♪ host: good morning. it is tuesday, march 11. today, the house is set about

other gop stopgap funding bill to keep the government funded head of the friday deadline. it is not clear if republicans have enough votes to pass it without democrats. we will hear from a politics reporter with the latest on that, and we will hear from you. you can share your thoughts on the resolution, the thoughts of a government shutdown, or other related topics. here are the numbers. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can send us a text at (202) 748-8003. include your first name and your city, state. and you can post your comments on social media, facebook.com star c-span and x @cspanwj. welcome to today's "washington journal." we are glad you are with us. we will start with reese gorman, a politics reporter. welcome to the program. guest: thanks for having me on. host: so we are just days away

from a government funding deadline. get us up to speed. where do things stand right now? guest: yeah, so right now republicans in the house have a bill they are putting on the floor to fund the government. this increases spending to defense programs, increases spending to ice agents, but outside of that, it cuts a lot of spending, because programs, allows for no -- cuts programs, allows for no earmarks. you will see a lot of that come in. johnson's plan is to pass this solely with republican votes. he is not counting on democrats. right now the only hard know is thomas massie. jd vance will be on the hill today to whip this bill in the gop conference. pete hegseth talked about

government waste, fraud, abuse, and spending. trump is even personally calling members of congress who are on the fence, trying to sway them to get over to the yes category and vote for this funding bill. if they cannot fund the government, this bill fails, there is no plan b. they don't have another option other than republicans i talked to who said their plan is to blame democrats if they do not fund the government. republicans have a trifecta. host: let's go to what is in the bill. there is a decrease in domestic spending by $13 billion. you said there would be programs that are cut. do we know what programs are being cut? guest: yeah. we are looking at cutting some funding to obviously usaid loses a little bit of funding. they take out the earmarked programs. they take out the programs

previously requested in december of last year's funding program. mostly local community projects that are funded through diverse spending bills and take those back in a way so it does not -- elon musk attacked some of the programs in the funding bill. they want to avoid that so they took that out. they took those projects out. host: what about ukraine funding? that was included last fiscal year. is it in this continuing resolution? guest: that was basically funded through a supplemental last year , not funded in a government funding bill, so this just keeps the government open, keeps the appropriations going. so that was never in the omnibus appropriations bill we saw. that was a separate supplemental. this is separate from that. this is different. host: you mentioned speaker johnson is not sure he has all republicans on board. representative massey has said

no, so he cannot lose any other republicans. what about democrats? are they united in voting against this bill? guest: right now they seem pretty united. no democrats came out and said yes, they will in fact vote for this bill. if all of them vote against it, they can only afford to lose thomas massie. house leadership is betting on democrats voting for this bill. they believe they can pull off a handful, people that are vulnerable, that do not want to get challenged on this comes amid terms. but right now, it looks like they are holding firm. hakeem jeffries, they are whipping against the bill. right now, it really does seem like the onus is on the republicans. host: what are they saying is the reason they want to vote no on this continuing resolution? guest: because democrats really want a short-term bill.

rosa delauro wanted a short-term four or five week bill that would allow them to finish the appropriations process relatively quickly. they also wanted to include in the cr some of the measures that tied the hands of donald and elon musk to where they cannot hire and fire federal employees and will have to go through more of -- they have to get approval from congress. they cannot cut spending without the approval of congress. they want to tie the hands of donald trump and put that stuff in there. republicans, this is a nonstarter for them. we are not going to do this. this is not some thing that is going to happen. they realized without that, democrats would not get along with the bill. they decided themselves to go their own way and pass this with republicans. in the senate, even if you only passed it with republicans in the house, the senate is where the challenge will be. that will have to happen before friday. there is no senate democrats

that said they will vote for this bill. they need at least seven of them. host: before we talk about the senate, i want to remind people we are taking calls as soon as we are done with reese gorman. you can go ahead and call now and we will come to your calls. so let's talk about, first, could this vote that is supposed to happen today, could it be delayed? or is it pretty sure to be happening today? and at what time do you think they will start voting? guest: theoretically, yes, it could be delayed. but the odds are not high it will be. i know house democrats are going on their retreat tomorrow. the latest they can vote is tomorrow unless democrats want to push back the retreat to make it thursday or friday. i think house leadership -- actually, i know house leadership, they believe they can get them on board. they see people on the fence, however, they do not view them

as hard-nosed. they believe them to be able to be swayed to the yes category. host: if it passes the house and goes to the senate, what are we looking at in terms of all the republicans are on board, the democrats that might be swayed? what are you thinking there? guest: in the senate, you need 60 votes. obviously, right now do not have 60 votes. rand paul has alluded to a no on this vote. if you take that, you will need seven to eight democrats to vote for this bill itself. not a single democrat came out and said they support it. actually, quite the opposite. a lot of democrats have said they are against this bill because of how partisan it is. elon musk really is not helping either. mark kelly, elon musk 22 -- took to x yesterday and called him a traitor.

they will need democrats. host: reese gorman, you can follow his work at notus.org. thank you for joining us this morning. guest: thanks for having me on. host: we are talking about that funding bill, the continuing resolution. it is said to be voted on today in the house and will continue funding up until september 30, which is the end of the fiscal year. and we will get your input on that. here is robert in mesquite, texas, democrat. caller: thanks. don't help republicans to pay this bill. i would like to know if anything will hurt school kids about food. plus, if anything is in it that affects medicaid. not medicare. medicaid. trump, his cronies do whatever they want to do by themselves.

they are thinking about millionaires, billionaires. that means i won't get any because i am on fixed income. i am making in pretty decent. i have been real good hunter biden -- i have been real good under bided. n. people need to wake up and understand. out of the two months he has been in there, what will he do for you? i don't believe he won the election. i believe they cut people off from the vote. host: all right. here is james in georgia, independent. hi, james. caller: i think everyone should

vote against this bill. all of these bills fund fascism in the government. what you are looking at is elon musk. he is going to be able to hold the united states hostage. he can give this information to russia, china, other countries. he is also in the governmental systems of social security and different types of stuff. exterminating these people with ai, have voters that don't vote for donald trump. all of this with elon musk. the government must be shut down. they must stop this. they must get these people out. elon musk is taking all this money.

they are the ones dealing spending the money -- they are the ones stealing the money. be out of it right now -- they need to be out of it right now. any democrat that votes for this bill needs to be out of office. thank you. host: here is ronald on the republican line in louisiana. hi, ronald. ronald, you have to turn down your tv. yeah. go ahead. go ahead. caller: these guys got something with elon going. i want to let you know that the government shutdown, all of these lies, that is why the government does not shut down. let me explain to you something.

social security is self educated. you talking to me? host: no, i am not talking to you. i am listening. caller: ok. host: was that all you wanted to say, ronald? caller: everybody worries about not getting their social security money. they are going to get it. nothing is stopping them from that. the only thing that shuts down is maybe parts. that does not stop nothing. that stops people from going in because they don't work. they can work if they want to. nothing in the government stops. they are going to have a lot of trouble getting the 60 votes in the senate. they will get it in the house but not today. in the senate, they will be in trouble. host: so you think the government will shut down? caller: i have time for one more thing? host: yet. -- yeah. caller: last week, you had some

articles about how people were looking at trump, giving percentages. i think it was politico and axios you had going. you all can put out the polls and they will all be different. ok? and right now, right now trump has a high popularity with the american people. ok? host: ronald, let's take a look at what hakeem jeffries said yesterday about the short-term funding bill. he is the house. here he is. [video clip] >> republicans temporarily control the house, the senate, and the presidency. instead of using their majority to make life better for the american people, and donald

trump and house republicans are crashing the economy -- people, donald trump and house republicans are crashing the economy and hurting hard-working american families. and now extreme maga republicans want to shut down the government. the house republican so-called spending bill does nothing to protect social security, medicare, and medicaid. quite the opposite. the republican bill dramatically cuts health care, nutritional assistance for children and families and veterans benefits. it is not something we could ever support. house democrats will not be complicit in the republican effort to hurt the american people. host: this is fox news that says

this. trump presses gop rebels ahead of critical government shutdown vote. it says president trump making calls on monday, that is yesterday, two potential holdouts on a plan to avoid a government shutdown at the end of this week. it says three sources have said trump world is making calls to capitol hill ahead of the late tuesday afternoon vote. by the way, we will being -- obviously we will have the house on c-span so stay with the c-span networks to watch all of that unfolding. this is betsy in north carolina, democrat. hi, betsy. caller: good morning. host: morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am a retired advanced placement government teacher. i worked and paid into social security for 52 years. so i do feel like i am entitled

to something. we should not as democrats support this bill. this is the only way we can coerce some kind of cooperation from a treasonous president. a president who lies, and you can tell when he lies because his mouth is moving. he has done nothing to help americans. he is going out of his way to create chaos and insecurity in the population. he is a bad person. host: what do you think the reason would be? why would he want to be creating chaos? caller: because he enjoys it. he is mentally ill. begets a kick out of being in the media highlight all the

time, creating a commotion. host: sorry, i thought you were done. here is vinny, a republican in massachusetts. good morning. caller: hi there. my name is vinny from massachusetts. so the government funding house about, it is crazy. it made my wife so incredibly mad. i had to go stay with my friend. host: mark in philadelphia on the line for democrats, good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. this to me is a no-brainer. shut it down. shut it down. democrats, don't go along with anything. especially in the senate. johnson has spoken about the schumer shutdown. yeah, sure. the democrats have a 21% approval rating. what do they have to lose here if they shut down the government?

the approval ratings are already in the ditch. so shut it. have schumer in the senate shut it down. have it shut down, and then demand, one, that doge and musk go. and number two, that trump where he is not spending the money that congress allocates, he has been doing that. lay that out. of course, trump will not eliminate doge. but maybe the other thing we will get. in other words, a bargaining position. at the end of the day, trump and the republicans will be to blame for the shutdown, so i say shut it down for as long as it takes to get something. the democrats have trump and the republicans over a barrel. host: all right, mark. let's take a look at chip roy, a republican key fiscal hawk and probations chair at yesterday's committee meeting exposing their support for the stopgap measure.

[video clip] >> i think this is a responsible step forward. and i know, look, i have some of my more moderate flake and conservative flank that have concerns. a lot of people say we are moving a full year funding in a continuing resolution and that is not how we should do business. i think the chairman of appropriations would agree. >> absolutely. >> i agree. but we did not get it done in a significant part because the senate refused to pass a single appropriations bill. so here we are trying to clean that mess, and now we can move forward with this bill, be able to advance the cause for defense, be able to advance the cause for this year. fundings for crop insurance. we don't have any earmarks in there for better or worse. something that is a good thing. we have a reduction in some of the irs expansion. a lot of things are priorities. i think this is a big step.

we should now focus on fy 26. i appreciate the testimony. >> i would add if i may if we don't do this, it shuts down. you tell me how that is better. whatever your concerns are here or there in the bill, fair enough, but you tell me how a government shutdown for no purpose at all to achieve no objective that i can see is better for the american people. it is not. host: and we are taking your calls this morning. you can give us a call. our lines are open. so democrats are on (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. and independents, (202) 748-8002 . we are talking about the gop funding bill that is set to be voted on today in the house. stay with the c-span networks on that. here is axios house democrats whip no.

according to aides, this raises the likelihood of a government shutdown on march 14. we will hear from calvin in new york. caller: good morning. it seems strange to me mr. trump wants the government to pass a bill. when he was running for election , he wanted the government to shut down. so now that he is in bitcoin where he can take bribes from overseas, i guess he does not mind the government being shut down. host: and here is kent, and illinois, republican -- in illinois, republican. caller: morning. when i hear hakeem jeffries speak, it reminds me of an old arab saying where the dogs bark but the caravan passes. what trump is trying to do is

maybe keep the country out of bankruptcy. he has one of the smartest people in america trying to help. it is a terrible thing. every time the democrats talk about musk, and his billionaire musk, billionaire musk. when the democrats are little teaching their children to talk, they say the first thing you learn is no tax breaks for the billionaires. what they are trying to do with this bill is there is a terrible amount of waste and fraud and people all over cell food stamps so they can buy drugs and try to get some of this stuff corralled in where the government can survive. all the democrats can do is just talk about their own personal things. whenever the democrats call in, it is never the country. it is never the country they are

concerned with. it is spending so much money on eggs and all of this. for four years, all of these people were silent with tens of millions of people coming into the country that changed the paradigm of our country. they have nothing to say about that. so how could anybody in there good right mind listen to these democrats now when they say trump is doing it for money. hell, if trump buys a pepsi, he cannot buy a better pepsi than i can buy. what would he do with all of this money if he had it? everything with the democrats is the republicans are billionaires, they are doing everything for the billionaires. the biggest percentage of people that benefited from the trump tax cuts are the lower income people. should they not renew the trump tax cuts, all of these more on that -- morons that call in and

talk about tax cuts for billionaires are going to find out the biggest percentage of tax cuts that trump gave were the lower people on the income scale. type that up on your thing and see if i am lying. host: all right, kent. this is the front page of the wall street journal about the stock market. it says the market plunges, recession worries spread. it says a new round of recession fears rattled markets on monday, sending the dow jones industrial average down 890 points when eroding wall street consensus that u.s. stocks would be among this year's biggest winners. it says worries about a trade war, signs of flagging growth come and splinters in the artificial intelligence trade have taken some of the shine off that optimism. president trump declined over the weekend to rule out a recession this year, setting up a fresh wave of declines in u.s. stocks.

he was interviewed by fox news on sunday and talked about the possibility of a recession. here he is. [video clip] >> i know you inherited a mess. are you expecting a recession this year? >> i hate to predict things like that. there is a period of transition because what we are doing is very big. we are bringing wealth back to america. that is a big thing. there are always periods of -- it takes a little time. it takes a little time. but i think it should be great for us. i think it should be great. it will be great ultimately for the farmers. don't forget i made the deal with china for the farmers. $50 billion from $15 million. >> did they do it? >> they did it when i was president. when biden was president, they did not buy any longer because there was nobody to call them. i used to call president xi and

say you need to live up to the agreement. >> when you came to the oval office the first time, you were a very successful businessman, very successful real estate executive, and a lot people said this is the business president. he is watching the stock market. he does not want the market to go down. now we have tariffs in the market has been going down. > not much in all fairness. >> you said we will have a description but we are ok with that. is that what you meant, the stock market going down was the disruption? what other disruptions were you alluding to? >> what i have to do is build a strong country. you can't really watch the stock market. if you look at china, they have a 100 year perspective. we have a quarter by quarter's. >> that is true. >> you cannot go by that. you have to do what is right. host: back to the phones. to monique in washington, d.c., good morning. caller: hello forget i have two quick comments. the first is to the guy in

illinois. under trump texas, me and my husband happened writing taxes for the past three years under the tax bracket, under the tax that trump created. we have been writing a check to the federal government and our local city government. the reason why i am calling is i am a d.c. resident. i am behooved because congress is trying to force the district of columbia to make a $1 billion cut to our budget when we don't have to. we pay more in federal dollars than 21 states. we are not a part of the federal government. our budget has nothing to do with anything going on in the hill. we earn and spend our own money. and yet we do not have a vote in

the congress or the senate. i don't know why they are trying to break anything that is good. the city takes care of itself. i don't understand. how are they going to force us to cut public safety, education, and housing when we don't have to? our budget has been balanced for 28 consecutive periods. our mayor, mayor bowser, has done an amazing job with the city. just like president trump just said, it takes time. give it time. the district of columbia, we have come from the worst possible situations from the crack pandemic to immigration to everything else, and our mayor has done everything possible she could have to bring our city to

where it is today. and she is still working on it. but how can you force us to cut $1 billion from our budget when we don't have to? our budget is balanced and paid for. leave us alone. host: ok, so i want to share what you are talking about to get everybody up to speed. here is the washington examiner. stopgap funding bill would cut d.c. budget by $1 billion. it says that the continuing resolution would treat washington's budget like a government agency's, rolling back discretionary funding. it would also break with 20 years of precedent. since 2004, congress has allowed washington to maintain its budget levels without disruption if a stopgap funding bill needed to be passed. and it is -- here is d.c. mayor bowser talking about how the short-term cr when impact d.c.'s budget. here she is.

[video clip] >> our budget was balanced and approved, and if we go back to fiscal 2024 levels, we would be forced to reduce spending by $1.1 billion in only six months. but here is why we are here today. because congress can fix this. they can fix this $1.1 billion problem that we have brought to their attention in the draft cr. congress can add the language back to the continuing resolution, the same language that has been there for the past two continuing resolutions that authorized us to spend our locally generated revenue according to our own approved budget and timeline. and i want to emphasize the local part of that statement. the district of columbia raises and spends its own money just like every other state. so remember that the budget we

are talking about, this budget, the approved fy 25 budget, was introduced by me and approved by this council. it focuses on three main areas, public safety, public education, and economic growth. disrupting those investments won't be good for d.c. or our country. host: and we are taking your calls until -- for about another half hour. here is mark in texas, independent line. caller: this may be out of there, different from what you are talking about. i am not into politics but what i am seeing is the destruction of the white house in our country -- and our country. we are not looking at the fact that maybe donald trump is another agenda completely bringing the people in the house, tearing our government down.

maybe what was done for years ago attacking the white house is my point. i am not into politics at all but what i am seeing is there is an agenda we are not looking at. he may have something way out of line we are not even aware of yet that he is up to. don't even know if -- i'm sorry. my phone is breaking up. if that is the case or not. i am just a guy but it looks totally unorthodox from what i am used to seeing when i turn the news on it that's all. thank you. host: on the republican line in alabama, audrey, you are next. caller: good morning. how are you this morning? host: good. caller: i am very pleased with it because i called in a couple months ago and talked to you about how we are six months into the fiscal year already, and if

we gave them a full budget, then, you know, they get one and a half times the money. host: know, but remember -- yeah, it does not work that way. caller: i am pleased it will extend for six months and it has $500 million in it for wic, and it's got money, not as much as we hope for. d.c. was cut because they had the inauguration money last year. virginia foxx give you a shout out yesterday in the budget committee -- gave you a shout out yesterday in the budget committee. hr 1968, which is the continuing resolution, it does not cut

medicare, medicaid, anything like that. they also went over a bill that would extend looking for those people that got unemployment during the pandemic for 10 years because the statute of limitation will run out in 17 days. so i would suggest people should watch the budget committee and get more about this because all it is is if we were getting a bridge in the fifth district of alabama, then the bridge would not be in there this time. that accounts for a lot of the cuts. it is what they put in it. the only thing about and is we will have to put it back in and in the senate to get enough votes -- it in the senate to get enough votes. hopefully the government will not be shut down, but 90% of the v.a. employees are essential. i should not have any corruption

where i go -- any interruption where i go. but i think you. host: representative thomas massie of kentucky posted this on x on sunday. he said, unless i get a lobotomy monday that causes me to forget what i have witnessed the past 12 years, i will be a no on the cr this week. it amazes me that my colleagues and many of the public follow for the lin tha we will fight another daye -- lie that we will fight another day. this is what president trump put out on true social about thomas massie. beautiful kentucky is an automatic no vote on just about everything despite the fact that he has always voted for continuing resolutions in the past. all caps, he should be primaried, and i will lead the charge against him. he is just another grandstand er who is too much trouble.

sharon all the democrats -- shar on on the line for democrats. caller: please bear with me. i am one of those m democratsoron -- moron democrats. i deal with numbers. if you earned between $27,000 and $100,000, you averaged $700 back. if you earned over $370,000, you got $12,000 back. if you are the top 1%, you got $220,000 back. that is what this is all about. in his inauguration, behind him were billionaires. all of those guys want this tax cut.

this continuing resolution is not about funding the country. it is about getting that tax cut through. because once it goes through, the last time it put us trillions in debt. it will add to the debt. that will give an automatic reason for social security, medicare, etc., that are big spending bills. the rich will get their tax cuts, and then it will be the debt is imploding, we have to cut medicare, we have to cut medicaid. elon musk said yesterday that social security was not needed. it should be wiped out. it was an entitlement that needs to go away. they tell you ahead of time. he told you he wanted this tax cut ahead of time.

he tells you ahead of time. people don't listen and believe it, but you can see what is happening. they are cutting little things in the government. little things will not amount. the things he has cut so far, that is a drop in the bucket. that is a teardrop in a bucket of tears to get us in line. if you add big benefits, tax cuts for billionaires, jeff bezos paying that thing -- paying nothing, elon musk paying nothing, you are not balancing the budget. massie is an honest man that says i will not vote for a bill that gives tax cuts when we have debt. he is actually doing what ted cruz and all of those other guys -- but they lie. host: let me show what elon musk said about entitlements.

this is bloomberg reporting. musk says entitlements a big one to cut in doge's push. it says elon musk called entitlement spending including social security and medicare a key target for cuts, arguing the federal programs are plagued by fraud. musk, who is guiding president donald trump's government downsizing effort, said monday that entitlements with any will budgets of hundreds of billions of dollars were ripe for steep reductions. he made unproven claims about benefits, including democrats use them to attract and retain illegal immigrants by essentially paying them to come here and then turning them into voters. he also said there are widespread payments to dead people. here is scott, republican in oregon. hi, scott. caller: yeah. hello. ok. listen. ok.

last time trump was in office, i was living in portland, oregon. everybody, all the democrats owned the rights to everything but before covid hit, everybody started to say, wow, look how good everything is going. trump is pretty good. ok. trump is a workaholic. elon musk is the richest guy on the planet. he has all this spacex or whatever you call it. he has spaceships. he does all kinds of stuff. he is a genius. you think they are going to go in there and screw things up and make themselves look like idiots? no. they will run the country like a business. everyone will say, oh my god, they are good, aren't they? host: ok, got it.

john in maryland, democrat. you are next. caller: good morning. thank you. listen. ever since ronald reagan, they had the trickle down theory. trickle down theory. they give the money to the rich and expect the rich to trickle it down. i have not heard not one republican or one democrat talk about the poor people of this nation. the fourth cause of death in this country today is poverty. you don't hear trump. you don't hear the democrats. none of them talking about poverty. they only talk about the middle class. but the middle class is ok. it is the people at the bottom i am talking about. these ones calling here now. these poor white folks calling now, they don't understand. they really don't understand. they are being led by donald trump because he is a bigot. it is the first president i have seen in my life come on the television and brag about his bigotry. brag about it.

these people don't care nothing about you poor whites, poor blacks, or nothing. they just want to stay in power. and donald trump over that man is mentally ill. that man is a convicted felon but still trying to talk about law and order. it is a shame and scandal. now, when hannity questioned donald trump and elon musk about social security, medicaid, medicare, hannity asked them twice. they said no. now where is hannity holding donald trump accountable to what he said on that program he had? i would want it. these people will wake up. it is called trickle down theory. that is what will happen. let me say one more thing. nih saves my life -- saved my life. it literally saved my life. i had an eight hour operation on me. my father could not read or write because the education

system was in the state of south carolina so bigoted. my grandmother could not read or write. thank you, ma'am. host: caleb is in grandview, texas, republican. good morning. caller: good morning, everyone. i just wanted to discuss -- host: jim in delaware county, new york, good morning. caller: yes, good morning. yeah. in december when they had to balance the budget and all that stuff, trump wanted to raise the ceiling, the debt ceiling. and the only one in the republican party who said anything was chip roy, which is a complete surprise. he mentioned that they are going to do the trickle down, which they know it does not work. all it does is add debt.

here we are so many months later and they want to do it again so they can give all the money to willie and billy. what sense does that make? now on the other hand, all of you republicans that watch fox news, you don't know what is going on. i talked to a friend of mine who is a devout republican, and i said mr. trump said that zelenskyy started the war. he said, no, he didn't. i said they won't show that on fox. there has to be a little even -ness going on. host: let's take a look at senator chuck grassley. he was on the floor of the senate on monday talking about trade and tariffs. [video clip] >> for my colleagues who are protectionists, i think that

when it comes to the issue of trade, we need less of peter navarro and more of adam smith. i think the certainty that comes with trade policy will benefit our economy the most. hopefully we don't have a government shutdown this week. i want my colleagues to remember that it costs money to shut down the government. it costs money to open the government up. there is even some money being wasted this week as bureaucrats plan for a possible shutdown. the government is supposed to be servicing the american people. you can't serve the american people if government is not functioning. host: back to the phones to thomas, a republican in new jersey. hi, thomas. caller: how are you doing? i listen to your show all the

time, and it is nothing but everyone calls in with fake stuff. it is hilarious how people create these stories of this guy is no good or this guy is great. this lady is fantastic, this lady is horrible. it is all fake stories. to me it is a comedy show, and that is why i listen to it. i sit here doing my laundry and it is just hilarious the stories that come out of this channel. there is nothing true. 90% of it is all fake. good luck with everyone's life. save your money. and try your best. bye-bye now. thank you. host: kathy in lake geneva, wisconsin, independent mind. morning -- independent line, good morning. caller: morning. i am worried. i am 75 years old. i am worried what will

happen with social security and medicare. i rely on social security. i have no other source of income. i live in a complex where my rent is reduced based on my income. my rent is not going to go down enough if i end up with no social security. we have to stop fighting amongst ourselves. this has got to stop. i got my first job when i was 14 years old. i lied about my birth date in order to qualify to work in the state of illinois at that time. i worked 40 hours a week at the age of 14. i paid into social security for over 50 years. i don't think i should have to go to bed every night worried about whether or not i will have income. they need to stop torturing elderly people.

thank you so much for your time. bye-bye. host: here is cj in florida, democrat. good morning, cj. caller: good morning. i am just calling in to express my feelings also. i feel everybody has taken the situation as a sporting event. i believe that there is no more you have your opinion, i have my opinion, and whoever we vote in is who we vote in. in this generation, the past decade, it has been a sporting event. i feel that republicans, not all, but the majority of maga republicans have treated this as a football game, and winning something that honestly the world is seeing, plus us here in the united states seeing that we

lost. inflation is coming. analysts are telling us it is coming, but yet we have that win and i don't understand. host: cj, speaking of other countries, canada has a new prime minister, mark carney. this is part of his victory speech that he gave on sunday. take a look. [video clip] >> someone trying to weaken our economy. donald trump. donald trump. and donald trump, as we know, as the prime minister has just said, put unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell, on how we make a living. he is attacking canadian families, workers, and businesses. and we cannot let him succeed. and we won't. we won't.

[applause] i am proud. i am proud of the response of canadians who are making their voices heard and their wallets felt. i am grateful for how our provinces are stepping up to the fight because when we are united, we are canada strong. [applause] the canadian government has rightly went telling ended and is rightly would tally getting with our own tariffs that will have maximum impact in the united states and minimum impact here in canada. my government will keep our tariffs on until the americans show us respect. [applause] host: the new canadian prime minister, mark carney.

this is the associated press. ontario slabs 25% tax increase on electricity exports to the u.s. in response to trump's trade war. it says that the tariffs will go into effect monday, charging 25% more for electricity to 1.5 billion american homes and businesses in response to u.s. president donald trump's trade war. it says ontario provides electricity to minnesota, new york, and michigan. here is john in washington, d.c., independent. caller: good morning. host: morning. caller: i would like to speak to americans. c-span is the place that i think will help save america, believe it or not, because all americans, all walks of life call in and express themselves.

i have been a democrat all my life. i have seen the politics over the years. i believe in making things better, so-called. i will say this to the american people. i turned to an independent because of the variety of ideas. einstein had theories. not the theory of relativity but the theory of insanity. he says if you do the same thing repetitively, that is insanity. i have a novel idea. how about every election from now until the election of the next president of the united states, we all get together as americans and shake the foundation of america by all

voting independent? that would force them to work together. that would force them not to take sides. they would have to come down the middle. i don't care whether you are republican, democrat, independent, let's change things. let's make things different because doge is going in there and firing all of these people that pay taxes and add to the economy. they have children in schools. they have college they have to pay for. why fire money when you can take -- why fire people when you can take money? common sense to help the economy. i have a lot of stuff i can talk about but those are some of the things that can help shake the foundation of america. host: got it. here is james in massachusetts, independent. caller: hello, yes. good morning, everyone. i am calling to say it is time

to think differently. i was a registered democrat for many years. i became an independent doing the last few years. i call it a fiasco because that is exactly what it is. unfortunately, those in support of the maga movement do not agree. they absolutely disagree, and i am not sure what they are basing their disagreement on. we don't talk to each other. we talk past each other. first thing we need to do is communicate. so that is my suggestion. we need to start talking to one another. talk to your neighbor. talk to a person that you are not sure who they are. take that step because sometimes when you reach out like that, great things happen. yes, sometimes terrible things happen, but most of the time, great things happen. that is all i had to save. the positivity in our country needs to come back a little bit more. the negativity has gotten so bad

that now we are looking at our democracy falling apart. we are looking at our economy falling apart, our government falling apart. why? because we don't believe each other. let's start talking. let's start understanding what truth is, and then start applying it to our lives and each other's lives. let's look at each other. we are all the same. we are all on this planet together. i don't give a hoot what elon musk wants to do in terms of mars. it is out of this world. good luck with tesla. and carry on, folks. we will get through this. host: all right, james. by the way, c-span wants you our viewers to have a voice in the white house briefing room. if you have a question for press secretary karoline leavitt, send us an emailed to wh -- e mail to whquestions@c-span.org.

here is low again -- here is logan in washington. caller: i hope everybody has had a good morning this morning. it is bad for business. i am personally affected by this because i own a business. the policy uncertainty are detrimental for small businesses like me. i specialize in making -- host: ray in florida, independent line. caller: yeah. i have known donald trump for about 50 years. all he does is lie. host: ok. you need to mute your tv, ray. you know that, right?

caller: ok, hold on. let me find the remote here. host: while you are doing that, here is jennifer on facebook. while i disagree with sickly passingthe biden administration's budget -- passing the biden administration's budget to keep the status quo, i get it, hopefully cuts and more responsible spending will come soon. so many people making assumptions and do not actually bother paying attention. ray, you with us now? caller: i am with you. host: ok, go ahead. caller: i have known donald trump for over 50 years. and all he does is lie. and he says he is a great businessman, but he is not. 85% of his businesses he filed bankruptcy on or lost them. these people got to realize he

can't run a country. you can't file bankruptcy on a country. host: all right, ray. kathy on febook says it will be ok, and will pass. mocrats, calm down, they will nocusocial security. that is just your democrat party scaring you for future votes. wake up, people, democrats have been saying this for years and you still have social security. that is the time we've got for this hour, but coming up next, we will continue or become position about federal spending and president's economic plans with emily gee of the center for american progress and romina boccia from the cato institute. later, a conversation with rebecca pincus director, of the polar institute at the wilson center, about why president trump wants to take over greenland.we will be right back. ♪

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we are joined by emily gee a senior vice president for inclusive growth at the center for american progress and romina boccia is the entitlement director at the cato institute. welcome to you both. let us start with you and describe your organization and what position you take on economic issues. guest: we are a nonprofit, independent think tank, so we develop policy ideas and bring that into action. host: are you on the left, center, or right? guest: left-leaning. host: what about you? guest: the cato institute is a libertarian think tank and we believe in free markets, individual liberty and peace. host: so emily, let us talk about the current state of the economy. where are we right now and what would you say are the current strengths and weaknesses? guest: we appear to be heading into a trump slump.

if you look at the data they are our worrying signs for the economy. consumer sentiment has fallen by a few different measures. we expect inflation to be ticking higher because of the tariffs. we came into the year with a strong economy and historically low unemployment rates and the economy keeps adding jobs. under the surface there are worrying signs for a labor market that will be worse for workers and unemployment going up. host: let us look at the unemployment rate and i will get your reaction to that in the meantime. do you agree that we are heading into a trump slump? guest: it is not clear that we are seeing, but it is more volatility in part because of the uncertainty of trump policies including the tariffs that keep being introduced and pulled back and delayed. the economy and people investing

in the economy thrives on uncertainty and expectations all over the place. and that is affecting the figures. i do not know that we could say that we are going to for certain have a recession and what i am concerned about is that inflation has been going up slightly again and what we are looking at with the budget in the house and senate, it would increase spending and deficits and that would add to inflationary pressure. even if we do not end up in an economic slump we would pay higher prices as a resort of tariffs and a higher deficit. host: lies inflation going up now? the uncertainty or the tariffs, what is going on? guest: i think it is because of the tariffs because we inspect -- we expect that to increase prices for imports or intermediate products that u.s. producers use to produce things in the united states.

we live in a global economy so it is not as simple as president trump and the others make it out to be. if you slap a tariff, that will produce production in the united states. in many cases it reduces u.s. production because you increase the price of intermediate goods. host: emily, i have the numbers for the unemployment rate for february. 4.1% and jobs added 151,000. what do you make of the numbers? guest: those are strong headline numbers. if you look under the hood there are worrying signs. even though you added jobs you saw a huge jump in the number of people working part time. her hundred 60,000 more people were working part time because they could not get full-time hours or the company cut back. that is one thing. we have seen the unemployment rate tick up for some glue -- for some groups and jobless claims picking up. the full effect has -- of the

federal layoffs have not gone through yet. to the point about economic uncertainty, we are not sure the extent of the layoffs which could be bigger than they are now. we expect to see those filter through jobless claims in the coming months. host: let us look at kevin hassan who gave a bullish outlook on the economy during an interview with cnbc yesterday and then will have you respond. [video clip] >> near-term we have a biden economy and still most of the biden policies are in place. if you look at the atlanta fed gdp now number it is showing negative first-quarter which would be a metric of the inherent tension president biden. a lot of that is from a big increase in the trade deficit which you know and you have been covering, is happening because people are anxious about future tariffs and are stockpiling. that is a temporary phenomenon.

medium-term, what you are seeing the biggest tax cuts in history and a massive deregulation and productivity boom. and tariffs that even if you take the high end estimates they will be a tiny fraction of the size of the tax cuts which almost surely will be in place by the summer. if you think about what will happen to capital formation if you take the cost of capital measures goes up 10% or 11%, there are a lot of reasons to be bullish about the economy. but this corner there are some blips in the data including the negative gdp related to the biden inheritance and the timing affects the happening -- that are happening ahead tariffs. [end video clip] guest: i disagree. i think it is trump policies pushing up inflationary pressures. a lot of inflation is about expectations. if they think that input costs will increase and they need to pull ahead inventory in order to

get ahead of tariffs they will do that. we are seeing companies like best buy and target say that they are poised to increase prices. and we saw a decline in computer -- in consumer spending. consumers because of the uncertainty may be are putting off purchases of cars or home renovations because they do not know what the situation will be like a year from now. the effect for households for people like you and me will amount to a loss of over $1000 12,000 to $1600 by different estimates. so you do see the chilling effect on consumer household behavior as well as retailers saying that they expect slower sales and higher prices. host: what do you think of that and the outlook that kevin has heard of? guest: i agree with kevin on the medium and long term outlook. we have a fairly strong economy. the foundations are there for

growth. we are leaders in the ai boom and we have to see how that disperses and what the impacts will be in the future. but the tariffs are just frankly, horrible policy. i can only hope that as president trump sees these negative numbers at the drop in the stock market and gdp that he will to terms with the fact that the tariffs while they might look out on paper they are very destructive for the american economy. host: why? guest: because it drives up the cost of goods in the united states and it takes more money out of people's pockets. there is a misunderstanding about the trade deficit. that is due to the fact that the federal government is borrowing so much money it is not just a reflection of our import and export relationships but one of our primary exports is the u.s. dollar which is used in global markets and as a reserve currency in other countries.

as long as a u.s. runs a current-account deficit and if we will keep borrowing and have this high u.s. fiscal deficit, that creates the trade deficit that president has been lamenting. and they are talking about adding to that with the tax cuts that would not be paid for under the house or the senate plan. and then president trump has a hold at -- whole agenda that could add to this and fuel inflation. host: if you would like to add to our conversation you can do so. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. republicans are hoping to pass a continuing resolution in the house to keep the government funded until september 30. what do you think of the effort? guest: we looked at the details. it is 99 pages long. so for something that is

supposed to continue current policy there is a lot more going on in those almost 100 pages. there are several anomalies in part because it is highly unusual for the united states to have no budget for an entire year, especially when it comes to defense. there has to be flexibility as to allow for that mechanism. it is ultimately an abdication of fiscal responsibility and it is admitting that there is not enough strength in the congress to actually pass a budget. this is really just a band-aid to avoid a government shutdown which is clinically bad for both parties, potentially. it manages -- it depends on who manages to pass the blame. it does not rein in spending nor does it lock in the savings that doge has been putting forth or the officeof management and budget. there is a shiny object called doge where all of these people are thinking that spending cuts

are happening but congress has the power of the purse and if they do not enact the policies to actually lock in those savings in the future they will be easily reversed through the courts or the next administration. host: your response to the gop budget plan? guest: i worry that congress is given carte blanche to continue with reckless firing of federal workers and to make -- to freeze funding for head start facilities. to lay off people who work on suicide counseling or cancer research. and this is not a clean cr, this has all sorts of other things in it. this is not just a continuation of the budget. as patty murray has said it is creating a slush fund for elon musk and donald trump to continue to take away the power of the purse and to erode checks and balances. congress is supposed to be the one who decides how our tax dollars are spent. in the white house even this morning has been twisting the

arm of lawmakers telling them that they will illegally impound money if they have the funding from the department. host: what about entitlement programs which cost a lot of money and people are worried about social security, at a care medicaid. what needs to be done to make those programs is glee viable? guest: there are all sorts of reforms that you can do to make sure there is enough money flowing into the government including that the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share. really the biggest threat on the table this moment is the medicaid cuts in the reconciliation passed by the house. host: does it specifically say medicaid. guest: there are instructions to congressional committees on how they need to cut. energy and commerce was to cut $880 billion out of that jurisdiction. the way the methods up there is no way to do it without massive

coverage losses from medicaid. the urban institute projects that if congress were to do that through decreasing the federal matching funds that go to support states, about 16 million people could lose medicaid coverage. host: let us talk to the callers. ed a republican in new jersey. good morning. are you there? sam, woodland hills, california. independent line. that morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. the first is, and this is hypothetical and i do not know if it has happened. can a president lawfully refer -- refuse to ball up -- to borrow which would force congress to balance the budget? the reason i am looking forward to what president trump can do to reduce prices. what can he do? i remember.

covid -- i remember pre-covid a five dollar foot long from subway, i do not think you could reach that point again, so what can you do to bring down prices. i know inflation is one point, but we once defrayed -- deflation to reduce prices. thank you for taking my call. guest: there are a lot of policies that would help ease pressures on prices, including adopting a credible first -- fiscal framework. the reconciliation bill before congress is the avenue to do that. unfortunately, there is not enough appetite among republicans to reduce spending enough to stabilize the debt over the long term. given our deficits which are $2 trillion annually, it would take about $9 trillion in 10 year spending cuts to stabilize the debt meaning not add to it further as a percentage of our economy because the debt is

already at 100%. they are looking at at most $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion over 10 years coupled with about $4.5 trillion in revenue reductions from extending the 2017 tax cuts. the math does not add up and it will add to inflation. another way is to reduce regulation, which is a priority for president trump and they were very successful in that regard during the first term of the trump administration, which boosted wages and created one of the fastest-growing economies in the recent decades. those are some of the proposals. in the present refuse not to borrow money by saying i will not keep borrowing? maybe once we had the debt limit? not really. if congress authorizes more borrowing, the house budget resolution will increase the debt limit by $4 trillion. the president is bound to

execute the law faithfully, and that means continuing to issue bonds to cover that massive desolate -- deficit financing gap that we have. host: any comments? guest: the trump administration has pledged to lower prices and lower costs, and this is an area where he is making and breaking promises. one thing that would lower prices and inflation is reversing the tariffs. the tariffs that was -- that were put in place on canada and mexico are tariffs on our biggest trading partners and they are very broad-based. this is foreign policy and international economic policy by hatchet so americans will see higher prices for energy and for groceries and sporting goods and clothes. these are not targeted measures and these are tariffs that will increase costs for families by $1000. one simple way to do it would be

to decrease prices. and, one particular pain point is eggs. we have seen those prices continue to increase. part of that is the effect and concerns about bird flu. at the same time, the administration has laid off workers who do the medical research to develop future vaccines. they have laid off people who do surveillance of those epidemiological situations. they have laid off workers at the department of agriculture and hhs. so i worry about our ability to handle shocks like future pandemics or things that can affect our food supply. host: ed. independent in new jersey. caller: good morning. i am tuning in and i am listening to them carry on and say about the tariffs and how donald trump is not lowering

prices. what i'm confused is no president cryer has tried to address this issue -- no president prior has tried to do this issue. if he has said reciprocal, it will take time. they are saying the inflation and prices are going up by him. they had been up in the prior administration. it has been going on for so many years. the only away to attack that is to do something and he is trying to do something. at every avenue he goes they criticize him and he is not even there four or five months. when you enact the policy it takes time to triple down. he is trying to negotiate and bring corporations back here. manufacturing back here so we are not relying on somebody else. at the end of the day i will pay more money for making america better and bringing back work here and supplies that we need, then i guess i would rather pay

that then based on a new idea telling me that natural gas is no good and fossil fuels and so on and so forth. host: we will take your question. go ahead, emily. guest: i would welcome policies to lower the prices and the costs are things that are the biggest chunk of the american wallet say childcare or housing but we have yet to see that. instead we are seeing these tariffs and we are seeing -- host: the argument that these things take time to actually fix things. guest: if you actually wanted to fix things, tariffs could be tarred that could be part of your toolbox. what you would see is we should make investments of management -- of american manufacture and american education to have the skills for advanced manufacturing. that is what the chips and partisan act did for example. that was during the biden administration.

congress passed a bill to revamp u.s. manufacturing on semi conductors. that was a multipronged strategy that involved investments in manufacturing here. we have seen it go up over the last few years. it was also export controls and it was trade policy aimed at making sure that we could build things in america, but also we were not flooded by cheap replicas. guest: i appreciate the patriotism has shown in terms of saying i am willing to pay more if it means we have a stronger country down the road. the thing is, you do not have to. to the extent we are paying more is not a result of trade policies but that the federal reserve printed $5 trillion so the government could spend $6.5 trillion during the covid pandemic. it is a pure increase in the money supply and devaluing the u.s. currency, and that is why

we are paying more. these tariffs will not change that. i would agree with the caller that the biden green energy subsidies are one of the most distortionary policies adopted by the last administration. there are indications that one of the reasons we are seeing a shortage in some of the infrastructure for natural gas is in part because investment shifted towards green energy sources as a result of government subsidies, the inflation reduction act. and i disagree with emily on this. the way to bring down prices is not for the government to spend money and dole out subsidies to corporations. the way to increase our energy supply is through deregulation. and they are the trump administration is on the right course. host: would you like to respond? guest: the recent investment laws including the chips and science act and bipartisan

infrastructure law crowded in private spending. this is not just government spending but federal -- but private companies investing in america to build semi conductors and for clean energy. those laws also made clean energy cheaper. and we are making sure that americans can manufacture solar panels so we do not have to manufacture everything from china. the tariffs are doing the opposite. we are seeing not just the outgoing tariffs on -- by the united states that american consumers will be paying what see reciprocal tariffs from our neighbors including to -- including canada which will increase energy prices. host: from kevin, i thought it was on congress to levy tariffs?

guest: this is another area where congress, there are different types of levers that the u.s. government has at its disposal to place tariffs on foreign countries. this is another case where congress and the republican majority in congress is rubberstamping what the trump administration is doing and they are not standing up for going through the sorts of accountability measures that they should be holding elon musk and donald trump accountable fo r. making decisions about how federal prices are spent and we should be asking a lot of questions about what is the value of increasing prices for households on things like food and groceries. host: chance in san diego, california. chance? nope. roy in california.

republican. go ahead. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. it is refreshing to me to hear these two young women that actually spout facts, accurate facts. i know i am republican and we are going to hear quite a bit from the gullible and intellectually deficient and morally challenged maga cult members who are convinced that by cutting the federal employees and adding more people to the unemployment rolls is going to be beneficial for the country. actually, it is not going to be. and, i am happy and hoping that some more republicans would listen to this. it has been the agenda since

reagan to cut taxes. he phrased it as starving the beast. cut taxes, deny more government tax revenue coming in. the government is not a for-profit business. it cannot be operated as a for-profit business, ok? that is all i have to say. guest: i think we have seen that starving the beast does not work. we did not get to a $36 trillion debt because we did not -- because we did not tax people enough but because we are spending too much. what we are seeing that as the government decides to spend more, primarily on autopilot entitlement programs, a major health care programs and social security as well as interest on the debt, which is one of the fastest-growing categories and exceeded our spending on

defense, the budget is going further and further out of balance regardless of tax revenue. we need to look at reducing spending and capping the growth, which is out of control. to the degree that people value the services that the government provides and the benefits that a particular support that support vulnerable americans that rely on services, we will not be able to afford those if we have a masco -- massive fiscal crisis that we are racing towards with the 100% of gdp. and after this budget cycle plays out, if the senate gets its way and adopts the current policy baseline where they pretend like the 2017 tax cuts extending will not cost anything, that could drive the debt to 130% of gdp over the next 10 years until the question is how high our interest rates going to go and how much is the

federal government going to spend on interest on the debt which consumes more of our revenues and eats into the ability for the government to exercise its core functions. in terms of downsizing. the way to do it is the administration is doing what they think they can without congress because congress has abdicated so much responsibility. there is a government reorganization act that would allow and initiate the process of eliminating inappropriate government spending including on programs such as head start and consolidating federal functions and getting rid of duplication and addressing some of the waste, fraud and abuse to the tune of $500 billion annually in an organized fashion where congress can vote on those recommendations so the administration does not have to go it alone. guest: can i pick up on one point is that you cannot run government like a for-profit business. because when you do not perform

essential functions people died. they are real consequences. a couple of examples. doge has gone after transportation funding. to the point where sean duffy, the transportation secretary has been worried about air safety. they have also cut spending on biomedical research the point where there are cancer researchers who cannot go through with the medical trials that patients are enrolled in. so we are undermining the future development of drugs and cures for cancer. and then, the administration laid off and i called back -- and then called back some of the people responsible for the u.s. nuclear arsenal. these are things that we all rely on and there is too much at stake to be playing roulette with federal firings. host: i want to show you from yesterday on abc this week, the united autoworkers president

talked about his respect -- his support for the president's tariffs and then respond to it. [video clip] >> we are in crisis mode in this country. there is no single issue that has affected our economy and working-class people in their jobs than nafta, the usmca and/or trade laws. the broken trade system. we are in crisis mode. and we are triaging. i hear this debate about blanket tariffs and all this stuff but we are in a triage situation. tariffs are a way to stop the bleeding from the hemorrhaging of jobs in america. as we speak right now, decisions are being made. there are over 2000 people laid off at a truck plant in michigan. stellantis is shifting truck production to mexico. they could change overnight and move it right back to michigan and put people back to work.

you have deere workers in wisconsin and mack truck in pennsylvania where the companies say they will move their jobs to mexico. so tariffs are not the end solution but they are a huge factor in creating and fixing this problem. [end video clip] host: what do you think of that? guest: tariffs are a tool that we use for trade and economics. there is a right place and wrong place. and donald trump has instituted a very broad and sweeping tariffs against our biggest allies. the fact that you saw the administration delay the auto parts tariffs by a month is a sign that reality is that these tariffs will be increasing the cost of american consumers on cars to the tune of thousands of dollars and they will hurt business. you saw the big automakers lobby the white house to push back the tariffs because this will be a big hit for them. host: eric in a soda.

democrat. good morning. caller: i have three issues. i'm reporting a 4.5 trillion dollar theft against our government. i am reporting a cover-up and i am reporting an accomplice. the theft is occurring because he is taking the salaries of good working people, vital people that monitor airways and etc. and he is going to give that money to billionaires. that is theft. mark sandy from moody's, who is one of the top accountants in the world went on c-span and said that the tax cuts since reagan are the number one driver of the deficit that has appeared since clinton, end of story. others can say that it is because you are giving out medicare. that would be a choice. if you want to cut off your grandmother, that would be a choice as opposed to giving it

to a billionaire. you will have to decide right about now, his grandma more important or is it more important to stuff the pockets of billionaires? what is a cover-up? box. the russian mob. they are creating an agenda driven not by facts, but the need to pump up this group that is undertaking the theft. and you hear it in the voices of the c-span people who are calling and saying you did not know the facts at all. they are being fed a line which is akin to what happened in the third reich where geobbels fed false facts and people followed up. how did that work out? they all died. guest: the rhetoric on the tax cuts and what is driving the growth in the spending does not match up with reality. there is this convenient myth that if we just taxed corporations and the wealthy

more that we could close the federal budget deficit and make sure that we could fund unsustainable programs like medicare and social security and not have to worry about it. that is not true. if you raise taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, and by the way taxes levied on corporations are paid by workers and consumers. at most even democrats have conceded you will raise another two percentage points of gdp and revenues. that gets you to 19% of gdp and meanwhile spending is growing to almost 30% of gdp over the next 30 years and it is primarily driven by health care and social security and my good friend is a trustee and he has put forward a great paper that details what exactly is driving the growth and spending. it is not the tax cuts. it is medicare, social security

and the introduction of medicaid. i am excited that the house budget committee is looking at addressing some of the worst offenders in the medicaid program including the provider tax money laundering scheme that is bleeding about $600 billion from federal tax players -- payers that was a loophole that president palma -- that even president obama suggest as well as the medicaid expansion to able-bodied individuals that has taken away services from the traditional medicaid problem -- populations including pregnant women, children and individuals with disabilities because under the obama administration they decided that the federal government should reimburse states at higher rates for covering able-bodied individuals instead of the most vulnerable americans that primarily rely on medicaid. we have another half $1 billion in savings if you address that issue. guest: there are ways to streamline government but gutting retirement security and

taking away health care coverage from 16 million people, the majority of whom are working is not the way to do it. if you want to be fiscally responsible. one thing that is before congress is the tax cuts that expire at the end of the year. donald trump said that he wants to go through with this for trillion dollar tax package that would benefit the wealthy. it would give $1 trillion of tax cuts to the top 1%. and they are doing this by gutting medicaid and gutting food assistance. host: what do you think of that? do you believe that those tax cuts should be allowed to expire or be made permanent? guest: the tax cuts should be made permanent. if you look on a percentage basis. the biggest tax cut is going to the bottom 50% of earners. on a dollar basis which is what emily compared, you see a higher tax cut because about 75% of the

tax burden is bourne by the top 10% of earners. what the american people need to understand is that if we do not reform federal health care and retirement programs, middle class and lower income americans will have to pay higher taxes in the future. you cannot extend tax cuts if you do not reduce the spending that those taxes would otherwise fund. it has to go hand-in-hand. extend the tax cuts, make them permanent because it provides certainty for businesses which will booth grote -- boost growth and you have to pay for them and you have to do so with the spending reductions and that is where you are falling short. host: doug in maryland. independent. caller: i just want to talk about the budget. we are in such a deficit. we have trump in his first term ballooning the deficit and other president has also.

he is in office and we are talking about him now. it will obviously balloon again. he threatened to leave nato in the first term and that is obviously coming back around again. secretary musk is on board with it. we will lose nato and our defense around the world. we will not have any strategic areas to defend ourselves. but we are going to keep hoping that china buys our debt so we can keep spending our military spending? it will have to triple what we are spending now if we lose nato. we will not have protection and we have to keep hoping that china buys our debt so we can defend ourselves. host: what do you think? guest: if you are someone who believes that your budget is your values, i think the budget proposal on the table in the reconciliation bill and constructions that contradicts past -- that congress passed, it

will be extending tax cuts wall cutting programs that americans rely on. if you look at the growth to jet ddp -- gdp ratio, the biggest factors are our -- for those are the donald trump tax cuts and the bush tax cuts. host: joanne. nevada, republican. caller: i do not approve of either of these ladies that are on right now. i want to ask ms. gee that says all of the manufacturing jobs are back, i just checked on the labor statistics, 2024, joe biden and all of your great economy, they lost 80,000 manufacturing jobs. where did those go? thank you. host: go ahead. guest: if you look over decades we have seen a lot of

manufacturing move overseas. i am talking pre-biden. you had this china shock where a lot of manufacturing move to china. that is why you have seen not just trump and biden put tariffs on chinese goods to prevent or delay of -- to level the playing field for fair competition. i was referring to manufacturing construction. the reality is whether it is private or public investment and it has been private companies that have been investing in plants in the united states. it takes a while for those to get filled. you have to build a plant and then you have to hire the workers. we are at the point from the infrastructure investments from the chips and science investments where things are being built and you see that in the numbers and a sharp increase in manufacturing construction and eventually those will become manufacturing jobs if the trump administration does not interrupt that. you saw at the state of the

union that trump took a dig at the chips and science act. so that is an investment that is on track to build semi conductors in the united states. host: a question on text from crystalline -- crystal in portland, maine. can you speak about the trump deportations andhat ll affect the economy. i live in a small town in maine. we have a lot of older homes in aimit amount of construction workers. one of our local contractors had a guatemalan roofing crew. they were great and they helped a lot of homeowners." and they continue. guest: immigration is a boon to the economy. the people who come to the united states primarily come to work. we should have more legal immigration and an easier pathway for people who want to contribute to the economy to do so. our immigration policy is broken and this is another example of

congressional abdication in dealing with issue that really could both fuel revenue for the u.s. federal government. many immigrants, and those who are here illegally are contributing to social security and the medicare trust funds and never collect those benefits. if people are concerned about immigrants consuming u.s. welfare, there is a very simple fix, close off the welfare system, dues -- do not close off the border. guest: and the economic data, his threats of mass deportation of immigrants is pushing up prices. immigrants are part of the economy. people come here and they contribute. we are overdue for reforms to create better and more effective legal pathways to immigration. but the bluster that trump has, what his administration is doing towards deportations, it has a lot of people concerned about

businesses to hire the workers they need and that could put pressure on prices making it more expensive for households to buy things and adding to the pressure coming from tariffs. host: north manchester, indiana. democrat. caller: good morning. do you think that the president and musk are encouraging a government shutdown so they can further the project 25 plan to dismantle the government? guest: nobody wants a government shutdown which is why we have a weak continuing resolution to keep government spending going the way it was initiated during the biden administration. you would think that republicans with their newly gained majority would seize the reins of the federal budget process and do all of the things they say they support including eliminating the department of education, which is something that elon

musk and president trump have put a spotlight on. that is not what is happening. i worry that there is more rhetoric about spending cuts but in actuality spending is continue to grow. guest: on the point of shutdown it is clear who controls the white house, donald trump. and republicans control both chambers of congress. if a shutdown happens it is very clear who was not able to pass the bill. host: what do you think about the president and a lot of republican lawmakers saying that elon musk's effort is going to provide revenue that will offset those tax cuts. what do you think that? guest: so, i think it is very unclear what elon musk is doing. every day we hear news about new federal layoffs and hirings and then they call back some of those people. the scope is still a big unknown and that is what is driving this policy that is plaguing business investment decisions and helping

driving the s&p 500 down 2.7% yesterday. i think the end game is clear. they want these tax cuts which benefit billionaires in the wealthiest and they are doing it i getting services that ordinary americans rely on. whether that is freezing funding for head start, taking away school lunch programs that go into the pockets of farmers across the country, or gutting food security and health care. host: ron in michigan, independent line. caller: i would like to make a comment to both you ladies. i taught school for 32 years and i am up here in my low 80's. but, i commend you for your honesty and the facts that you are putting forward to the people of america. i think that trump's new deal is out the window. i am waiting for midterm when people like you will change the attitude of the people in this

country to change congress to the democrats. i am not necessarily a democrat. i listen and follow the facts and follow through. you guys are doing an excellent job of teaching the american people. that is what we need. we need people to stop listening to some of the fox channels because i think c-span is letting people know exactly -- women like you need to run for office. i would love to see you in the congress and challenge the people with the knowledge. for that, i am looking forward to seeing trump gradually deteriorate the value of the republican party because they are basically destroying this country as a whole, economically, socially, and spiritually. that i do not like. host: are you going to run for

congress? guest: i do not have plans to at the moment. i would say that our spending crisis is a bipartisan problem, as several callers has mentioned. presidents from both parties have overseen a huge increase in the debt and this is not a problem we will solve on a partisan basis. so people often think just boat -- just boat in the other party but we have seen debt go out -- go up on both sides. i have been a bid advocate for recognizing that congress is not willing to make the tough spending reduction decisions that are necessary to stabilize our debt and ensure future prosperity and the national security of our country. i have been calling for congress to establish a commission. it should be structured like the enlightenment control -- closure commission which closed obsolete military bases as a great model

for how congress can overcome political gridlock and stabilize the debt, which has eluded them for far too long. last year we had the fiscal commission act passed out of the house budget committee under the leadership of chair jodey arrington who is the chair right now as well. it was a very good approach to get members of congress and experts on both sides of the aisle together under a shared goal of ensuring that we have a strong nation going forward and we do not wait for a fiscal crisis to force congress's hands. they will keep spending like there is no tomorrow until tomorrow comes. at that point we could face severe asteria day that would make -- austerity, that could make the great recession look like a blip or lose the united states status as -- the dollar as a global reserve currency.

they are severe implications of letting debt grow out of control and now is the time to rein it in. guest: i want to thank him for his kind words. those where the optimistic thing to say at a time when we are seeing a tax on people in public service. and the reckless layoffs by elon musk and donald trump are helping show americans that it is not just faceless bureaucrats. it is park rangers. it is people who help you out in your local social security office. it is cancer researchers and people who staff the v.a. system to make sure that people who served our country in combat can get the care that they need. so thank you for that. i think looking ahead into what the outlook for congress is, i hope people regardless of their party will stand up for the checks and balances which has been part of the country since its inception. congress has the power of the

purse and they should be making sure that the trump administration follows through on what they have appropriated. host: the caller talked about the need for better education. where do people need to go for information about the economy, especially given that a lot of people no longer trust the media? guest: the federal reserve publish statistics for people who want the latest data on unemployment measures. there is a site run by the federal reserve banks, fred. so, i think some of the things that i will watch as we see what unfolds this year are those hard data sources from survey data from the federal government which is important to fund though so they are accurate. household surveys and surveys that talk about payroll and unemployment rates.

i am watching the consumer sentiment surveys which are good early indicators of where the economy is headed including the university of michigan's survey. the conference board sentiment index and both of those were trending down which is worrying. host: rick in sheffield lake, ohio. democrat. caller: good morning. i have a question. i am an average working guy and i make about $16,000 a year and i pay taxes. i have friends who are very wealthy and they are always complaining about paying too much in taxes. so i made them an offer and i said i will tell you what, i will switch places. you make $16,000 a year and pay little taxes and i will make all of the money you make and pay a lot of taxes. the funny thing is, none of them want to switch. why is that? thank you. host: any comments? guest: it is a very generous

offer. the u.s. tax code is highly progressive. the top 10% of income earners pay 70% of all federal income taxes. while they rake in about the top 1% rake in about 22% of total income, they cover about 40% of the total income tax burden so his friends might not be wrong that their share of federal taxes is much higher. people making $60,000 a year do get hit with payroll taxes and if we decided not to reform social security benefits, slowing the growth of benefits in the future, but just tax people more in order to pay for the funding gap that we face, people like the caller making $60,000 a year could face up to a $10,000 payroll tax burden with their tax burden going up by $2600 per year.

so, we also need to reform social security and federal health care programs if we want to keep taxes low and have a vibrant economy for the american people. guest: it is not enough to look at income tax brackets and payroll taxes. a lot of the tax giveaways in the tax code can be and they mostly go to benefit the wealthy. so things like lower rates on capital gains. there are a lot of deductions that are basically end up lowering the tax obligations for people who are wealthy and make their money off of things other than wages and salaries. and that is part of the reason why the wealthy and corporations are not paying the fair share that they owe to pay for the government services that we need and to help pay down. host: one more call, anthony in rochester, new york. independent. caller: great program this morning and good discussion.

a couple of things that i wanted to address. i know the category of social security, medicaid and medicare are referred to as entitlements. i have worked for about 45 years and i looked at it and i looked at my social security statement. i paid over $340,000 combined myself and my employer into social security. so, what interest over the period of time over 45 years the interest that the government earned. i paid over $100,000 for medicaid -- for medicare. again, combined between myself and my employer. if they will start cutting social security, can we get my money -- can i get my money back with interest and call it even? he started his whole project off saying that he could cut 2 trillion dollars without touching entitlements and then he was saying we will have to take social security and cut that. it was obvious in the beginning he could not achieve it and get

his goals without doing that. the other thing i will talk about is a talk about having the president saying we have to feel some pain and we have to be bad before we can be good again. it is ridiculous. you know what pain would be? leaving the tax cuts and letting them expire. host: go ahead. guest: i have not seen any legislator proposed to reduce medicare or social security benefits for people already on the roles. i do think there is a real opportunity and a need to reduce the growth in those benefits for future unofficial areas because they are incredibly unsustainable. most of medicare is not funded by the payroll tax but already funded by general revenue taxes. in terms of the caller and others might have been better off if they had been able to invest the money that they had taken from them by the government into private retirement accounts and private health savings accounts and

reaped actual returns because there is this misconception that the government did not earn any interest on those social security revenues either because they were spent immediately. social security is already running a cash flow deficit of more than $100 billion that will grow to almost 700 at the time the trust fund will be depleted by 2033. medicare and social security are driving us into a debt crises as a financial report of the united states government details. more than 100% of unfunded obligations, the gap between spending and the revenues that government will bring in can be attributed to medicare, two thirds of that and social security. host: that is romina boccia and also emily gee, at the center for american progress. thank you for joining us. up next, a conversation with rebecca pincus, director of the

polar institute at the wilson center about why president trump to take over greenland after the break. ♪ >> in the years right before world war ii started, in 1939, winston churchill had been out of government. even though he was far from power, his country home became his headquarters of his campaign against nazi germany. catherine carter is a curator and historian who manages the house and connections. her new book is called " churchill's citadel." she reveals how he used chartwell, 35 miles from london, as his base during the prewar years to collect key intelligence about germany's preparations. >> author catherin -- katherine

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when you hit play on select videos. the timeline tool makes it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's points of interest. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back. we are joined by rebecca pincus, polar institute director at the wilson center. welcome to the program. guest: thank you so much. host: president trump repeated his intention to make greenland a u.s. territory in his address to congress. let's take a look at that moment. we will get your reaction. [video] pres. trump: i have a message for the people agreement. -- agreement. we support the right to determine your future and if you choose, we welcome you into the united states of america. we need greenland for national

security and international security. we are working with everyone to get it. we need it really for international world security. i think we are going to get it. one way or the other, we are going to get it. we will keep you safe. we will make you rich. together we will take greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before. it's a very small population. very, very large piece of land and very important for military security. host: he mentioned it was important to u.s. national security. why is that? guest: greenland has been vital to the united states for 75, 80 years. ever since world war ii. in world war ii, the weather war was fought over greenland . weather stations could give allies or axis powers information about fighting conditions in the north atlantic, a strategic waterway

between the united states and europe. the united states occupied greenland during the war. as technology advanced throughout the cold war we built a u.s. military base in northwest greenland. in the era of inter-conical -- intercontinental listing missiles we placed radar systems up there to give us advanced warning of missile threats coming over the polar region to threaten united states homeland. throughout successive generations of military technology, greenland stayed vital. it is this far northern location that point to eurasia and any missile threat coming towards the united states from eurasia will be passing over those polar projectors -- trajectories. from a homeland defense and missile-defense perspective, greenland is vital. the second piece of important is it sets of the western end of

the sea lanes of communication across an automatic. the giuk cap. -- gap. that is where we can try to find and track russian submarines exiting from their home bases down to the north atlantic and getting out into the world oceans. it's incredible vital we tracked him there at the narrowest point before they can escape. from antisubmarine warfare perspective and from that missile-defense perspective, greenland is really important and has been for a very long time. host: why do we just expand the military base? why do we have to own all greenland? guest: that's a conversation to be had about our security interests in the best way to meet them in the current era. we are in a new generation of technology. we are dealing with hypersonic missiles and delivery systems. new space-based threats. there is important satellite station in greenland.

it is part of a broader conversation when you think about the new era of missile-defense. there's a number of different approaches to securing u.s. security interests there. those are vital and always have been. host: there is greenland's mineral wealth. explain what they have and why that's important to us. guest: greenland has a tremendous interval endowment. virtually anything you can think of. a lot of critical minerals that we know are important to modern technology. a lot of interest in critical minerals today. we are earth elements. uranium, precious metals. there's an active ruby mine and gold mine. it is a huge area. greenland is three times the size of texas. a really, really big island. yet there has been very little mining activity. it is very untouched. that is tremendously important as there is so much interest in

critical minerals and every thing else. the reason it is largely untouched is challenging their. it is very expensive when you're dealing with an arctic environment. there's a giant ice sheet. there are some real hurdles to mining it. that's important to bring into the conversation. we focus on the minerals and not necessarily the process of getting them out of the ground. guest: speaking of the environment, talk about the impact climate change has had on greenland. guest: we are seeing ice melts coming off the ice sheet. that impacts sea level rise. potentially ocean circulation throughout the north atlantic. the gulfstream and the over r current runs over the east coast. it keeps europe warm. there are concerns about the future of greenland's ice sheet and the current. those are very macro and long-term trends. greenland is vital to global

climate, absolutely. host: if you would like to join the conversation, if you have a question for our guest about greenland, about the geopolitics of the arctic, give us a call. the numbers are democrats, (202) 748-8000. it is (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independents. greenland is self governed territory. it is controlled by denmark. explain what that means and what the role of denmark is in greenland's economy and security. guest: i'm happy you asked about that. it is really important. greenland is a former danish colony. as with any former colony, there is a fraught history. over the last several decades, greenland moved more towards greater autonomy and political power. along with the faroe islands who are also part of denmark.

one the most significant steps was in 2009, the self will act. -- self-rule act. k gave greenland -- it gave greenland a lot of political autonomy. education, health care, policing, domestic concerns are controlled by the greenlandic government. denmark maintains control defense and foreign policy, although it conducts the policies and consultation with green vendors. -- greenland ers. there are structures or interaction. it is still part of the kingdom of denmark. greenlanders want independence. that has been expressed. they have been on a trajectory towards more and more political autonomy over the years. more and more control over their land. that process is something where we see the danish and greenland ic governments working together closely along that pathway.

host: this is the guardian. greenland calls for general election for 11 march. that is today. what is going on and what you effect to happen? guest: it is a regular election. it is not a snap or emergency election. the parliament is up for election today. there are 31 seats. greenlanders are voting so we should see results tomorrow. it will be interesting to see what happens. right now the government is led by a coalition of the two majority parties. they are both relatively center. ia holes 11 seat. the other holds 10. there are smaller parties, five or six total. it will be interesting to see if the distribution of seats changes as a result of all the attention greenland has been getting. what is good to look for is

going to be if there is a change in the relative distribution of seats among parties that are more or less eager to pursue independence. there's a political consensus around independence in greenland. i'm happy to talk more about that. host: what is the general public in greenland -- is only 56,000 people there -- what do they think about becoming part of the united states? guest: polls indicate a majority of greenlanders do not want to do that right now. but also, there is a political consensus around independence. pc significant majorities wanting to pursue independence. i think many greenlanders see the u.s. as incredibly vital partner.

we had a presence there from the base for decades. it's an important relationship. i think there is interest in a closer relationship with the united states with investment. greenland needs investment to develop its economy and to achieve eventual independence. it will need to go its economic foundation. i think united states is seen as a potential partner. focusing from polling is that it does not appear there is popular support now for becoming formally part of the united states. host: you mentioned the arctic, the geopolitics. china and russia have increasing their presence there. they have been doing joint exercises together in the arctic. what is their interest and what is the concern for the united states? guest: absolutely. russia is the largest arctic state. it controls about half of the

arctic coastlines. it's always been incredible important from a regional perspective. china is interested in the arctic and has been for many years. host: even though they are not an arctic state? guest: yes. china is very far away from the arctic. about a decade ago they were talking a lot about being in the arctic state, giving a lot of foreign investment in the arctic region. that wave of attention and pressure has receded to a certain extent. we see less pressure from chinese investors, although there have been attempts to invest in greenland and around the arctic region. finland, canada, sweden, alaska. china is a resource importing state and major shipping state. the arctic is full of natural resources and shipping lanes. it is not surprising that china is interested in the arctic region.

we do need to guard against their potential to gain influence there and undermine the rules-based order of there -- up there. we have seen joint exercises, joint naval exercises, a coast guard agreement. most of those have been focused on the bering sea off of alaska. we see chinese research icebreakers conducting science missions in the arctic region every summer. sure, they are probably collecting sensitive data as well. that is the reality of the world these days. host: it is probably spy missions, not science? guest: i think we have to assume these days there is some scientific research and there is probably some intelligence gathering on what else is out there. we can't keep china out of the arctic. they are conducting science

missions. they get permission to go into states to do science. the state department has a granting chinese research expeditions access for many years. this is long-standing practice. so has canada and russia. we see these chinese expeditions. i think what it behooves us to do is to be smart about recognizing the reality of a global competition in which every part of state activity is competitive. we know with china that the use the -- they use their spending and companies to compete with us economically. they are keep eating -- competing with us scientifically. it is not immune from the global dynamics. in the past there was a strong narrative that the arctic was different. it was separate. it is what happens in the arctic stays in the arctic, and that is not true anymore it has not been

for several years. host: let's talk to callers. kurt in altoona, pennsylvania. democrat. caller: how are you today? i have a couple of observations. i'm a retired history teacher in high school and college. first of all, article two does not permit trump to arbitrarily say i want greenland. there would have to be -- congress would have to qualify that. denmark is a sovereign nation. they say no, you cannot just bully someone into doing that. you have to think about the environment of factors also where greenland is. it's a lot of fresh water going into the atlantic ocean. as your guest said, it helps --

conveys the warm water on the coast. you have environmental factors. you don't just say we are going to take greenland. i don't see that is ever going to happen. they already have a base. they have talked about expanding the base there. as far as going back to one thing, that the social security fund has been raided by reagan and other presidents. host: go ahead. his comment about the base and president trump said we will get essentially greenland "one way or another." for the possible scenarios as to how the administration will get greenland? guest: i appreciate the president starting those comments by speaking directly to the people of greenland and

recognizing the right to self-determination. that is the starting point. greenlanders have the right of self-determination. the pathways here for them to pursue change, whether it is independence or some other form of arrangement start with greenlanders. i mentioned the 2009 self-rule act. it laid out a way they can achieve independence. there is a pathway for greenlanders to gain independence. it begins with a referendum vote. then negotiations with start between greenland and denmark. they would have to come to an agreement that would be accepted by both parliaments. the caller is right. this is something that would certainly take up a long time. i think from a practical perspective, for the u.s. to acquire greenland would be practically very challenging. there are a number of hurdles

but i welcome the conversation about what options there may be for the u.s. and greenland to work together more closely. that conversation about deepening their relationship, recognizing the importance agreement to the united states and nato tying us altogether, that is welcome and hopefully in president trump's first administration we saw interest in greenland too. the net effect was that closer u.s.-greenland ties. we opened a consulate in the capitol. several agencies began partnerships with greenland. they are benefiting both parties. there is a potential for this conversation to yield some promising results. host: during the first term it was an offer to buy greenland. it seems like that is off the table at this point. guest: it is hard to tell what the specific policy options are

under consideration. the greenlanders do not appear interested in becoming part of the united states. i think right now we are in this sort of phase where there's a lot of things talked about and when you start looking at the realities of different policy options and a question of cost, risk, and relative priority vis-a-vis other challenges, we will get to a place where some of the more drastic choices probably slide off the table. host: rebecca pincus is a polar institute director at the wilson institute. we're talking about national security and greenland. the lines are open. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. we will talk to art in illinois

on the independent line. caller: good morning. i would like to ask why is there a not a close tie between denmark and greenland? a very close tie between greenland and denmark? the relationship. host: what is your question about that? caller: denmark is part of nato. it's also a member of the united nations. how can we look at denmark and greenland separately? go ahead. guest: greenland is part of the kingdom of denmark along with the faroe islands. there are very close ties. while greenland gained more political autonomy, he remains

significant legal ties. constitutional ties as part of the kingdom. the danish government maintains control over defense and foreign policy. also, the danish government provides an annual block grant to greenland. it is a significant financial assistance that is vital. there is strong economic connections there. host: how much is it per year? guest: it's about half a billion dollars. roughly 40% to 50% of the greenlandic gdp. that has always been into the reality of the independence conversation, the financial peace becomes a little more challenging. i should note there is a significant greenlandic diaspora in greenland -- in denmark. there are thousands of greenland ers who live abroad in denmark and there are strong family ties. there's a lot of intermarriage and people traveling back and

forth. there are strong ties that find denmark and greenland. that's important to recognize in this conversation. host: calyx in -- alex in massachusetts. caller: i'm calling from harvard, massachusetts. i don't think we are going to get greenland. i believe it will compromise national security. the country already looks like a joke. host: here is jennifer in oak park, illinois. caller: hi, mimi. i'm so excited to talk to you. this is the first time i have gotten through. host: is this riddle? jennifer? are you brittle on -- riddle on x? host: i see your stuff. caller: sometimes i get a

little crazy on there. ma'am, for your guest, i find it ridiculous we are even talking and discussing this and you are trying to pretend like somehow this is normal and could happen. he's talking about going to war and taking over another sovereign country. that's a democracy and part of nato. would that not trigger nato to defend greenland and denmark against america? wouldn't we be breaking, you know, our contract with nato? the whole idea that this could happen -- they are on here making it sound like this is ok. that this is normal. that this should happen. i find it completely insulting. i can't imagine people in greenland and denmark and around the world listening to you talk

like this is somehow possible. like this isn't the most disgusting, awful thing. host: let's get a response. guest: there's been a lot of attention on the fact that president trump has refused to take military options off the table. i think it is not surprising that the president would refuse to limit himself and i think we are seeing a characteristic approach to this issue. i do think that military intervention is exceedingly unlikely. it is part of the conversation now but when the realities of different policy choices start getting fleshed out, a lot of the options that are currently being discussed now are probably going to slide off the table

because, you know, it would not necessarily be appealing. you think about cost, risk, relative privatization. that's a typical analytic framework. the military option would be extreme the high cost and high risk because of the nato issue. when we think about high-level u.s. priorities, i find that very unlikely. it's getting a lot of attention now, which is not surprising but focusing on the really constructive ways we can build closer u.s.-greenland ties and the different options and that set look like, that gets us into a different conversation. host: setting aside the military option, there's also economic coercion. you can put a lot of tariffs on denmark and pressure them that way. guest: denmark is part of the

european union. it is hard to tariff them directly. we are seeing the conversation with the eu now and that's creating. some tension -- some tension. greenland is part of denmark. it makes it into a broader conversation. we are seeing a lot of talk about tariffs from the administration. again, we see there is -- tariffs are being delayed or lifted a low bit. there is a rhetorical piece of it and then there is the actual implementation side. there's often a gap. host: keith in st. petersburg, florida. independent line. caller: good morning. great to have a great conversation about greenland . i think from a lot of people's standpoint, trump gets a bad rap about issues like this. the way i think people like

rebecca who were in the know might say is it is associated with panama. panama was a small independent country that the u.s. feels is being managed by an adversary, china, in terms of the panama canal. he's looking at greenland sitting out there with very few people in a very vulnerable position in a strategic place and he is thinking, yeah, we need to establish our influence and interest in protecting greenland from adversaries that are also creditors. -- predatory adversaries like china and russia. it is a dangerous world out there. people in this country, we start worrying about marines invading greenland to rag on trump and they are doing a disservice to

the conversation. i would like rebecca's assessment. guest: thank you. i think it is so much of the conversation is high-level in a can be hard to sort out some of the key elements from the broader conversation. talking about the risks to greenland are important because that would be at the root of any sort of analysis of u.s. policy options. yes, greenland is a large island. it is populated by about 57,000 people. most of the island is relatively uninhabited. it is mostly covered by nice sheet. there is very important u.s. b ase in the northwest. that base is important for missile-defense. the risks to greenland i would

classify as primarily on the economic and influential site. i don't worry about an invasion of greenland. while it is relatively likely defended -- lightly defended, the primary target would be the base. i don't think we need to worry about the seizure of greenland by russia or china. the primary concern is that creeping economic influence that undermines the political independence of the country and puts the u.s. base and u.s. interests at risk. if that is the risk we are talking about, the set of policy solutions would be tailored to that risk, right? we would be focused primarily on walking -- blocking potential chinese influence and making sure greenland stays part of the nato alliance. it's important to get the

conversation into specifics because then we can have a conversation about what u.s. options would be, various costs and risks of those choices. for a long time we have relied on not only the nato alliance but also the bilateral defense agreement we have had with denmark. and by extension greenland. we've had a bilateral defense agreement that was updated in 2004 to give greenland a greater say. and we have the nato architecture. those two pieces are important in our evolving security environment. there's a conversation about whether more is needed to make sure that chinese influence does not grow in greenland. again, that's a valuable conversation. thinking about greenland's trajectory towards independence and minerals and growth trajectory, how can the support that in ways i don't -- that ensure our competitors don't

have an edge, i welcome that. host: a few facts to share with you. it is th world's largest isnd. its three times the size of texas. it is self-governing territory of denmark. the population is 56,000, mostly in did u.s. inuit peop. 80% is covered by ice. the economy is mainly based on fishing. it receives large subsidies from the danish government that accounts for about a fifth of its income or gdp. here is lancey in rocky mount, north carolina. democrat. caller: yes. president trump is so bold when he talks about using the military when it comes to -- host: did we lose you? caller: no. i'm here. host: keep going.

jeff in port angeles, washington. caller: good morning. as far as greenland's defense and strategic position, in the first place, there are seafloor sensors that track every single summary on this planet. as far as it being some sort of early warning against icbms, again, that is just not true. satellites are positioned geosynchronous and in low-earth orbit. thinking that greenland is some kind early warning system for strategic missile defense is

crazy. as far as the economic aspect of it, i cannot speak to that. in terms of the defense, that is crazy talk. host: what is your background in national security or space? caller: i have been a military kid my whole life. i've had a lifelong interest in following military. i have no specific position in strategic defense. i pay very close attention for virtually my entire life. host: we will get rebecca pincus to respond. guest: i would say the u.s. department of defense would beg to differ. that conversation is something where i think we have seen a lot

of u.s. investment over the years and a lot of u.s. articulation of the importance of greenland for those various purposes. we know the russians remain extremely capable and the undersea domain. we have seen a remarkable challenge from them. while their forces have been eroded in ukraine, their capabilities remain very much able to hold u.s. assets at risk. the undersea domain is one of their particular areas of capability and the emergence of some new missiles and missile delivery systems are something that the deity is saying very validly these days we have not yet solved. the conversation around missile-defense and modernization is further evidence that at least the pentagon thinks we still have a challenge. host:host: the possibility of hypersonic weapons coming out of russia for china. china has tested hypersonic. it is believed russia has as well. guest: absolutely. really challenging novel

threats. space-based weapons. we are in a technological revolution when it comes to missiles and missile delivery systems. that is a vital concern to the united states. host: renee in marietta georgia sends a text. what a waste of time. this is a distractn bring our attention away from all the harm this administration is doing. when will men stop exploiting other people's land. robert in washington, d.c. independent line. caller: blessings. you are talking to me now. i'm the very first afro-american student in the united states, along with -- we have crossed the arctic circle and touched base at the air force base in greenland.

a lot of that goes by way of the air force base. i was there in 1980 one. i was in a special high school science project and reading science and marine biology. it was rangel senior high school -- randall senior high school. it was a wonderful science project that was there. i was also an aerospace where we have the air force and the civil air patrol on one side of the school. on the other side was the navy and the coast guard. while here at this special project, i was chosen during that year to be in the has seats auxiliary program -- united states auxiliary program. we were chosen to be on a coast

guard -- united states coast guard cutter. we was the first students at that time to have reached and crossed the arctic circle. to step foot in greenland. i was also a blue north polar bear. when you cross the arctic circle, if you want to go through the -- at that time we did science and research. most of the research i have done in d.c. amongst the potomac river on pollution and things like that. we found there was a lot of termination in the arctic. i worked alongside the st. john's, newfoundland cohort of

research. we did research on icebergs. we took portions. we were the first to have seen the first coastal ship that broke off in 1981. none other than the united states coast guard cutter the west wind. host: we appreciate you sharing those memories with us. john from hampton, virginia. you are the last call. caller: thank you. i agree with the young lady from illinois and the lady from georgia. it is a distraction. the reason that trump wants greenland is the minerals. they also want to take over the ukraine minerals. you have the next thing from

greenland, you have all these maga people agreeing that fentanyl is coming from greenland. united states -- trump, what is it going to do for the price of eggs and child care and housing? the people just ate it up. guest: i want to sit thank you to robert for sharing those reflections. the west wind was probably on his last gasp in 1981. it was built in world war ii and run by the navy until the 1960's and then transferred over to the coast guard. it's an illustration several decades ago in the 1960's, 1970's, 1980's at the u.s. had a strong presence in the arctic. in these days part of the reason we are concerned about china and russia is our position has been

eroded. the coast guard has two icebreakers, both of which are old and at the end of their service lives. there's a lot of interest in the art to get recognition the u.s. position has eroded from where it was during the cold war. we need to make investments to bring it back there. the interest in the arctic in greenland is valuable because it points us in the direction of really important steps that are badly needed today. host: rebecca pincus from the wilson center. wilsoncenter.org. thank you for joining us. more of your phone calls after a break. you can start calling and now. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independents. while you are dialing, c-span once you to have up -- wants you to have a voice in the white

house briefing room. if you have a question for caroline levitt, send it to us in email to whquestions@ c-span.org. include your first name, city, and state and you might hear your question at the next briefing. send any mail to wh questions@c-span.org. we will be right back. ♪ >> nearly 35 hundred students participated in this year's c-span student cam documentary explain issues important to them or their communities. tune into c-span's washington journal at 8:00 a.m. eastern where we will announce the grand prize winner of the competition. >> democracy is not just an idea, it's a process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few guarding his basic

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>> if you ever missed any of c-span's coverage, you can find it any time online at c-span.org . videos of key hearings, debates, and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights. these points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on select videos. this timeline tool makes it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's point of interest. -- points of interest. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back. it is open forum until the house gavels in at 10:00 a.m. eastern. a couple of things for your schedule. at 10:00 a.m., during a speech to congress last week president trump announced the creation of a white house office of shipbuilding.

today the assistant secretary the navy and others will testify on challenges and opportunities fonal shipbuilding. from the sea a projection forcesubmmittee of the house armed services comttee, that is live on c-span3. it is also on the app, c-span now, and online at c-span.org. at 2:30 p.m., a senate panel looks at legislation to hold companies accountable for hosting child sexual abuse materials online. the senate judiciary subcommittee on crime and counterterrorism will be live at 2:30, also on c-span3, c-span now, and c-span.org. we will go to the phones. to monica in palm harbor, florida. independent line. caller: hi. i have to say thank you to your station for putting the type of people on that really know how

to carefuky -- carefully choose their words. the information and the education and the education in the last hour has been tremendous. we don't often get enough information in regards to what is happening in greenland and how the different things we do are affecting them. you had the two women who were speaking. it was such a nice balance in information. my frustration often is that i come from a large family. we have different attitudes about political things. it is a challenging thing to talk and converse on these objects. i really appreciate the fact that the people who are calling in have also been thoughtful

you to watch their words. i want to thank you for the kind of education you are giving out there. i don't see enough of that. i think that is one of the biggest problems we have. a lot of the voters are not educated about these issues. i come from a background of having had a degree in political science and worked on a masters in public administration. i worked both on the public sector and in the private sector. there are very, very big concerns i have about how things are being handled so quickly without real serious thought of actions in the public sector that are different from how things have been in the private sector. my biggest question is, how do we educate more of the nonvoters

to really understand the importance of educating themselves on these topics? host: earlier today, vice president jd vance was -- arrived at the capitol. you can see him entering the house gop conference meeting to push for passage of that cr. you can keep and i on the c-span networks -- an eye on the c-span numbers for the developments. the house is expected about this afternoon. em in dayton, ohio. caller: i have a couple of things i was wanting to say. i worry about the social security, because i have worked my whole entire life. i have paid into it. now that it is time i cannot work no more because of my age and my back and everything, i'm

drawing my social security which is my retirement. the government set up for federal and pleased to have the three-tier retirement plan. it was our retirement, our tsp, and social security. now elon musk and trump and vance think they can just go in and rip it out from underneath us? i think it is totally wrong. we have paid into it. another thing i had that i have been trying to call in about was when they had the ukraine on tv with trump and vance. always he kept asking was, what kind of deployment are you talking about? vance kept saying we will have a deployment, a deployment. he wanted to know what he was talking about. vance could not answer that question. that was whenever everything started getting nasty. all they are trying to do is get the ukraine president to sign

over the mineral rights before they will even answer his questions. if anybody signed over their mineral rights before they had their information, they would be an idiot. if you can please answer those two questions for me i would most certainly appreciate it. host: you are welcome. the oval office meeting with president trump, jd vance, and the ukraine's president zelenskyy is on our website in its entirety if you would like to take a look. here's the new york post with the news. columbia university anti-israel agitator detained by ice for deportation, claims feds acted unlawfully as he makes bid for release. he is a lawful u.s. resident. a green card holder. cbs news success trump says arrested palestinian activists who helped lead columbia protest is first of many to come.

here is guy in saint augustine, florida. independent line. caller: i you taking my call. -- appreciate you taking my call. the last few hours have been informative. back when kennedy was president, i was threatened if we didn't ship out to thule, greenland. i get my slate clean. -- capped my slate clean. we are doing exact what russia is doing to ukraine by wanting to take over countries that do not belong to us and have no connection with us. i understand trump's interest in panama since he has property there. he has an interest in the canal. he's interested in his property. i feel we better straighten up and work on our own problems within our country and our

education system. if we pull out all of our funds from public education, most states don't have advanced schooling outside of the public system to be able to offer anybody. it is an available. areas like here in saint augustine, the schools are running 27,000 the year. most people can't afford $27,000 for elementary education. i think we have to stick with what we've got and improve it. in the 1950's, we were number one. now we are 28th in the world and our education system. we have a lot to fix. appreciate it. host: here is dj i hampton , virginia. caller: i'm calling about the lady that just called about social security.

i'm 84 and i'm not at all worried about losing mine. what i would like is for each of you -- all you hosts, would you please when they start in on this, explain to them it is not that they are taking your social security away. they are cleaning up the files and removing people that should not be on it. if you have no problem with that, you should not be worried at all. i'm not. i wanted to clean up social security, because i know there's a lot of people out there that probably should not be on it. i expect you guys as host to correct people when they call in and are worried about it. put their mind at ease and tell them they are cleaning up the files. they are not taking your social security away. thank you. host: here is ethel.

middletown, new york. democrat. caller: good morning. i'm concerned about them taking away my social security. i'm concerned about them going through the system. who's to say they are not going to take it away? they are racist. they don't care about black folks. we have worked and put into social security and we are entitled to it. yes, i'm very concerned. thank you. host: this is the hill reporting musk claims massive cyberattack behind x outage. it came from the ukraine area. the article says that elon musk said his social media platforms x, formerly twitter, was targeted in a massive cyberattack monday and later claim to the attack was traced back to the ukraine area, prompting outages for thousands of users. "we are not sure exactly what

happened but there was a massive cyberattack to try to bring down the x system with ip address to coordinate jude in ukraine area -- originating in the ukraine area. " the -- yes. let's go to lewis in north miami beach, florida. independent line. caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: my name is luis. i'm a u.s. citizen. i immigrated here for a long time. became a citizen. . i am thankful to god. now, i have four different citizenship. i'm argentinian citizen, australian citizen, italian citizen, and of course, u.s. citizen.

my position is this. greenland should be very, very happy that donald trump -- thank god donald trump is our president. donald trump is interested, because russia is interested also in greenland. and also china. ok? for greenland to have donald trump, bless god we have donald trump as our president, because argentina also owns part of the arctic. i don't know if you on that. my position is that greenland should definitely seek refuge that donald trump is offering them, because the chinese will

swallow them up. denmark in greenland, both of them --and greenland, both of them. my position is that greenland should be very open to the interest the u.s. have. host: here is teresa in chicago, republican. caller: how are you? host: good. caller: my thing right here is i don't know why no one is looking at the ai part of this. elon musk is here to bring those robots. i'm sure that is what his real agenda is. that is why he is drinking government. why he's getting rid of all these jobs. they are about to bring the robots in. we are doomsday. that is why he's getting rid of all the agencies. doge was a digital system before. it's going to be terrible once they do this.

robots. are you serious? they are working it out right now. they want to bring in ai for profit. elon musk wants to bring in for free. why? so he can bring it to all these leftover government agencies so they can take full control over us. i heard something about public-sector service workers got a raise. they are the people that go into your community and make sure -- instead of the public-sector service, it will be the robots. honest to god, this is coming. that is what it is so important to get him out. get him out please. he's really moving quickly. him and donald trump are taking all of our rights away as fast as you can say -- once the robots are in, we will not be able to breathe without asking. can you imagine america like that? this has to stop. that is what the real agenda is. trust me.

host: tammy in youngstown, ohio. democrat. are you there? joseph. bronx, new york. independent. caller: yeah. if they really want to cut down the deficit, what they should do is everybody pays their fair share of taxes. there should be no write-offs at the end of the year for nobody, except for the hospitals. the ones that really need it. that's it. all that money that they say from these people here, these rich people claiming this and that, stop all that. host: sorry. we have to go because the house is about to gavel in. thanks for watching, everybody. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] house a communication from the speaker.