>> on this vote the yays 217, the nays are 213.

the motion passes. host: it is wednesday, march 12. yesterday evening the house passed the gop stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded, 217-213 with one would've above a can -- with one republican opposed and one democrat supporting it. now it heads to the senate were republicans would need the support of several democrats to get to the president's desk by the friday deadline. share your thoughts on that bill and how you think senator should vote. democrats (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 748-8001. independents (202) 748-8002. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. send us your first name in your city and state. we are also on social media, facebook.com/c-span and x at @cspanwj.

welcome to today's "washington journal." we will start with speaker mike johnson making remarks after the vote. [video clip] >> this was a big vote. republicans took together and we had one democrat vote with us to do the right thing and fund the government. this is a clean cr. we are insuring troops continue to get their paychecks and tsa agents continue to do their work to be paid and essential workers on the border and elsewhere doing their jobs. it is shameful what happened on the democrat side. they engaged in a misinformation campaign. they put out talking points on the bill on friday before the bill was filed. they have been lying and misrepresenting the facts about what is in the bill and the american people can read it for themselves, is only 99 pages long. we did our job.

they will suggest this bill is something it is not in run out the clock and shut down the government in a desperate attempt to stop the america first agenda. president and republicans in congress will stop at nothing to deliver on that agenda. we will continue to work hard and stick together to get the job done and it is an essential one. now that the government funding bill has been passed out of the how -- out of the house we send it to the senate and it falls on the desk of chuck schumer and he must determine if he wants to fund the government or he wants to shut the government down. i certainly hope they're enough democrats in the senate who have a conscience who will do the right thing for the american people and take care of business. host: that was the speaker yesterday. there is the washington examiner that says house gop passes stopgap spending bill with the help of a trump vance pressure campaign. it says the house passed a cr

which freezes funding levels until september 30. all republicans except representative thomas massie of kentucky voted in favor of the spending bill which raises defense spending by $8 billion and lowers nondefense spending by about $13 billion. here is house democratic leader hakeem jeffries on the floor tuesday before the vote criticizing the vote. [video clip] >> republicans have done nothing to lower the high costs of living. no bill, no executive order, no administrative action. that is the broken promise. we were told by president trump that costs were going to go down on day one. grocery prices have not gone down, they have gone up. inflation is up. you know what is going down? the stark market.

president trump and house republicans are crashing the economy in real time and marching us to a possible republican recession. that is what is confronting the american people. now we have this partisan reckless spending bill that we are being asked to consider on the floor today. bipartisan negotiations were underway. at the table working to reach an agreement consistent with the fiscal responsibility act that was passed by republicans and democrats and then signed into law in 2023. when donald trump says jump, maga publican say how high and he ordered the republicans to leave the negotiating table to

try to jam this far right extremist bill down the throats of the american people. host: he mentioned the stock market going down, this is cnbc with the headline "dow drops more than 450 points, s&p 500 posts back to back loss over trump tariff uncertainty." we will hear from callers. here is kevin in nebraska. independent line. caller: i was just calling -- i don't see bickering back and forth between both sides and it never seems to get anything done. i think it is time the democrats and republicans sit down like they are supposedly going to do with ukraine and russia -- i do not think anything will happen with that. anyway.

i wish for the best for our country and thank you very much and you have a good evening. host: you have a good morning, kevin. there is joe in connecticut. republican. caller: i am glad it is passed but the one thing i have to say is we have four more years of president trump being in office. are we going to do this every day? 365 days a year? complain about trump. give this administration a chance. i think most americans want that. thank you. host: here is richard in san francisco. line for democrats. caller: good morning. let's see. this is reckless. trump has had devastating results in just a little more than 30 days. he is taking the economy, using tariffs as a way to manipulate

trading agreements. it is mainly about trade. this bill may freeze spending at certain levels but there is a hidden agenda. it is not even so hidden in terms of the impact it could have later, which is go after entitlements because those are the big funding programs which trump says he will never deal with, never go after social security or medicare, medicaid. it has been such a reckless abandon of chaos and destruction in 30 days. domestically he is taking the economy single-handed with the tariffs. i just got a new heater today. i am already affected by these tariffs. host: how is that? caller: the parts are up 8% to

10% already just in parts for the heater so i did up getting a new heater. host: the company told you that? caller: yes. host: and they passed on that 8% do you? caller: exactly. this is for every kind of part from outside the country, no matter what it is. that includes everything that comes to the united states through these tariffs. the other thing, he is a disaster on foreign policy. he was trying to build a trump tower in moscow way back when. he got $5 billion worth of russian loans from deutsche bank to bail him out of bankruptcy. no demands on russia who is the aggressor. host: let's go back to the bill.

it is at the senate now. how do you think democrats vote on it? caller: unfortunately they are between a rock and a hard place. i think just based on what is in this bill and how much it can leads to cuts in especially medicaid, they are not looking for waste or fraud, there is very little waste or fraud. this is about attacking the people that work for the federal government without any kind of sense about who they are cutting and when and how. they have an agenda. how are they going to pass their tax cut of $4 trillion -- they have to try to cut spending. that will affect every day people in all kinds of ways from veterans to health care to

programs that help everyone in general. here's the ironic thing. almost all of the red states get more federal funding than they return to the federal government. they are most dependent on federal funding. host: richard, regarding the senate, here is punch bowl news that says "what's it going to be chuck schumer? government funding runs out and senate democrats faced a stark choice. provide the votes for a gop author resolution they have been trashing for the federal government shut down. senate democrats do not want the government shut down but also do not want to look like they are helping president trump and are agonizing over how to handle what has become a truly unenviable situation." here is robert in florida. republican. caller: thanks for taking my call.

they are not giving trump enough time to do what he is supposed to do. i believe in the long run things will calm down. if he could stop that war that would be the best thing in the world. host: let's take a look at gop majority leader steve scalise. this was during the debate on the continuing resolution. he accused democrats of opposing that cr because they hate president trump. [video clip] >> here they are on this floor talking about things that are not in the bill trying to scare people. talking about cuts to veterans in the bill. may be because they just did not read the bill. it is only 99 pages. i would urge them to read it. they might actually vote for this bill because they realize the cuts they are talking about are not true, they are not in the bill. there is increase for veterans in this bill.

you know what else is in this bill, mr. speaker? i want to applaud the chairman of the negotiations committee. that is the largest payraise for our junior enlisted military personnel in over 40 years. if somebody does not think our men and women in uniform deserve that payraise, maybe they will vote no. i am proud to say i will be voting yes to support our men and women in uniform who have been waiting for that raise and deserve it. how can you justify a no vote on that? that is actually in the bill. as they talk about what is not in the bill because they were against it before it was written. if they read this bill, only 99 pages, it is a quick read. you would find out the payraise for our troops is in the bill. stronger funding for our veterans is in the bill. why are they voting no?

just because the name of the president is donald trump. i think the people of this country are fed up with that kind of hatred that consumes people here in washington. when you watch the state of the union address as it is not even talking about his agenda, he is introducing and paying tribute to a 13-year-old boy who just beat cancer, they cannot stand up and applaud that on their side because of the person who said it. if the hatred is so consuming that you cannot support what is great about america may be need to reevaluate what is important in doing these jobs. we are elected to represent the people and if the president has a great idea you support it. host: back to the calls. here is kim in a champagne, illinois.

democrat. caller: i am very concerned about this budget. after it was passed i am looking through the reports on the budget, specifically the new york times and the washington post. this budget is not like regular spending budgets. our representative did not delineate or outline what the funds are to be used for. my concern is it just gives president trump a blank check to allocate the money as he pleases. my concern would be he is not going to explicitly say blue states get no funds, red states get all the funds but looking to be a little more nuanced. i like this project that is going on in this district that might happen to be a red district in a blue state or i like this funding that is going

on at the university of alabama. we just found out recently the soybean grant for the u of i that was part of usaid, those tens of millions of dollars we will not get that was going towards helping farmers in undeveloped countries and farmers locally in illinois to do that, to teach them how to be more resourceful in planting soybeans. another concern is that in looking at it, the republicans also talked in a provision where they cede away their power to cancel these tariffs that are so harmful to our economy, to all of our retirement funds right now.

you can talk about that. they actually have the power, congress has the power where they can vote and end this national emergency trump declared in early february. they can end this national emergency and take a vote and prevent him from doing these tariffs. we could get out of this mess. they have ceded their power. they put in a provision on this that they will not take a vote on this for the next -- for the rest of the 119th congress. i am also concerned the president is not abiding by the previous budget bill. right now he has frozen funds and impounded funds. that is clearly against the law. he is not abiding by the funding bill. i am just concerned.

you are right. the democrats are a tough spot and i don't envy them because no one wants to see them shutting down the government. i just wonder if they could look at and some specifics or adjust the funding and make some amendments on the how we would like to see the funding go. we would like to take that power back to where we have the power of the purse and we can stop this national emergency and end these crazy tariffs. host: this is mike in iowa. independent. caller: good morning, how are you? host: good. caller: i am calling. it is quite obvious the democrats, 90% of them, do not

like the american citizens. you can verify that by what the biden regime did when they first got in, which was shut down gas and oil and open the border. and then make everybody take a poison covid shot if you want a job. host: getting back to the cr. caller: the cr. the democrats will vote against anything that is good for america. that is the main thing. at least they will not have any more drag queen shows at the white house with children present and participating thank god. have a good day. host: carmen in florida, line for democrats. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. hopefully i can get my thoughts

together. as far as this budget is concerned, the other day i was thinking about it and i thought to myself purely at the point where democrats have no say in this. there is nothing they can do. i know deep in my heart and i hate saying it like a stupid person, trump 100% does not care if the government shuts down. that is why i called in because it is bait and switch again. here you have steve scalise talking about some kid with cancer that has nothing to do with republican party but they used him as some kind of a scapegoat, and then you have thompson, he is on the news saying if the democrats do not pass this bill they do not care about america. not one republican worked with the democrats in the house to get this bill kicked open.

before that there was a woman -- i forget the names -- she was on the republican side, meaning she was supporting trump. they are saying the democrats voted for this before, we already discussed this a month ago. if they do now it is whatever. here is why i am calling. the lies have to stop. they keep lying. why would we trust what they are going to do with the money if you pass this budget? i've got proof. the market does not trust them. there is a woman who called yesterday on your show on a different topic that is another reason why i called. 87 years old. she was scared to death her social security was going to be cut. the fear mongering they are saying the democrats are doing are coming from the republican

side. we are still fighting each other, we are still not try and resolve our finances. in the past the democrats balanced the budget. in the past most of the time republicans jacked it up. this is where the problem is. they say they are going to do something but they do not do it. they make it worse. give me some kind of proof they did. give me anything that proves they want to straighten out the budget. that is why i called. host: we got this from facebook from keith who says it would be nice if they would highlight the details in this bill to the american people. i don't know how to react without any details. good question. in order to read the bill you would need to go to congress.gov and you want to look for hr 1968 comets is full-year continuing

appropriations and extension act of 2025, hr 1968. this will come up and down here you can read the summary or click on this tab for the actual text as the speaker said it is 99 pages long so you can read that and there are links which will help you get to the topic you are interested in if you do not want to read the whole thing. congress.gov. look for hr 1968. that is the bill we are talking about now. ronald, troy, new york. republican. you are on. caller: i was calling in about the democrats. how they live so much. it is terrible what they do and it is a shame. -- how they lie so much. chuck schumer got on c-span1 morning and he said they are god

in the house. when the good lord returns i don't think the democrats will get on board. they are all sinful, evil people. thank you. host: max in mechanicsville, maryland. democrat. good morning. caller: i voted for john kerry and barack obama and joe biden. all of the libertarians in the state of maryland got a letter after the election sing the party does not exist anymore, you cannot be a libertarian. i guess you could be a democrat in the state of maryland. it seems like everybody is spinning their wheels in the mud right now. you're basically looking at a master class of joe sixpack's who voted for the president who

went in there and his schooling all the technocrats and aristocrats that run the political science, the elite class of this country. the democrats have no choice, they have to sign the bill or they put the government out of work. these are the arguments facing everyone all the time. look at the tariff argument. for years we have been told that if you tax the rich it will not trickle down, it will not hurt anybody. we will lose our jobs, the prices will not go up. you just tax the rich because they will just buy back stocks anyway. now the rich guy gets in office and he says let's tax the real rich, the multinational corporations, put tariffs on the richest people in the world, and now a tariff, which is a tax will trickle down and cost everybody money. these are the arguments some real estate agent has pinned all

of our best political science people and politicians against the wall and it is embarrassing. you have to get somebody who can actually fence with this guy and with these newly republican libertarians in the party. thank you. host: let's take a look at senator john thune. he is the majority leader in the senate and he took democrats to task for the failure to pass a formal budget. here he is. [video clip] >> we all know why we are here because despite last year the senate appropriations committee passing 11 of the 12 appropriation bills, six of them unanimously, all of those 11 by big bipartisan margins, not a single one was put on the floor last year by leadership. those bills were all available by the end of july.

those bills were all passed through the senate appropriations committee at the end of july last year. your we are at the brink of a government shutdown which will be entirely of the democrats making if it happens because the house today will be voting on a continuing resolution to fund the government throughout the end of the year and we will send that over to the senate and have an opportunity to act on it. a similar continuing resolution past the end of last year in the senate with 85 votes. this one should be no different. as you know it takes 60 votes in the senate to pass an appropriations bill, so we will need some democrats to vote for it. the democrats have use the filibuster three times this year already despite arguing for its illumination as recently as a few months ago. three times they have filibustered bills in front of the senate. i think the american people will be interested to see whether the democrats will filibuster and by filibustering shut down the

federal government. it is on them if this happens. there is a funding vehicle available from the house of representatives that will fund the government through september 30. we are prepared to take it up in the senate and make sure that on friday the government stays open. it will be up to the democrats as to whether or not that happens. host: that was senate majority leader thune yesterday at the senate and this is thomas in texas. independent. good morning. caller: one thing i never hears about the three wars we have. $15 trillion for the last three wars? i believe jasmine crockett would be a better representative for the democrats. what people should do is go at town hall meeting. i've been loving it. it is funny. they are getting their points across. what i want to know, is there $880 billion cut to medicaid?

is that true. if you want to know about government employees and their situation of russ vought. he is the author of 2025 and his attack on the government. elon musk shut down the web -- they shut down the website yesterday. if he is that brilliant, i don't know? caller: speaking of government layoffs -- host: speaking of government layoffs, this is npr reporting u.s. education department says it is cutting nearly half of all staff. that is what is happening at the u.s. department of education. this is frank in texas. republican. caller: i just sit back and i look at this. we just had an election and 77

million people voted for donald trump. the last time i checked the democratic party at 821% favorable opinion of them -- had a 21% favorable opinion. the democrats are so mad because they lost the election and all they want to do is what they did in that speech the other night that trump did, they want to back up and and women sports. -- they want to back up having men in women's sports. they want drug dealers coming into the country, open borders. biden had four years to destroy this country or do everything he

could and will take a little while to get all this straight. it is easy to go into a room and take a sledgehammer to it. a good man has to come along and replace all the parts and it takes a while. it is easy to destroy something. it takes a while to build it back. the days of the good democrats is over. you had truman. jfk. was a good democrat. now you have these radicals like what was in the house speech last week. those people are so full of hate and they hate america. all they want to do is destroy america. men in women sports. they backup these hamas killers. they are just sick people.

host: got that point. this is gene in michigan, democrat. caller: we are going to end up taking this bitter pill and 180 days that is a disguise for what is happening with all of the cuts and layoffs. have a good day. host: and lori is in long beach, california. independent line. caller: i want to lose my train of thought, excuse me. i think they should just shut the government down. we have lived through this before. the federal workers, i have a family member that works in the federal government and she adores it and she has been terrified by all of these emails

but she has 12 years and she has excellent reviews. she should be ok but it is scary for everyone. when we have a government shutdown, as you know, they will get paid after it is over and we will get our -- us retired people will get our social security and medicaid while it is shut down. i think the gop needs to go back to the drawing board. the american people are very upset. very upset. you see elon musk with his chainsaw. it is just crazy. this person who said there are no good democrats or independents, there are. i don't believe in men in women sports, i am a moderate. nevertheless i think trump is not well. i don't think he is well, nor is elon musk and it is frightening

people. they are scaring people with these tariffs. it does not feel like we have ethics or integrity in this country. people are frightened. it is scary what they are doing. that is my opinion and i appreciate you. host: the wall street journal has this. "e.u. hits back as u.s. steel and aluminum tariffs take effect. the 25% global levy imposed by the trump administration comes after the u.s. and canada backed off additional measures." here is senate democratic leader chuck schumer on the senate floor yesterday on how businesses and consumers are reacting to president trump's tariffs. [video clip] >> one thing businesses tell us is they want certainty and stability. one thing they are getting from donald trump, uncertainty and chaos. because starting this full issue

and chaotic trade war on again one day and off again the next day donald trump has single-handedly poured a bucket of ice water on the economy. trump thinks he can just yak i am for it, the next day say i'm not for it. businesses cannot plan that way. if they think there's a chance it will do it they do not go forward. businesses are in a state of total confusion. they have no idea what trump will do next. will he impose tariffs today?

host: question mark next month? every day you hear a different answer on something that is so important to the american economy in the world economy. american consumers are also anxious. if you do not know what tomorrow will bring you will spend less today. that was chuck schumer on the senate floor talking about tariff and president trump was before ceos at the business roundtable event in washington defending his ministrations use of tariffs. here he is. >> the tariffs are having an tremendous impact. we have car companies that were building in mexico now they are building in the united states. it was very unfair that they built in mexico and sell them across the border with no taxes and no nothing. they take away our jobs and close up places in michigan and all over the country and build them in mexico. in many cases they are owned by china, built in mexico and owned by china. now they are all coming here. honda is building a massive plant. different places. indiana. south carolina. also in michigan, lot in michigan. they are looking all over the place.

that is because there is a good spirit, there is a renewed spirit and also the tariffs, they do not want to pay 25% or whatever it may be. maybe it will be higher. the higher it goes the more likely they will build. the biggest win is not the tariff, that is a big win. the biggest win is if they move into our country and produce jobs. that is a bigger win than the tariffs themselves. the tariffs will be throwing off a lot of money to this country. we have been ripped off her years by other countries, many decades. host: that was yesterday. we want to know what you think of that and the cr headed to the senate. it passed the house yesterday evening and heads to the senate. if it passes there it goes to the president's desk. janice in new york, democrat. good morning. caller: i think the government

should be shut down in the government -- and the democrats should vote against it. my reason is there supposed to be three branches of government and right now congress is not one of the three. it is elon musk. since they are not working, shut it down. democrats would look for two things to come out of this. one being that the billionaires should be continuing to pay into social security and medicaid. they should not have upon off point. the second -- they should not have a cut off point. the second is the tax cut should be suspended. the last tax cuts added trillions of dollars to the budget and since congress is not working and elon musk is in charge, shut it down. why should we be paying congress salary? why should we be laying off workers saying this is towards

the budget or you need to bring down the deficit when they are not working. they are a branch of government. not this doge, not elon musk. it should be shut down. that is my opinion. host: this is alicia, and independent in oregon. good morning. caller: a house that is divided cannot stand. i have yet to hear anybody say what are you going to do about millions of people that are frozen in a truck. who will pay for that? certainly not democrats. they are not thinking about all of those people in a truck.

if i give out 42 to $45 billion so i'm hoping trump will start the economy and help people get a home, whether they are american or not, they have families. why do the democrats treat me so badly and why can't i get a ride when i have helped others here? why did they give me a hard time ? i told them how they sold the water rights to california to the midwest. didn't anybody tell anybody who was making money then? but why? because they were starving my grandmother with water and no food. it is a sad state of america.

related to -- that recently died. they shot her full stop trying to say afghanistan's are christians -- i love my family. i wish i would see my family. i cannot deliver my moms ashes back to oklahoma to live with her native indian grandmother. host: we had a previous caller asked about cuts to medicaid. here's a fact check on that. this is newsweek. does republican budget cut medicaid by $880 billion? it says the republican party -- let me get you where it says. here is bobby cogan, the senior director of budget policy american progress. he said for energy and commerce it is mathematically impossible

to achieve $880 billion if you do not cut medicaid or medicare. there is not enough money they have jurisdiction over. republicans say they are not cutting medicare so that means they are cutting medicaid. it says former democratic house speaker nancy pelosi retweeted kogan's claim thank medicaid would be on the chopping block. "republicans are putting medicaid and snap on the chopping block in order to reward their billionaire donors and big corporations with tax breaks," that is what nancy pelosi wrote. the budget resolution does not explicitly state there will be an $880 billion cut to medicaid. it says house republicans are enabling the energy and commerce committee to decide what programs and areas would be cut under the budget. while the energy and commerce committee oversees medicaid funding it also is in charge of

energy and climate programs, the federal communications commission, the food and drug safety and several more programs. you can read more about that at newsweek if you would like to get the details. here is martin, a republican in pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. i am 76 years old and i went through a lot of elections in my time. i want to make it clear. both parties got us to where we are at this time. they keep saying balance the budget, strong economy. take those words out of it and let's look at the deficit. it is the deficit and the printing of money we do not have that we are in trouble with. this is the only party that wants to lower the deficit. all that will do was increase the deficit. look at the deficit, don't worry

about balancing the budget. to balance the budget they print more money we do not have. host: deborah in maryland, democrat. good morning. caller: i would like to make two points. one on the cancer kid everybody keeps bringing up. i am a democrat and i believe they should have stood for him. when it comes to funding pediatric cancer research, elon musk put it the continuing resolution. that was restored and then cut again in the new continuing resolution. at the behest of republicans, not democrats. i would like to see republicans put their money where their mouth is and fund pediatric cancer research instead of cutting it every time it comes up. that is number one. i don't know if there is funding for ukraine in the continuing resolution, i suppose it is all

one big slush fund and trump gets to do what he wants with it. everybody that calls in complaining the money for ukraine would be used for domestic needs if it were not going to ukraine has not been paying attention. the republicans have never proposed anything to help ordinary american citizens get anything. every program from social security, medicare, medicaid, union rights, all of them, labor protections, you name it has been a democratic initiative fought tooth and nails by republicans. i would challenge anyone to name a program from republicans to help regular people. i hear if we were not spending that money in ukraine we would be providing for homeless veterans. where is the republican bill to help homeless veterans?

they are cutting the v.a. i wish i could run into one of you gullible trump supporters because i have some beachfront property in gaza i would like to sell you. host: deborah, you mentioned ukraine. the washington post reporting the u.s. lifts pause on ukraine aid as kyiv agrees to a cease-fire proposal. it says "the agreement followed an expansive meeting in saudi arabia. it is unclear whether moscow will accept the cease-fire terms." there is a picture of secretary rubio at the table. here is helen in new york, independent. caller: i have a couple of things to say. don't cut me off. the government shutdown is already been shut down, people being fired. i wish the republicans would stop using god's name in vain. people should read about the beast of the earth.

you cannot sell or buy things. check it out. host: let's take a look at secretary of state marco rubio. he was with national security advisor michael waltz briefing reporters yesterday about of elements regarding the ukraine war. [video clip] >> as has been clear from his first day as president and even as a candidate president trump to be a president of peace. his goal in this process has been to bring about an end to this war, it is a terrible war, a bloody war. his number one interest is ending the war once and for all. today we made an offer that the ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a cease-fire and into immediate negotiations to end this conflict in a way that is enduring and sustainable and accounts for their interests and their security in their ability to prosper as a nation. we both want to thank the kingdom of saudi arabia for hosting this.

they have been instrumental and we are grateful to them for hosting us today. we will take this offer to the russians and we hope they will say yes to peace. the ball is now in their court. the president's objective is above everything else he wants the war to end and i think today ukraine has taken a concrete step in that regard. we hope the russians will reciprocate. >> just to add to the secretary's comments, the ukrainian delegation today made something very clear. they share president trump's vision for peace. they share his determination to end the fighting and the killing, to end the tragic meatgrinder of people and national treasure that is happening on the front in ukraine. number two, they meet concrete steps in concrete proposals, not only accepting our proposal for

a full cease-fire, which you can see the details of which are in our joint statement we released together. we also got into substantive details on how this war will permanently end. what type of guarantees they are going to have for their long-term security and prosperity, but also really looking at what is going to take to finally end their horrific fighting. host: and back to our topic on the continuing resolution that passed the house yesterday evening. it heads to the senate and the deadline for government funding is this friday, the day after tomorrow, at midnight. here is carol, st. louis, democrat. caller: i was wanting to know if ever before there has been a continuing resolution that takes

up the whole year until the next fiscal year. this is ridiculous. i think the democrats should vote not for it in the senate. another thing is have you ever seen where they have a president in front of the white house selling cars? this is so ridiculous. he is out there selling teslas. this is terrible. elon musk, with all of his great business sense has lost $16 billion in tesla. i don't know. this is too much. host: this is the hill about what you are talking about. "trump buys tesla to make a statement about elon musk backlash. president trump said tuesday he was buying a tesla vehicle as he doubled down on his support for

elon musk who has come under mounting scrutiny for leading the trump administration's government cost initiatives. 'i will buy because it is a great product, as good as it gets, and because elon musk has devoted his energy and his life to doing this and he has been treated unfairly.'" that was yesterday and this is samuel in south pasadena, california. republican. caller: thank you for taking my call. i think the senate should vote to keep the government open and they should not shut it down because the president is doing a great job and he will make this country great again. these democrats, chuck schumer, i don't know what is wrong with him. he looks like he is sleepy. this guy cannot tie his tie right. he is doing everything he can

stop the progress of what president trump is trying to do. all of the democrats are saying close the government down. come on. let this man do his job. people voted for him. he will do a great job and he found a lot of waste. the last two or three months biden was in office he was just throwing money away. he punted so much money, at least $2 trillion. that is why we are in a lot of trouble. we are doing a correction and these people all nervous. just let president trump and elon musk do their job. thank you very much. host: here is gil in louisiana. independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. you are on. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: the one thing we have to

have, we cannot have a president excluding the major news broadcasting services to the public without the public understanding of the facts there is no chance to solve these problems. few station of the issues -- obfuscation of the issues is the hallmark of all of these politicians. they want the public to believe what they say, never mind the facts. without the news services the public will never know. jefferson's admonition about the need for an enlightened citizenry goes down the drain. trump admires that.

he shut out the ap. imagine that. that should take him out of office alone. that is horrible. we cannot live without knowledge of the facts. you get none of that from the politicians anymore. it is all shaded to try to get the public to believe what they tell you. that is the single most fearful thing we must have as citizens. host: what gil is talking about is the ban on the associated press and here is the ap saying "ap again seeks end of its white house band, sang the trump administration is retaliating further." this started over the labeling of the gulf of mexico the golf of america. here is sal in new jersey,

republican. caller: i was just thinking of an analogy. the wizard of oz. trump is the wizard of oz and biden was the wicked witch of the east. he destroyed everything. president trump will fix everything and make a sunny day out of everything. we will see how it comes about. all of the democrats and chuck schumer, you know how they fight anything trump tries to pass and anything to help the country they will fight tooth and nail, everything he does to help americans. i am happy with what is going on. i am on ssi myself. i am 67. it is like a house of cards what biden did. in four years it all collapsed. it will take time to get it built back. it will not happen overnight. all of this stuff.

it will take a lot of time. host: how long do you think it should take? how long in your head are you going to wait before you say things should be better by now? caller: in my head i figure four years of destruction we had, i think at least a year in my head. i am positive that i see a light at the end of the tunnel. host: here is dennis in iowa, a democrat -- idaho. sorry. caller: i have to laugh that republicans trust trump with money, a guy who pays a poured and start to keep her mouth shut -- a guy who pays a porn star to keep her mouth shut. they are just idiots. host: getting back to the bill, what are your thoughts about that? caller: if it don't pass don't

blame the democrats because the democrats do not control anything. republicans have complete control. republicans blame the democrats for abortion. abortion became legal when nixon was president by a republican supreme court. why is it democrats fault? that is my comment. republicans are phony as heck. host: here is robert, a republican in indiana. caller: i would say he is full of crab. i've never seen so much hatred in this country. that is why nothing gets done. if these idiots would get together, the democrats never want to vote for anything from the republicans. they need to get together. that is why we put them in office. they sit around and call names.

trump is doing the best he can because these idiots will not support him. if they supported him this country would be ok. host: you want them to compromise? it looks like he is gone. let's look at president trump with elon musk on the south lawn of the white house. he answered reporters questions about ukraine but also about which tesla he will buy. [video clip] >> will you talk to vladimir putin about this deal. do you think you need to have a conversation with him? >> i will talk to vladimir putin. it takes two to tango. hopefully he will also look great. i think that would be 75% of the way. the rest is getting it documented. negotiated land positions. >> you will talk to them this week about the deal? >> i think so. >> with a cease-fire in place on the ukrainian side, how close do you think you are to a total

cease-fire? >> i hope it will be over the next few days. we have a big meeting with russia tomorrow and great conversations will hopefully ensue. the people of done a great job. marco rubio has been great, steve wycoff, michael waltz, everyone of them have stepped up. they want to see two things. number one is death. the people they're not citizens of our country, but they are people just like you. they are people. we also don't want to give hundreds of billions of dollars away. we are there for $350 billion and there was no reason. this war would've never happened if i was president so it is a very sad thing. thank you very much. i love tesla. >> which one did you buy? >> the one i like is that one. >> how does this work? >> are you going to put down a credit card? >> i do it the old-fashioned

way. i give checks. i like a check better than this modern system all there is money in your account. i like signing a check. i don't want a discount. he would give me a discount but if i do a discount they will say he got benefits. i want any discounts. >> what about a vanity plate? >> truth. host: that was the president with elon musk yesterday at the white house. this is the stock for this is the stock for tesla, that is the five-day, this is the six month, the november election down to today. that's the time we got for today. coming up, al weaver discussed the latest on congressional efforts to extend government funding past right is deadline. later, tom mcclintock, member of

the budget committee discusses government funding and president's legislative agenda, and now it is time to announce c-span's 2025 studentcam winners. take a look. ♪ >> marking the recent presidential election, c-span studentcam video documentary competition challenged middle and high school students nationwide to create short videos with messages to the new president exploring issues important to them or their communities. >> child protective services is important to protect kids from danger. >> we are here to deliver a message to the president. homelessness needs to be prioritized now. >> it is important for state and local governments to be given power and a voice to help support the communities they serve. >> nearly 3500 students across 42 states and washington, d.c. produced insightful and thought-provoking domes through in-depth research and interviews with experts. critical issues like climate,

education policies, health care, gun violence and the economy. our panel of judges evaluated each entry on its inclusion and diverse perspectives and overall storytelling. now we are thrilled to announce the top winners of studentcam 2025. in the middle school division, eva ingram, sophia ou, and eliana wei for one party, two-party, red party, blue party. but what about third parties? >> for nearly two centuries democrats and republicans that than the top parties. >> our high school eastern division first prize goes to daniel aasa in new jersey for saving sudan. u.s. aiding in a forgotten crisis. >> solidarity is vital as sudan's conflict is not isolated. >> in the haskell central division, benjamin kurian in ohio, first prize for the road division zero which explores ai

driven road safety solutions. >> every day, eight teenagers never make it home because of the car crash. >> the high school western division first prize goes to three anonymous students from california for no sanctuary addressing transnational repression in the next four years which sheds light on global human rights threats. >> u.s. government needs to do better to make sure that the fundamental values of american democracy are not undermined. >> and dermot foley in silver spring, maryland earns the grand prize of $5,000 for his documentary teens, social media and the fentanyl overdose crisis. this compelling documentary which features interviews with parents who have lost children to fentanyl has earned him the top award for the second time, a first in 21 years of the c-span studentcam competition. >> you are this years c-span studentcam 2025 grand prize winner. >> wow. oh my gosh. thank you so much, thank you.

i just want to say also i'm really grateful to the families who share their stories. they were really brave to share their stories. i learned so much from them and i hope others can learn from them as well. >> c-span would like to thank all of the educators, parents and students who participated this year. congratulations to all of our winners. watch each of the 100 50 award-winning studentcam documentaries anytime at studentcam.org and don't miss the top 21 winning entries airing this april on c-span. c-span, bringing you democracy unfiltered. washington journal continues. host: we are joined now by al weaver, a staff writer at the hill. welcome to the program. there was a big way yesterday for speaker johnson and president trump on the passing of the bill. remind us what is in the bill and how it came together.

guest: sure. until the end of the fiscal year, there are a couple of anomalies, a couple of things that would differ from what the biden budget was. it includes a little bit of a plus on defense spending, border security. those are kind of the main things, but also the big thing locally is from just colombia, something that democrats are obviously not a nano. they are any real tough situation right now, and they don't like this bill, so it is a big question they have coming up. host: and how detailed is the bill, does it delineate how that money will be spent, or does that come at a later time? guest: it does come up the administration is kind of doing what they want. that is part of the trouble that democrats are having right now, they want language in the bill saying they want to dictate how the government will spend it, that they will spend it.

republicans said that was a nonstarter, and that leaves us where we are right now, in a tough situation. host: tell me a little bit more about the $1 billion not going to the government. how big of a chunk of that is from the yearly budget? guest: it's something democrats don't want. mayor bowser tried to get things on good terms. trump has his own feelings but he thinks that the federal government should have more of a say over district affairs. obviously it is the one the city, district that the government has direct control over and has no major say. it is a sizable chunk, not something that democrats want to give. host: who are some of the holdouts in the house on the gop side, and how are they sweeping that, what convinced them? guest: rich mcclintock is one.

a top member of a publican brass. it seems like trump played a big role. he is the one carrying the day for speaker johnson. these are all big wins for speaker johnson when it all comes down to it, but he wouldn't get those without trump pressure on them saying we need to be able to do this to past reconciliation in the end, so this is really a leverage play on trump's end. especially with these house members who will come to agree following him blindly. >> we like to join our conversation, ask al weaver a question, you can do so. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can start calling in now. vice president vance told house republicans that the administration put forward a rescission package in order to codify spending cuts. in an attempt to convince the gop holdouts. what can you tell us about that?

guest: they came up a couple weeks ago to senate republicans, i think rand paul brought that up to a couple of members and asked vice president vance or elon musk, excuse me, and it was generally well received. but we will see how that can get through. they have this ability through reconciliation coming up, something must would like to do throughout the government. whether it could happen or is realistic is unclear. host: let's talk about the senate and first about the timeline. not a whole lot of time between now and friday at midnight. guest: this is not an easy one. government shuts down midnight friday night and they have this bill, a little less than three days to go about this and figure out what to do about it. democrats are in a really tough situation. i don't think anyone and these being chuck schumer right now.

they have a couple of really bad options. one of them is to capitulate to this bill in the eyes of some of their more progressive members, more solidly democratic members, and then there's other moderates who schumer is kind of given cover for. we hear from a lot of members that i will be don't like this bill, this bill is horrible, this is an awful bill, but they are not saying they are going to vote against it. right now democrats don't have a lot of options. a couple of the reasons why they are not coming out and saying that they are going to do right now is they are worried if they were to go ahead and shut the government down, they don't know what trump is going to do. trump is very unpredictable, they don't know how long a shutdown would last. a shutdown could obviously cost the government many millions of dollars, federal employees who are already feeling the pinch of it wouldn't get paid. military members wouldn't get paid. so they are any real tough situation.

the other thing i will mention is that the senate has been in now for 10 weeks straight and a lot of these members will want a break. host: i believe senator rand paul, a republican has already said he is opposed. so is it eight votes that they would need on the democratic side? guest: the one that is solid right now is john fetterman. he is aiming to avoid a government shutdown. host: let's talk to callers. mark is in chevy chase, maryland, democrat. caller: first time caller. i'd like to say real fast, food insecurity, it is not waste if it is fat. that is it. host: ok. walter in baltimore, maryland,

independent line. caller: i'm a d.c. resident, former, i am in baltimore, maryland now because of the gentrification of d.c. it's the direct result of congressional control dating back to the 70's and 80's when the federal government dumped crack on d.c., but the point of this billion dollar heist of the d.c. budget, congress by law is told of this authority over d.c.. no bill pashas without congressional review. my problem is we are being robbed, america is. not just d.c., but america. at the behest of the criminal musk. the other criminal, 45/47 is a

criminal, but the idea that our entire government is not right. if the democrats fold on the billion-dollar theft from d.c., how further will they fold on the multibillion-dollar, according to the thief's trump and musk, the trillion dollars that they have not found yet for the tax breaks for the wealthy. i want your comment to be clear, sir. host: go ahead. caller: do we support a tax break for the wealthy? guest: that's kind of the divide we are seeing. i think that kind of encapsulated well.

democrats, say they go ahead and vote for this. how much further is trump than elon musk? that is a question that democrats are asking. they don't like the idea of what it capitulated. they want to show democratic voters that they are strong in the face of what trump is doing but up until now, the tough thing for them is that they haven't really had a chance to do it. a lot of these nominations are through republicans, they don't need democrats. this is the first time democrats have really had a say in something and that is why they are thinking do we use it, do we have leverage in the situation or do we not? host: and they really don't have time to say let's negotiate, let's change things. guest:guest: some of them want to. if this were to falter, one of the ideas is that they would do another for about a month and in that time they could pass funding at current levels with

more reaction to what is going on now. but democrats yesterday had an hour long lunch, in our longer lunch than usual. another long one today, i'm sure we will all be outside covering it. this kind of sums up that it is not an easy one. host: what are republican lawmakers telling you about elon musk and its efforts? guest: it's mixed. they like the general idea of going after waste, fraud and abuse they don't like when it hits too close to home for them. host: when it is their projects being canceled, or their constituents being laid off. guest: they are not a fan of that. we see met with a lot of funding toward universities in various states. i'm not a fan of this, but we can't speak out one mouth and then the other one, is vivian, a

democrat in tennessee, good morning. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. this government, the republicans in the house and the senate, they are setting america up to fail. they don't think about the jobs they are going to cut. the majority of them are republicans and republican red states. they want elon musk to run this country. musk was in there when they had apartheid, how they did people over there. they are doing us the same way here. they do not care how in the world a person can cut off money for child care, for sick people, for the elderly. what kind of person does that? the way he did this country, said he's going to make everything better. everything is worse. wake up america, look at what this man is doing.

when you talk about people, that is the devil. that man is the devil in disguise. guest: i think that's part of the anger we are hearing from democrats. one person made a point the other day that it is easy for the house to say they will vote against it, without much fear of political retribution. the senate doesn't have that situation. for filibuster to overcome this, that is kind of why this problem we are seeing from them is existing right now. host: has chuck schumer said anything publicly about what the plan is? guest: not since the house voted. he did yesterday afternoon. he's very coy, very good at that as usual, but it under scores. host: republican, minnesota, good morning. caller: thanks for taking my

call. i just wanted to make a suggestion which is for instance , she said everyone agrees that the government needs to be cut, so why don't the democrats come up with their own set of cuts that they think would be good for the government? i think they would find a lot of support on sort of the republican side, especially at coalitions of change. and if they do that, maybe we could actually move forward as opposed to just making it always that one party is reflectively opposed to what the other one does. a think a lot of your viewers would do good to turn off fox news and try to find some new revia -- media outlets. that is really preventing us from moving forward. we could cut some other things of government. host: alex, actually the gop bill has a $6 billion increase for the defense department, what do y think of that? caller: right. you are to differentiate the political class from starting to

realize that a lot of defense spending is an aligned to the actual defense of the country, realizing we are kind of operating in and out dated way of doing things with being the policeman of the world. so there's a calculation that has to do with being politically expedient, but the trump insight is that you can play to the base and you can win. so that would be my advice to democrats. host: ok, let's get al to respond. guest: i understand his point, but the problem right now is that this is a government run by one party and they are having the full senate here. the reason they are doing this, that is a one-party exercise. democrats don't have a say in this right now. speaker johnson says they want the pass the reconciliation bill by easter, which is about a month and a half from now. host: when you say unlocking

reconciliation where they will not need democrats. guest: right now in order to get this done, they viewed this as keeping everyone in unison, keeping everyone in line and saying that there will be no distractions, they want to get government funding out of the way. the idea of them passing another cr for another month takes them into april, into the danger zone of where they would be tell you -- dealing with reconciliation. host: here is lynn in green lane, pennsylvania, democrat. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm listening to the people saying that democrats aren't doing anything and they are getting blamed for everything. the democrats are speaking their views on what they want done. but the republicans don't listen to them. they put down everything that they say. host: any comment on that?

guest: i just think kind of that republicans won the ability to not have to listen to them for a little bit. host: isla, independent line. caller: i'm calling in regards more on the tariffs, and with these tariffs on aluminum and steel and lumber, especially those people that are trying to rebuild from wildfires, natural disasters, tornadoes, their costs are going to be a lot more than what their insurances will even pay out, and these tariffs that trump is putting on is hurting us americans in the long run. it's getting our economy, getting rid of the department of education, i mean, several thousands of jobs that are lost. and it's going to hurt eventually our farmers and our detroit auto workers.

and our congress has done nothing as far as to help our people. they haven't passed bills that are essential to helping families that are struggling. it is a real thing, the struggle. so that is all i had to say. thank you for taking my call. guest: the tariffs are a real problem right now. a lot of that is due to the uncertainty and the whiplash as they say. host: two they just think it is not a good idea economically, or do they just not like the backlash that we are seeing in the market with the instability? guest: i would say little bit of both. a lot of republicans especially in office right now are still free traders, a lot of them they are more pro-tariff, something like a trade war. but a lot of people are free traders, and a lot of them think tariffs are hurtful to the economy and they are seeing

others instability in the market. susan collins yesterday was talking about the paper mill that is across the river in canada and they have to go back and forth and it really hurts processing fees. in the nature of whether things are going to go on in april, it is tough to really plan ahead. host: the washington post also says republicans to trump, maybe rethink the whole tariffs thing please? few republicans are truly vouching for trump terrace and many hand at a hope that they just go away. guest: it's true. host: james, south branch, michigan, republican. caller: morning. i'd like to find out if we just quit paying for our, just paid for our citizens for medicaid, ok, and not noncitizens, with that solved our problem with medicaid? guest: medicaid is a big thing, it is a big problem.

something that has come up a lot , this reconciliation package of how republicans are going to find these cuts. host: do we know how much money in actual dollars is going to undocumented immigrant on medicaid? guest: i'm not sure. host: karl in louisville, kentucky, democrat, good morning. >> i'm really happy you were on the desk today when they announced the winners for the studentcam's. it looks like they have a nice group of possible interns, and these are going to be our future politicians and journalists, so i'm really happy to have heard that. tom massey, i'm pretty sure he did not vote for the bill. and now the president is talking about the primaries. has he seen the number that he has in kentucky? these are mitch mcconnell numbers.

i don't know who would want to try to effacing in the primary. i'm assuming if we have a representative, he is representing the views of his constituents and there are a lot of like-minded people in the area. i'm in another district, but his numbers are just incredible. i don't know if he really wants to get into a fight with tom massey, and i'm glad you all are on the air today. i've been waiting for that studentcam announcement. host: i'm glad were following that, we appreciate that. represented massey. guest: he's the one republican who voted against it yesterday and the caller is correct. trump has put massey in his sites before and massey has won every time. he's very strong in that area, we are not quite sure if he is going to go ahead with that.

in the district, it is really tough to take him down. frank has tried and failed. it's one of the few things on the republican primary site easily fail that. massey is formidable in that area. host: tell us about the one democrat who voted in support of the bill. guest: that is one of the main battleground districts on the house side. goldman has kind of always been the most moderate of the house members since he came in, or to house democrats since he came in. he is pro-gun, pro-second amendment. most democrats, he wants to see government function to a degree. that is his calling card and he is a bit interesting in that regard. host: bryson north carolina, republican. caller: hi, i want to be more aware of what you think is the largest government cut? host: washington, d.c.,

independent line, good morning. guest: i think what i'm seeing is that i don't mind the government doing waste, fraud and abuse. i'm also worried that we are not taxing the billionaires enough. some of the government like they are doing, but not as much. and then you tax the billionaires more. we had to do mandatory community service hours. so why isn't it mandatory that they put their fair share back in to the people who actually became billionaires off? that is my question. host: tax cuts. guest: we are going to see that

in the next couple of months. republicans have made this the number one priority of their administration. this is the trump agenda. our host: cuts and bigger priority than cutting government spending? guest: yes, this is the number one goal. senate republicans, house republicans have more questions about it, they think they could probably come for 8, 9 years. but this is going to be the biggest show in the next couple of months. host: youngstown ohio, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. it is a five-alarm fire and the reason democrats leads to a bloomberg report, entitlement is

that they want to cut in the dodgy push for social security and medicare. elon musk said social security was a ponzi scheme. i'm so scared. once these things are gone, you are not going to be able to help because he's also ruining the stock market, so people who had a median income won't be able to help the people who have no food to eat. so please pay attention. host: all right, sheila. guest: social security is a big one. elon musk, the one thing i would say is that of all the things that trumpets talked about in the past, he talked about a lot of things with certainty, one thing is that he does not want to touch social dirty. some republicans have floated raising the retirement age.

host: that is al weaver, you can find his writing at thehill.com. thanks so much for joining us. coming up, to members of congress join us. first, tom mcclintock, a member of the budget committee will discuss government funding and president trump legislative agenda. later, maryland democratic representative sarah out -- sarah elfreth discusses funding the government there's a temper 30 and legislation to protect some federal workers from doge layoffs. we will be right back. >> saturdays, watch american history tv's 10 week series first 100 days. exploring the early months of presidential administrations with historians and authors enter the c-span archives. we learn about accomplishment and setbacks and how events

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the washington, d.c. area, 90.1 fm, or go online to c-span.org/ radio. channel 455, and on your smart speaker by simply saying play c-span radio. during our live call-in program daily, listen to house and senate proceedings, committee hearings, news conferences and other public affairs events live throughout the day, and for the best way to hear what is happening in washington with fast-paced reports, light interviews and analysis of the day. catch washington today. listen to c-span programs on c-span radio anytime, anywhere. c-span, democracy unfiltered. washington journal continues. host: plug in back of the program. we are joined now by tom mcclintock, a republican from california and a member of the budget committee and judiciary

subcommittee. welcome to the program. you voted for yesterday's continuing resolution. tell me why. guest: i don't like cr's, but i like this one because it gives off the time to finish the work that doge as started, and he give the president added flexibility in managing the nation's resources. forwards, in doge we trust. host: what are you hearing on the senate side, do you have any friends on that side and what are they telling you? guest: i can't read minds and i haven't talked to any of them so i have no insight on that other than i would hate to be chuck schumer right now. they are going to be in the same position that republicans were during the obama shutdown. i must say that was not pleasant and last very long. host: the education department

has announced is laying off about half of its workforce. what is your reaction to that? guest: i'm old-fashioned. a dollar that is not spent in the classroom is a dollar wasted. host: you believe that money is not being spent in the classroom? guest: i think a lot of it is spent on bureaucracy, we had a much better school system. when cages were in charge, and in school boards were in charge of their principles, that system worked and worked very well. as power has devolved first to state capitals and then to washington, our schools have deteriorated dramatically. we need to ask a very simple question. has the quality other public information in america increased with the department of education or decline? and the answer is screaming at us, it has declined rather dramatically.

clearly, the department of education in washington is not helping. i think it is actually hurting. host: you said last month hell hath no fury like the deep state scorn. at become obvious in the over-the-top hysterics directed against elon musk as he turned over bureaucratic light on what is going on beneath them. a lot of mr. musts critics, it is now that wanting to save money, it is about how he is going about doing it. do you believe that he has been taking a hatchet or a scalpel to government spending? guest: he's been doing that is necessary. we are now at a point where every department of the government except for entitlements and interest is borrowed. every dollar of it and then some. the interest on the debt that we have now run up, just running

the money we've already spent is more than we spent on the entire defense budget of this nation. that is completely unsustainable and it requires huge remedies, not anchor mental steps at this point. that is exactly what elon musk and dog are accomplishing. it thinks he can save a trillion dollars with his current inquiries. i think that is probably reasonable, and i think it is absolutely essential. so history is screaming at us that countries that bankrupt themselves aren't around very long because before you can provide for the general welfare you have to be able to pay for it. the the of this country to do so is coming into great question because of years of reckless and out-of-control spending and the amount of waste and just sheer, infuriating waste, there are 3100 people who took at sba

loans. you know how much of that money has been paid back with those loans taken out by people over 115 years old america has been robbed blind host: do you have any constituents in your district have been laid off as a result of doge? guest: oh yes. in yosemite park were they are having protests and telling us this is going to mean the extinction of species and tourists lock in bathrooms, we took a look at these huge cuts in yosemite.

it turns out 10. 10 probationary employees out of a winter full-time workforce from a yearly 500. host: are those the only employees laid off in your district? guest: another 15 or so that were early retirements. i'm speaking of yosemite now. we employ far too many people doing far too little, and that has become very apparent. basically what we have is a new boss who has come in, brought in an auditor, and says i'd like to see your expense account and the staff goes berserk. and while we're at it, i'd like to know what you do for the company. and they freak out. what does that tell you about what has been going on? host: you believe everybody that has been laid off has been laid off for cause? they were not performing or were not showing up?

guest: i think our errand enormous amount of youth dispositions. you talk about not showing up, we asked semi park management how many of your employees are still working at home. they couldn't tell us. but we do know that in 2023, 34% of national park service employees were working from home. what does that tell you? host: democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. this is an article with the headline california representative tom mcclintock cancels some office hours and wake of trump policy protests. host: these are staff office hours, a lot of small towns spread out. so instead of people coming into our office, our staff goes out

and hold meetings with folks for having troubles with various bureaucracies. va, social security and the like. within the last few weeks, these meetings have been disrupted by protesters, which isn't fair to the people who are coming in and trying to seek assistance, and it's not fair to the staff. so i decided it was best to suspend those until tempers cool. host: let's talk to callers. hyattsville, maryland, independent line. caller: good morning to all. first i'd like to ask of mr. mcclintock, the democrats are kind of in a precarious position. aren't they any better position, being in the position where they would perhaps be in the tradition of giving the president an annual budget for a greater time?

and i have a follow-up comment after that. guest: i was on the other side of that issue many years ago and it is simply not a sustainable position. the democrats for years have told us a government shutdown is the end of the world, and now they are saying they are quite ok with causing one. that's going to be a hard case to make to the american people. host: i'm a former federal government employee. when you mentioned our performance behavior for cause, i was one of those people terminated, and i worked right there in the epicenter of the situation, in law enforcement. and there were high-profile murders. a nine-year-old girl out of silver spring, cases were botched. and i had full might of the

agency come down on me. law enforcement community which is one of the united states attorney's office because there's a pipeline where we become judges, to get nominations for federal agencies, etc. an employee embezzled over 64 times. i could not terminate her, allegedly. as a prosecutor, she's been there for years. among the other corruptible things. there needs to be a cleansing. in my case should be evaluated.

born out of government improvements, government reform and improvement. guest: i had dinner the other night with a group of judiciary committee members with cash patel, the fbi director, and he spoke about how they are opening up all of the misconduct that has been going on, he's pledging absolute transparency and i asked him on the record what was the thing that is most shocked you so far about taking over as fbi director? and he says i've been shocked at how angry some of my subordinates have become as they learn about these kinds of developments that have been hushed up all these years. so i think you're going to season very big improvements over at the fbi within the justice department at the corruption is rooted out in the

politicization other law enforcement agencies is styled back. host: here is gin in california, maryland, republican. caller: i'm calling to talk about the continued resolution and stuff. i just watched speaker johnson on another network and he said how inefficient the government is. the most inefficient place in the government is congress. you guys get nothing done up there. you can't pass a budget. if you haven't passed a budget by june 30, seven days a week, until you get a budget pass. you do nothing, you leave on friday. look get a response. host: -- get a response. guest: i was recalling the chorus line from 1776 when john adams is talking about the same

things. our deliberating process is very messy and it was specifically designed for a big food fight every time a decision was made. the fathers did not want these decisions being made lightly or easily, so we have a very complex process that requires a great deal of talk. the only purpose of that building is to talk out our differences, and that takes a lot of time and it's very frustrating. after fashion, it works. many forms of government had been tried and will be tried but timocracy is by far the worst, except for all of the others we tried from time to time. but having said all that, you are singing my song. we have a budget process. when that budget process is used properly and as intended, it works. we balanced four budgets with

newt gingrich leaving the house and under bill clinton's administration, because we followed that budget process. we haven't done that since. and i've been beating the drums on that for some time now. certainly that's what i am pushing for. the decisions are really, really hard, but we are in times now that demand really hard decisions. host: do you agree with the suggestion to stay in session until you get it done? guest: yeah. host: steve in florida, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning, mr. mcclintock. i've got a comment in a couple suggestions. first off, i would've let -- because it's horrible. guest: what did he say with horrible? caller: it's not a clean cr, sir. host: steve agree with that?

caller: you want to spend $203 billion for the va, that is not a clean cr. host: full on, steve. guest: it does slightly reduce spending. not nearly as much as i would like to see it reduced, but the president is tried with the responsibility to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. he can't do that if he can't open the books, look at the money is being spent, determine whether it is being spent efficiently and stop it when it is not. the cr gives us the time for that process to unfold and was desperately needed. for that reason alone i think the cr is absolutely essential, and by the way, the alternative is a shutdown of the government caused by democrats who told us for years that that the worst thing that could possibly

happen. host:, what do you think of that? it's guest: how about raising the capital social security. race at about $10 million. we can't afford this. thank you, sir. guest: first of all, they keep talking about a tax cut but what is actually replacing us as a massive tax increase if we do nothing and massive tax increase will take effect. it will amount to about $1500 of additional income taxes for a family earning $75,000. i think that would be devastating. we are not talking about tax cuts right now although there will be tax cuts involved to get the president is very serious

about no tax on tips and no tax on social security benefits. and by the way, millionaires and billionaires don't work for tips and i don't think they care about social security checks. and this is very much a tax reform that is vital to the middle class in our country and at a time like this, i think is very important. it is true if you cut taxes but don't cut spending, you haven't really cut taxes. whatever the government spends, it has already decided to pay for it in only one of three ways. either we tax it now which reduces your current standard of living, we borrow it now which taxes your future income and runs up huge interest costs and crowds out capital that would otherwise be available, or we pay for it through inflating the currency. all of those are bad, they all stem from excessive spending.

host: how do you suggest those extra taxes are paid for, what do you want to cut specifically? guest: you start with hundreds of billion dollars of grants and subsidies. host: subsidies to whom? guest: subsidies to everything. host: including farmers? guest: absolutely. the beauty of our free market system is consumers vote every day with every dollar they stand on what the economy can produce, who is going to produce it, and what they willing to pay for. they substitute consumer decisions with political decisions. perhaps those are two very different things. subsidies not only cost us hundreds of billions of dollars yearly, but they distort the natural flow of capital that would otherwise go to its

highest and best use according to the decisions that every consumer makes every time they spend a dollar. so get rid of those, get rid of the grants. this business of just throwing money at folks and telling them do something good with it. it seems to me if the government needs a good service that can provide itself, it needs to send out an rfp, award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder and then hold that contractor to the terms of that contract. and one other thing. the other thing we see a lot of grants go under for our local projects of every can people kind. that is why congressional earmarks are so diligent. it seems to me that if a project exclusively benefits a local community, that project should be paid for exclusively by the local community.

there is no reason that taxpayers should be paying for sidewalks in new york. host:host: the cap on social security, are you in favor of that? guest: there are three knobs you can turn on social security. you can either increase taxes which he is proposing, you can decrease benefits, or you can adjust the retirement age. host: what are you in favor of? guest: i'm in favor of increasing the retirement age. when social security was established the retirement age was 65. i believe the average lifespan for an american is 63. so you can see how that works. host: what would you change it to? guest: i don't know the actual numbers. my understanding, this would apply to those at or near retirement age. this would apply to people entering the workforce, the

retirement age gradually increased from 65 to 67 over decades so that those new workers just entering the workforce could make their retirement calculations and preserve that system for all. host: here's dennis in ohio, republican. caller: good morning. my question is about social security. we have a local institution in cleveland that in the 70's received a lot of social security, payments at $14,000. now how is a person going to come up with $14,000 and live on something like that if that is all they are getting to live on? they are either going to take

100% of his monthly social security payment or they are going to eliminate a payment every so often. how is a person supposed to live on that? guest: but remember, that wasn't over payment that he wasn't entitled to in the first place. if that is going to be forgiven, that comes out of the benefits afforded to social security recipients across the country. the system right now is on a collision course with insolvency. that is going to mean i think about a 20% reduction in everybody's vigil security checks to pay for all of this. this is why when doge discover there are millions of lazy people who have active social security accounts, it doesn't mean they are all getting paid social security benefits, although an audit found 44,000

dead people were getting social security payments, but it is what they use those numbers for for other fraud which is what we discussed earlier. but again, that guy is in a difficult position, i understand that. money to which he was not entitled in the first place, and my advice is work it out. host: democrat, munro city, missouri, good morning. caller: good morning. my question is that i would like to know what funds the doge employees are getting paid out of, and from what i researched online, quite a few of the employees are making over 60 years and pay. and also i would like to know if it is being addressed, elon musk has several contracts in the government and also, are those programs being cut?

how are you all having oversight over the program that he's getting paid if he is doing the cuts? guest: i can tell you this. tesla received a lot of government subsidies. i brought up the issue of subsidies and grants on the show when elon musk appeared before a meeting of our republican conference, and he was in agreement that that was wasteful. so i think he's kept a very open mind on it. respecting the people he's bringing to the government, these are highly technically inject -- educated and talented individuals were literally finding hundreds of billions of dollars of waste and the federal government. he thinks they could locate $1 trillion and a lot of that requires preparing various databases throughout the federal government, enormous technical expertise. so frankly, $100,000 for one of these people who are locating hundreds of billions of dollars of waste, i think they are

underpaid. host: as far as oversight of what elon musk is doing and doge in particular, how much do you think congress should be involved in that? guest: congress does have a very important oversight function but i'd have to ask the question how has that been doing? we wouldn't defining this kind of waste if that oversight were being discharged adequately. this is really no different than ronald reagan to form the grace commission. they found quite a bit and were able to reduce government spending at least relevant to gdp as a result. host: that individual didn't have government contracts. that was making an personally wealthy. guest: i'm not entirely sure

that's the case. host: with elon musk having government contracts? guest: that grace didn't. host: said in this case we do know that elon musk has contracts with a sex and with tesla and with starling, so are you confident that he will recuse himself, he will not try to make himself personally more wealthy? guest: first of all, i think that his service to the government is actually costing in a normative amount of money. the polarization of the marketplace, all of the vandalism and attacks on tesla dealerships, i don't think he's made a lot of money in government. my guess is he has lost a lot of money but he's doing this because he understands that as lincoln once read, this is the last best hope of mankind on this earth and our generation is either going to nobly save or immediately lose it. and don't forget, he's working

under the authority of the president, who in turn is working under the authority of the american people. host: here is james in mississippi, independent line. caller: good morning, how are you doing? guest: good, thanks. caller: first of all, i want to say this. let me know when you are going to cut me off, do you agree that you gave this man from south africa all this power, do you agree that you need to do the same thing to every senator, the house and the representatives, should he do a strong investigation on every politician, every one of you guys, with the president allow him to do that? second of second of all you have a person who is not a legal citizen in the united states of america and they are going through all the

intelligence. these young people got all the information that they ever need about america, and no one knows anything about -- don't know what country -- i know south africa. i want to know what he's done in his own country, his own people. because you all allow a man to come in and go into the second highest office and go through everything of united states of america say he going to cut the budget. something is wrong with that, man. you all don't realize what you just did? host: james, let's give him a chance to respond. guest: james, first of all, i find myself disgusted by that line of reasoning. first of all elon musk has been a citizen of the united states, naturalized, for i think over 20 years now. he's a citizen by choice. we have always argued that america is a nation of immigrants. it's built on legal immigration. the democrats over the last four years have allowed eight mill

illegal immigrants into our country, people who have broken our laws to get here. and are now costing taxpayers $160 billion a year to support. yet that same party that proclaimed how important illegal immigration is, now attacks a legal immigrant who has come to this country, produced thousands and thousands of jobs for americans, who has contributed mightily to this economy, and is now -- has now put all of that on the line in order to come and work for this elected president to root out waste and corruption within the government. i think he has done a tremendous service to our nation. with all due respect, i find myself disgusted by your line of reasoning. host: representative tom mcclintock, a republican of california. thanks so much for joining us

today. .a. guest: my pleasure. host: later on "washington journal," we are joined by maryland democratic representative sara elfreth, on yesterday's vote. on the house republican's measure to fund the government through september 30. and her legislation to protect some federal workers from doge layoffs. up next, it's more of your calls and comments in open forum. you can start calling in now. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. and 202-748-8002 for independents. we'll be right back. ♪ >> looking to contact your members of congress? c-span is making it easy for you. with our 2025 congressional directory. get essential contact information for government officials all in one place. this compact spiral bound guide

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the supreme court, and the white house. >> is this mr. brian lamb? >> it is. >> would you hold one moment please for the president. >> it exists because of c-span founder brian lamb's vision and the cable industry's support. not government funding. but this public service isn't guaranteed. all this month in honor of founders day your support is more important than ever. you can keep democracy unfiltered today and for future generations. >> to the american people, now is the time to tune in to c-span. >> your gift today preserves open access to government, and ensures the public stays informed. donate now at c-span.org/donate or scan the code on your screen. every trib shun -- contribution matters. thank you. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. it is open forum. before we get to your calls, just want to show you that the consumer price index has come

out about half an hour ago. here's axios, inflation cools in february. after string of hot reports. it says this is a graph of year overyear change in consumer price index. here's the graph it is 2.8%, overall 3.1% if you exclude food and energy. it says that inflation eased in february. the consumer price index rose .2% last month with the gauge that excludes food and energy prices, it increased by a similar amount according to the labor department. here is mike, youngstown, ohio, democrat. hi. caller: good morning. how you doing this morning? host: good. caller: the whole thing with elon musk and donald trump, i mean they want to take on the poorest people, take money off them so they can have a big -- they don't have to pay as much tax. the whole thing is ridiculous.

i pray to god that somebody stops them. let's get back to some normality in this country. this is crazy. thank you for taking my call. host: talk to rick next in russellville, tennessee, republican. reporter: retired army veteran and i'm a retired police officer. and what i don't understand is why people do not understand about these tax breaks. if you give tax breaks to corporations and the billionaires, they are the people who hire everyone. if you give them incentives to hire, more people will get jobs. if you increase the amount of taxes that corporations have to pay, they have less money to pay the employees. you people need to get -- you people need to get off of musk.

he's doing a great job. he is an american whether you want to agree with it or not. he is not a second president along with donald trump. thank you for taking my call. people need to get realistic and understand what happens in our society. host: all right. here is nate, springfield, virginia, independent. hi. caller: how you doing. i just have three points i want to make. appreciate what you guys are doing. i just tune in and kind of caught the tail end of representative mcclintock. tried to call in just to ask him a question. didn't get to say it. we have to fact check what he's saying. for starter, doge, i don't think they have been -- not just what i think, but there have been articles written about how they just -- if you look at the receipt it doesn't add up to what they claim they have been saving. come on. they are not going to make it to $1 trillion in saving.

secondly, as far as what they are doing, they are not really doing anything new. there are i.g.s, inspector generals, other agencies who have been doing their own audits. a lot of the things they caught have been pointed out by other agency or whether it's g.a.o., whether it's inspector generals, so as far as the claim of saving, don't buy it. thirdly, just to respond to the gentleman caller from ohio before me. back in 2017 when the trump administration and the g.o.p. when they decided to put forward this tax break bill to companies in an effort to bring them back -- bring back more businesses to the u.s., it didn't -- it did not work out the way they planned. when companies want to get these tax breaks and got more benefits, they got more money, more profits, they just took

that money and buy back stock, they didn't reinvest in the american economy. if they did, it's very little. most of it it just went back to buy back stock so they can get more dividends to their shareholders. to know a tax break will make america richer doesn't hold water. that's all i have. host: bob, democrat, illinois, good morning, bob. caller: hello there, i love c-span. democrats do not pass this bill. a lot of people will be maybe out of a job. there is telemarketing jobs is, rent-a-cars, you can rent you go from state-to-state. you already made one mistake by electing this man. now don't make a second mistake and pass this bill. otherwise you'll be passing a

bill secretaries pay more taxes than billionaires. how can that man sleep at night if you just -- that you just had on? when medicare is getting cut $880 billion. and the rich -- host: the total -- bob, the total would be $880. you said medicare. the argument is that it would come directly out of medicaid. go ahead. just wanted to put a fine point on that. caller: if you cut, cut with a -- not the way musk is doing. i say this for the last time, you elected this guy. you made one mistake, american people, don't make a second one and pass this bill. i know people will be suffering. but you can get a job somewhere. telemarketing. rhett-a-cars. get another job.

don't -- thank you, c-span. host: michael in smithfield, north carolina, republican. hey, michael. caller: good morning. host: good morning. what's been up? caller: i tell you what, what's up is gorgeous. i like it. it looks good on you with your hair. i tell you what's up, you asked me last time we talked last month about what i thought about doge. and elon musk. and what kind of job he was doing. i think by yesterday afternoon the crap hit the fan as they say when he goes on kudlow this week elon musk and says they are going to cut those entitlements. you know donald trump was just seen recently saying that he had no plans of doing that. and i'm shocked. i can't believe we are going to allow this to happen if it's going to go down this way. this is ridiculous. host: all right, michael. we are joined now by sarah

elfreth, a democrat from maryland on the natural resource ises and armed services committees. congresswoman, welcome to the frame. guest: thank you. host: we'll start with the vote yesterday. voted no. tell us why you voted against it. guest: i represent maryland's third congressional district, which is home to about 44,000 direct federal employees and two or three times that contractors who were impacted by the everyday decisions coming out of doge and this white house. normally anything resembling the potential of a government shutdown would be a challenging vote for me. but at the same time we are seeing unprecedented cuts and attacks on our civil service and federal funding. and this was no different. there were no protections for civil servants. not even the basic promise the president is going to spend the funds that congress appropriated wait we appropriated them, which is -- the way we appropriated them, which is a basic tenet of

separation of powers and checks and balances. it included cuts that will be devastating for my community and communities across the country. cuts to low-income and moderate income housing for folks. tens of thousands of families. cuts to funding for seniors who are experiencing food insecurity. cuts to our veterans who deserve the health coverage and health care if they have been exposed to burn pits. the progress we have made for those veterans, many of whom i represent over the last few years, those would be cut as well in this c.r. for other reasons i was a no vote. host: you're not too far from d.c. your district is just outside of d.c. what do you make of the $1 billion cut to the budget? guest: again, i don't see any strategy here. i don't see -- i don't understand what the plan is besides to cut really essential services to many of my constituents and many americans. at the same time we are seeing unprecedented attacks and cuts to our civil servants who are responsible for delivering those

services. it's been a rough couple of weeks. host: it's your first term in congress. i wonder what you have seen in this budget process, what surprised you about the whole process? guest: i'm still so new i do get lost in the tunnels. made it to my way here in the interview. what has surprised me -- i come from -- i served for six years in my state senate in maryland. worked across the aisle every single day. every bill, 91 bills i ever passed as a state senator were bipartisan. and that was the ethos i came into this job with i could find people across the aisle. i could -- my goal was to agree on one thing with everybody i meet. and i spend a lot of my time working across the aisle. ail see me for folks who watch c-span, you'll see me across the aisle every day. i have had some success not on the budget side, but i have had success i filed my first bill yesterday, the first bipartisan response to some of these issues that we are seeing come out of doge. focused on the probationary

employees who were summarily fired, many of them on valentine's day. these folks were not given two week's notice, they were not given a severance, they were cut off from their emails, even when elon musk admitted mistakes were made in firing spokes responsible for the security of our nuclear arsenal, folks fighting the spread of ebola across the world, folks who are responsible for studying and mitigating avian flu that's impacting so many farms and our egg prices. when mistakes have been made and courts have reinstated probationary employees, who did nothing wrong, many had stellar performance reviews, probation employees, new hires or people newly promote motte they had had fewer rights than other employees and they were supposed to be weaker than others. our bill, the pro-- our probationary employees act would simply say when folks, if they are and when they are, hopefully, reinstated we'll respect the time that they have

given to their in federal service. hi a constituent who was one day away, one day away from ending his probationary status. if he chooses to continue his public service, if he's reinstated he deserves for the federal government to respect that time. long way of saying i'm going to stay as optimistic and focused on protecting my constituents as i can. i'm going to find allies, i'm grateful to the three republican allies i have found on this issue. every day i'm fighting to find more. tim pacts everybody's districts. it's the right thing to do. host: congresswoman, would this legislation help those that have already been laid off? would it help them get reinstateed? guest: it does not help them get reinstated. the good news is that many of actions are occurring in our courts and courts are reinstating folks. again, elon musk has admitted that mistakes were made and people are being reinstated that way. people are appealing these cases. again if they even choose to come back into federal service, this bill simply says we are going to respect the time they

earned and we are not going to make them start their clocks over again. host: if you'd like to join our conversation with maryland congresswoman sarah elfreth of maryland, you can do so. our lines are democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. and independents, 202-748-8002. congresswoman, just as a freshman, can you tell us why you ran for congress, what were the issues that brought you there? guest: i love what i did in the state senate nor six years. i ran for office in the first place back then and i ran for congress this time, it's really simple and boring. i wanted to be of service. i wanted to help people and solve problems. people call our office, particularly in the last couple weeks, when they are having the hardest days. and we are in a position more so than anybody else to at least try to endeavor to support people on their hardest days. i love solving problems. we realize there was no federal protection in law for these

probationary employees to respect their time. it's a simple fix. it's a bipartisan fix. it's that kind of stuff, particularly when i'm in the minority and i need republican support for anything i want to do or achieve or protect my constituents from, that's what i'm focused on. that's why i ran. host: you and your fellow democrats will have a restreet outside of washington later today -- retreat outside of washington later today, can you tell us about the plan for democrats. and if you believe that leadership has been responding to the trump agenda appropriately in your view. guest: i do think leader jeffries has been responding to the trump agenda. main driving factor in this last election, many folks who stayed home, our side simply didn't make them he feel represented or heard or fought for. a lot has to do with the affordability crisis we are experiencing across this country in housing and gasoline and the price of eggs. leader jeffries has provided --

reminded us everything r every single day to let the main thing be the main thing, talk about affordability, what our plan is, why the president's actions are exacerbating that affordability crisis in too many of our communities. he has kept us on the drumbeat of focusing on how are we serving our constituents, how are we making their lives better. host: i want to share with you quick before we take calls, democratic pollster, molly murphy, this is what she said, she said the democratic brand is still not where it needs to be in terms of core trust and understanding people's challenges. even though voters are critical out trump and some of the things he's doing, criticism of trump doesn't translate into tr democrats. the trust has to be earned. what do you think of that? guest: i can't disagree with that. i think it's -- the responsibility lies in not just the big d democratic party, but also individual members of congress and individual local and state elected officials as

well. i held a town hall last night, 1200 people showed up in person. probably a couple thousand more tuned in online. it shows at this moment how passionate people are, how anxious people are, scared people are. i have asked them all the same thing which is continue to lean in, continue to participate. that trust that you just mentioned, that isn't just given to me because i won an election. it is something i have to earn every single day. and that's why i'm so fow cusseu mentioned be so close to washington. i drove in from my house in indianapolis. that's -- annapolis. that's a trust i continue to earn and look at that as my individual responsibility. host: talk to callers. mike an independent in washington, good morning, mike. caller: hello. congresswoman, i am calling to ask the direct question, do you know if the office of inspector general is still working in the federal government? out here we hear -- that was one

of the first things they got rid of. that's a pretty big organization. i'm curious if there is still an office of inspector general looking after how the money is being spent and feeding back whether it's working or not. guest: thank you for that question. it's such an excellent point about the checks and balances that aren't just outlaid in our constitution, but really important. those inspect jurors general are embedded, or supposed to be embedded in all of our major departments and agencies to weed out, find, address, mitigate waste, fraud, and abuse. internally within those departments. that's why it was so shocking. frankly hypocritical for the president to fire many of those inspectors general in his first few days in office. if we are serious about weeding out that waste, fraud, and abuse, those are the people on the frontline who know she's pept depth and agencies better than congress does. i can't speak directly to how

many remain versus how many were fired, but it's a real concern that we share in congress. i think the american people should be upset about that as well. host: dan in palm bay, florida, republican. hi. caller: hi. i have a couple questions there for the representative. do you agree that we should not be paying terrorists. host: we are listening. you said -- caller: i'm askinger do you agree with not paying terrorists. host: to other countries. caller: should we be paying terrorists. guest: terrorists or tear rivers. caller: terrorists should we be paying terrorists. guest: are you talking about somebody in particular, dan? caller: i'm talking about the united states should the united states be paying terrorists, do you agree with that yes or no? i would love a little more

detail on that question because it's so broad on the face of it, no. host: bill in newfield, new jersey, independent line, bill. go ahead. caller: good morning. i would like the congresswoman to consider making everybody pay social security. right now your earnings up to $154,000 you pay social security and your employer pays his half. i suggest that everybody pay social security on earnings. not on investment income, but earnings. if they did that, the amount of money going into social security would triple. the people that make $5 million a year, the big sports players, the corporate c.e.o.'s, if they paid into social security, my suggestion would be that the -- however many years they figured out it would take that the

employees' money would go directly into social security is. the employers' portion would go into a fund to pay down the national debt. once the national debt was paid down you wouldn't be so bad for money. and most of the people giving the argument that it's not fair because they'll never be able to get that money back, the social security money. when you pay your taxes you never get that back. and also suggest that it wouldn't have to be that once you made the $154,000 threshold instead of paying 7.5%, it could be 2% or 3%. there is a lot of flexibility there. an answer to the national debt and an answer to making social security secure. the democratic party always says make the rich pay their fair share. they can't argue about this. get the republicans to agree to it, which i think they would, it's a very accessible thing for

us to do. host: all right, bill. guest: thank you for that question. it's an elegant solution and something i'm focused on. i'm one of the younger members of congress. there is very little, talking about polling, very is little trust in my generation that social security will be there when the -- they paid into will be there for them when they retire. we are reaching a crisis right now where the trust fund i believe is only solvent through about 2036, so yes, this is a real problem. mortgage we kick the can down the road and, to your point, we don't address this through multiple measures, it's not just that in my view, we are going to become insolvent. lifting that cap on income i think is fair. i think it's the right thing to do. it's an elegant solution. it will help fund the trust fund for generations to come. not alone, but it will help absolutely. i want to remind folks that social security, before that huge act passed, 50% of our seniors lived and died in

poverty. it's the most important in my mind social contract that government has made with our citizens and something that is worth fighting for. i'm going to work with anybody who wants to work with me on solving that issue. your suggestion is elegant. host: richard in illinois, democrat. hi. caller: good morning. my question to the congresswoman is, basically, you hear so much about waste, fraud, and abuse and theft, but you never hear about anybody being arrested. and my question to her would be, why isn't it that -- all this is going on, especially from the republicans, and the people are stealing money from social security for 150 years, why isn't anybody arrested and why isn't anybody in jail? and in handcuffs? i want to know and name names. i would like to find out -- host: all right, richard. guest: excellent question.

happy to ask my republican colleagues that same question i think it's reasonable. again we can't do that if we are firing inspect jurors general across agencies and departments. that's their job is to root that out. excellent, excellent point. the president's comments on social security during the joint address to congress were just laughable. to presume that we have people who are 300 years old collecting social security benefits. that is an insult to americans' intelligence. host: des moines, iowa, brett, a republican, hi. caller: hello, ladies. hello, sarah. i hope you guys are having a good day. i think we probably need to get rid of the oligarchs, his name is donald dumpy. i got his buddy from south africa. he doesn't even belong in the u.s. what do you think? guest: i think there's been a lot of complaints about unelected bureaucrats running

the federal government from my colleagues across the aisle. and i think we are seeing the absolute extreme of that. basically a co-president right now who is unelected, who spent unprecedented amounts of money supporting the president in the last election and making decisions that have not just real world impacts on so many people, we oven forget about the people in these cuts, behind these cuts, they are not line items on a budget, these are people's lives, more importantly, services to the american people that are just not going to get delivered with we slash the staff at social security. these decisions are being made by somebody who is not elected, who is not vetted, not a member of the cabinet, was not -- did not go through a senate confirmation and have a public hearing. these are really concerning decisions made by somebody, again, who is not have the government experience and qualifications to do so. host: here is michael in great fall, virginia, independent line, good morning.

caller: hi there, my comment was actually just asked, my question was just asked about the prosecutions. why is this rhetoric about there being so much fraud, waste, and abuse but there is not prosecutions. it leads to conclude that the executive under trump and musk are just slashing programs that they don't like or don't want. and boosting things they do want. as we learn in grade school that's not our structure. congress has pouter of the purse. congress proposes the budgets that get approved. how does congress take this power back? as per our constitutional structure. guest: excellent question. before i came to congress when i was still a state senator i taught public policy and political science 101, i had the real treat of not just reading but teaching the constitution every year. we learn and should be embedded in all of us in grade school.

our founders set up a brilliant system of separate but equal, checks and balances, no branch, their words not mine, didn't trust the other branch. so we had this competition of ideas, but congress -- the constitution is very clear that the power of the purse starts with congress. that we appropriate funds. we reiterated that in the empowment control act of 1973. the courts reiterated that the last time petroleump -- president trump retuesdayed to spend fund for ukraine back in 2017. i'm not a lawyer, but i know a little thing about the constitution that congress appropriates. the president spends that money. and it's a check and balance that is healthy to our system and healthy to this country. that's why i vote nod on yesterday's c.r. it's why i'm very concerned about the budget resolution working its way through the congress right now. again if we break this norm, it

has unprecedented consequences for our nation. host: here is william in west point, mississippi, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. the question that i have is that i'm trying to understand how elon musk, who has not been elected in, how can he make these drastic changes? without going through the republicans. the house. i'm confused. host: congresswoman. guest: i'm not an employment attorney, i'm pretty sure the tool the president is using here is that he has a special government employee status, which again a check and balance should only last i believe for 100 days, can you check my math. that's also why we are seeing this rush of action. this rashness of decisionmaking.

again, to claim that firing the probationary employees in charge of securing our nuclear arsenal was a mistake, that's a mistake that should never have been made. it's unacceptable. i'm a member of the armed services committee. it's unacceptable. talk about the cuts to the f.a.a. formerly the safest form of air travel is by air. we are cutting, slashing, gutting, f.a.a. positions. that's a real problem. in the rush to meet that 100-day mark, elon an doge are making -- and doge are making rash, dangerous, irresponsible decision that is are going to cause hurt and panic across this country. democrats in congress are talking about it every day. thank you for raising it as well. host: i know you have to run. i want a quick comment on the news out of the department of education laying off nearly half of its staff. guest: shocking. again the department of education was created by congress. it can only be dismantled by congress.

they are using a tool of slashing the federal workforce. many of whom live in my district. be clear, leaving it up to the states, in maryland we are lucky to have a wonderful state department of education protection, strong protections for our most vulnerable students. special education students who require more resources, require civil rights so they receive an equal education with everybody else without a federal department of education ensuring every state holding feet to the fire ensuring those rights and the funding for our most vulnerable students, it keeps me up at night. it's something, again, it's going to impact everybody's district across this country. it should concern a lot more of my colleagues than it is at this time. i'm going to continue to talk about it. continue to raise the alarm. host: representative sarah elfreth, democrat of maryland. thanks for joining us today. we will continue taking your calls in open forum until the end of the program at 10 a.m.

eastern. since we are just talking about education, here is education secretary linda mcmahon yesterday talking about massive layoffs. that was the first step in accomplishing president trump's goal of eliminating the agency. here she is. >> this is the first step on the road to a total shutdown. >> yes. actually it is. because that was the president's mandate, directly to me. clearly is to shut down the department of education which we know we'll have to work with congress to get that complirnd. what we did today was to take the first step of eliminating what i think is bureaucratic bloat. that's not to say a lot of the folks -- it's a humanitarian thing to a lot of the folks that are there. they are out of a job. but we wanted to make sure that we kept all of the right people and good people to make sure that the outward facing programs, the grants, the appropriations that come from congress, all of that are being

met and none of that will fall through the cracks. >> that was my next question. the criteria for keeping that 50% is related to expenditures and key programs? >> correct. congress appropriates the money that is going through title 1, through idea programs. >> what's that stand for? >> i'm not sure can i tell you he except that it's the programs for disabled and needs. >> individuals with disabilities act. i'm guessing. i don't know my acrow names. >> this is my fifth day on the job and i'm trying to learn them quickly. host: that was secretary of education yesterday linda mcmahon. a couple things for your schedule for later today. right after this program at 10 a.m. eastern the senate banking housing and urban affairs committee will investigate housing affordability and the current roadblocks preventing access to housing. that's live right after this program on this network.

then at 3:30 p.m., the senate aging committee will hold a discussion on loneliness among seniors. and providing community support that is on c-span3. both of those programs if you can't watch it on the tv you can certainly watch it on our app. called c-span now, and online c-span.org. let's go to tim in michigan, republican. hi. caller: good morning, mimi. i was just trying to get on with the last guest. she in the beginning of your conversation i think she slipped up and said something that i was talking about the people that were not workers. they were workers, but they weren't -- host: the probationary workers. caller: she said something about them spreading ebola. i believe i heard her say.

that the united states was spreading ebola. that's not a good thing. host: what she was referring to, tim, was the people that were -- the federal employees who are overseas who are doing research in stopping the spread of ebola were laid off. elon musk, do you remember when he was in the oval office, he mentioned we are moving fast. we are going to make mistakes, one of the mistakes we made we laid off everybody that's trying to prevent ebola. caller: i understand that. the only thing is though that how long does it take to fix ebola? i think we already have the stuff for all that? we should have a cure for ebola already, i believe. why would we -- host: right now my understanding is there is no cure for ebola.

i think there are treatments, but it would be a pretty big problem if it came to the united states. yeah. caller: i was just -- my speculation is the way she worded that i was not trying to be rude or anything. host: no problem. caller: the way she worded to m- host: we were trying to spread ebola. caller: cancel those people because they were spreading ebola. host: no. thanks for calling, tim. here's eric in oklahoma city, oklahoma. independent, good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. thanks for taking my call. i just want to say -- i'm just -- the reaction of a lot of people when we have been asking for accountability in our government for years and years. and you look at some of the -- where some of this money is going. it sounds like a saturday night live skit.

for circumcisions in mozambique. to draw an analogy, a friend was talking with came up with this, he said, it would be like if you sent your kid to the corner grocery store for groceries with the weekly family budget for groceries, and he bought porn and liquor and everything else, and the grocer called, the grocer being elon, and said, hey, your kid's buying all this stuff. he isn't buying groceries. everybody gets mad at the grocer. why aren't we mad at our government? the oversight supposed to be in congress. and they are saying, oh, we have the job of oversight. yet do we see any oversight? is there anything going on where we can say any of this corruption that is going on in our government is something that we want to pay for? does anybody believe that? does anybody want that? biden was kicking money out the door to the tune of billions in

his last few days. just to fund the democratic party. i think we owe elon, who is losing money hand over fist right now, a debt of gratitude. i think he's doing a fantastic job. i can't wait to see hopefully within the next few years we get to a balanced budget. that's about all i have to say. host: all right. here's bill in rhode island, democrat, good morning, bill. caller: good morning. how are you? host: good. caller: ok. i believe that we are are on a fast track to a dictatorship. the republican party is not really the republican party. host: it's -- bill, you still there? caller: yes. it's the trump party. the republican party have no

backbone. they sold their souls. i believe that if you remember howdy doody, he was a puppet. someone's hand up his back and just a mouthpiece. trump is telling them what to say. biden was one of the best presidents he ever had. got more done than anybody. these republicans are programmed to put him down every chance they get. he got the infrastructure bill passed. the roads are being fixed. the bridges are being fixed. what have the republicans done for us? nothing. and most of this deficit that we have, this $36 trillion deficit, is for past republican presidents. trump's last presidency was $8 trillion. this presidency now he already wants four more. when they say they are going to pay oft deficit, the only one that ever paid off the deficit that i know of was bill clinton. the rest of it was done by the

republican party. they showed grow a backbone. they sold their souls. they just have no courage. they are weak. and they worry about being primaried. they keep going the way they are going, i don't think they need to be worried about being primaried. i think they'll be voted out. that's what i got to say for today. host: here's matt in mclean, virginia, independent. hi. caller: thanks very much. i just wanted to make a quick comment on some of the cuts and the proposals from doge and the administration. i think everybody, every american could support finding and trying to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in the government. in a large organization and all the agencies they have i'm sure can you find some. it has to be a thoughtful attempt. i think the issue with what i have seen with doge is that

within a day or two the firing thousands of employees at agencies where they don't understand the mission of the agency, they don't understand what the agencies are doing. reference back the clip you showed of the secretary of education on laura ingram. she couldn't specifically say what juan of the cuts to one of the programs, how it would impact her department. she said i have been only been on the job for five days. if you were really thoughtful and really wanted to ensure there was no waste, fraud, and abuse at the department of education, you might give that new leader time to review the organization and provide a detailed plan on how you would root out waste, fraud, and abuse. which employees are essential, which are not. which you could get rid of. unfortunately, the administration is making these decisions wowts incorporating -- without incorporating hiredship at a lot of these agencies. that's why you are seeing a lot of backtrack. the nuclear scientists -- the

regulators of the nuclear stockpile that were fired and brought back on. park service employees terminated and brought back in. i.r.s. employees terminated in the middle of the filing season. then were brought back on. i don't think it's a very thoughtful attempt to really find waste, fraud, and abuse. the second point i guess would be if you are really trying to address the deficit, that the amount of money spent on the federal government and on the discretionary side is minuscule. it's all about entitlements. if you really -- were really thoughtful and interested at getting at the deficit, you also wouldn't be proposing a tax cut through reconciliation, which the republican party is now contell plaimenting, which -- contemplating, which would add $4 trillion to the deficit. i think as an independent for me i get frustrated with both

parties. but it's this kind of hypocrisy where you say you want to root out waste, fraud, and abuse to balanced the budget, and on the other hand you are going to propose tax cuts which would add $4 trillion to the deficit. it's very frustrating. and i think that's why people start losing faith in both of the parties and government when you see proposals like this. thanks so much for your time. host: all right, matt. another topic that you might be following is palestinian activist khalil, his case heads to court today. this is news nation, he is a legal permanent resident of the united states. he helped organize pro-palestinian protests at colombia university while he was a student there. he has since graduated. the trump administration has accused him of lieding rallies, quote, aligned to hamas. and the article states that he was born in syria, raised in a palestinian refugee camp, holds legal permanent resident status

in the u.s., and i.c.e. officials arrested khalil on saturday transferred him to a detention center in louisiana. the court will hear arguments alleging khalil was wrongfully detained for his role in last year's protests at colombia university. and that is set to get under way at 11:30 this morning. here is patrick, pensacola, florida, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. i just have a couple comments to make. number one about the democrats are complaining about all the i.g.'s fired by trump and all that. if those i.g.'s were so great, why didn't they alert us to all the fraud that was going on with usaid. that's their job is to oversee that kind of stuff. i never heard -- this is the first i have heard of all this crazy expenditures going out from usaid.

number two, the previous caller from virginia talking about how entitlements are like 80% of our budget. i get that. the bigger question is, how did they get to be 80% of our budget? i think because a lot of people are getting paid not to work. there is a lot of fraud in medicaid. that's been stated by the g.a.o. i think it's like over $800 billion they estimate in fraud. why not cut that fraud? why the democrats -- is there anything that the democrats think should be cut? is there any spending that they are against? i'll hang up and let you respond. host: what do you think of that, patrick, what do you think should be cut? caller: what? host: i was going to ask you to respond to that question. what do you think should be cut? caller: i think what should be cut is just to start with is the

money that's going to have transshows in mozambique, africa. host: that's not enough to -- caller: it doesn't matter. if you cut -- host: that's what i'm saying -- caller: if you cut $600 billion. that's $600 billion less we need to spend. it could go towards -- still got people in north carolina living in tents because fema spent all their money on illegal immigrants. host: all right. here's ben in crystal river, florida, independent line. caller: good morning, mimi. we are missing the big picture in all of this. we are kind of microscoping little incidents that musk is finding. we are going broke as a nation. we are leaving our grandkids a situation where the dollar may not even be the global currency

because we are so broke. we are also taking leadership from congress and a government that the majority of americans think is inept and corrupt. and they do nothing but prove us right. we bounce back and forth between the destruction of the democrat's part and destruction on the republicans' part. nothing's gained. but we are losing time to do positive things for this country that are going to happen. we are looking at musk and we are blaming him for the corruption and fraud in government. we knew about $2,000 hammers, and $15,000 toilet seats by the military for years and years and years. we laughed at it. the problem is we are talking

about normalcy when nothing's normal. we are the laugh of every industrialized nation in education -- last in every industrialized nation in the education. yet we want to keep the department of education. what is going on with that theory? if something is that wrong, if it doesn't work, and we waste time not changing it, our kids are in jeopardy, our country's in jeopardy. as americans, we need to open our eyes. we are losing by degree and we need to make sure that we make our government accountable. sure musk is making mistakes, but he's finding all of the problems that existed under the surface. host: all right, ben. here's a democrat in

jacksonville, florida, curtis, good morning. caller: good morning, my beautiful sister, thank you so much for taking my call. my request is this. i'm requesting this from every human being. regardless of party, race, color, creed. let's demand that all of congress, our government, let's do a reduction of theiralry. let them do a decrease, cut their own salary. then on top of that, let's have them do a health care bill that we get the same health care benefits that they got. also let's cut the spending, the frivolous spending. do the american citizens know that they spend $17 million on lawsuits for sexual harassment and all kind of other frivolous charges against congress?

$17 million. did musk find that? have anybody say anything about that? and how is it that someone who wasn't even elected to office, no one chose him, can go in our government and run and run amuck on it? where is -- where are the gate keepers at? to stop this guy. it makes no sense to me. lastly, if they cannot pass a bill to fund the government, their salary should be stopped as well. their salary and their health care should stop, too, until they pass a bill to fund the government. thank you so much. host: here's a republican, gibbonburg, ohio, tom, good morning. caller: yes. i only have a couple of little things here. i think doge will be lrts if they -- already if they let him go and do what he wants to do.

and go to biden, 30 some years in congress, a billionaire or maybe a billionaire, if you figure out the 40-some years, $74,000 a year, he don't have about $8 million. that makes no sense. and the american indian scholarship to go to college, she didn't pay none of that back. she ain't an indian, thank you. senator warren. host: jason in oregon, democrat. caller: yeah, hi. i just want -- good morning. i just want to say america, i don't understand it anymore. i have been trying to figure it out for a while. what the hell's happening to us. and s.n.l. last week, it was funny, in the cold open, they said trump would said americans

doing bad guy now. that's my statement. elon is high and american is doing bad guy now, thank you. host: ray in syracuse, new york, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a comment about a couple of calls over several days about how to better manage the n.e.a., national education association, from washington. of course the argument from people on my side is washington should have nothing to do with education. it's a state issue. and the handling the money and collecting the money for the schools around the country is an insane idea. just look at anything that washington does. it's not well. we need -- that stuff should be in the place where it actually

happens. and all the people calling in, of course, are -- they are getting hung up on how we should do it from washington better. there is no better. it's common sense. that's what the people on my side want. we don't want them handling anything in our states that they don't have to handle. host: all right. here is edward in winthrop, massachusetts, democrat. good morning, edward. caller: good morning. i have a couple of quick points. first god bless bernie sanders. i believe he's reflecting the frustration that the rest of the country is feeling. second, trump never got 50% of the vote. so i don't understand how they can say it's a mandate. if they want to cut down the

deficit, stop subsidizing the oil companies. stop subsidizing the pharmaceutical companies. stop that and they'll save social security, no problem. that's about it for now. the only reason why he's saying drill, drill, drill, is because he plans on drilling and cutting forests in our national parks. and then he wants to mine uranium from the grand canyon. thank you very much. host: edward. this is corey in the villages, florida, independent line, good morning. caller: yes. hello c-span. i know it's is limited. i'll get to my main point which was i looked up your previous

guest's bio on wikipedia and saw that she was the -- on the armed services and natural resources committee. when you look at her bona fide she has no experience in either one of them. that's the biggest problem in government. we are electing people that are useless as far as our congress and senate is concerned. thank you. host: here is allen in dallas, texas, republican. hi. caller: how you doing. host: ok. caller: all right. about the point of the louisiana dog, first off because he's -- he has sovereign rights from other countries f. he goes to a program center in the jail and if he was just involved in protesting, even if he did it illegally, if he didn't follow the verbatim scripture of testing, if he goes to programs, if he does within the jail standards of the united states of america, and does his jail

time fairly and none aggressively and nonviolent, just for protesting, his whole case should get dismissed under the first and second and third amounts of the -- amendments of the united states. he would have to go to programs inside the jail. would he have to learn what's right from wrong. and would he have to swear to the courts to never, ever, ever me mess up in another protest or not be involved at all. due to the fact he has no terrorist background. due to the fact he has no terrorist leaders in other countries proclaiming his protest and allegiance, or even the terrorist attack of never in 2001, just because of the fact he's a college student and it messed up in a protest does not make him in a criminal unless he messes up after that moment. all i has to do is ask the louisiana jailer for programs, take anger management, if he was doing drugs in his bloodstream, narcotics anonymous. if he was drinking