buddies. host: that is thomas in california. this is patricia in tennessee. democrat. morning. caller: no, i don't think they should make that much because they don't work that much.

and the other thing, i think the lady from pennsylvania, and another thing, rick scott stole millions of dollars from medicaid. why don't they look that up? i don't understand it. host: that is patricia. this is frank in pennsylvania, independent. morning. caller: thank you. i just want to say that the congress is getting permission to do insider trading. that is why they have become so wealthy. they didn't want to address one of the callers who spoke of the guy that they contacted and said they contacted and said there were conspiracy theorists. conspiracy theorist has been a term to be little people who make sure that their point of view does not become well-known. everybody knows that they are spraying stuff in the sky, and if you ever -- host: frank, are you talking kim

trails -- chem trails. caller: if that is the term you want to use. you can also use solar management, which i believe it was john klapper who came out and said, you know, that they could block the sunlight. host: ok. this is a hannah in the volunteer state. johnson city. democrat. morning. caller: thank you so much for keeping the headspace you do to keep this an open forum space pretty level. in regards to representative russ fulcher, he is parroting what elon musk has been posting on twitter, so let's be real here. he already had inspector generals looking into fraud and waste, but now they are gone. that is a big issue. we do know that there is waste. we know the pentagon has failed every audit it has ever done. we are well aware of that.

however, this no tax on tips is a garbage idea. executives who get bonuses every euro going to take advantage every year and pay less in taxes as the republicans allowed to the richest and most do time and time again. there is a blatant lie coming from the new administration in regard to elon musk's power grab. doge is not about fixing america's debt problem, it is about becoming more efficient for the administration to blur the line between the two branches of government, with trump need to make changes without going through congress. so many things are just wildly illegal and the administration is trying to flood the zone with these garbage executive orders and right now what the democrats need to do is assist the public with taking this to court with the changes that are happening right now. again, thank you for the levelheaded. also for what frank said. i appreciate what you said about

insider trading. in regards to chem trails, that is a lie. you can compare that to flat earth are nonsense. host: this is rick. we just had idaho congressman russ fulcher on. did you listen in? caller: top of the morning to you, john. this is a remark for russ fulcher and the subject [indiscernible] i used to pick up his milk. 10,000 gallons every 24 hours. 27 degree milk. this is a subject about 10 capacity size. gas stations have three 20,000 gallon tanks in the ground. 87 octane is in demand. if you look at plus we have anywhere between 150 a day, and your premium you are only averaging between 50 and 100 gallons a day. president trump says he needs 12 months to cut carbon fuel?

have them do an inventory nationwide. all we have to do is cut plus out of the program because we don't need it and president trump would cut the cost of fuel in 48 hours. host: i'm trying to keep up with you there, rick. why don't we need it? caller: we don't need it, because you have three grades of octane. we are at a higher altitude, you go down to texas they are at 87 for premium and 83 for regular unleaded. if you understand the air mass density of an engine basically we are at a higher altitude, which is why we have a higher octane. in texas it is at a lower sea level. they are 81 feet above sea level, that is why there octane is lower. if you look at supply and demand you can see the nationwide inventory. you ask what we need and don't need. you would have to go all the way back to the clean air act. you cannot rebuild a 350 small

black. it would be hard for you to understand. if we do an inventory, what we need, what we don't need, we can cut the cost of fuel. host: in my opening up a bag of worms if i ask you your feelings about ethanol in fuel? caller: i used to make ethanol. it is 10% ethanol to make unleaded. you would have 80% sub-grade diesel to make plus unleaded. he would have to go 10% ethanol. to make regular gasoline with ethanol it is basically regular gasoline, 80% gasoline, 10% ethanol. ethanol is corn, it is a combination mixture of the two. that is how ethanol really is. it is a mid-grade, sub-grade diesel and regular gasoline with

10% ethanol on top of it. that is how you make it. go ahead. host: how long did you haul fuel for? caller: for two years, flying j. i did it in the marine corps, and then i got into hauling because of supply and demand. you have to get a cash flow going. host: what do you do today, right? caller: sugar beets. it is a 14 and 17 hour day, it gets old fast and now we are doing 12 hours a day doing sugar beets. host: rick, thanks for telling us about it. mitch is in baltimore, maryland. independent. good morning. caller: good morning, john. thank you for taking my call. -watching the show for many years. this is my first time calling in. i wanted to throw my support behind the president, what he is doing and the initiatives he has.

i think elon musk is a smart and if he is doing all the right things. he was not, he was appointed. i think that is pretty clear. and i think the president and his team came in with their guns loaded. they knew exactly what they were going to do. i think they are prepared to be challenged at every turn. i think they're going to test the supreme court. i think it is healthy for the united states as we grow and turn into a new millennium. i think this is all good stuff. i think trump gets this country and he's going to get it right. host: that is mitch in baltimore. to the empire state, this is dennis in hamburg. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. you know, i think it is pretty sad that a good group like usaid, the democrats can find a way to corrupt it, having money

to politico. i mean, things outside the box. there is an oversight committee that should be looking into this. the deficit is so high we cannot sustain it. can you imagine what democrats would have done to the deficit in this country? woke and dei? we just got the ball rolling with elon musk and this is only one branch of the government. how much more we going to find? the democrats cannot defend it because we are being exposed. instead of what is best for america let's stick to their guns and try to deceive us. the american people are sick of it. i hope that trump is a pretty transparent president and he lets the american people know what has been going on the last four years and where our money has been going and i hope come the midterms everybody will see exactly what the democrats did to this country. thank you.

host: before you go can i ask you, just because we read that statement from politico, you talked about giving money to politico. politico makes the point that some government agencies bought news subscriptions. this was then purchasing a subscription to read about what politico was writing. do you think purchasing news subscriptions is not something government agencies should do? caller: politico is not a conservative network. they are a liberal network that is a waste of money. host: do you think there is any new jays and she's -- news agencies the government should buy subscriptions to to stay on top of what they are writing or what those news agencies are saying? caller: i think a conservative network, but i'm not afraid to have democrats express themselves and their viewpoints. newsmax is pretty good. one american news is good. fox is kind of, they have

democrats on, but they express their point of view. host: this is gary in westville, illinois. democrat. good morning. caller: yes, i really don't understand how these people can keep saying, like the man before, when they have so many new billionaires buying the media up. they own newsmax. anything you say wrong on the left, the radical left now, because we are radicals. jesus was a socialist. he believed in helping your fellow man. i said, how can trump get away with paying $600 a year in income tax. i never made more than $13 an hour in my life. my last job was a janitor under our union, and you know how much i pay in taxes? these people will think, that is hamburger wages and all of this stuff.

if you make $30,000 a year you are paying about $150 a week out of your check. i am a family man and these corporate welfare, you don't think it is giving people drilling oil and stuff money to look for oil to charge us money? the left is elitist. how can we be elitist when that guy never worked today in his life. he filed for bankruptcy seven times. me, you, and the regular people, every seven years you can file bankruptcy at the most. 49 years out of his work, after college or whatever, and he is ready to cut that he is a good man. how do you figure that? i will let that go right there. host: that is gary in illinois. the house getting ready to go in a couple of minutes. linda, ohio, independent. good morning. caller: hello. thank you for having the on the air.

what i think that needs to be done is get rid of the pac, where they can hide what they gift. let it be known who is giving what to whom. and i also think that there should be a limit on how much each person running for office can spend. and no more. they set a limit, they have to run on a budget like everybody else does, and use that money appropriately, from the least-elected office, to the highest in the land. and then we will truly know who can budget money and use things the best way they can. thanks for having me. host: that is linda. this is anthony, rochester, new york. democrat. good morning. caller: a lot of colorful discussion this morning. what i wanted to talk about is what is going on here with their approach.

the republicans right now in the whole doge, i think it is a problem for me because it is all ideological-based. trump said he had no knowledge of project 2025. he is not affiliated with it. everyone he is bringing in, that one guy in one of the department that is going through the committee hearings is the author of the 2025 plan. he's going to be the head of the budget and omb? host: host: russell vought, who was confirmed last night? caller: that is exactly right. he is the author of 2025, ok? my concern is, i have no problem, i don't know what the department of education does. i know it is a national education organization and people have a lot of opinions, but what about the facts? that department is an example. it has existed through multiple presidencies. maybe there should be some trimming, but i think what is happening here, the education department is a good example. they want to bring it down to the state level so somewhere

like arkansas and flavor with odd -- with on-the-job training. they want that timing, which is good, but there is a lot of things, you know, there. the concern is, usaid, was a guy, usaid, he said our agency buys $2 billion worth of farm products from american farmers. that is gone. and he was talking about the value of that and quite honestly we are concerned about immigration. one way to stymie emigration is have successful countries where people feel safe, where they don't have to walk 3000 miles to the united states. host: anthony, your usaid and farmers, just to point out if you want to read the story from the washington post today, usaid turmoil puts u.s. farmers in turmoil. usaid sends billions of dollars to agricultural producers. caller: there was someone on the news, the vice president, it

just seems really reckless. i just get angered that we have one individual -- i don't care that it is musk. i think highly of the guy. he has accomplished a lot. but how do we have one individual going in with a team of people who have committed their lives to the federal government, their education, knowledgeable people? what they used to do in corporate america 20 years ago when they had to make a major cut, we have to cut expenses. our balance sheet is horrendous, right? what they would do is every department eliminates 25%. you know, you have three months to give us a report of how you were going to create efficiencies. you are the experts for your departments. a be the department gets eliminated. but it is a faster process. the reality is we are talking about this, we are going to know the repercussions of this. it may take us a couple of years. they are laying off the cia. that is a good idea. host: i have to let you go

be