this morning, vice president jd vance will be at the annual munich security conference. he will discuss the ongoing war between ukraine and russia and a push for negotiations between the two nations. live at 8:30 a.m. eastern on c-span2 eastern on c-span . . . >> where are you going? maybe a better question is, how far do you want to go? and how fast do you want to get there? now we're getting somewhere. so let's go. let's go faster. let's go further. let's go beyond.

>> midco supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> coming up on "washington journal," we will take your calls and comments live. then, professor david super of georgetown law school discusses the legality of the efforts by president trump and elon musk through the department of government efficiency. and longtime economic adviser to president trump and visiting fellow at the heritage foundation, stephen moore, talks about the president xi, -- the president's economic agenda. "washington journal" starts now. ♪ host: good morning, and welcome to the "washington journal" on this friday, february 14.

we begin with the debate over education policy in this country. yesterday on capitol hill, president trump's pick for education secretary linda mcmahon set before senators for her confirmation hearing. senate democrats peppered her with questions about the future of our education department. this morning, we want all of you to join the debate. what changes should be made to education in the united states? republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. parents and educators, your line this morning is (202) 748-8003. everybody can text at that same line at (202) 748-8003. , include your first name, city, and state. and you can join us on facebook.com/c-span or on x with

handle @cspanwj. first, we want to give you an update on president trump's cabinet and momentum on capitol hill. yesterday, rfk junior was approved by the senate, 52-48, largely along party lines. mitch mcconnell joining democrats in opposition to mr. kennedy. he was then sworn in at the white house later by supreme court justice neil gorsuch, with president trump overlooking. in the senate, brooke collins confirmed on thursday to lead the agriculture department by a vote of 72-28, including 19 democrats in support. cash patel, president trump's pick to be the director of the fbi, the senate judiciary committee voted 12-10, along party lines, to proceed with the

confirmation for kash patel, nominee for the fbi director. linda mcmahon, as we said, on capitol hill yesterday for her confirmation hearing. listen to president trump just one day before she was in the hot seat testifying before senators when he was asked about the department of education. [video clip] pres. trump: i would like it to be closed immediately. it is a big con job. we are ranked number 40 in the top 40 countries in the world, but we are number one in one department, costs for people. we spend more per pupil than every other country in the world, but we are ranked number 40. host: that was wednesday. yesterday, thursday, here is what the education nominee linda mcmahon had to say when asked

about president trump's plans to dismantle the agency. [video clip] >> president trump is reportedly drafting an executive order requiring the secretary of education to develop a plan for downsizing the department of education and working with congress to eliminate entirely. yes or no, do you agree that since the department was created by congress, it would need an act of congress to actually close the department of education? >> certainly, president trump understands we will be working with congress. we would like to do this right. we would like to make sure we are presenting a plan that i think our senators could get on board with and that congress can get on board with that would have a better functioning department of education. it certainly does require congressional action. >> in terms of the plans to downsize, what would be the components of that plan that would not require congressional approval? >> i do believe, senator, that

there are parts of education established why statute, and those departments, we would have to pay particular attention to. but long before there was a department of education, we fulfilled the programs of our educational system. are there other agencies are parts of the department of education that could better serve our students and parents on a local level? i am really all for the president's mission, which is to turn education to the states here that i believe, as he does, that the best education is closest to the child. >> with the states and localities still receive the federal funding which they currently do? >> yes. it is not the president's goal to defund the programs, it is only to have it operate more efficiently. host: education sec. nominee linda mcmahon when she was asked about president trump's plans for the education department.

this morning, we are asking all of you to tell us how you think education should change in this country. we will get to that in a minute. also some headlines related to the efforts by elon musk's doge committee. here are several --federal employee layoffs begin at education department as doge tries to shrink the government. to the washington post, doge rips through the education dertment, cutting contracts, staff, and grants. this from the associated press, doge cuts 90 -- 900 million dollars from agency that tracks american students' academic promise -- progress usa today, education department will shield federal student aid data from musk's doge for now. to the conversation with all of you. john in jacksonville, florida, democratic caller. good morning. what changes would you make to education in this country?

caller: good morning. first of all, i want to say, on a national level, i think civics should be taught at every level in schools, primarily because i remember when started taking civics out of school and the next generation did not know how the government was supposed to work. that is why we are in the mess we're in now, because people do not understand the president is not king. there are supposed to be checks and balances. there are certain things the president cannot do. but people do not know that. secondly, funding, in the state of florida and other states that participate in the lottery, that money is supposed to go to schools. i do not see it. in florida, jacksonville, in particular, there are some of the worst schools i have ever seen in my life. my kids did not go to them because they were so substandard.

unfortunately, there are good teachers in the system but they have to buy materials for the kids themselves. host: when you had the education sec. and republicans talk about sending education down to the state level and not having federal government agency, what is your reaction to that idea? caller: bad idea. we have a racist governor who is trying to take african-american studies out of schools. african-american studies are part of american history. this guy is outrageous, and that is the problem. if you let the states handle it, there will not be any continuity on how people should be educated in this country. that is what i have to say. host: all right, democratic

color. myra in chestertown, maryland. good morning. how would you change education? caller: good morning to you. my concern is the last four years, there isn't any homework. i think children are so behind in chestertown, maryland -- goodness, they do not have anything to -- how do i say this -- to keep themselves occupied, like we did when i was a child. i just think education, they need to put more homework, bring it back to where we used to have it. that is what i am concerned about. i think they would learn more. 2 ok. -- host: ok. myra calling for more homework in schools. gwen in detroit, democratic

caller. caller: thanks for taking my call pure what changes should be made to education in the united states? that is just not normal. we are acting like, ok, what should we do today, what should we do tomorrow? education department is being taken over. let me say it -- don't hang up -- you just hung up on me? host: no, i am nowhere near the button. go ahead. caller: ok. one thing we do not need is for christian religion, christian nationalism, to be put in our schools, a trump bible on every desk. we do not need to be converted do you know what i am saying? so this is not normal. we should not be asking what should we do, we should be asking, how can we stop this takeover? host: and when you say takeover, are you referring to a takeover of the education department? caller: yes.

they have kicked everybody out, locked the doors. not just the education, our government. what can we do to stop this takeover? because that is what is happening. host: all right. lydia, easton, maryland, independent. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i think we have to consider, when they talk about the united states is top spending in the education, the other countries do not have all the extracurricular activities, the sports, music, all the travel that kids do after school at our expense, so we are not comparing apples and apples, we are comparing apples and oranges. if you want to cut the costs, then cut all those extracurricular programs. thank you very much for taking my call. host: anna in california, democratic caller.

we're getting your thoughts this morning on changes to the education system in this country. caller: good morning. i cannot believe that all our children, and i mean all our children, with this change, with this new administration, what they are trying to do is erase history, erase difference, erase everything that means that you are a human being. and reducing that to saving money. i cannot believe the heartless. host: give me an example of what you are referring to. caller: trans people, trans children, even scientifically we know there is not just a man and a woman. we have evolved.

can we be human? can we please the human and stop talking about taking things away from children? host: you may be interested in this moment from the confirmation hearing for linda mcmahon to serve as education secretary. here is senator chris murphy of connecticut questioning the nominee about president trump's executive order eliminating funding for programs that support d.e.i., diversity equity and inclusion, what that means for public schools. [video clip] >> if a school in connecticut celebrates martin luther king day and has a series of events and programming teaching about black history, are they in violation of a policy that says schools should stop running d.e.i. programs? >> not in my view, that is clearly not the case. the celebration of martin luther

king day and black history month should be celebrated throughout all of our schools. i believe that martin luther king was one of the strongest components of making sure that we look at all of our populations. he said he would hope his children would not be judged by the color of their skin or content of their character, and i think that is the fundamental basis we should celebrate black history month with. >> west point has closed down all ethnic clubs, so the society of black engineers cannot meet because they believed to be in compliance with this order, they cannot have troops structured around ethnic or racial affiliations. will public schools be in violation of this order? will they risk funding if they have clubs that students can belong to based on racial or ethnic identity? >> i certainly do not want to address hypothetical situations at once confirmed, i would like to get in and assess these

programs and look at what has been -- >> isn't that a pretty easy one? you are saying it is a possibility that if a school has a club for vietnamese-american students or black students where they meet after school, that they could be potentially in jeopardy of losing federal funding? >> again, i would like to fully understand what it is and what those clubs are doing. >> that is pretty chilling. i think schools all around the country are going to hear that. what about educational programming centered around racial experiences? my son is in public school and takes a class called african-american history. if you are running the african-american history class, could you perhaps be in violation of this executive order? >> i am not quite certain and would like to look into it further and get back to you. >> there is a possibility, you

are saying, that public schools that run african-american history classes, a class that has been taught in public schools for decades, could lose federal funding if they continue to teach african-american history? >> no, that is not what i am saying, i am saying i would like to take a look at the programs to fully understand the breadth of the executive order and get back to you on that. host: linda mcmahon sitting before senators yesterday in a confirmation hearing, getting peppered with questions about how she would steer the education department in a second term of the trump administration . the education department this morning is our topic for conversation. what changes would you make? here are the numbers for the federal department, it began operating in 1980 and employs 4400 people and has a budget of $238 billion for 2024, 1.8% of

the overall federal budget. 1.8% of it is this money for the education department. jerry in minnesota, a republican. you are next. caller: thanks for taking my call. i believe dismantling the federal department of education, like you say, it began in 1980, before 1980 we never had a department of education on the federal level. every state has department of education. they have elected people who run the school districts, and that is good enough. we did a very good job with that for about 200 years, and we should dismantle the u.s. department of education. host: all right. ruby in richmond, virginia, what do you say? caller: yes, people probably do not know the history of this, but in 1954 they closed the

schools if they did not obey the law of the land, and i went there in 1965 as a volunteer student. and some people who lived there told me the white kids gave the books to the black kids and they were all pregnant and torn up. so we need the government to overlook things. i am from michigan. host: npr.org has an article that outlines what the u.s. education department does and doesn't do two of the most important federal funding streams to public schools are title one, which provides money to help districts that serve lower income communities. in 2023, the education department received more than

$18 billion for title i. the i.d.e.a., individuals with disability education act, providing money to help districts serve students with disabilities, in fiscal year 2024, the department received more than $15 billion for this funding stream. both of these, like the department itself, created by separate acts of congress, title i signed into law in 1965 and this disabilities act signed in 1975, they cannot be unwound except by congress. large changes to either are unlikely because it has broad, bipartisan support. kerry in georgia. caller: i am retired navy of 20 years and also taught high school rotc for 20 years.

throwing money at things, it probably helps in a certain way, but i think the biggest problem is the lack of parental involvement. if we could find ways to make parents more responsible for their child's education, i think that would be a big help. host: how do you do that? how do you force parents to be more involved? caller: i taught at a private catholic school my first nine years of teaching. if a kid did not obey the rules and got saturday school, the parents would have to pay for them to go to saturday school because the school had to pay the teacher. financially, it is an impact to the family financially, that might wake up some of these parents. but i tell you, these parents do not get involved with the kids. the only area i seen them get involved with their kids is sports.

when it comes to academics, you don't see it. i have a friend teaching, and he said he had four parents come to open house this year. that is my thoughts about it. host:kerry there in georgia. let's go to arkansas, carol, good morning to you, republican. caller: good morning. how are y'all today? i hope good. ok, i have several things, but i hope i can not be so nervous, i'm sorry. host: don't worry, take your time. caller: ok. i want to answer one thing that you took a call from a lady from nevada, and she said she wanted the bibles, trumps bibles taken out of the schools. there is no bibles with trump on them, so sorry. ok. there is three things that have bothered me. when covid hit, i had two

grandchildren, one of them is my oldest and she was in high school, and then i had the youngest grandson, and they both went to school for a little while. i think the first semester, and then the second one, they said they had to do -- i guess work off a computer or something at home. and they -- the teachers were not paying attention to them and checking their homework every week and all this stuff. well, to make sure the kids past school and all this, they did check their homework, the kids were having trouble with their homework and needed to ask questions. the teachers would ignore them. host: what does that mean for today and changes you would make today to the education system?

caller: ok, for me, what i would like to see done, these teachers are -- you give them an inch, and they are going to take a mile. host: are you referring to the unions that represent them? caller: yes, because i get out here and they started yelling that they want more money, they want this, they want that, then they turn around and you give them all that stuff and then they don't want to help our kids. they don't want to teach them. host: all right. joan in florida, independent. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i have a different perspective. i think there is a social contract between the federal government and individual organizations. i remember segregation,

desegregation. i was young when it impacted me. it really meant a lot to me because i lived in a society i felt treated people differently, socioeconomically, those from different backgrounds. i think it is a break of a contract, and i respectfully disagree with changing the federal government. i do not know the long-term impact or the specific cuts going on, but i know that when you leave communities to their own choices, sometimes those choices are not in the best interest of the community. on desegregation, i remember congress had determined segregation between people of color and people that were not was legalized, and it took until the 1950's to reverse that decision. i remember seeing horrible

things on television, remember seeing walter cronkite, remember all of it, and i was just a baby. host: your concern is you do away with the federal education department, that states could reverse course and go back to that part of our society, part of our history, to segregation? caller: yes, ma'am, i do. i grew up in a privileged life and always felt some remorse for those who did not. i could see differences and could see dennis great -- discrimination occurring, even if it was not in my own backyard. at a global scale, it occurs, we had racism in this country. i think it gives power to those that will perhaps misuse their power because of their perspective. and i think when you look at things from the top-down, i would prefer we maintain any ability to not go back in that direction. host: got it.

from that npr article from earlier, the department of education has no power over what is taught in schools. over the years, president trump has vowed to rid america's schools of such ideas as wokeness and critical race theory, and he has said he would close the education department in order to return all education and education work and needs back to the states. in reality, it is already up to the states to determine what is taught in classrooms. nate is an educator -- nick is an educator in michigan. what grade do you teach? caller: i am a university professor, my mother was a schoolteacher. i have been a professional for 43 years. i teach at a public -- at one of the top public universities in the country, sometimes number one. and you would not believe the

poor quality of the students that we get. they do not learn anything in high school. we have to spend the first two years to teach them the things i should have learned in high school. host: what examples? caller: mathematics, physics, everything, even english. host: give us a little bit more. mathematics -- where are they falling behind? what do they need to know that they do not know? caller: not much time and i have a lot of points to make. host: [laughs] caller: we do not have enough money in the education. we spend the highest amount in the world and get the poorest results. it is a mentality. education is hard. people should try much harder in high schools, the teachers and the students. parents should take this very seriously. the children have to speak

english, they have to know mathematics. in mathematics, it matters how much money you make. the more mathematics you know, the more dollars you will make. i teach in china -- i really have a lot of experiences. host: still listening. caller: i asked the chinese students and professors, why are they so good in math? it is because they do 20 hours a week in math. in the u.s., they play football and have cheerleaders. they should hit the books real hard. it is not a matter of funding. it makes no difference. they waste billions, and people are worse here today because education department. so i would not care less if the department is closed down or if it continues to do nothing. host: all right. jeremy in ontario, california,

republican. caller: thanks for taking my call. i kind of agree with the guy that just called in. changes to improve the education system, i think i would just look at the curriculum, change the curriculum, make it more relevant, more engaging. with some of the jobs available to people as a result of being educated, attention needs to be paid by the student, and there is definitely not enough engagement by the parents. i guess the answer to the question would be that i would change the curriculum and be more engaging. host: how old are you? caller: i am turning 40 this year. [laughs] host: democratic caller, jenny in ohio. what changes would you make? caller: first of all, i think it

starts from home also, ok. when my kids were young, they had homework to do and i would always ask them, hey, you know how kids will be, they will tell you yes, and i will say go get it so i can look at it. something might be wrong with it and i would tell them, hey, you need to look at it again. ok. so i do not think it is all the teachers' obligation to see if the child should do their homework. another thing, now they are teaching kids to write in school, not cursive. so they don't do that. so i thought, well, how you going to write a check or anything like that? and history is very important, very important.

and i think that when kids act up in school the way some of them do now, i think it should be, the fighting and everything, i think they should be put out of school for a couple of days or something. you know. but they do not learn and listen at school, they use calculators. they don't learn how to add, you know, manually, so they are using calculators, even in probably the second or third grade on up. so i don't think that helps at all. host: javen in maryland, independent. caller: hey, how you doing? i kind of agree with -- i guess it was about two calls away, the curriculum, it is too much wokeness in the school system.

too many politics, talking about lgbt and transgender the history that you are teaching and the kids are learning is not accurate. i do think they should do away with the whole black history because, what is a black person? you cannot even define it now. these people are a part of history, they are not a subdivision of history. if you think about history, these terms like black and african-american, which the government has never on any birth certificate or legal document called people african-american, it is dead in the color of law, so it is not even relevant. it is a misnomer.

so i think we can do away with it and keep the true history. i think everybody will be fine. host: his opinion this morning from maryland. matt in churchill, tennessee, republican. caller: well, american people, parents and then parents, you better get your -- parents and grandparents, you better get your head in the game. our kids have been indoctrinated by the school system. education ain't like it used to be. teachers need to teach english, reading, writing, arithmetic. this woke stuff is because of these teachers. they need to go through and get the best teachers they can and teach what should be taught instead of this woke stuff.

you seen what happened in 2017, or 2019 when covid hit, and you seen what happened. you seen what was going on in the classroom, what they was teaching our kids. host: we will continue in our first ever discussing education policy in this country and getting your thoughts on how you would change it. also want to give you an update on international news. he was a headline from the new york times happening overnight, strike damages the chernobyl site as leaders meet to discuss ukraine war. the u.n. said radiation levels were normal after an explosion at the former nuclear plant in ukraine. the war with russia was expected to dominate a security conference that is happening in munich. here is the video without last night on x by the ukrainian

president. he put a statement out last night saying russian attacked drone with morehead, struck the shelter, protecting the world from radiation at the destroyed fourth power unit of the chernobyl nuclear power plant. it was built by other countries together with america, all those committed to real security for humanity. the only country in the world that attacks such sites, occupies nuclear power plants, and wages were without regard for consequences is today's russia. this is a terrorist threat to the entire world. every night russia carries out such attacks at ukraine's infrastructure and cities, and russia continues to expand its army and shows no change in its deranged anti-human rhetoric. this means putin is definitely not preparing for negotiations, he is preparing to continue deceiving the world. that is why there must be unified pressure for all -- from all who value life. rush her -- russia must be held

accountable for its actions. that is the statement from ukrainian president zelenskyy as he prepares to meet with allies at the security conference in munich. the explosion came hours before the start of the security conference. he will meet with top trump --zelenskyy will meet with top trump administration officials about negotiating an end to the war with russia. vice president jd vance is scheduled to speak at the conference at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. you can follow our coverage on c-span2 and c-span.org, of jd vance's remarks. this morning, defense secretary pete hegseth, visiting poland, said president trump would personally lead the negotiations to end the fighting in ukraine, this after he pulled back some comments he made about ukraine earlier this week where he said nato membership for kyiv was off the table. here is what he had to say earlier today. [video clip] >> the president has said

multiple times in site framework for discussions of this, and i want to lay out that these are not comments or statements i make in a vacuum or make without direct consultation with our team. president trump's national security team, from michael waltz to the vice president to secretary of state marco rubio, we are all on the same page. and our job is to ensure our commander-in-chief, the president, has a full spectrum of options to bring this conflict, bring the killing to an end. and my message to the ukraine contact was i do not believe as a part of those negotiations that u.s. troops will be on the ground. you can say that, and i believe that to be true, i do not believe that is what president trump has said, that is what he has emphasized, for europeans resolve this alongside ukraine and russia and that u.s. boots

will not be on the ground. again, negotiations happen, the president has latitude, and what happens at those negotiations is his prerogative because he is the american people's representative on the world stage. there is no daylight in those conversations are between myself and the vice president. we are collective advocates on behalf of the president. he reserves the right to have any option as he discusses troops and partnerships and investment opportunities and front line, those are all what president trump will negotiate with his counterparts. host: the defense secretary pete hegseth in poland earlier today talking about negotiations that president trump said he would begin between russia and ukraine . this morning, we are getting your thoughts on education policy here in our first hour of today's "washington journal." we want to know what changes you would make to education in the united states. there are the lines on your

screen. yesterday on capitol hill, linda mcmahon, the president's pick to serve as education secretary, took questions from senators on the education committee about how she would lead that department. here is what she had to say when she was asked by senator patty murray of washington about the doge efforts that elon musk's group -- efforts to hold back education funding that is appropriated by congress. [video clip] >> do you commit to hitting every dollar we have invested in our students and schools out to them? >> the appropriated dollars and those moneys passed by congress, yes, i have no issue, however, with the fact -- and i believe the american people spoke loudly in the election last november to say that they want to look at waste, fraud, and abuse in our government. doge, there are a couple

implants of the department of education, as there are with agencies throughout the district, they are doing an audit. >> i understand. but when congress appropriates money, it is the administration's responsibility to put that out as directed by congress, who has the power of the purse. so what will you do if the president or elon musk tells you not to spend money? >> we will certainly spend those dollars that congress has passed. but i do think it is worthwhile to take a look at the programs before money goes out the door. it is much easier -- >> by law, the process is that you look at that, you make recommendations to congress, and we implement those laws. the question really is, who decides how much federal funding public schools get in seattle where it has already been

allocated? the school district or elon musk or congress? i think congress has made it pretty clear that the purse lies here. we pass programs and bills and expect those to go. if you have programs who have looked at that you believe are not effective, then it is your job to come to us, explain why, and get the support for that. host: patty murray, top democrat on the appropriations committee questioning linda mcmahon, the nominee to head up the education department. brandy is in chicago heights, illinois, and independent -- randy is in chicago heights. after listening to the nominee this morning, what changes would you make to the education department? caller: good morning, greta. can you hear me? host: we can. caller: you know what, i would like to really see them bring back the trades in high schools. because when i was going to high

school, i used to have woodshop, welding courses, drafting. we had automotive shops here just bring back all these trades . because our teenagers graduating from high school now, they do not even know how to change a tire anymore. the only thing they know how to do now is press a button to turn a phone on. that is all they do. i would like to see these trades come back, because when i graduated high school, i got a job with a carpenter building homes because i knew a little bit about carpentry because i took woodshop in high school. host: all right. felicia in georgia, democratic caller. caller: hi, i would like to make a statement, someone mentioned before about black history being in them and they did. black history is american history. black people contribute to american history that we all

utilize in this country. i believe the teachers should be paid more, we need to have more teachers in our education. by trump trying to eliminate the department of education, we will not have the talented teachers to teach the students. he is saying we should be number one, competing with china, but how are we going to compete when you want to eliminate something we need? also, they want to eliminate the individuals with disabilities education act that helps us to have things for kids with special needs. the republican states will definitely be hurt if you eliminate this. we are told that the red states do have a lot of kids with special needs and use that money in the budget to help them. host: before you go on, because

i want to show our viewers with the education secretary nominee had to say on students with disabilities. senator maggie hassan of new hampshire asked linda mcmahon about this. [video clip] >> what does the individuals with disabilities education act promise? >> promises that we're going to take care of these students and they will be provided with assistance in school and that they will have the technology they need, the assistance they need. >> i.d.e.a. offers a free appropriate education for children with disabilities. what does the investment cost to states? what is it supposed to be? >> in terms of dollar amounts? i am not sure. >> in 19 75, the federal government committed to pay 40% of the average first special education. do you know what the federal government actually does? >> i think around 14% to 18%.

>> it is 18%. >> congress needs to appropriate those dollars to spend. >> the resident and republicans are proposing massive tax cuts for billionaires and are trying to pay for it by massive cuts to education and other services. just so you know, new hampshire would lose $60 million in that funding if it were eliminated. my time is almost up, i am just going to say this, the reason the department of education came about in about 1975, i.d.e.a. was passed in 1975, 1979 was the department -- i will take just a second here, but people need to understand, people like my son, before the department of education existed, state and local schools did not educate these kids. they were institutionalized and abused. there is a reason that the department of education and

i.d.e.a. exist, and it is because educating kids with disabilities can be really hard. it takes a national commitment to get it done. that is why so when you people are so concerned about this proposal to eliminate the department, because they think kids will once again be shoved aside, especially kids with disabilities. thank you, mr. chair. host: senator hassan from new hampshire questioning the nominee in-service education secretary, linda mcmahon. if you missed any of that hearing yesterday, you can find it on our website at c-span.org. what does the education department do, from the washington post, the department has 4400 employees, it is responsible for $1.6 trillion federal student loan program and a range of grants for k-12 schools. the department runs achievement tests. the nation's report card

and collects statistics on enrollment, staffing, and crime in schools. enforces civil rights laws that bar discrimination in federally funded schools on the basis of race, sex, and other factors. states and school districts set curriculums. that runs counter to trump's repeated call to send education back to the states, as it already mostly resides there. how would you change education in this country? catherine in texas, independent. caller: hey, how are you doing? before we get to business, i love your hair. you look like jennifer aniston from "friends." host: thank you. caller: i want to tell the viewers out there, very important, united states is ranked 39th in the world in terms of western countries and education, 39th. we have been in korea for 70

years. out of the top 10 places we are in with our soldiers, five of them are top students. the number one students in the world or the south koreans. if they are that smart, they should be smart enough to defend themselves. my second point is to the one guy, i think from tennessee or illinois, he said he went to shop and everything. i went to high school in colorado. i did typing and bookkeeping, before i went on to the university of colorado -- is basic skills. i had a great career in logistics. i respect everybody. i am in independent. i respect the republicans and the democrats. our big issue with education is that our children know we have forgotten them. i interview these kids, they want to listen to their music.

they cannot interact socially with business people. but the question at hand, what do we need to do? i do not have an opinion on doge getting rid of the department of education. but i do know that we need to teach our children languages, chinese, arabic, and russian. this is the future. we can stop talking about black history, lgbt. teach the children how to function, and thank god i had a good education foundation in colorado. but we are failing. host: alright. i will leave it there for now. the education secretary nominee, linda mcmahon, was up on capitol hill. that was not the only cabinet secretary for president trump's

second administration that saw some action yesterday. rfk, jr., was confirmed by the senate and hours later sworn into office at the white house. senator mitch mcconnell was the only republican to vote against his nomination. here is what the former lead to say, i am a survivor of had childhood polio, in my lifetime, i've wataccine save millions of lives from devastating diseases around t world. i will not condone the relitigation of proven cures and neit will millions of survival and quality of life to scientific miracles. individuals, parents, and families have a right to push for a healthier natioan demand the best possible scientific tits preventing and treating illness. but a record of trafficking in dangerous conspiry eories and eroding trust in public health institutions does not entitle mr. kennedy could lead these important efforts.

mitch mcconnell voted no on rfk, tulsa gabbard, and pete hegseth. yesterday, president trump was in the oval office with reporters and was asked about senator mcconnell's no vote. [video clip] pres. trump: i was the one that got him to drop out of the leadership position, so he cannot lift me. he is voting against me, but that is all right. he endorsed me. mitch endorsed me. you think that was easy? >> he said he had polio -- pres. trump: i do not know anything about he had polio. i had no idea. all i can tell you about him as he should not have been leader. he knows that. he voted against bobby. he votes against almost everything. he is a very bitter guy. we have a very strong party, and he is almost not even a very

powerful member. it has affected his vote. it is one of those things. meantime, bobby did great, got more votes than anybody, and i think he will do phenomenally in that. host: president trump on senator mitch mcconnell. here on c-span, we spent an hour looking into the legacy of senator mitch mcconnell when he stepped down as leader of the republican party, the longest serving party leader. we set down with his biographer for that conversation, went through the c-span archives showing you mitch mcconnell's career as a leader over the years. you can find that legacy program on our website at c-span.org. philip in edison, new jersey, we are talking about changes to education in this country. what would you do? caller: thank you for having me.

first of all, you said the department of education does nothing, they don't do nothing but collect money. politicians, they are not teachers, their politicians now. they teach our kids to hate trump. during covid, my son was in first grade, and it was computer school. they were teaching my son how donald trump is a threat to democracy. every day the news is so outraged that elon musk is an unelected bureaucrat. all these people that work in these places are unelected bureaucrats. this is insanity. no outrage over the things they are finding. seriously, i was a democrat all my life up until 2020. this is just bananas. men in women's sports, is that a real thing? my son, they were not even show

him how to hand write, everything on the computer, first grade. when was he going to learn how to write? when was he going to learn math? when is congress going to act? black history? black history is american history. i don't understand these stupid things. host: i will go to pat in florida, republican. we're listening to you now, pat. go ahead. caller: good morning. host: mute your television. caller: i did now. if i had a chance to change anything in the board of education, i would stop any history with color or ethnic background. i am irish, second-generation, but if i want to read about ireland and irish and the famine, i go to the library and get books and read all about it. that should be the farthest

thing for me to learn, not the world. i also think that every state in the united states should have the same curriculum, and i think teachers should be held accountable. give them some more money, make them be accountable for their careers and jobs. help them and get them to educate our americans. most of the people this morning before me said the same thing, what republicans or democrats. please think about our children. they are not educated. it is insane to think what we're teaching our kids in schools. they are coming out of school and cannot even read and write. i go out every day and see things that make me crazy in this world because they are not being educated. let's get back to educating. i have got to tell you, i think trump is trying to do this. i know he does not have the talent sometimes to speak, but i

think that is what he is doing. please, america, wake up, stop segregating ourselves, let's all be americans and get to the issue, educate our children. host: all right. bonnie is a democrat in florida. caller: i am just calling, i have worked in school districts for many years in secretarial work. since i moved to florida, i have volunteered in two or three different schools to help in the classroom. one thing i have noticed, and in talking with many teachers, the big thing they hate is testing, testing, testing. they are so busy working to get kids prepared for the testing because i guess funding is based on testing. we need to find a way to get rid of this and tend to the things that are really important. another thing i have noticed is

schools have thousands of kids in them, instead of small schools like we used to have. i know that because of large populations, we have to do different things. but in the process when a teacher has seven to eight classes a day and has different kids in every class all day long, there is no personal communication and getting to know the kids when you have that many classes. the schools i worked in that had 400 children, teachers got to know every kid in the school by the time half of the school year was over. teachers knew who they were. we need to find a way to not put so much money into the fancy things in buildings and make more smaller schools with less high-class impressive things to impress everybody. start working on classrooms where everybody can feel like somebody knows who they are. host: debra in pennsylvania, democratic caller. caller: good morning.

thank you for taking my call. what i would like to see in the school district, and based on the conversations i have been listening to, is we have to get out of that fixed mindset to think school is the same when you went to school in 1950 or 1940. the children are different. our future will be different. and it is not the same skill set. our kids need a 360 degree education. we do not need to know how to write checks because i do not exist anymore. host: to the children need to know how to write in cursive when we type emails? caller: i don't think we need to learn that. that is a waste of time and energy. our kids are not writing in cursive. they are not writing, they're doing everything on the computer, on the phone, on the tablet. teach them how to become drone

operators, how to become the future technology prop engineers for ai. think about the future, stop thinking about when you went to school because that era is gone. we also need to lean in on black history because it is american history. if our kids do not know where they came from, than they do not know where they are going. thank you. host: roger in new hampshire, independent. caller: good morning. changes i would make in the school system, i find the biggest problem is the labor unions be of the changes i would make, i would take teachers off salary and put them on a higher rate and make them accountable for their time using time clocks. host: john in arkansas, republican. caller: how are you this morning? host: doing well. caller: i am 91 years old, working on 92, retired educator, spent my life on education.

so i have some opinions. host: we're listening. you said you have some opinions about all your years teaching. caller: i retired in 1993, so it has been a long time ago. but i spent my life in education. i have watched about education and what is going on. one thing -- i am not hearing you, dear. i can see you but not hearing you. host: go ahead, we can hear you. finish your thoughts. i want to talk about race and the problems. when i went to hendrix in the 50's, we didn't have any blocks -- blacks. and now i see history is what it was and it wasn't too good in

america about bullocks -- blacks when i look at history at arkansas tech, they have football but they have 96% to 95% blacks on the football team now. history was what it was and is what it is. i just wanted to hit that one point. host: we are going to take a break. and when we come back, we will talk with david super, constitutional law professor at the georgetown law center talking about the legality of the doge efforts and checking executive power. and later, steve more on the committee to -- and his committee talking about the president trump agenda.

we will be right back. >> watch the first 100 days, exploring the early months of the presidential administrations with historians, authors and the c-span archives, looking at accomplishments and setbacks and examine how impacts impacted presidential terms and the nation up to the present day. this saturday, the first 100 days of ulysses grant, a famous civil war general who won the white house in 1868. his campaign slogan was let us have peace. and then the payment of civil war debt, voting rights and the fight against the kkk. watch american history tv series first 100 days saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span two.

book tv every sunday features leading authors and their latest nonfiction books. here is a look at what is coming up. at 12:20 p.m., the author of from these root traces her family bloodline to an enslaved man who is in when the first photos of enslaved people from africa and speaks about her lawsuit against harvard lawsuit to reclaim him. in an under presidents' day weekend, looking back at presidents as authors. you will hear from jimmy carter, george w. bush, bill clinton, george w. bush and barack obama. at 8:00 p.m., the microsoft ceo bill gates discusses his life and career and early influence in his memoir. and on afterwards, the former president of anheuser-busch sales and distribution compa offers his insight to the bud light controversy, declining

sales and future in his book, a last call for bud light, interviewed by the competitive enterprise institute senior fellow richard morrison. watch book tv every sunday on c-span two and find a full schedule o the program guide or watch online any time at book tv.org. democracy, it isn't just an idea, it is a process shaped by leaders, elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few regarding the basic principles, where debates unfold, decisions are made in the nation's course is that charted it. democracy in real-time. this is your government at work. this is c-span, giving you your democracy unfiltered. >> "washington journal" continues. host: and we are back with david

super who is a law professor at georgetown university's law center to talk about the trump administration and legal challenges. there are several lawsuits, and legal questions about th followg, revoking birthright citizenship, it doge's access to personalndinancial records, reinstatement of schedule f for some federal employees, establishment of doge and the funding freeze. just your reaction overall to of the legal challenges. guest: this administration has made an unprecedented move to disregard long-standing clause and it is not surprised they are being challenged. host: why? guest: most of these are flagrantly illegal and only valid if many acts of congress are unconstitutional and in one

they are rejecting a part of the constitution itself. host: explain more about flagrantly illegal. guest: for example, the administrative act says when the government makes regulations, it has to put out a draft for public comment and consider what the public has to say to that. in reinstating schedule f, the same idea to strict civil servants of protection against arbitrary firing and political coercion. they simply canceled and disregarded a rule already in place that gave workers rights and didn't seek public comment out draft and they disregarded the administrative procedure. >> "washington journal" continues. the white house press secretary karoline leavitt responded and held a briefing with reporters. [video clip] >> many outlets in this room have been fear mongering the american people into believing

there is a constitutional crisis taking place here at the white house. i have been hearing those words a lot lately, but in fact the real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch where district court judges and liberal districts around the country are using power to unilaterally thwart the basic effect -- executive order. we believe the judges are acting as judicial activists rather than honest arbiters of the law and have issued at least 12 injunctions against this administration in the past 14 days, often without citing any evidence or grounds for the lawsuits. this is part of a larger concerted effort by democrat activists and nothing more than the continuation of the weaponization of justice against president trump. quick news flash to the liberal judges supporting these efforts, 77 million americans voted to elect this president and each injunction is an abuse of the rule of law in an attempt to

thwart the will of the people. as the president clearly stated in the oval office yesterday, we will comply with the law in the courts but we will also continue to seek every legal remedy to openly overturn these radical injunctions and ensure president trump's policies can be enacted. >> "washington journal" continues. david super, respond to karoline leavitt. guest: that is a gross exaggeration. all the judges are doing is enforcing laws on the books and the american people absolutely voted for mr. trump to be president but under the law as the constitution says he shall take care of the laws faithfully executed and they have every right to expect the courts will insist on that if mr. trump does not. host: what do you make by the injunctions of these judges? why do they take the step? guest: because the administration is refusing to

follow the law and effectively disregarding statutes that say we need to spend money on senior meals in service for the homeless youth and things like that and they are taking the position that they are not bound by the law. with anyone, you, me or the president of the courts will join us. host: and the washington times, ben cline is a rebel -- republican. he said must and doge are doing exactly what trump told voters they would do and says i am fed up with the scripted outrage and the blizzard of lies. he writes, the left has stopped its collective feet because it claims doge is working in secret, however it fails to acknowledge it is subject to the requirements of the presidential records act and that the president has issued regular declarations of its progress. each executive agencies doge team works in coordination with agency heads to ensure the implementation of the mission

did indeed, treasury secretary scott bessent has improved doge's lawful access to unclassified records and systems to facilitate this integration. despite rants from democrats and media figures, no evidence supports the allegation that mr. mosk or anyone else has unlawfully accessed or seized sensitive data grid any access is strictly regulated and the role of doge is focused on modernizing outdated systems, not compiling private information. the real threat to americans' privacy has come from unchecked bureaucracy that is missed manage data security for decades. the performance -- reforms proposed by mr. trump and implemented by mr. muska are -- musk are to prevent overreach and not overspending. guest: that is cold comfort to people whose personal information, banking data, social security numbers are being by all accounts

transferred to insecure at laptops and are available for cyber criminals or russians and chinese and iranians to easily hack in and potentially empty out our bank accounts. host: what evidence do you have of that happening? guest: that has been asserted by the career civil servants who have managed these accounts for decades, under democratic and republican's and has never been political officials in charge of that. they managed them for four years under the trump administration. host: we are asking you to join us about president trump's first 100 days and actions he has taken by executive orders as well as the efforts by elon musk and the doge commission. your thoughts, questions and comments. steven in california, republican. let's hear from you. caller: good morning, greta. how is marriage treating you.

back to business. have you looked into the rights of those who seem to be behind the laws for trump's vision of laws that have been attacking every institution that they are against? such as the food aid program because they are giving food to palestinians and the education program because of the bob jones university was trying to not segregate in schools and was forced to? i will take my question off line. host: david super? guest: i don't know the origins of this. i am a lawyer not a political scientist but i know many of the assertions that he made about the law in the media and defense

of this have been plainly wrong and this does take us away from a world governed by laws and towards one governed by individuals which is disturbing. host: explained that a little more. what are you referring to? guest: when congress passes the love that they will spend money on it, the president is obliged to carry out but he has been having contracts without authority to do so because he disagrees with the program. if you can do that, every president can do that and we will have no stability in government, no confidence in laws, and frankly our congress want to that important. host: here is the opinion section in the new york times, trump dares the courts to stop him. the editorial board writing this, the u.s. constitution established tree branches of government designed to balance power, serve as checks on one another. the constitution order suddenly appears more vulnerable than it

has in generations. president trump is trying to expand his authority beyond the bounds of the law while reducing the ability of the other branches to check his excesses. it is worth remembering why undoing the system of government would be so dangerous to american democracy and why it is vital that congress, the courts, and the public resist such an outcome. are we facing a constitutional crisis in your opinion? guest: yes, we are. we have one branch of government increasingly regarding its self as unchecked by either of the others. they are following only those laws that they see fit sidelines congress and they are savagely attacking the courts, suggesting judges are enforcing laws and they should be impeached or disregarded. this is a constitutional crisis. host: how do you respond to the president and republicans who say, the american people elected us, gave power to the

republicans for the white house and on capitol hill and they are doing with the american people elected them to do and passing the agenda? guest: if congress wants to amend these laws to allow the president to do things, that is entirely appropriate. but the president is disregarding the laws. if they try to amend the laws, that will get public attention, members will have to go on record and vote for it. the public elected congress as well as the president and they elect the previous congresses that passed the laws. no one voted for the president thinking he was going to be a king. they voted for him to be a president as part of our system of checks and balances. host: one reason why the president is acting the way he is through executive action is because of the filibuster rule in the senate and such razor thin majorities means it takes more than 60 votes to get his agenda through. in his arguments, he has no

choice but to do this by executive action. guest: he has a choice and that is compromise which every president has done since george washington. the filibuster is still in place in the senate because every republican senator who was sitting a few years ago said it was important and mr. trump may disagree with that but in his party overwhelmingly feels it is important that we have a filibuster so we can have compromise. host: why do you think republicans and democrats for the most part are standing by the filibuster? what role does it play? guest: the filibuster make sure that all interest in society are considered, the thin majority, mr. trump did need to get a majority of the popular vote. he came close but didn't get it, and should not completely control everything in the country to the disadvantage of others. the reason we need continuity, businesses need continuity. they don't want it changing

every four years wildly. host: roy, republican. caller: my question for your best this morning and good morning, by the way. i am calling from florida. back to the education system. i see he is from georgetown university and my question to him, well actually, my answer to him is what is going on with the trump administration? he knew ahead of time through the attorneys he hasn't backing him what has taken place where he is being rejected because it is being sent to the lowlife judges and in mostly liberal states like rhode island and so on and so on.

there are several are that -- that are but he knew ahead of time with the orders what he is trying to do to help america get back on track of the way it is supposed to be. host: so what is your question? caller: my question to your guest, everything i have heard from him so far is that what is his opinion on the biden administration and all of the things that he tried to do knowing that they were unconstitutional for forgiving loans and all of that? host: so we are talking about biden's executive orders. what is the difference? guest: president biden made many executive orders that he thought were illegal. some of which he was right and some of which he was wrong. those cases were challenged and very conservative states, so we

have rhode island challenging the trump and texas challenges for biden. some of what biden did was held to be legal in some of it not. in one of the cases that your guest mentioned about student loans, the supreme court said that literally the law would support this but wait think it is just too big a change. so there was strong reason in the language of the law but the court didn't think it was enough , which is the court's prerogative. but it is very different from most -- what mr. trump is it which is largely regarding the laws as not binding in any way at all. host: where do you see the supreme court stepping in? guest: i think we will hear from the supreme court soon because we will start seeing appeals from the trump administration within two weeks. those appeals will vary rapidly get to the supreme court and we will learn i think by the end of april whether they are willing

to let this go or not. host: in the new york times opinion pages, the top appropriator in the house democrat writes congress, not trump control the money. i want to get your thoughts on what she argues here. she says it took aim at supposing presidential impoundment powers in clinton the city of new york same president nixon, gandhi and all and ponders asserted in a press conference in 1973 that his constitutional right to impound appropriated funds was absolutely clear. justice scalia noted that two years later, the court proved nixon wrong. it is a fanciful attempt to give the president the powers of a king and it will be a disaster for our republic. guest: justice scalia is right about that as he is about many things. the constitution's system of checks and balances gives the power of the people's money to

the people's representatives in congress and the president is not free to overrule what congress has done. he can veto bills and this president has veto bills and prior presidents have as well and that gives them influence on spending. once something is enacted into law, the president is bound by law. host: so where do you think this administration has violated the impoundment powers? guest: by freezing money across the board that congress has directed to be spent. host: joseph, flint, texas, independent. caller: i would like to hear the guests's opinion on the risk of civil unrest as a result of the executive branch violating the laws that the judiciary has passed. i would also like the guest's

opinion on how this lawlessness is going to affect our international standing with international partners on the laws that we have as it results to nato and everything else. it seems like a complete collapse of rule of law which is really concerning. guest: i think there is not likely to be civil unrest. i certainly hope there isn't because we do have courts and a congress. this is not the first president who has overreached in the courts have arraigned them in the past and i suspect they will this time. in terms of the international standing, close our laws passed by congress and those are also binding on the president. i have not seen the kind of clear illegality in the president's actions and some of these areas but i will confess i have not been following that as

closely. host: mary in orangeburg, south carolina, democratic caller. caller: i have three questions i would like the best to elaborate on. the first one is, the young man going into private information, the ages are from 19 to 25, i believe. they are the ones they hired to go into our information. and i would want you to talk about that. the other is to talk about the fact that he hired these men that work for a cybersecurity that are hackers. that is one thing i want you to elaborate on. the next one is, as an individual citizen and they are allowing them to go into our personal information. as a person concerned about my personal information given to

these young people and hackers, do i have a right to sue? those are the three things i would like you to elaborate on. guest: the career civil servants that have managed the treasury department's checkbook, as it were for decades and decades including under the first trump administration are subject to extraordinarily severe security clearances. they are checked all the time, closely monitored and heavily trained in cybersecurity. the people that are being brought in we know nothing about them and all media reports suggest they are quite young and quite inexperienced. it is not indication they have received training in data security and this makes many, afraid. what everyone feels about the policies that mr. trump and mr. muska are pursuing come they don't need access to sensitive information to do that. knowing my back account number will not help them resolve

anything about government spending. if there is a program that needs to be shut down, ask congress to shut it down but don't go into the personal information. there is a privacy act that provides some protection against mishandled data. i would say in some instances there may be litigation. host: david super a law professor joining us at georgetown university law center. marti, you are up next in albuquerque, new mexico, republican. caller: i was just calling, they are complaining about people getting our personal information and people from social security work from home and they can do my application or whatever you want to call it sitting at the kitchen table with all of my personal information in their house and that is not a big deal

. finish your thought. the people in a secure place they are worried about. i am more worried about some and at the house doing it. host: do you have any thoughts, david super? guest: i don't know the detail of their work from home procedures. my understanding is they are -- there are substantial cybersecurity in these instances. there is no clear information as to how this data is being handled. we are hearing reports in the media that things have been copied onto laptops or otherwise moved around so it may not be in secure locations. as troubling as it is to have one person's information out there, to have millions and millions out there is troubling. i don't get social security but i sometimes do over pay my taxes and get a refund sent to my bank. so my banking information is in

there as well and i didn't choose to have that made available to a 19 year old with an online handle. host: we will go to john in massachusetts, independent. caller: i was wondering if you were as outraged when john kerry going around the world. he wouldn't appear before congress when subpoenaed. i also wonder while the democrats and bite and opened the border and the supreme court was controlled by democrats and didn't have any problem when you won every case. i'm just curious how all of that happened. biden didn't follow, it was different. when biden went against the law over and over trying to do his student loans and getting struck down by the supreme court, he just kept going against it and yet when they told him he

couldn't do something on the border he didn't try again and it was clearly a lie. as for doge, you are worried about that, it started under obama and he had tech pros and kids working for him that were 25 years old so stop talking about young people not doing things. host: we will get a response. guest: in terms of the supreme court it has had a republican majority since 1969 so i'm not sure what the 50 years you are referring to our but it has been public and controlled for a very long time and currently has a 6-3 republican majority. as far as the student loans, the student loan act legislation is quite complicated. he invoked one part of it to forgive student loans. the supreme court said literally he might be right but that it was too big a stretch for the provision he used or too expensive an action for the

provision he used. the then used a different provision and didn't defy the court and went lower courts raised questions about the new provision be used, they obeyed the court orders and did not make forgiveness. host: clay, a republican. caller: i believe biden and the administration and democrats want political decisions and not constitutional decisions. that is why they promised to pack the court or overrule the filibuster. the difference between the student loan forgiveness, the supreme court deemed it was congress's right to spend that money, not the president and the president continued to go to the supreme court. like i said, he doesn't want a

constitutional decision. i love the fact that trump is questioning and driving some of the way some of these institutions are paid for and hopefully the supreme court will decide some of these in the near future. guest: just to be clear, i have never supported getting rid of the filibuster. i have written in the washington post and other places about how stupid i thought the democrats were to undermine the filibuster and how delighted i was when they failed to do so. if your point is the filibuster is important, i could not agree with you more. host: we will go to puerto rico, democratic caller. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. my question is, should be -- should we be worried if president trump will in fact try to undermine the three branches

of the government with more executive orders. he said, come and try and stop me. should we be worried? guest: i have a great deal of confidence in our supreme court. i think at the moment we have nine serious justices who are trying to do their jobs as best they understand it. they don't always agree with one another and with me but i think courts will take the matter very seriously and with the president is violating the law or the constitution, i believe they will win. host: richard in brooklyn, independent. caller: i have a question, two questions for the guest. what i want to know is, is this a democracy or a constitutional republic? the last time i checked, this is supposed to be a constitutional

republic, not a democracy. in the second thing is, is it lawful for the doge agency to do what it's doing to delve into people's personal information allegedly from what they have been saying? is it lawful lose -- lawful for these individuals to do this and what kind of recourse can the people take if it is not lawful? host: david super? guest: there is potential recourse and there is already litigation about access to the personal information. the courts can absolutely require that all copies that have been made be deleted. that is a fairly common order in privacy cases. we can hope they will get it done in time. we don't know. we don't -- but i am confident we will have resolutions in the courts that will bring back the power of the law.

as to the first question, we are a constitutional republic with democratic selection of our officials, but part of being a constitutional republic is that we have laws and we don't simply go with whoever won the last election but we go through an orderly process of lawmaking and discourse. host: we will go down to tampa, florida, tom is a democrat watching there. caller: my question is, especially in light of what you just said about some of the executive orders of broken the law. if they go to the courts and go to the supreme court, who is going to enforce the laws, because it seems like just what happen in new york last night, he has completely taken control

of the justice department and the justice department is the one engage with enforcing the laws if someone breaks them, and how are we going to resolve that if he refuses to listen to the courts? guest: the courts have a number of means of taking care of this if necessary. no president has ever defied a court order there have been some presidents have failed to comply because of incompetence in the courts have doubt that -- with that very severely at one point. executive agency wasn't allowed to use the email until it came into compliance. the justice department is now loyal to the president, as they should be since he is the president, but there are officers of the court sworn to uphold the law and i am

confident they will honor the oath when the court orders, not against them. host: let's hear from dominique in germantown, maryland, independent. caller: my question is generally in regards to what are the legal ramifications and guardrails if he continues to decide to attack everybody and everything that goes against him as far as judges are concerned and to the judicial check of power that is supposed to happen. and does and how might the ruling that came last year from the supreme court saying that he has immunity that are four things done while in office. are there legal ramifications

that could possibly happen? could he do anything or ignore a ruling in any way that might trigger that because in normal circumstances there would be something he could get in trouble for and he has this freedom to do what he wants to do and act like a king. guest: throughout this country's history, we have never prosecuted a president for things they have done in office. we came close with mr. nixon but president ford pardoned him and that ended the discussion. we have never seen criminal -- and with cap the government stable without it. i don't think the supreme court decisions last summer although i think it was bad the reason, it is not a factor in all of this. the question is whether the president is going to be ordered to comply with the law and if he

is those orders will extend to the people working for him as well in the courts will i'm sure it not take action against mr. trump but actions against officials that defy court orders. host: on the injunctions put forth, mike lee, a senator from utah, republican said i am thinking about ways to hold the judicial insurrectionists accountable. perhaps we need a law providing that when someone seeks a nationwide injunction against the government, it must go to a three-judge district court a direct appeal to the supreme court. what do you think? guest: i don't think that is a bad idea. i think getting this to the supreme court on major constitutional questions is a good idea. these are obviously important cases and the district makes a lot of sense. host: give us some history. guest: for a long time, we have three judge district courts for

any challenge to the constitutionality of the law of the united states. if you filed that kind of case, it would go to a three court case and could appeal directly to the supreme court. there were too many of those cases so we cut it back and now it applies to only certain voting rights cases if you have a very specialized things. that will lead to the point that these are important cases and deserve more treatment. host: joseph, point pleasant beach, new jersey, republican. caller: i have a couple things to say. i don't want to insult your best, but it is people like him from georgetown and that city where you are that think everybody else in the country is stupid. you are talking about people's rights being violated because they are looking for fraud and abuse and possibly criminal kickbacks. two years ago they were going to put the guy i voted for in jail for bookkeeping error.

that was ok. they went through melania trump's closet for documents that he had every right to be because he was president after he left the white house and he was going to declassify them but that was ok. what elon musk is looking for our abuses and criminal kickbacks possibly. congress approved money to go to usaid but did not prove money going to people in guatemala. host: i am going to jump in. your response to that caller. guest: i don't think it is useful to relitigate the trump legal matters that happened before. mr. musk does a huge business with the government and is not the right person to be looking for conflicts of interest because he has them himself. there are mechanisms in place and unfortunately president trump has fired 18 inspectors general whose job it to look for

waste, fraud and abuse and have the expertise of the staff to do that. i am not persuaded this is a search for fraud because president trump is -- has disabled the best mechanism to get at it. host: we will leave the conversation there. david super, thank you very much. guest: thank you very much. host: joining us next is stephen moore, a longtime advisor to president trump and we will talk about the global reciprocal tariffs and the overall economic agenda. before we get to that, we want to bring you live to remarks by the vice president before the security conference. full coverage of his remarks will be on c-span two. who want to listen in now. [video clip] [applause] vp vance: i hope that is not a

last applause we get. we gather to discuss security and normally it would mean threats to our external security. i see many great military leaders gathered here today. while the trump administration is very concerned with security and believes we can come to a reasonable settlement between russia and ukraine and we also believe it is important in the coming years for europe to step up in a big way to provide for its own defense. the threat that most about vis-a-vis europe is not russia, china or any external actor, what i worry about is the threat from within. the retreat of europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the united states of america. i was struck that a former european commissioner went on television recently and sounded delighted that the romanian

government had just annulled an entire election. he warned that if things don't go to plan, the very same thing could happen in germany too. these cavalier statements are shocking to americans' ears good we have been told everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values. everything from our ukraine policy to digital censorship is billed as a defense of democracy . but when we see european courts canceling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask whether we are holding ourselves to inappropriately high standard. i say it ourselves because i fundamentally believe we are all on the same team. we must do more than talk about democratic values, we must live them. within living memory of many of you in this room, the cold war

positioned defenders of democracy against much more tyrannical forces on this continent. and consider the site in that fight that centered dissidents, closed churches, canceled elections. were they the good guys? certainly not, and thank god they lost the cold war. they neither valued nor respected all of the extraordinary blessings of liberty. the freedom to surprise, make mistakes, event, to build. you can't mandate innovation or creativity just as you can't force people what to think, what to feel and what to believe, and we believe those things are certainly connected. unfortunately when i look at europe today, it is sometimes not so clear what happened to some of the cold war's winners. i look to brussels were even commissars warned citizens that

they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest the moment they spot would they have judged what they believe to be "hateful content." in this country, police have carried out raids against the citizens suspected of posting antifeminist comments online as part of "combating misogyny on the internet a day of action." i look to sweden where two weeks ago the government convicted a christian activist for participating in koran burnings that resulted in his friend's murder. the judge chillingly noted, sweden's laws to supposedly protect free expression did not in fact granted, and i am quoting, a free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief. and perhaps most concerning, i looked are very dear friends in the united kingdom, where the

backslide away from conscious rights to place the basic liberties of religious britons in the crosshair. hr shannon smith connor, 50 one-year-old physiotherapist and army veteran with the heinous crime of standing -- standing 50 meters from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes. not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own. after british law enforcement spotted him and demanded to know what he was praying for, he simply replied, those on behalf of the unborn son his former girlfriend had aborted years before. the officers were not moved and he was found guilty of breaking the government's new loan which criminalizes silent actions that could influence a person's decision within 200 meters of an abortion facility. he was sentenced to pay

thousands of pounds in legal costs to the prosecution. i wish i could say this was a fluke, one off crazy example of a badly written law being enacted against a single person but no, this last october a few months of, the scottish government delivered citizens to those whose houses lay in a safe access zones noting that private prayer within their homes may amount to breaking the law. naturally, they told to report in when of thought crime and i fear free speech is in retreat. the in the interest of comity, my friends, but in the interest of truth, i will admit that sometimes the loudest voices for centuries that have come not within europe but from within my own country, where the prior administration threatened and bullied social media company to censor so-called misinformation.

misinformation like the idea that coronavirus had likely leaked from a laboratory in china, our own government encouraged private companies to silence people who dared to enter what turned out to be an obvious truth. so i come here today not just with an observation, but with an offer. just as the biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, so the trump administration will do precisely the opposite, and i hope we can work together on that. in washington, there is a new sheriff in town in under donald trump's leadership, we may disagree with your views but we will fight to defend your right to agree or disagree in the public square. [applause] now we are at the point where the situation has gotten so bad that this december romania

straight up canceled the results of a presidential election based on the flimsy suspicions of an intelligence agency and enormous pressure from its continental neighbors. as i understand it, the argument was that russian disinformation had affected the romanian elections but i would ask my european friends to have some perspective. you can believe it is wrong for russia to buy social media advertisements to influence your elections. we certainly do. you can condemn it on the world stage, but if you're democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn't very strong to begin with. [applause] the good news is that i happen to think your democracies are especially -- substantially less brittle than both fear and i believe that allowing our citizens to speak their mind

will make them stronger still, which of course brings us back to munich, were the organizers of this very conference have a band of lawmakers representing populist parties on both the left and the right from participating in these conversations. now again, we don't have to agree with everything or anything that people say, but when people were present, when political leaders represent a important constituency, it is incumbent upon us to at least participate in dialogue with them. too many of us on the other side of the atlantic, it looks more and more like old entrenched interests hiding behind ugly words like misinformation and disinformation who simply don't like the idea that somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion or god forbid vote a different way or even worse, when an election. this is a security conference

and i'm sure you came prepared to talk about how exactly you intend to increase defense spending over the next few years in line with some new target, that is great. because as president trump has made abundantly clear, he believes our european friends must play a bigger role in the future of this continent. we don't think you hear the term burden sharing, but is an important part of being in a shared aligns together that the europeans step up while america focuses on areas of the world that are in great danger. let me also ask you, how would you even begin to think through the kinds of budgeting questions if we don't know what it is that we are defending in the first place? i have heard a lot already in my conversations, and i've had many, many great conversations with many great people in this room and i've heard a lot about what you need to defend yourselves from and that is important. what has seemed a little less clear to me and certainly i

think too many of the citizens of europe, is what exactly it is you are defending yourselves for. what is the positive vision that animates this shared security compact that we all believe is so important. i believe deeply that there is no security if you are afraid of the voices, opinions, and conscious that guide your very own people. host: vice president jd vance speaking at the munich security conference this morning. if you want to hear what he is saying you can go to c-span 2. joining us is stephen moore, the county -- the committee -- let's begin with the that happened on capitol hill. the house budget committee passed the budget, which is the framework for a reconciliation proposal, meaning a simple

majority in the senate. they passed their version of it. it differs from the senate. compare the two. guest: thank you for having me on c-span. i love c-span and the job you do. this is going to be a long process. we are just getting started because congress has to pass both a budget in terms of how much they spend and all -- also accommodate the trump tax cut that he wants to make the trump tax cuts permanent. there is a big debate and i am sure a lot of your viewers have been following whether it would be one big beautiful bill like trump was talking about or two bills. that was complicated. some in the senate want to bills and the house wants one bill. the main point people have to understand about the term reconciliation is that as you just said, this is the one piece of legislation that requires 51

votes in that 60 because of the filibuster rules. it is critical for trump getting his budget past and getting the tax cuts passed. i am kind of ambivalent with you do it in one bill or two but i do think the priority i have been telling congress is you've got to get this tax cut done. i want to remind people that failure is not an option here. if the tax bill is not passed by this fall, then everyone's taxes are going up and the average family will face a $3000 tax increase. one of the wonderful things in that tax bill in the 2017 bill was quite an achievement, that would be essentially wiped out. we have to get this done. i think it is going to be a long process and i think we will be talking about this for six months and these are the first skirmishes in a long debate. host: the house budget passed along party lines.

the budget committee passed it last night. we have a ways to go. here is the frameworof this according to the new york times, $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, $4 trillion in the debt limit and at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts. her is where the party internally differs because you've got the fiscal hawks that want that number in spending cuts to go to $2 trillion. $300 billion in new spending on defense and immigration enforcement for those fiscal hawks are saying you cannot cut more in taxes unless you cut more in spending. the ways and means chair jason smith has told his colleagues he needs more than $4.5 trillion in room to cover everything republican lawmakers and president trump wants to do on taxes. do you think that is a good idea when we face the amount of deficit that we face in this country? guest: one thing i feel very

strongly about, and our group is leaving the coalition for the taxpayer groups and business groups to get this tax done per the sink is -- single highest priority is to make sure we don't raise taxes on americans and american businesses and we remain competitive. you mentioned the $4 trillion estimate by the congressional budget office that would allow them to pass it. i firmly reject that. these are the same people that said the same tax cut when we passed it in 2017 would cost $2 trillion in so far if you compare how much revenue has come in versus what their prediction was, they were off by $2 trillion. i would completely reject that for trillion dollar number. i think it is outrageous. they are not taking into account the positive effect that tax cut has on the economy.

if you take into account the dynamic effects of this, i think it will be much smaller. and this is a big issue because republicans in the senate are saying we should just score this as the current policy. the current policy is the tax cuts are in place and we shouldn't say this is going to cost anything to extend the bill. i think it would be extremely damaging to the economy if we don't pass the tax cut and i reject the $4 trillion number. i think will -- it will essentially pay for itself and grow the economy. host: washington post, republicans risk repeating biden's fiscal mistakes. no one wants to make the painful changes that require so let's review why they are necessary. since the pandemic, the debt to gdp ratio has leaked from 79.2 percent of gross domestic product to almost 100%. you read that right. the united states now owes its creditors nearly the total value

of goods answer americans produced in a year. if we don't put our finance on a sustainable footing, debt service costs will squeeze out other policy priorities especially if the bond market begins to wonder whether all this debt will really get repaid. so how do you respond to that? is president trump at risk of making the same fiscal mistakes? guest: it is rich for the washington post to write that period i have been writing that the last five or six years because joe biden increase the debt by $7 trillion, the inflation reduction act, they build back better bill, just massive amounts of spending we didn't need. i think joe biden will go down in the street is our most financially irresponsible president in history. but we absolutely are at a huge hole and it is unsustainable and there is no doubt about that. i've been talking about this for 40 years. i have been coming on c-span a

long time. we have a spending problem in washington and everybody agrees with that. the spending is out of control and we have to put caps on government spending and this is why what doge is doing is so incredibly important, pointing out the fact that we could probably spend $2 trillion less in most americans wouldn't miss it if we could just get rid of the redundancy and fraud and abuse. as i see it, it is a two-pronged process. we had to make sure we have an economic growth policy that expands our economy and we have to get control of government spending. i want to make one point really clear because this is critical in understanding the budget. those numbers you are talking about in the washington post is talking about, if you look at the forecast of the congressional budget office, they are estimating the u.s. economy in the next 10 years will grow at 1.7% per year. that is pathetic. we can grow up much faster than that. the average growth rate of the u.s. economy over the last 75

years have been 3% or 3.5%. if you take that forecast and put in 3% growth, not 1.7% growth, you grow the economy faster and you know what happens to the curve you are talking about, it starts to bend it down in the economy grows faster than the debt and that is the critical thing. so what is my point? you have to grow the economy faster. there is no way we are ever going to get this debt under control if we go to 1.7%. i guarantee trump is hyper focused on that. if it increases economic growth, it is a good thing to do and if it doesn't, we shouldn't. host: do tariffs increase economic growth? guest: i am a tree -- free trade opponent. i was a student of milton friedman, maybe the best in the last century. he taught us and so did adam smith, the term comparative

advantage which is huge in economics which means, if brazil makes good coffee means and the united states makes really good microchips, then we should sell microchips to brazil and brazil should sell coffee to us. so international trade is absolutely critical to global economic prosperity. i am opposed to donald trump' a steel terrace and aluminum tariffs because i think the evidence is pretty clear that when we put those into effect what happened was we did save some steel and aluminum jobs, a few thousand, but the evidence shows that we lost jobs for example in on -- automobile protection takeoffs ao pose. what is interesting is what trump announced yesterday, which is this idea of reciprocal

tariffs. what he is saying to other countries we have the lowest tariffs in the world. maybe there's a few smaller countries but of the major trading conditions. so he is saying to canada and meeks to china and japan your tariffs are up here we are down here. you lower yours so we have fair trade or we will raise ours to the level you have. in a frank way i believe that trump is going to prevail. i think a lot of the other countries will be forced to her tariffs on the things we produce to create more jobs here. so he is using this leverage that the united states has to force other countries to lower their tariffs. it is a risky game because if we raise ours on them we don't want

to satisfy a trade war but i'm pretty convinced because the united states is the alpha pail economy, everyone has it trade with the united states, that gives us a leverage so i think this will work out and believe it or not trump's threat of re-cipro can challenge tariffs will lead to lower tariffs. host: all right. we will see what our views have to say. milton nfl democratic call. caller: i had like to make a couple points. your figures are which off base. let's look at the 2017 tax cuts. you had master cuts and trump added $8 trillion to the deficit. big corporations got the tax cutsed a instead of reinvesting in new workers they engaged in stock buy backs 10 you had at&t got that money and they gave out

a few bonuses then they would lay off employees. as far as trade deficits. they never work. when he does his tariffs against china, china stopped buying farm performance-enhancing drugs. the government will to give them billion dollars in aid then added more money to the deficit. tariffs cause more inflation so i don't understand how you criticize biden when trump pujols created more debts r debt. guest: there's a bit of historical revisionism there. first by 2020 after three years of the trump tax cuts the u.s. did economy was booming one of the great booms of all time. what caused the economy to collapse is covid a. we made

major mistakes shutting down the economy. we shut down schools, businesses, catastrophic mistake. but it for pediatric doughed the economy. before covid hit we had a great economy understood trump in to spall part because of the tax cuts. the idea that trump is responsible for deficit, yes, clearly -- there's no question at i'm not here to tell you the republicans have fiscal saints because they are not. both parties love to spend too much. we have an overspending problem in washington. but the idea that the tax cut caused deficit is into the true. revenues are layer today with the tax cut than they would have been if we didn't cut so we are

doing fine on the revenues. we are just spending too much. host: trump's tariff stress test. ford motor c.e.o. warned his threat of 25% tariffs would blow a hole in the u.s. industry. mr. trump's to stitch the local the better is to negotiate bilateral trades. he encouraged others to get closer to beijing. ping is smiling. guest: you may know i work the 10 years even the editorial board of the wall street. i agree there are risks to the tariffs but i. to go wac it reciprocal tariffs. that is what trump is doing.

he is going to china, mexico, other countries one which one saying you have to lower your tariffs on the things we make. we,want a fairer trading system where we both reduce it is tradeoffs in a way that -- tariffs that doesn't he hurt american workers. host: greg argues that this tariff strategy along with the tax cuts on capitol hill will be a propaganda for president trump and his promise to reduce inflation thing a rate it boost is likely to be small especially if they are offset with spending cuts. the problem is trump inherited inflation above the 2% target and his agenda risks keeping it there. guest: i want people to

remember, i laugh when people say trump's policies will cause inflation. that's what they said in 2017. we had basically the lowest inflation rates in history. the rate unhim in the four years he was in office these are just the facts was 1.9% so there was no inflation. the rate in his first term was below the fed. that is point number one. point number two, trump's policies are anti-inflationary. there's a reason they call economists lake mice supply side economists. we want to expand the productive capacity of the united states so we produce more goods and services and it is simple. if the economy produces more apples they go down. they fall so we want to produce more output to cause prices to

fall, not rise. that is the key to what we are doing here. what that means is by deregulating the economy which trump wants to do that is don't nation narrow. previewing more oil, gas and coal will be deflags narrow and practiceses come down. by cutting the fat in the budget that is deflationary. now i -- by the way the tax cut is deflationary because it will increase production. we believe that is the best way to solve the inflation problem but the fed -- i think this idea of cutting interest rates and i disagree president trump on it i don't see how we can cut rates when the late rts report came out two days ago shows the last three months we were in a 35% inflation trap. that is three months joe biden evans president.

host: to john republican. caller: nice to hear from you, stephen the i have seen you many times and listened and follow along with you on a lot of things. but i have two questions. one is easy but the doge system that is currently going through the federal government right now, congress is supposed to pass appropriations and i believe the republicans were able to get that done last year but chuck schumer wouldn't take it up. but i don't think they have passed a patrick mahomes fors those years and all the spending done that he is freezing never went to a constitutional process to be authorized. it was done through the massive bills they did to keep the

government from shutting down. the second question i have, we know about nafta and how our manufacturing in the united states disappeared since nafta. but i heard about a year ago -- i only heard it in one place and can't find it -- the european union, after nafta went into effect, went to their hedge funneled or pass -- fund or passed a tax law for hedge funds and billionaires that any income they derived outside of the european union would not be taxed. so they started coming to the united states and interviewing our companies up i.e. an hugheser busch and a few others. i had a -- host: we have to leave it there. we will get a response. guest: i appreciate your call. two quick issues the caller

brought up. the budget process. this is a big issue that you will be covering the next nine months. the question arises whether the president has the authority -- there was something every president from george washington to richard in this case be had the impoundment power. say congress appropriated $100 million for a program the president says we can spend $80 million. prior to richard nixon had that authority. i believe just like ament e.o. of a company if you allocate $10 million to build a plant and it cost $8 million you don't spend the whole $10 million. so you i believe the supreme court will have to decide whether president trump has the authority to not spend money already appropriated. i hope that the court decides that like the good c.e.o. of a company if you don't need to

spend it all shouldn't. we will see how that turns out. but i have completely supportive of what doge is doing. i think the american people are really happy that we have somebody looking under the hood of how government money is being spent and how arrestful and inefficient. to my democratic friends i want to make a pointment if you believe in big government and you think the government can help people by giving people benefits and we all want a good ever government. then waste and fraud are the enemies of good government. i don't understand why elizabeth raven is saying this is terrible. getting rid of erupt si and waste is good to do if you believe in good government. second, on nafta i will make a quick one. i'm a big supporter of the north america being a big trade-free

zone. this was reagan's vision where we have canada, mexico and united states as within trade zone. i think that was a good vision and supported by reagan, bush -- you know what president signed two law was bill clinton so it was a bipartisan agreement and i don't want to see trade wars with mexico and canada because they are our allies. host: the top democratic on the patrick mahomeses -- proposals s notes scalia in said that the court proved nixon wrong on the powers of impoundment. that is a fancy tenant to give the president the powers of a king and it would be a disaster for our republican said scalia. guest: you know what president used it the most? this is a bet you don't know

franklin roosevelt. host: i didn't know i would be quizzed this morning. guest: you are pretty good. what happened is during roosevelt's president we had the new deal and social prapbls amount we could have a debate whether they worked i don't think they did. but on december 7, 1941 we have pearl harbored a what franklin roosevelt did thank god he impounded funds billions of dollars that were allocated for domestic social programs and reallocated that money to the national defense. that was critical to winning the world war ii. my point is it was democrats and republican presidents who used

impoundment power in a son-in-law way and the chief executive should have the authority not to spend money if we don't need to. why waste poison if you don't have. host: germantown, maryland, joanna democrat callerment caller: first of all we are not in a world war and you will you did was build a straw man to jump what trump is doing. when trump was in office the first time he added $8 trillion to the deficit. more than all prefer presidents combined that is -- wait a minute, let me finish. host: go ahead, we are letting you. caller: he started to interrupt me. on top of that i was reading an analysis of this budget the cog put out yesterday. lots of ginormous credits and tax breaks for large corporations and the very

wealthy. everybody else got crumbs. eviscerating things like medicaid that takes care of poor people, they are the enemy, they are terrible horrible humans and r -- and we shouldn't do anything for them. the idea of impoundment,trump -- i got discombobulated since you brought up the f.d.r. thing it is completely different. the thing i have found about republicans the only time you are ever concerned about the deficit/debt is when democrats are in office. host: we will take your point. guest: a couple of points. yeah we spent way too much want trump as well and i think this woman is correct and i was complaining i said to him we are spending too much money. but it is important to realize the deficit was coming down and we were hit with covid and shut

down the economy. that meant we had to have massive government spending and we agree it was huge mistake it shut down the economyed a added enormously to the debt and puts in a deeper hole. but you have to grow the economy. we can not solve the didn't problem without more economic growthed a that is deregulate. cut taxes that brings jobs an factories back to the united states. it is let's produce every barrel of oil and gased a nuclear power so we are not dependent on foreigners. if we do them i think we can turn the economy around because i'm worried about inflation rearing its ugly head because of the master spending. on medicaid so people understand what we are talking about what we are saying is if you are able-bodied and you have the

capacity to work, then you are going to get food stamps or medicaid you have to have a job. i think that is something 90% of americans would agree. if you can't find a job we are just going to give people money it was bill clinton a democrat who enacted well fair reform and it was an enormous citizens. then away got rid of the work requirements and all trump is saying you have to get a job and they are out there to get. i think most people would say yes. host: sheila an india from california. caller: hi, thank you for taking my call. this is not very well formulated but my question has to do with how policies are set like how this heritage foundation gets their ideas and i'm just

wondering if -- i don't know how to explain where i got this idea. but if our government, if the united states of america is somehow propped up or keep strong by being enmeshed with me anarchies lymphly from all over -- historically from all over the world and mainly britain and i do have a sense that there's more going on than most people notice. guest: let me tackle this. thank you for calling by the way. we have been saying all the problems america has and we have big problems but it is also true what has happened in the last 40 years has been the most amazing technological revolution. it is true we are running deficits but we have the biggest

strongest economy in the worlded a some of the most brilliant minds in this country and some of the greatest businessmen. what trump has done and said let's bring up some of the super smart business paoeupbdz to warrant -- minds to washington and -- we are spending $7 trillion a year right now and we did a study where you ask the average 1,000 people in a poll how much the federal budget do you think is wasted and you know what the average answer was 37 cents out of every dollar is wasted. i would say 30 to 35 but the american people are on to there that there's so much fraud, so much self-serving programs there's a reason by the way that three of the five wealthiest counties in the united states are in washington, d.c. because the money comes into washington

but doesn't go back out. by bringing in really smart people like elon musk who is a genius and saying you have done this in private companies, tell us how to save money. why are we spending $10 billion a year paying rent on empty office buildings. it doesn't make sense. why are spwaoepbdzing this on usaid which for 30 years hasn't led to any national development. if programs don't joaquin we should get rid of them. host: can you find enough waste, fraud and abuse to tackle the debt without looking at social security and medicare? guest: i think the people are clear. before we talk about cutting medicare and social security benefits which i'm against doing that, now i do think we can find huge amounts of -- the government's own auditors have told us that they fountain $200

billion of fraudulent payments on unemployment, food stamps, met care, social security. why should we cut people's benefits. we sudden hunt own the criminals. a lot of people got the benefits they don't live in the united states. people hack in and found a way to steal from the taxpayers. i'm with the majority of americans who say before we talk about cutting social security and medicare why don't we go after the people that robbed the program so there's huge waste and fraud and that will solve a big part. >> this is john in massachusetts. quick question from you. caller: would you respect it not cut me off because there's a three or four. you talked about washington to nixon. what happened when washington to nixon when they were people here

a they got genocide. number two, after roosevelt came and signed the great deal what happened it the big corporations. desantis tried to sue disney. why couldn't he? because it belonged to the monarchy where a commonwealth of great britain. with anthony sutton wrote how we were going to war and funding hitler through wall street and they were getting the big tax breaks and all the big corporations which were old fantasy corporations -- host: i will leave it there but his overall point about corporations in our economy. guest: we have some of the greatest corporations in the world. we want america to be number one. you look at google, apple, amazon. the magazine inform seven

microsoft, amazon, nvidia, blah, blah, blah, those certain companies have a bigger market value than every single company in new york is we are so dominating in the technology sectors. i want america to be the most prosperous place and i late corporate welfare. i do not think it is the government as responsibility to give money to our companies. >> through tax breaks? guest: even tax breaks. what i want is a leflat rate tax system that doesn't give special favors to anybody. my buddy steve forbes an -- why should corporations being able to able to write off state and local taxes. we have a policy today where general motors can write off their state and local taxes but

the little auto repair shop can't. so i'm very much in favor of getting rid of corporate welfare payments. i wrote a book by it so i'm the biggest advocate of not letting the government give money to corporations. host: our viewers can lesson more about steve moore at can committee to unleash prosperity the founder and former tkphreubg -- senior economic advisor. guest: love c-span. host: we will take a break and we will wrap up with open forum. if there is a public policy issue or political one on your mind being dial. 202-748-8001, 202-748-8000, 202-748-8002. before when get to open forum there are more than 60 new members of the house of

representatives and we are going to meet many of them on c-span starting next week. we will hear them talk about their lives, why they ran the career path that led them to congress. you can watch our series with the new members of congress all next week beginning monday at 9:30 eastern time, p.m. running through saturday. here is a preview of what they had to say. >> i started am i career off as a welder. i worked in a mining operation. i went to trade school and didn't go to college right after high school. my mother's family, they are all union labor and that was the route i went. i went into the trades, had no interest in politics, just liked building things and went to college eventually and majoring in government and international relation and being pretty significantly affected by the events of 9/11 and pushed me

toward that. >> my dad used to say do something even if it is wrong but don't just stand there. there is a work ethic in agriculture congress could learn from. i think of what goes on here, sometimes it is like every politician has somebody to blame. it is the other party's fault. i think of working for my dad at the store if i walked in and a job wasn't done he asked me to do and i say it is paul's fault i can't imagine the look on his face. that is the problem here everyone is telling you boss fault it is. people want results. they want communities that are safe. healthcare, that is why i came to washington. >> i have no political experience whatsoever. nobody in my family ever ran for dog catcher so i'm the first one

it come through the political environment to say the least. but our family business was traffic signals, electrical contracting. my grandfather started it in 1973 with a station wagon and ladder tied to the roof. he through the company and 2008 we got clobbered by the financial downturn and with bonding partners looking for a something session plan i was going to go to school in philadelphia for construction management. that -- my grandparents said we will sell you the company. you get a four-year. university of scranton checks that box. i knew i would be back two the family business, i just didn't think it would be age 19 as c.t.o. but to whom everyone is given everyone is required. it is something i took seriously and the company grew 400% over 12 years we had from 50

employees to 165, worked in i think 19 different states and i'm so excited to represent my home in washington, d.c. host: watch the series next week starting monday at 9:30 p.m. eastern time here on c-span. we are in open forum morning. any public policy or political issue on your mind. we have fuse out of the among security conference. ukrainian president telling reporters that president trump has no ready made plan to end the ukraine war. president trump said that mr. zelenskyy would meet with vance and rubio. valanciunas speaking earlier to those we covered it on c-span 2. being find it on c-span.org or mobile app.

tpwhraets to rick in golden, colorado, republican. we are in open forum. what is on your mind? caller: talking about budgets and government, i think one thing that needs to be addressed in their process would be not to look for programs that were and what money to do the programs, i think they need to get to what corporation do which is to say on a yearly basis how much money do we have to spend and let's spend it on our highest priorities and go down the list and say this is the top priority, spwaoepld this were on that program. there were on second program. so on and so forth. so we need it get to where we determine how much money we want to spend and the argument

between the republicans and democrats would be on programs and how much you would spend on that. i think that would be probably the first step. and to try to get to a balanced budget, which is really what we need. host: the committees on the house and senate side are taking up the budgets and this reconciliation plan. we covered this in a budget proceeding on c-span this week and it is on our website c-span.org the mobile app. house budget committee have one bill, the senate wants to do it in two pieces. you can follow the debate over coming weeks and months here on c-span as we cover gavel to gavel coverage of the house on c-span appeared c-span 2 gavel to gavel coverage of the senate. front page of "new york times"

this morning, kennedy wins slim approval in health post. a prominent vaccine skeptic is what they say and the washington, d.c., their head line r.f.c. jr. antivaccine activist gets top health post. another headline for you from the nation's newspapers there is the washington times, kennedy gets final approval to quote go wild" new cabinet second vows to solve child hood disease prepare. then "u.s.a. today" r.f.k. jr. will oversee the nation's health care. he was confirmed by the senate yesterday on a 52-48 vote largely along party lines. mitch mcconnell the only republican to vote with democrats in opposition.

later on in the day yesterday sworn in at the, in the overall office at the white house supreme court justice neil gorsuch delivering the swearing in it r.f.k. jr. as president trump watched. also yesterday agriculture second brook collins was confirmed it lead the department 72-28 including 19 democrats in support for her. kash patel the pick to lead f.b.i. the senate judiciary committee vetoed 12-10 along party lines to proceed with his nomination and that will head then to the spat floor. robin in silver spring, democratic caller. we are in open forum. good morning. host: -- caller: i want to talk about

fraud, waste and abuse. one thing i notice is that elon musk and trump are accusing the federal government for a lot of fraud, waste and abuse, which i'm sure there's some we can find. but i want people to realize that some of the fraud that is happening is elon musk himself and trump the inflation reduction act has been frozen even though the courts said it needs to been frozen and it is unconstitutional abusing the power of the president through the impoundment angst and millions of people are not getting the money they need, farmers, small business owners, are out to dry because the money they were promised to build solar panels and buy farm equipment are not going to be paid because trump wants to save that for billion your friends

rather than small business people would get it. elon musk also has created waste in the government by completely shutting down usaid and now there's $500 million of food from american farmers sitting in containers in houston wasting away when we could do a good transition and notice where the waste is -- sorry -- if we were actually doing things efficiently then there would be a systematic approach to figuring out why the reductions need it happen rather than all of these across the board cuts. the office of inspector general of 17 agencies have been fired and they have many recommendations for how the government can be ever but when they reached out to the dodge dosage team they didn't robinson so we need to look on both sides

o'to see how waste is hang and not just point the finger and make sure the things eand trump are doing are not a smoke screen nor efficiency and deregulation and making things worst. host: we will go to wayne in winter haven, florida, republican. caller: thank you for taking my call. it is interesting to hear from mr. moore and your previous guest. i'm calling in particular to address what i believe is a culture issue because we are farmers and we harvest a lot of acres of row crops in florida particularly. i don't have one american citizen that we get all of our labor through the h2h programs

and we are trying to promote healthy food and introduce better diet habits into children's lives but we are driving up cost because we have to import labor to get it done. i don't know, i haven't heard were about agriculture from the new administration. i'm search anxious to hear their proposals. governor desantis raised our minute wage to over $13 an hour which i'm in favor of everybody needs to make a living wage. in california the breadbasket of it country will it raised to over $20. these are necessary but when people go to the grocery store and see the impact of what manual labor does to their food bill they are not happy about it, but yet they won't allow

young unemployed people or -- it is almost taboo to have to work on a farm. when i was a child i got up to work on a farm and i think you learn a lot of great lessons of life. thanks for taking my call. host: you bet. sean is in leewood kansas, independent. caller: hi. i just wanted to quickly talk about what i see as a few short-term benefits that we are trading off for long-term relationships in terms of raising tariffs and also repeal of the fortune -- or the pause on enforcement of the foreign

corrupt practices act. host: wall street the paper looks at the trump's fortunes, his family bonanza. they note the first lady was shopping a documentary around that would look at her serving as first lady again. she had shopped it to other companies when amazon's c.e.o. came to dinner at mar-a-lago the first lady mentioned this to amazon's c.e.o. and shortly after that the company offered $40 million for the documentary. her cut is more than 70% of the $40 million according to people familiar and she is trying to shop around sponsorships for the film starting at $10 million to prominent c.e.o.'s and billionaires at the inauguration. they look at the settlement the

president made with x over his lawsuit there. his share of the $10 million settlement from elon musk agreed to this week is expected to go to him directly according to people's familiar with the matter. also on ethics they say trump has ramped up his retail efforts. they sail merchandise and 550 bling clutch. he licenses his name to companies selling 100,00018 carat gold and to requirements businesses close who is making the purchases. the trump organization has been in talks to reclaim its heat in d.c. which they sold in 2022 for $370 million. the price of a membership initiation fee at the florida

resort hit $1 million in the month before the election up from $200,000 in 2007. it goes through other areas as well and it starts on the front page of the wall street. marianne independent in philadelphia. caller: after all of that you just said from the wall street, this is what happens. because this man is masterful at throwing a bomb in the room and making everyone scatter. i thought i had a concise question for you, but this is what happens. it is like a big huge venn diagram of chaos and to quote him, he did say --ed a it has been on the record -- chaos is my friend. that is what he has been creating. when we go back to talk about the deficit and cutting and how

fabulous the tech pros are i would like to remind everyonal of those tech pro companies are global, international companies and they are hiding here under the mantle of the united states of america for their protection. and all these tech pros do not have the same protections in other countries. that is why we bends to the knees as i understand apple did to china. they have to go by certain regulations in china that we don't require of them. everyone talks how fabulous they are and mark zuckerberg when asked a question about ok with your a.i. program and what are your employees going to do and his response was oh, they can now all go crazy. and listening to bloomberg news

two nights ago about an elon on live with the world economic summit, i think. it was shocking to me how he was telling people basically that smart people need to have more children and dumb people and his concept of who is smart and who is dumb and how ai will be 90% of the intelligence they will rely on. so, wake up, folks. host: jan in minneapolis, democratic caller. caller: good morning. i hear people are pretty upset and i understand why. i think that it is pretty interesting to be a company of laws suddenly we are through longer following constitutional law. the impoundments act was instituted after president

nixon's problems. now funds are being spent that have been appropriated by the congress to be used for specific programs that were negotiated last year, those funds are being clawed back to cut. they were intended for specific purposes. if there is fraud and mismanagement that needs to be prosecuted. host: before you go, your reaction to tina smith saying she won't seek re-election in 2026? caller: that is disappointing, i can she's been trying to do a good job but the phenomenal lawlessness of this administration has discouraged truly dedicated people. for instance the prosecutors in this morning. we have to pay attention,

people. host: what about the prosecutors in new york? what about tell? caller: didn't six of them resign because the mayor of new york, the prosecution of him is being used in a very manipulate hated fashion bush manipulate hated fashion to get certain elements of immigration. there is not the country my parents died for. host: they were quoted like to looked like a quid pro quo. on tina smith from the star her announcement created early scramble among democrats. flanagan and testimony wols has not it. omar's team is considering a run and angie craig and steve simon said they are being encouraged to run. on the new york mayor and

justice department's actions loss minority leader in new york city hakim jeffries sharely thoughts on the trump administration's decision to drop the charges against adams. >> what is clear is that the white house made the decision to dismiss the criminal charges pending against mayor adams without principal days. translation, it is the intention of trump administration to keep current mayor on a short leash. how the mayor responds to the white house's intentions is going to determine a lot about the political future of the current mayor of the city of new

york. host: that is leader of the democratic party in the house hakeem jeffries yesterday. his colleague from new york said that adams must be removed. she said she's encouraging hill to resign -- him to resign following his federal indictment on corruption charges many the linda in north carolina an independent. caller: i'm calling about the education issue. i think the real problem is motivation. it comes from parents but it also comes from the society. i think a large problem with that is the income disparity because kids go to school and hear about athletes and celebrities making billions of dollars. that is not going to be you. sorry, kid, that is not going to be you. there is a chance it could be but i have one grandson that is

very good school hasically but he is afraid it and mitt it because he will -- to admit it because it is not cool. some teachers can make that light go off. i remember when it happened to me. those teachers should be encouraged and in terms of getting rid of the department of. host: talking about education away started there on the "washington journal" playing clips from yesterday's testimony of linda mcmahon president trump's pick to serve as education secretary and answered questions from senators yesterday. we covered the hearing and you can watch it in its entirety at

c-span.org or online at -- or mobile app c-span now. dee is in clarksville, tennessee, democratic caller. caller: my question is elon musk one of the richest minutes why is not he not helping his home front africa. it is one of the poorest countries yet he wants to but himself inside america but he is leaving his home country out. is he trying to turn america this africa? host: we will go henry in wisconsin, independent. host: before i get to the main point i want to ask of the producer of the "washington journal" for the viewers if you could put the party that the caller is calling alongside state. sometimes i don't catch it, sometimes i do but it would be

ever for viewers just tuning in. but what i wanted to talk about feels the situation -- was the situation with doge. i was listening to the first two segments of the "washington journal" and kevined mostly because i live in a house of people who are heavily in the department of education, so my concern was our children going to learn they need to be properly taught about mathematics and foreign along and about the -- host: we will go on. pamela, dayton, ohio, republican. caller: yes, i'm calling -- i don't know if this has anything to do with what they are talking about but i heard biden had dementia the whole time he was running for president. when he was elected for president and they knew he had

dementia, why did they allow him to run? i don't understand this. i don't understand everything that he put forth. why has it gone through? when you have dementia, i mean you are incompetent and you should not be signing anything that is political or even legal or unlegal because they are not responsible. i just don't understand it. i voted for trump. because -- host: we will go to gregory next in willington connecticut. caller: good morning, greta. happy valentine's day. i'm asking for a guest request based on mr. stephen moore there. it is interesting you guys didn't -- i'm a big anti-war guy as you might remember -- you didn't take about military spending and how the military

hasn't passed any audits. this morning i looked at the web site run by brown university watson institute, and since 2001 we have spent at least $8 trillion on military wars nd conflicts. so i would love somebody from brown university to speak on "washington journal." host: thanks for the suggestion. we appreciate it. mike in kentucky republican -- away lost mikeer -- away lost mike. we will go to tony in oregon democratic caller. caller: i'm calling about a podcast i watched last night. it had a democrat strategist on i think her name was lindy lee i think it was. she talked a great deal about

condition of biden. i just wanted to know the condition of biden and who was running the white house while he was in that condition. i want to know how much of that might be true if there is any way to get somebody like her on. host: francis, lexington park, maryland. democratic caller. caller: good morning, how are you doing. host: good morning caller: we are a country of laws and i was wondering why the republicans with the president and mr. elon trying to override the laws and do what they want to do. i don't understand how people can allow them to do that like the courts. i do not understand that. how can they do that? host: guy in st. augustine,

florida a republican. do you have a public policy issue or want to talk politics? caller: a little of both. the first thing earlier on dispatch on the appropriations committee for the military, a number of the senators brought up the fact that elon has a contract for, i believe the number was $24 million worth of tesla armored vehicles? where are we going to use these tesla armored vehicles? it is staggering. and the fact that even though i'm a republican i don't understand -- most presidents have been required to put their business holdings in a blind trust during the presidency. i don't understand why this hasn't happened this time. host: guy, you may be interested in "new york times" reporting

state department suspends plan to buy armored teslas. vehicles made by elon musk's company were on a purchase list before donald trump was inaugurated and before mr. musk became one of the president's top advise source. lilly in ohio democratic caller. caller: i'm calling because i want c-span to give the information that is needed for voting in 2025, the voter rights of 2025 the -- i think we need to be discussing more about the voting rights for 2025 out of the project 2025. host: thanks for the suggestion. michelle birmingham, alabama, republican. caller: hi. i want to talk about doge.

earlier they were talking about they didn't appreciate the younger kids being in our finances but -- kids to be in our military and guard our nuclear centers. that is the point i wanted to make. host: richard verona, missouri. richard, do you have a comment this morning? caller: i'm calling from the missouri area. the state of kansas, my neighbor, they say that they have a lot of tuberculosis over there. i'm old enough to remember when we had a sanitarium in missouri and you went there if you had tuberculosis. they are having a law in arkansas about selling raw milk.

back in the old days cows all had to be checked nor -- for to be clothes -- tuberculosis. my son gets raw milk and i caution them because i don't know that is one thing that had to worry about is the cows. -- host: understood, richard. martha in washington, d.c., republican. hi, martha. caller: how are you. i want to state that my position is i don't think the federal government should be paying thing. i think every state should take care of itself. i don't want to pay for other states' problems when they have hurricanes. people choose to live there. that is their problem. i'm for total breakdown, no federal government. no money. that includes the congress

people. at the pay high percentage rent on penn state who is levels in -- on penthouse levels in d.c. and they get paid a lot of money so no congress people in d.c. caller: they make less than $200,000 and some sleep in their office. we appreciate your. we will be back tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern for another one. enjoy your day. >> saturdays watch american history tv's 10 week series

first 100 days. we will >> saturdays watch american history tv's series first 100 days. the early months of presidential administrations with historians, authors, and through the c-span archives. we will look at a compliment and setbacks and examine how events impacted presidential -- voting rights and the fight against the kkk. watch american history tv's first 100 days, saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span2. >> american history tv, saturdays on c-span2, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. this weekend american presidents

and the u.s. navy with secretary of the navy carla still tauro discussing the naval careers of john kennedy, lyndon johnson, richard nixon, gerald ford, jimmy carter, and george hwb bush. at 5:00, the life and legacy of georgia democratic are presented john lewis with davey greenberg, former clerk of the house cheryl johnson, and former members of congress. 7:00 p.m. eastern, first 100 days. we look at the start of presidential terms. this week we focus on the early months of president ulysses grant's first term in 1869, including the treatment of native americans and freed slaves. on lectures and history, indian university history professor juan mora talks about the u.s. border patrol and how immigration laws shaped the creation and development of immigration agencies.

exploring the american story. watch american history tv saturdays on c-span2, and find a full schedule on your program guide, or watch online atime at c-span.org/history. ♪ >> democracy is always an unfinished creation. >> democracy is worth dying for. >> democracy belongs to us all. >> we are in the sanctuary of democracy. >> great responsibilities fall again to the great democracies. >> american democracy is bigger than any one person. >> freedom and democracy must be constant the guarded and protected. >> we are still at our core a democracy. >> this is also a massive victory for democracy and for freedom. ♪