...alliance now asserting control there and how the transition could reshape the Middle East.
And Georgia Republican Congressman Rich McCormick, a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, on the federal funding deadline, foreign conflicts and congressional news of the day.
Also, Brendan Duke of the Center for American Progress talks about President Joe Biden's economic record and legacy.
Washington Journal starts now.
Good morning.
It's Wednesday, December 11th.
President Biden delivered a speech yesterday making the case for his economic legacy.
He said he'd be leaving the next Trump administration with the quote, strongest economy in modern history and the envy of the world.
The president urged Mr. Trump to build on that progress while criticizing Trump tariff and tax cut policies.
This morning we're asking for your assessment on President Biden's economic legacy.
What grade would you give?
Here's how to share your thoughts.
Republicans, 202 -748 -8001.
Democrats, 202 -748 -8000.
And Independents, 202 -748 -8002.
You can send us a text to 202 -748 -8003.
Include your first name and your city -state.
And we're on social media, facebook .com slash c -span and x at c -span wj.
Welcome to today's Washington Journal.
Before we get to your calls, I'll show you a portion of President Biden from yesterday at the Brookings Institution talking about his economic record.
It's laid out a stronger foundation and a sustainable, broad -based, highly productive growth.
That is my profound hope that the new administration will preserve and build on this progress.
Like most great economic developments, this one is neither red nor blue.
And America's progress is everyone's progress.
After decades of trickle -down economics that primarily benefited those at the very top, We've written a new book that's growing the economy.
The middle out and the bottom up.
That benefits thus far everyone.
And this is going to be the test that's going forward.
Over 16 million new jobs.
New jobs.
The most in any single presidential term in American history.
The lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in the last 50 years.
20 million applications for new business records.
I mean, it's a new business.
It's a record, I should say.
Stock market hits record highs.
I wish I owned a lot of stock.
You know the worst part of all this?
I acknowledge it, Brookings.
For 36 years, I was listed as the poorest man in Congress.
What a foolish man.
Anyway, 401ks are up.
More than a trillion dollars in private sector investment in clean energy and advanced manufacturing in just two years alone.
After decades of sending jobs overseas for the cheapest labor possible, companies are coming back to America, investing in building here and creating jobs here in America.
That was President Biden yesterday talking about his economic record, his legacy.
We want to know what grade you would give to that economic legacy.
And we're taking a look at Facebook here.
Deb gives the grade of an A+.
She says, I dread the incoming circus.
It's going to be disastrous.
And we will get more in a minute.
Let's go to the calls now.
Robert in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
Democrat.
Good morning, Robert.
Good morning.
What do you think, Robert, about President Biden's— I would give my—consider what he'd come in on.
What people just don't see now.
I don't know whether he thought that Trump had such a good economy when he first came in.
When Biden came in, the pandemic, where his men were telling people to shoot bleach, and a lot of people died.
Now, the gas prices started going up behind the pandemic.
Food went up.
People were losing their jobs.
Couldn't get supplies.
This man has straightened it all out.
Now, all of a sudden, Trump will come in again, like he did behind Obama, and claim he had the best.
He come in because of him to come in.
Where is that now?
The man is a compulsive liar, a felon, and white America loves him.
But be careful what you wish for.
All right, Robert.
And back to Facebook.
Joseph says, highest inflation due to dismantling our energy independence and F.
Brian on Facebook says, passed more bipartisan legislation to benefit the working class than anyone since FDR and the New Deal.
The naysayers are parroting the wealthy class talking point arguments that don't want the government to succeed for the working class.
Trump and Elon represent the billionaire class that wants to rule the peasants that believe them.
Let them eat cake.
And Carolyn says, failure, disaster, destructive, F minus, lowest grade any president has ever gotten because the Biden -Harris -Obama administration and the open borders globalist Democrat Party destroyed our economy on purpose to keep control of their power.
Biden's economy was so bad, Trump won the electoral vote, the popular vote, and Trump won 2 ,619 counties.
Good morning.
How are you?
Good.
I just want to say I would give Biden a high grade on the economy, except he has given so much money to Israel.
And Israel has been killing all the Palestinian people and bombing.
Now they're bombing the Palestinians.
And I do not like the fact that Biden has given so much money to Israel and Gaza.
It's been just terrible.
He's been a good president with the COVID.
He got rid of COVID.
The economy's been good.
I do give him a high grade on the economy, but all the money he spent sending to Israel, I really dislike it.
Thank you very much.
That's all I want to say.
Good morning.
I'd like to give President Biden a high grade because he did bring our economy back.
And that's all I got to say.
Good morning.
I would like to give President Biden an A-, because although he has tried to have our economy going on the right track,
they have yet to basically define the tax breaks at the beginning of our tax system as far as offshore.
Tax havens and and uh how that they add up to 60 trillion dollars and we have a deficit of 35 trillion.
And uh also um, funding at the end of our tax code.
Right, there is as far as that goes, as far as corporate funding, and uh, that seems to be taken off at the beginning and the end of our tax code.
All right, Wilmer, and here's Guy in Stigler, Oklahoma, Independent Line.
Good morning.
Hey, good morning, Mimi.
Thank you very much for taking my call.
First of all, let's make some comparisons from four years ago to the current administration.
When Biden took over, the inflation was 1 .4 % and our GDP was 6 .9%.
Now our GDP is 2 .95 % and our inflation is 30%.
Wait, wait, wait.
When you say the GDP...
Let me explain why it's 30%.
No, no.
Explain the gross domestic product as a percentage.
Explain that.
As a percentage.
Right.
But I want to compare the inflation rate.
They say it's 2%.
They say it was 9%.
But the CPI stands for core price index.
You mean the consumer price index?
Yeah.
That's the technical definition of an inflation.
So we have been in inflation for the last year.
We're starting to come out of it, but we have been in inflation.
And also, when President Trump was in office, there were 15 conflicts around the world and no wars.
Now we have 56 conflicts and two major wars.
I want to show you what I've got on the CPI.
It's the Consumer Price Index.
This is CNBC that says the CPI report is expected to show that progress on inflation has hit a wall.
It says the consumer price index is expected to show a 2 .7 % 12 -month inflation rate for November up one -tenth of a percentage point from October.
Core CPI is forecast at 3 .3 % or unchanged from October.
So that's the latest that we've got on that.
Hi.
Hi.
The last caller, I don't understand all those numbers and everything.
All I can say is from when Trump was in office compared to when Biden was in, everything from our trying to buy a house and our groceries and everything Yeah, everything that we've had to deal with, our money doesn't go as far, and it's been really difficult for us.
And so I would have to give Biden an F.
And I'm super happy that Trump's in.
I think everything's going to fix itself now, hopefully.
All right.
And this is what CNN is reporting.
It says Republicans are feeling great about the economy again.
Democrats are really worried.
It says that a Black We're good to go.
I think?
And here is a little bit more from President Biden yesterday, acknowledging that Prices are too high for many people.
Of course this economic growth is not without pain.
The entire world faced a spike in inflation due to disruptions from the pandemic and Putin's war in Ukraine.
We acted quickly to get inflation down with the help of Republicans and Democrats.
Inflation came down to pre -pandemic levels.
Wages have increased.
But still, too many working and middle -class families struggle with high prices for housing and groceries and the daily needs of life.
At the same time as inflation and interest rates continue to fall, we're entering a new phase of our economic resurgence.
With the outcome of this election, we also face an inflection point.
Do we continue to grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, investing in all of America and Americans, supporting unions and working families?
And we have a couple of texts.
This is from Danette in Portland, says...
I'll get to that later.
Ralph in Manoa, New York.
Go ahead.
Yeah, I'm a UAW worker from upstate New York, and I would give President Biden an A - on what he's done for the economy.
In particular, the Chips and Science Act, and we've now got the biggest capital investment in upstate New York in its history with Micron, promising to create a lot of jobs.
The American Rescue Plan, and I mentioned the Inflation Reduction Act because it added more IRS representatives, and where the wealthy were hiding their income, they were able to collect a lot of money, tax revenue.
Vincent Gaithersburg, Maryland, Republican.
Hello?
Hi Vincent, go ahead.
Hi, how are you all doing?
Okay.
I don't see how any media, you folks who lied to us for four years, C -SPAN, CNN, MSNB, you know, about Biden's cognitive state, you're lying to us now and you're trashing Trump.
Your first call was trashing Trump and throughout your whole show.
It's going to be positive for Biden, gaslighting us, and negative for Trump.
I'd like the speech ban reviewers to take hold of this.
Just look.
Just look for yourselves.
Anyway, you have a good day, and I hope your cold gets better, Mimi.
Me too.
Nick, in Michigan, Democrat.
Good morning.
Hello.
Yes, I am a registered Democrat all my life since 1992 when I voted for Bill Clinton, holding my nose because I knew his character and everything.
But I voted for him because I knew he would do well for the economy with help from the Republican Congress.
And so it happened.
And I didn't regret my vote for Bill Clinton back then.
I haven't voted for a Democrat for president probably since 1996.
And as far as Biden, And I'm talking as somebody who really knows his economics.
Really, really knows his economics.
Unlike a lot of the callers that give Biden an A or an A -minus or an A -plus in such ridiculous ways.
So he did terribly.
He inherited an excellent economy from Donald Trump.
And not just that.
Not just that.
Every failure, every failure of the Biden economy was directly caused by the policies that...
Thank you very much.
All right, Nick.
Rhonda in Minito, Illinois, Democrat.
Good morning, Rhonda.
Hi.
Yeah, I give Joe A+.
I don't know where these other people are coming from.
Because when Obama was in office, he had a good economy.
Barter crossings were at a 50 -year low.
He deported 2 .2 million people out of the United States.
That's what was handed to Donald Trump.
What did he do with the economy?
Well, he didn't handle COVID.
He was more interested in what happens in the next election, according to Bob Woodward, and that, no, his economy sucked.
He had a good economy that Obama handed him, and that he didn't do anything.
As far as your stupid prices, do you remember?
Nobody was working.
They were standing in food lines.
And the reason your gas prices went up, those companies were going to make that money back because nobody was driving.
What do you think they were going to do?
They're corporate.
Look at who's in his cabinet.
Billionaires, millionaires.
If people think he's going to do anything for the middle class, I'll tell you what.
His communications director, when he was in office the last time, you know what she said?
He wanted her to go tell something out to the press.
She refused to do it.
She asked him, why do you keep lying to your supporters?
His answer was, you know, you just keep lying and lying.
Eventually they're going to believe the lie because they're effing stupid and nothing but bottom dwellers.
All right, Rhonda.
And this is a text we got from Danette in Portland, Oregon.
Coming out of COVID, we have the best economy in the world, growth every month, A plus for Joe.
And this from Harry in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
President Biden's economic record, a D plus.
Taking credit for fixing what you broke isn't an achievement to acknowledge, let alone tout.
I'm an independent, politically, registered electric power engineer.
I only look at actual real -world results.
Well, let's take a look at more from President Biden's speech yesterday on the economic conditions that he inherited when he took office.
Four years ago, when I came to office, 3 ,000 Americans were dying per day from the pandemic and had a profound effect on our economy.
Not only ours, but around the world.
Millions of Americans lost their jobs or are at risk of losing their homes.
Hundreds of thousands of factories and businesses, excuse me, yes, hundreds of thousands, closed and creating despair in communities.
I remember when I was campaigning, I'd say, my dad used to work at that factory.
My grandfather works at that factory.
It's gone.
People lost hope.
They lost hope, particularly through the Midwest and other areas of the country.
Supply chain was shattered.
Prices soared and everything from cars to homes to appliances.
The previous administration, quite frankly, had no plan, real plan, to get us through one of the toughest periods in our nation's history.
In fact, there's an old saying, the only tool you have in your toolbox is a hammer.
Everything looks like a nail.
Over the course of decades, Republican leadership, and I'm not a, those of you who know anything about me and my career in the Senate, I have as many Republican friends as Democratic friends, for real.
I'm not one of these.
Anyway, I'll get going.
But I've never been a big fan of trickle -down economics.
It was a hammer that was hammering working people.
My dad used to say, my dad was a well -read man who didn't get through.
He got accepted to go to Hopkins, but during the war he never got to go.
But my dad used to talk about it.
He said, Dad, Joey, not a whole lot trickles down on my kitchen table at the end of the month.
Slashing taxes for the very wealthy and biggest corporations, diminishing public investment in infrastructure, in education, in research and development.
And keep your eye on that.
We're going to find out whether or not what they want to do on each of those areas continues to be slashed, if it makes sense or not.
Offshore jobs and factories took off for cheaper labor overseas, destroying unions while imposing costs on those products made in America.
And despite the mythical reputation to pay for itself trickling on economics, deeply worsened our fiscal outlook in my view.
We're asking you this morning, what grade would you give President Biden's economic legacy?
We're taking your calls this morning and Judy is calling from Moorville, Mississippi, Independent.
Flat on our backs when President Biden came in.
If Trump had got reelected, there'd been more dying from COVID because Trump didn't want to tell the American people about how dangerous COVID was.
He continued to lie.
And these people that say, well, there wasn't no wars.
Well, what do they expect Biden to do?
Go in and slap BB?
Sideways to get him to straighten up.
I feel like Bibi is not going to do anything Trump wants to.
Trump don't care.
He just wants to end the war.
He don't care how it turns out.
And so all these people that blame Biden for everything.
And also, too, one thing Trump did do when there was the pandemic, he continued to campaign, get thousands of people together at his rallies just so he could kill them with COVID.
And then when that didn't work, he told us to inject ourselves with bleach.
So that's all I have to say.
Patricia is a Democrat, Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Yes, hi.
Hi.
Hello.
I want to give Biden an A+.
I'm ashamed of this country.
I'm 78 years old.
I have voted my whole life and I've been proud of this country and right now I'm ashamed of this country.
I think this country is gone.
I think the people are gone and I don't understand how a guy that has no morals gets elected for president and this would have never ever happened years ago.
And Biden is a wonderful man.
There's nothing wrong with the economy.
People go out.
They stand in lines.
They're at $200 restaurants eating.
But they say the economy is bad.
It is not bad.
It's nothing to do with bad.
And I feel so bad for him.
And I think he got a bad rap.
And it was all because Trump just lies and lies and lies.
And people believe it.
And I'm happy for him.
I hope that they're going to have a good awakening when the country is gone.
The country is gone.
It's gone dumb.
And Tony, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Republican.
Good morning, Tony.
Tony, I'm a little curious about the Plus.
It's kind of a strange grade.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
It's just, F is not bad enough for him.
It's just, I don't like the way that people gaslighted his ability to get around.
Oh, so you want to be worse than F?
Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
So like F minus.
Yeah, okay, get it.
Yeah.
Okay.
There you go.
Got it.
Doug, Fairfax, South Dakota.
Democrat.
Good morning, Doug.
Yeah, morning, Mimi.
I'm a Democrat.
Always have been a Democrat.
But I'll never vote for...
I don't think I'll ever vote for a Democrat again.
And I'm a never -Trumper, so I'm in a bad spot.
But I'd have to give him an F, too.
And Wall Street's doing great.
They're setting all kinds of records nowadays.
But like the guy said before, you go in the store, it's terrible.
And his foreign policy, the world is on fire everywhere.
I got to blame you a little bit on Israel because they're starving people over there and you guys never bring it up.
It's a never topic for you guys and so you guys are kind of involved in that ordeal too.
We should be talking about that.
But Israel's killing everybody over there and I agree with that other lady.
Shut the money off because it's terrible.
I heard All right,
Doug.
And here is President -elect Trump.
He was on Meet the Press over the weekend defending tariffs.
Take a look.
Yeah.
I don't believe you.
I can't guarantee anything.
I can't guarantee tomorrow.
But I can say that if you look at my, just pre -COVID, we had the greatest economy in the history of our country.
And I had a lot of tariffs on a lot of different countries, but in particular China, we took in hundreds of billions of dollars and we had no inflation.
In fact, when I handed it over, And the previous caller mentioned Israel.
This is just the latest on that.
From a day ago, it says Israeli forces kill at least 34 people in Gaza, rescue workers say.
It says that Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 34 Palestinians overnight.
And on Tuesday, according to medics, Israeli tanks pushed into areas in central and southern parts of the enclave.
That's at Reuters, if you would like to read more of that.
Janice, Chula Vista, California, Republican.
What grade would you give Janice to President Biden's economic legacy?
Minus F.
And I'm so tired of hearing people talking about Trump and COVID.
More people died under Biden from COVID than did Trump.
And as far as the Israel situation is going on, the money that's being sent over there, not half as much as what was sent to Ukraine.
They're always talking about how Trump inherited Obama's economy.
Well, What did Biden do with $1 .70 gas and $3 gas and low interest rates?
What did he do with what he inherited?
You people, the Democrat Party, I call them the SOS Club.
You people are so stuck on stupid.
It does not matter what in the world a Democrat does.
You refuse to see the forest for the trees.
At the end of the day, nobody still is acknowledging Biden's salinity.
Nobody acknowledges that you've been lied to for four years about Biden even being hacked there.
It's unbelievable to me how you want to go.
I heard one woman say Obama sent three, well, she said two million, but it was actually three and a half million illegal aliens across the border.
Nobody was whining in the streets or screaming about separating families.
But when Trump used the exact same cages Obama put in, there was all hell breaking loose.
And Trump wants to send back illegal criminal aliens.
The thing about the Democrat Party that infuriates me is your lack of concern for your own people.
You will go to war and go to bat for illegal criminal aliens, but you will not stand up for the families that have lost their children.
Because of criminal aliens.
And the little children that are being sex trafficked.
All this is behind Biden and Harris.
And the fact that nobody on the Democrat side, I mean, none of you people will acknowledge that Biden lied to you for four years.
For about everything, including the fact that Hyena Harris was even Black.
Okay.
How are you doing this morning?
I would have to agree with the With the F.
Matter of fact, I would take it all the way straight down to a G.
Biden's, just his whole presidency has been an absolute train wreck.
Not to mention the crisis we have at the border that nobody seems to want to address in his administration.
We have Kamala Harris, who ran a horrible campaign when she raised over a billion dollars and she's $20 billion in debt.
I'm a disabled veteran in the state of Massachusetts.
And the illegals that are in this state get far more, far more than I ever do or ever could.
The old soldiers home in Boston, they moved all my brothers and sisters in uniform that had bled and gotten blown up for this country right out into the street to move these people in.
I don't understand it.
And the fentanyl crisis, it's just, holy smokes, it's just absolutely ridiculous.
The people praise this guy and are all upset because Kamala didn't get elected and they want to make Trump the bad guy for everything.
They're talking about weaponizing the judicial system.
How many bogus court charges, court filings have they had against President Trump?
It's just, it's mind -boggling.
It truly is.
I do appreciate you taking my call.
All right, Paul, and this is a Republican in Baldwin, Missouri.
Rick, you're next.
Hey, thanks, Mimi.
Yeah, I called in without even knowing the topic, but as soon as I turned on the TV, I saw Biden talking about Trump not having a plan for COVID.
So I want everybody to, well, first off, my grade I'd give Biden is about a D plus or C minus, you know, the 20th percentile.
He lied about...
I mean, at the top of his class at law school, when in fact he wasn't.
But here's what everybody needs to remember.
I used to live in California, and I know about the Chinese New Year celebration.
In February 2020, Nancy Pelosi was in Chinatown, dancing in the streets, saying, everything's fine.
What is all this concern?
It's xenophobic to talk badly about China and consider locking down the economy.
A big lie right there.
And of course, that runs up into Biden.
So please, Democrats, recall Nancy.
No mascot.
February 2020.
Right at the cusp of this.
Saying, no problem.
And so that was just this economic challenge for sure for Trump.
Okay?
And the other thing is that's complicated.
And everybody, all these presidents grade is that we've got a complicated relationship with China.
And this is Alfred in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Democrat, good morning.
Good morning.
So happy to have you take my call this morning.
Here I am in the great state of Florida.
And I want to say I give Our president, a B+.
I can't say an A, because I don't think no president actually deserves an A.
We've always dealt with inflation.
Inflation has always been an ugly item that we have to face.
I can remember going all the way back as a young kid.
I used to hear my parents talk about the price of milk when it was five cents.
But we've raised, everything is a corporate greed.
And so every time we want to try to blame the economy on a president, and I'm going to even give 45 recognition,
because I'll never recognize him as being the president of the United States because of the horrible things he did and the disrespect for veterans.
But yet and still, he does sit behind the shield.
But I do want to say, if we're buying from Biden, Les in Sandy,
Oregon.
Republican.
Good morning.
Good morning, ma 'am.
How are you?
I'm okay.
I would grade him below G.
The reason why is I'm a farm boy, you know, ranch and stuff.
The price of meat, if you check the bread, in Oregon we're paying $6 for a dozen eggs here now.
Farmers are paying extra for the fuel to be delivered.
And the price of meat, you know, it's going up right now with the price of gas.
You could end up, if we keep on going with the Biden's policies and fuel and stuff, the meat could be between $35 to $40 a pound.
And the reason why I say that is you got your grain, you have to buy your grain, you have to buy Things that give the animals a shot.
The farmers and ranchers are trying to, in Oregon, are trying to be organic.
And if we can be organic, the more and more people will not be getting sick.
I feel that what Trump has done in the past, the fuel price has helped the farmers and these companies.
That All right, Les.
Derek in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Democrat.
Good morning, Derek.
I want to say, you know, I think Biden's economic policy, he took a lot of credit for a lot of different things.
And so if I had to give him a grade, I would say it's probably a C.
But, you know, honestly, I also want to say I love C -SPAN.
I'm so thankful that you are on C -SPAN.
I think you're fantastic.
And C -SPAN has been such a part of my life.
All right.
Well, thank you, Derek.
Appreciate that.
Ted in Chinquapin, North Carolina.
Republican.
Good morning.
And here's Angela in Maryland, Democrat.
Angela, good morning.
We're good to go.
I think?
We're good to go.
We're good to go.
We're good to go.
And I worry that Trump will pull back some of that infrastructure money that Biden has given to the states.
And I also do, I'll give Trump credit for one thing.
He probably will get gas prices down because Saudi Arabia will start putting more out again and the Russia -Ukraine war will come to an end.
So gas prices will be good.
But if he does tariffs on everything, in his first administration he only did tariffs on a few things.
But if he puts it across the board, Your grocery prices are going to go up regardless of how low the gas prices are.
I just worry about that.
And my niece, she got out of high school, had a menial job making $16 an hour, the same job that would have paid $10 an hour before COVID.
So the prices are going to go up if he does cross -the -board tariffs.
Every economist says that, and it will hurt working people in that regard.
So, yeah, Biden specifically, oh, and the stock market, my husband's 401k is doing great.
So if you want to get out there and work for a living, the economy's pretty good, obviously.
Look at the unemployment, look at the wages.
His policies have been great for me.
That's all I know.
All right, Angela.
And this is former Trump advisor Larry Kudlow and Ways and Means chairman Jason Smith on Fox Business yesterday on what they see as the immediate need to extend.
I don't think it's desirable to postpone the Trump tax cuts.
I mean, his working class coalition, blacks, browns, Asians, whites, kids, you know, those folks want a big raise in take -home pay.
They lost 4 % of it during the Biden years.
Trump delivered 9 % when he was president.
They want that.
And one way to get it is to cut their taxes.
And I think we should be talking about that.
And we should be launching what I call the blue collar boom right away this year.
I don't want to wait on that boom.
That's exactly right, Larry.
You see working class Americans, small business owners, and family farmers that have been struggling over the four years of the Biden administration.
They've seen inflation go up 20 .5%.
They've seen the cost of just to put food on their table, closing their backs, and gasoline in their cars go up.
The last thing, the last thing that Congress should even consider is kicking the can down the road.
Unfortunately, in Washington, D .C., you see a lot of politicians that they don't want to address the real problems at hand and they want to kick the can down the road.
I'll tell you right now, President Trump campaigned on lowering taxes for working class Americans and small businesses.
Congress needs to deliver.
Don't give the excuse that we need to wait six months because, Larry...
The President was specific about what he wanted to deliver and that is an extension of his successful 2017 Trump tax cuts and also no tax on tips, overtime pay, senior citizens, Social Security tax cuts.
I could go on.
We know what President Trump wants and what 76 million Americans voted for.
I wonder what you think about that.
We're talking about the economy, specifically President Biden's economic legacy.
Also want to hear what your thoughts are on extending those Trump tax cuts that are set to expire.
And this is Alexa, an independent in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.
She's not there.
Glenn in Madison, Illinois.
Democrat.
Morning, Glenn.
All right, Glenn.
Let's hear from Greg in Texas, Independent Line.
Good morning.
Good morning, Mimi.
I just want to say this man has done an outstanding job.
Give me time to speak.
There's nothing this man haven't done to keep this economy.
This economy is wonderful.
The stores staying packed.
Everything is packed.
This is the same thing that they do all the time.
When a certain group of people can't compete with the rest of the people, you bring them in here and then they learn how to survive in America.
It's to stick together.
with your own and you can build and uh they come in and they employ other people than employing the people that have been to college got an education i got a nephew right now can't even get a job because he don't got a degree and they won't hire him because he over educated over qualified but you bring foreigners in here and you give them a job then once they do better than then you want to take it back believe me just what they done to us this is The same thing they did back,
listen to me, the same thing they did when Nike shoes came out.
The little kids couldn't afford, the little other group of kids couldn't afford no shoes.
They go back and tell their parents, why is that N -word getting a pair of shoes when we can't have no Nike shoes?
They went and passed a law talking about black folks on welfare and their kids getting Nike shoes and we can't afford to get Nike shoes.
There's been going on hatred and envy and jealousy is always in this about taking their country back.
A man said that they're going to He gave an angle to every country, didn't mention nothing about European countries or who they're going to deport.
But see, this war is not only on Hispanic people, this war is on people of color, because people of color is the one that fought for everybody's rights, but they turned their face on us.
All right, Greg, I got to move on.
This is Robert in Indiana, Republican line.
Hi, Robert.
It's been the worst, and I've never seen people so hateful.
Hate is what's destroying this country.
It's not the economy and all that.
It's hate.
Killing.
Letting these people come out.
Why don't they go run from countries?
Leave ours alone.
We've got so many idiots.
I've never seen it like the Democrats.
How in the hell they can think that Biden did a good job?
Greg, in Cobb, California, Independent Line.
You're next, Greg.
Hi.
I just don't understand it.
Bush had eight years, and he trashed the economy at the end of it.
It was completely gone.
And what was it?
Obama brought us back, and Trump managed to take off on what he did and completely trashed it again.
Anyway.
All right, Greg.
Let's talk to Daniel next in Elk Point, South Dakota.
Republican.
I think Biden has got an F.
If anybody has any brains and look in the past at what that clown has done in the Senate, just like Obama, completely nobody's, done nothing, been nothing but a professional politician.
We, as people, need to watch and learn who these people are and then they get put up as president or whatever and show what they've not done.
When they get in power, it's not them.
Believe me, it's not them.
It's George Soros.
I'm the Democrat.
I used to be a Democrat.
I was a union worker.
I'm a retired union man.
I worked on the pipeline.
I told my union brothers, hey, you know what?
Hillary, none of the union pipeliners wanted Hillary to win from Trump because they're going to shut the whole industry down, go through this dumb green energy.
You know, and it's going to cost us money and cost us jobs, and the fuel prices are going to go up.
Everything goes up, food, everything else.
It's all in control through energy.
I've worked on the windmills for Mortenson out of Minnesota.
I've been around Iowa, all these other places, and it's a waste of money.
It's all subsidized money for green energy.
One million dollars back then cost one wind generator, right?
All right, Daniel.
We're going to go to Jack in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
Democrat.
Good morning, Jack.
Good morning, Mimi.
So the greatest indicator of how well the Biden economy is will be on January 20, 2025, when Donald Trump is inaugurated.
I guarantee you, and I hope people listen, it will then become the greatest economy in American history without having done one thing to impact the economy.
That's what Donald Trump is going to say, and that's what his followers are going to believe.
Gas prices will still be what they are.
Food prices will still be what they are.
But Donald Trump will rebrand This current economy at his own and it will then be the greatest economy ever simply because he you know he'll be inaugurated as president now he's talking about extending the 2017 tax cuts that's going to be a catastrophe because we know what it did the first time it's just going to explode the deficit and it's going to explode the deficit again so I'm hoping for the best.
My biggest fear is all the gains that, and this is me speaking personally, all the gains that my 401k has made over the last two years, I fear is going to be lost because of all of the idiotic things that Trump is touting that he's going to do,
beginning with extending the 2017 tax cuts, tariffs across the board, and all the other nonsensical things that he says he's going to do in his second administration.
I fear the worst, but I'm hoping for the best.
As far as Biden goes, I think he did a wonderful job with the economy given what he took on after Trump with COVID.
Inflation was a global phenomenon.
It wasn't just here in the U .S.
And the U .S. and Biden dealt with inflation far better than anyone else, any other advanced economy in the world.
All right.
Sorry, go ahead.
What people think of the economy just from this past month.
And David in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Independent.
Good morning, David.
Yes.
Yes, good morning.
I give President Biden an A+.
Now, you have to say, well, how am I going to judge that?
I base that on promises made and results.
So if you go back to the last Democratic debates in the last election, and you see all that, this is not about Biden, it's about the Democratic platform.
And when they were asked, raise your hand if you're for the following you know, eliminate fossil fuels they all raise the hands.
Open borders, benefits for illegals reimagining the police, pay off student loans, supporting sanctuary cities you check off that list.
They accomplished every one of those things.
Now, yes, they delivered on their promises.
Now, they have to take responsibility for their results, which are terrible.
That's my comment.
And this is Judy in South Beach, Oregon.
Democrat.
Hi, Judy.
Hi.
I give Biden an A+.
I think he's a steady, he's been a steady leader, a terrible messenger.
But a steady leader.
Trump will brag and brag and brag about things he had nothing to do with.
He takes credit for everything.
Where Biden just quietly moved along for the good of the average person, not the billionaires, not the millionaires.
I blame a lot of the problems with prices on price gouging, which Kamala Harris had a plan.
Nobody wanted to listen.
I think Biden was a great president.
I think his ultimate goal was to help.
Trump, if you look at his past, he's filed bankruptcy six times.
Somebody else bailed him out for his stupid mistakes.
He took chances with other people's money.
I think Biden is basically a very decent man.
He's very old.
He should have dropped out much earlier than he did.
I think basically he was an excellent president.
I think if it weren't for the border, which was a huge mistake on his part, I think he would have, Kamala Harris would have been elected.
Anyway, thank you.
All right, Judy.
And let's go to the Republican line in Monk's Corner, South Carolina.
David, good morning.
Good morning.
If you wanted a grade, I would just say absent or dropped a course.
So no letter grade.
I think F goes on there.
We're good.
People need to understand, and they see price goes up on eggs, they say inflation, inflation.
No, that's price inflation.
Monetary inflation is a problem, and the only way to get that under control is with a balanced federal budget and begin paying off the loan, off the debt.
And there's one other thing about tariffs.
They don't add to the money supply.
There will be short -term price increases.
So is that what you think is going to happen, David, with tariffs?
Do you think that the prices are going to go up for two years and then...
Come back down or stabilize at a higher rate?
What do you think?
Prices will go up and there'll be less people will have to spend more on certain things but without inflating the money supply they'll have less money for other things and those prices will will actually go down so there'll be a shift in prices based on tariffs and particular conditions of you know each market But you cannot keep pumping money into the money supply in order to buy votes campaign after campaign.
And I had a piece by Don Bacon recently, and he talked about fixing the federal budget.
He said it's going to hurt.
We are addicted to deficit spending.
And when you break an addiction like that, it's going to hurt.
Programs will get cut.
Individual people will get hurt.
But in the long run, to save the country, It kind of reminds me of the tenant goes down and some of the luxury passengers leave their suites to get on the boats and then other people move into a luxury suite and you say, hey, look what I got.
All right, David.
Here's Linda in Cleveland, Ohio.
Democrat, good morning.
Good morning.
Thanks for taking my call.
I, in my opinion, I believe that Biden did a very good job.
He looked at the symptoms of a nation of what was All right.
All right, Linda, and up next on the Washington Journal.
We'll talk to Michael O 'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution.
He'll discuss the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria.
And later, we're joined by Republican Congressman Rich McCormick of Georgia.
He's a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committee.
We'll be right back.
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Washington Journal continues.
Welcome back to Washington Journal.
We're joined now by Michael O 'Hanlon, Research and Foreign Policy Program Director at the Brookings Institution.
We'll talk about the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria.
Michael, welcome to the program.
Thank you, Mimi.
Nice to be with you.
So give us the context of the origins of the conflict in Syria.
There was, of course, this goes back to 2011 with the Arab Spring and the rebel movement then, but then it had kind of reached a stalemate.
That's right.
And if anything, the Assad regime, President Bashar al -Assad, who's now defected and escaped to Russia, if anything, he had basically won the war because he reestablished control in most of the country.
Not all of it, but most.
And so the central corridor where most of the main cities are located in Syria, starting with Aleppo in the north, coming down to Damascus, he pretty much reestablished control of all of that.
We're good to go.
There were remnants of the more extremist Sunni movements, ISIS, Al -Qaeda, but they evolved, they changed their name, and they were centered around a city named Idlib, I -D -L -I -B, to the north of Aleppo.
And so that's where this guy Al -Jalani and his group really established a small form of government and control and even military industry of a population of maybe a couple million.
Over a period of years and frankly, I didn't really sense the strength that that movement was developing.
I think most people were surprised even closer watchers of Syria than I may be by what's just happened and the speed with which it happened.
But that pocket of resistance always existed up in the northwest to complement the Kurdish rebels or movement in the northeast, and then some small movements here and there with tiny pockets of land in the south.
That all came together in the last few weeks as President Assad's traditional supporters, Hezbollah from Lebanon and Iran and Russia, sort of lost their way, lost their ability to help him, and then his regime sort of just dissolved before our eyes.
So what do we know about the leader of this organization that now is holding Damascus, essentially, and seems to be leading most of the country?
Hayat Tahrir al -Sham, the leader is named al -Jilani.
You mentioned him before.
What do we know about him?
Well, we know maybe three big things and they push and pull in opposite directions.
One is that he's obviously a very effective military leader.
He's managed to pull together a coalition in a way that for 13 previous years nobody had come close to doing.
Second, he has extremist roots and, you know, links to al -Qaeda and ISIS.
But third, he has claimed now to be a moderate in the sense that he will We're good to go.
We're good to go.
My instinct would be to promise now to remove it provided that we see behavior in these next few days and weeks and months that's consistent with the claim of al -jalani that he really has moderated and that he will be an inclusive leader and that he will use violence sparingly and legally so if he holds up his end of the bargain or his promises on those On those issues,
then I think we should indeed lift the terrorist designation.
There's no particular reason to think that just because it was correct five years ago, that it's still correct today.
But I think as U .S. government spokesmen and spokeswomen have said up until now, And here's a portion of Secretary of State Blinken's statement on this,
and I'll have you respond to it.
It says this.
This transition process should lead to credible, inclusive and non -sectarian governance that meets international standards of transparency and accountability.
The Syrian people will decide the future of Syria.
All nations should pledge to support an inclusive and transparent process and refrain from external interference.
The United States will recognize and fully support a future Syria government that results from this process.
We stand prepared to lend all appropriate support to all of Syria's diverse communities and constituencies.
Michael Hanlon, that sounds really good, but Secretary Blinken's only going to be in office for a few more weeks.
So what are we expecting from the Trump administration?
Well, it's a good point, but even if Blinken were going to be in office longer, it would be hard to deliver on all those nice words.
They are the right words, I think.
But the idea that all of us are going to keep out of Syria and just let Syrians resolve this on their own is correct at one level, but they're going to need help rebuilding the country.
And so you're going to have to make a choice.
At what point do you consider a new government inclusive enough?
and competent enough that it merits our support maybe even our financial support that's a big decision and that's not something that these general principles can really make the decision for you you have to put the principles out there and then watch what happens in practice and secondly let's all remember how bad of a track record we as Americans have in trying to build democracies out of civil wars we've not done a good job with it whether it be in Vietnam Iraq,
Afghanistan, and I would underscore one particular warning of something we got wrong in Iraq.
We pushed too soon for early elections, thinking that elections equal democracy equal inclusivity.
It's not true.
Democracy requires protection of minority rights.
We are talking about the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.
If you'd like to join the conversation with Michael O 'Hanlon of Brookings Institution, you can call us.
The lines are Democrats 202 -748 -8000 and Independents 202 -748 -8002.
Michael, you mentioned all the other armed groups in Syria still fighting.
Right now there's Turkish -backed forces, there's Kurdish forces, there's ISIS and others.
What does this mean for a united Syria going forward?
Are those, all those groups are going to have to lay down their arms?
Would they be willing to do that?
Well, I don't know if they should lay down their arms so much as come under the control of a central military and police establishment.
And I think they all need to have some sense that their protection is going to be assured.
So asking them to lay down their arms too soon, just like having early elections too soon, could be counterproductive.
So I think the key here is going to be for Jolani to establish himself as an inclusive leader who's fair to everybody, with the exception, of course, excuse me, with the exception.
Of former Assad regime elements.
Actually, I should be more clear.
I'm not saying they should be unfair towards those groups, but they are going to be punitive.
Those who were decision makers in the Assad government, the people who authorized the barrel bombing of civilian populations during the civil war, the people who authorized the chemical weapons use.
Obviously, the perpetrator number one, President Assad, is gone and out of the country, but there are still going to be top levels of his political and military leadership who I think need to be put on trial.
We're good to go.
We will take calls, but before I do that, I want to just ask about Israel.
This is the front page of the Post.
Israel expands strikes in Syria.
Extensive attacks add to volatility, and the stated goal is preventing rebel access to weapons.
Syria's military has been completely decimated by Israel at this point.
I think their navy is completely gone.
How do you see this?
They've come under a lot of criticism from Arab neighbors about that, saying that this is opportunist and this is a land grab and things like that.
How do you see this?
Well, it depends on which action we're talking about.
I think sinking the navy was too much.
I think a future Syrian state...
I don't know.
Let's talk to callers.
Ed is up first in New Jersey, Independent Line.
Good morning, Ed.
Yeah, good morning.
I noticed that the guests have made no mention of U .S. forces, of approximately a thousand U .S. forces presence in the northeast region of Syria.
And I believe reports are that they're taking the Syrian oil.
My guess is, my thinking is that one of the reasons that the Assad regime has fallen is because the U .S. is stealing from those people.
Now, Assad is an Alawite, which is kind of a minority group, so his existence really was pretty much dependent upon his ability to compromise and get support of other groups.
So he faced an uphill climb.
So I think that the fact that he held on as long as he has is pretty commendable.
But basically I want you to comment on how the United States played an important role in the demise of Assad.
Yeah, thank you.
Thanks for raising that issue.
You're right, it's an important one to get on the table.
And you're right, there are close to a thousand U .S. troops in that northeast part of Syria, largely working with the Kurds.
I don't think U .S. troops are taking the oil.
I think we've been happy to see the Kurds take the oil so that Assad did not get it.
And so that there could be some degree of effective self -governance up in the north and east of the country where Assad's government really had no ability to provide anything for the population.
So I think that's been the nature of the economy.
So I mostly agree with your point about the importance of those US troops, but I don't think they've been stealing from Assad.
They've been allowing the Kurds to confiscate the resources to run that part of the country.
As to whether Assad was such a good, inclusive leader, you know, there may have been a day where people thought he was the least bad kind of option.
We're good to go.
More than 10 million people displaced, most of them because of the regime.
This has been despicable, and so there's nothing about Assad that merits, I think, any any sadness on our part that he's gone.
We should be nervous about what comes next, but he himself turned into a monster, and the only reason he stayed in power so long was because Hezbollah, as well as Iran and Russia, helped him do so.
It wasn't because he sustained this notion that he was inclusive and benign.
I think We're good to go.
I think?
To make sure they're fair to the minority groups that now are going to be at their mercy, so to speak.
And we'll put on the screen kind of a timeline of U .S. involvement in Syria so we get an idea.
September of 2014 was the first U .S. military intervention in Syria with airstrikes against the Islamic State.
It was late 2015 that the first American ground troops entered Syria.
It was initially 50, grew to about 2 ,000.
Their goal to help Kurdish fighters defeat the Islamic State.
December 2018, Trump announces his intention to withdraw troops from Syria, but the plan softened within a year.
This is actually when Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned in protest.
And today, as we mentioned, about 900 troops are still in the country.
Michael Hanlon, what do you see as the United States top priority militarily in Syria?
Thanks, Mimi.
And that's a good timeline.
But if I could, I would add one piece to it, which comes before 2014, which is that we started to look for ways to support opposition groups who were rising up in insurrection against President Assad.
But we were very, very restrained in how we did that.
President Obama thought it might be better to keep American hands largely out of the mess and maybe We're good to go.
I think?
To the rebels but never really delivered, and that's part of why they stayed in such disarray.
Probably several dozen at least, rebel groups formed up in those periods and didn't do a very good job coordinating or cooperating with each other.
That's part of why Assad could fend them off.
So, in terms of our priorities now, excuse me, number one priority has to be, I think, to prevent Iran from re -establishing connections to Hezbollah in Lebanon, that land bridge.
And right up there with that priority, of course, is making sure that an ISIS or Al -Qaeda friendly government does not take hold in Damascus and wind up being extremist in behavior.
You know, if we got another government like the Taliban in Afghanistan, that would be too bad for the people of Syria.
But so far, the Taliban in Afghanistan don't seem intent on cooperating with Al -Qaeda and carrying out terrorist strikes against the United States.
And so maybe we've reached a live and let live.
Thank you.
And Sunni as well as Alawite within the broader Islamic faith, all of them freedom of expression, freedom of religion.
So that's what we have to hope for.
But to finish by going back to your question, that's not really a crucial American national security interest.
That's more of a human rights concern, a pro -democracy concern.
The top two security interests are preventing Iran from reestablishing a land bridge.
Good morning, Mr. O 'Hanlon.
How are you?
Fine, thank you.
How about yourself?
Oh, I'm doing good.
Hey, I was wondering, with what's happening in Gaza and Lebanon and Syria, can you tell the American...
Well, I think I know where you're coming from, and I will say this, that I understand after the unbelievable tragedy of October 7.
We're good to go.
That's been at the heart of U .S. policy for a generation, going back to the first President Bush, actually going back to 1948 and the creation of Israel.
But it's not been something that Prime Minister Netanyahu has pursued with any kind of conviction or sincerity inside of Israel, and even now that they've essentially decimated the previous political structure in Gaza.
For understandable reasons, Israel has not really shown any particular interest in creating a vision for a future Palestinian state.
And I think that's too bad.
I hope the Trump administration will try to persuade Israel that they need that kind of a vision because there really is no alternative.
And unfortunately, I'm afraid that many Israeli friends don't agree with what I just said.
On the line for Democrats in Rowlett, Texas.
Richard, you're next.
I just wanted to know, well, I have a lot of questions, however, what is the value to Putin?
How is the previous dictator, how is he important to Putin?
And how is the dichotomy of that with Trump coming into office and he's Alright,
let's get that answered.
Yeah, good questions.
Couple of things there.
First of all, as Mimi pointed out earlier, Trump You know, Trump threatened to pull the US troops out of Syria at the end of 2018.
That led to Secretary of Defense Mattis' resignation.
That was one of the two main places where Trump was going to really pull down, the other being Afghanistan.
And yet, then President Trump changed his mind.
I think because, to be fair to President Trump, as well as President Obama, they both constructed a coalition and a war plan to go after ISIS in Syria and northern Iraq that worked.
We're good to go.
I think?
Al -Qaeda and ISIS from reconstituting.
So I think he made ultimately the right decision.
But you point out he's been friendly towards Vladimir Putin.
Let me first come back to President Assad.
You said, why does Putin want to be friends with Assad?
Why did he give him exile or, you know, sanctuary inside of Russia, allow him to escape there?
And I think, you know, Putin's sort of an old -fashioned mafia guy who's good to people who are good to him.
And one of the ways in which he can call back favors is people always know that if he felt that they helped him...
or if he previously was alive with them, he's going to stay alive with them.
He's not going to get all concerned about human rights issues or things that we would consider important in the west, so that's how he keeps his network of friends, by always sort of having their back.
You may recall he got a big arms dealer released from a U .s prison recently as part of a prisoner swap for that same kind of reason.
So I don't think it goes any deeper than that sort of mentality which is characteristic of a lot of We're good to Go.
Michael Hanlon, how big of a setback is this for Russia and for Iran geopolitically?
It's a big deal for Iran because Hezbollah was probably their strongest proxy group in the entire Middle East.
And, you know, their overall M .O. has been to try to put pressure on Israel as well as many Sunni Islamic governments across the region as well as, you know,
more secular governments and to try to sort of support what they sometimes call the axis of resistance.
It's the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
some of the pro -iran shia militias in iraq it's hamas a sunni group in gaza at least before and and of course hezbollah in lebanon hezbollah was always the biggest strongest most powerful they're the ones that kept assad in power to a large extent in those early years of the civil war and now they've been largely decimated by israel especially over the last few months so that's a big setback for russia you know russia likes to play the great game they like to play global We're good.
But I don't know that Russian interests are all that huge in Syria, except in terms of prestige and pride.
Yeah, there are some financial interests that Putin pursues with his, you know, the former Wagner Group and other We're good to go.
Yes.
I heard the one caller call and say this is a land grab for great Israel.
And it seemed, I hate to think that way, but it's so true.
And it seemed like these people that we have have just been brainwashing the American people.
And Netanyahu is the reason that Biden is not president now.
It's funny how They are willing to risk World War III over Israel.
And I don't see where they are that important.
But, you know, if you look at it, I look at Iraq, I look at Libya, and the same thing is happening here.
There's no good result to this.
You got all these different groups, and the people that's coming back in there is al -Qaeda, and they don't want to tell the people the truth.
This is the same people that Assad Now Israel and the United States have been bombing Syria ever since October 7th.
So they have been weakening them.
And what it is, is for a greater Israel.
And I don't understand our country.
And it seems like we're going to completely go down.
Israel, I know, is an ally.
But allies, especially the ones that we give that much money to,
All right, Jayden, let's get a response.
Well, it's a powerful set of comments, and I agree with some of what you said.
Let me just say that on one central point, I do believe that more American leaders should have The willingness that President George H .W. Bush had back in the early 1990s, but I think he was the last president of either party to do this,
who was willing to use American financial leverage to try to oppose Israeli decisions that he did not agree with, especially about settlements in the West Bank, which, as you know, has for a long time been thought of as the main part of a future Palestinian homeland,
but that Israel has essentially carved up into various settlements over the last generation.
The first President Bush was prepared to put pressure on Israel, believing that Israel should not do that, even though he still had Israel's back and firmly believed in the defense of Israel, which I agree with as well, and I think most Americans do.
But there's a distinction, as you point out in your final statement, between being Israel's friend, but also being willing to use our influence to try to, you know, affect their behavior.
And I believe we should try to do that more than we have.
One more question for you, Michael, before I let you go, and this is from Tony in Florida on text.
Why do we keep getting surprised by international developments?
Our intel community has been asleep on Afghanistan, on October 7th, on Syria.
Do we need an overhaul of intelligence?
No, but it is a fair question because I think that, for example, during the Arab Spring in 2011 and 12, there was a fair chunk of the U .S. intelligence establishment that thought that President Assad would fall then.
And that it didn't really even matter that much just how much the United States helped the resistance groups, because they had an overwhelming momentum on their side, especially after the fall of Mubarak in Egypt and other developments that seemed to create this real energy.
I think we made a mistake then, but i'm not going to claim that I got it right.
I'm not a Mid -east expert, but it's these things, you know.
Yogi Berra said, predicting predictions are hard, especially about the future, and when you get into core elements of human behavior and power struggles within a country, it's very hard to know when those things will break.
So I don't really think that we should be fundamentally critical of the performance of the intelligence community just because they didn't foresee Assad falling so quickly.
That's just a.
There's no social science that I know, no political theory that I know that allows you to accurately predict, even if you have great, I don't
know.
All right, Michael Hanlon, Brookings Institution Research and Foreign Policy Program Director.
You can find his work at brookings .edu.
Thanks so much for joining us.
My pleasure.
Thank you kindly.
A little later, we'll be joined at the top of the hour by Republican Congressman Rich McCormick of Georgia.
He'll discuss the federal spending deadline and the scrutiny President -elect Trump's cabinet picks are facing on Capitol Hill.
Until then, it's open forum.
Our numbers are on the screen.
You can start calling in now.
And while you're dialing in, we'll show you a bit from yesterday.
Here's Senator Andy Kim, a Democrat of New Jersey.
He spoke for the first time as a senator discussing the significance of this moment for him and for his family.
Senator Kim.
It's good to call you Senator Kim, not Senator -elect Kim.
I like the shorter title.
Thank you, Leader Schumer.
I just wanted to say quickly, you know, the last 24 hours have been some of the most extraordinary and powerful of my life, to be able to be in the Senate chamber, to be able to look and see my seven -year -old and my nine -year -old, my two little boys,
who you will get to see running around here on this side of the Capitol more and more.
I would say it was one of the first moments I've ever...
I got the experience of my kids feeling that genuine pride in what their father does.
And I try to raise that because I am here because of them.
The work that I do here, it's because of them.
I worry about what kind of America my two little boys are growing up in, and I want to use this job, use my opportunity here to try to shape that as best as I can, give them the kind of stability, the kind of future that they deserve,
the same kind of future that my parents 50 years ago came to America to try to provide for me and my sister.
I had a very emotional conversation with my mother yesterday.
So proud that her son, on the 50th anniversary of our family coming to America, I now get sworn in as a...
I'm the first Korean American ever in the United States Senate, and I look forward to one day no longer being unique and have greater representation and a Congress and a Senate that looks like the rest of America.
That being said, I just want to say we're very eager to get to work.
I was able to sit down with my team, and we are hitting the ground running, trying to deliver for 9 million people all across New Jersey and participating in these great debates about what comes next for our country.
So right now, we're just eager.
Now is the time to get to work, get started, and be able to deliver.
And I'm really glad to be able to do this alongside Senator Schiff.
I think we're going to have a really great incoming class and a lot of great new leaders stepping up.
So it's great meeting you all, and I look forward to working with you all.
Thanks again, Leader Schumer.
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Washington Journal continues.
Welcome back to Washington Journal.
It is open forum.
You can start calling in now with whatever's on your mind, public policy -wise.
A few programming notes for your schedule for later today.
Right after this program at 10 a .m. over on C -SPAN 3, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will testify on the U .S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
That's before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
We also expect questions on the situation in the Middle East as well as the Russia -Ukraine war.
That is our live coverage starting at 10 a .m. Eastern on C -SPAN 3, C -SPAN Now, and C -SPAN .org.
Also today, Capitol Police Chief Thomas Banger will testify about recent bomb threats and fake reports made to emergency services targeting lawmakers and other government officials.
You can watch the Senate Rules Committee hearing live at 2 .45 p .m. Eastern.
That's also on C -SPAN 3, C -SPAN Now, and C -SPAN .org.
We'll go straight to your calls now and start with Mike, independent in Valley Center, California.
Hi, thank you for taking my call.
I wanted to talk about a couple things.
One, I think that the change in Syria that we have right now is a perfect opportunity to isolate Iran from having so much influence in the Middle East.
And I think Israel needs to stop the airstrikes and taking.
I think that if he goes too far and tries to Destroy the Constitution, that people are going to have to organize and maybe set up a taxpayer revolt.
Destroy the Constitution in what way, Mike?
Well, if he tries to use martial law, the military against American people when they protest, and also to All right,
Mike.
Let's talk to Gary next in Dayton, Ohio.
Democrat, good morning.
We're good to go.
I think?
Good morning, how are you?
Thank you for putting me on.
What I'd like to say are these people that are all about Trump.
I mean, Putin owned Trump because he owed him so much money.
And his son is still over there while he campaigned.
His son is over there doing open -up businesses and getting involved in businesses.
And nobody says anything about it.
And they're going to jump on Biden's son because he got, they said, like, $10 million.
But they ain't said nothing about Trump's son -in -law that went over to him.
Let's go to Irmo, South Carolina, Independent Line.
Stephanie, good morning.
Good morning.
Yes, my concern is what was in the top secret documents that Trump tried so hard to hold on to.
I mean, they're top secret, so we're not going to know precisely what was in them.
But what I'm getting at is what kind of damage...
And just so you know, Axios is reporting the Consumer Price Index has just been released.
It says it comes in hot again as inflation progress slows.
It says that the Consumer Price Index, the CPI, rose 2 .7 % in the 12 months through November, a bigger increase than the prior month.
While the core measure that excludes energy and food prices rose 3 .3%, the Labor Department is reporting that.
That has just come out.
It says that inflation has plunged since the height of the crisis, but progress on cooling it further stalled out again last month.
The CPI ticked up from the 2 .6 % increase in the year ending in October, while core CPI held at 3 .3%.
You can read that at Axios.
And here is Patty in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.
Democrat.
Good morning, Mimi.
Thank you for taking my call.
Just wanted to comment.
I agree with Mike from California.
I feel him.
He's talking about cabinet and resistance.
And so I wanted to chime in a bit about the form of resistance that I'm participating in.
Um first talked with you back in February about Project 2025.
I've been doing work on that and community events and educating folks and my new initiative is I have actually recruited started out with about eight and now 21 well maybe 21 at the end of the day young people between age 15 and 26 have been working on walking them through Project 2025.
Also, connecting it with the document by Umberto Eco, it's for fascism, because America First is a fascist movement, always has been, and helping them connect the dots and taking over school boards.
We've now attended a commissioner's meeting and two school board meetings.
So that's going to be our form of resistance is pulling together a bunch of young people, educating them on
Yeah, but that's not nice, Patty.
When I have a woman, America first, look me straight in the face and chuckle and ask how my 17 -year -old granddaughter likes the election.
So as a group, they brought it up and we've discussed it.
And yes, no access, no care for MAGA.
Let's talk to Olaniam in Gwynn Oak, Maryland.
Democrat.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Thank you for picking my call.
Yes, I agree with the last caller about Project 2025.
I am a state employee and a strong union member, a very proud one.
Project 2025 is a concern to me and to a whole lot of my union members.
In the last four years, we've seen a calm and honorable United States of America with a president leading with dignity, leading with respect.
I remember the first four years of Donald Trump.
It was full of chaos and so, so troubled that we've already seen the chaos beginning.
So we're going into another four years of Donald Trump's chaos.
And people that voted for him, you are welcome to enjoy the chaos while we sit and look at you.
Thank you very much and have a nice day.
Jacob in South River, New Jersey, Independent Line.
Hi, Jacob.
Hi.
I just have one thing to say that nothing's going to get accomplished unless we support the president that was elected.
Trump won.
So I'm not saying who I vote for.
I never say who I voted for.
That's why I go behind the curtain.
But the only way we're going to get anything accomplished is if we support our country and the President of the United States.
And that's what's going wrong now.
There's no support for the President.
He's in office and there's fighting going on.
Our country was built on the voting process.
So whoever won, won.
It doesn't matter if you voted for him or not.
You have to support him.
And that's the only way anything's going to be accomplished.
That's all I have to say.
Thank you for taking my call and have a good day.
All right, Jacob.
And here is Sue in Toledo, Ohio.
Democrat.
Yes, thank you.
I'm 68 years old and a very peaceful, loving person.
And I feel very strongly that Trump should not even be allowed to get sworn in.
This is far more important than the...
The peaceful transfer of power.
How can our government now swing open the doors and let this man come in there that is going to destroy us, who has gotten away with all these crimes,
is only emboldened by it now, and you have to believe what he says is true.
And it's just not the destruction of our country.
Look what he's going to do to other countries with his policies and everything.
We're not just protecting ourselves.
We're protecting all our allies.
And I've never been involved in anything like this before.
And also the one thing is once he gets in office and we give him back the military, I'm sorry, but we are all screwed.
All right, Sue.
Speaker Mike Johnson was at a news conference yesterday at the Capitol.
He was asked about how the GOP majority is working with the incoming administration on next year's legislative agenda.
Looking ahead to 2025, is there any discussion or debate or would it be wiser to start with?
It's a great question, and as you know, we're having lots of thoughtful discussion about the best...
Play calls.
Y 'all have heard me talking about our proverbial playbook we've been developing for about a year.
It's well designed.
And so we have a menu of options.
What we're deciding right now is the sequence of how we run those plays.
And it's really important.
The House and the Senate have different calculations on how that's done.
But we all have exactly the same priorities.
The incoming administration, the Senate Republicans and the House Republicans.
We've got to take care of the border as a top priority.
And we will.
We've got to get the economy going again.
And we will.
Part of that is ensuring that we don't have the largest tax increase in...
We're good to go.
I think?
I am.
Thank you.
Can you hear me?
Yes, we can.
Go ahead, Norman.
Okay.
Okay.
Appreciate your, yeah, you're able to take all them calls and have a straight face.
But anyway, I was on the, I think one of the callers that spoke about Israel, I want Israel to do what they need to do, because they need peace, just like we need peace over here.
So they need to take care of the business over there.
We need to support them in that.
Regardless of what these people think over here in America, because I'm an American also, too.
And I like peace myself.
In the border, I hope that Congress and the Senate do what they should do, because that's what the American people wanted.
We have been disgruntled for a long time over the policies even before Trump was in, even before that.
So we've been a little bit disgruntled over things, on things that have been going on in this nation.
Let me see.
I had another thought, but now I think I just missed it.
But anyway, that's where I'm going to leave it at.
All right, Norman.
I've never been on TV, radio before, but anyway, thank you much.
All right.
Here's Lizzie in Bloomington, Indiana, a Democrat.
Hello.
How are you today?
Good, thanks.
Good.
I have an issue with having an insurrectionist come in.
And be the President of the United States.
He has 34 counts against him.
And I don't understand why we can't have a forensic audit of our presidential election of 2024 like now.
Because there's a lot of issues.
We had bomb scares in places of swing states.
And a lot of things happened.
A lot of people saying they didn't, they called the voting places and said their votes weren't even counted.
So I would like a forensic audit of this election.
And we have the 14th Amendment that states that insurrectionists should not be placed in our government.
And we have a lot of insurrectionists in there right now.
And they're trying to run our government down.
They're going to take Medicare.
They're going to take Medicaid.
They're going to take our Social Security and try to say they need that money for their tax cuts for the rich.
That's what this is all about.
And Donald Trump should be, he should be charged for his felonies.
That's my comment.
Thank you.
All right, and here is Kevin, a Republican in Ridgeway, Illinois.
God bless you.
All right.
Man, I tell you what, it's nice to hear everybody's point of view, but my point of view is Donald Trump and God.
God and Donald Trump is going to save our country.
The things that have happened that saved his life, the things that he does for Israel.
Go ahead, Kevin.
Amen.
God bless the homeless, the hungry.
Everybody love each other and help each other.
Thank you very much, and thank you so much for your time.
God bless you.
Kevin, and this is Richard, a Democrat in Verona, Missouri.
Yeah, I'm an old Democrat.
I mean, very old.
I remember back when certain people couldn't use the bathroom or drink out of the fountain.
I see that map where we have the election, all them red states.
Is it any wonder a black woman wouldn't have a chance?
I mean, it's silly to have a crook up there ahead of the government.
And I'll tell you what, after that last prayer, all them people that put him in, supposed to be evangelists or whatever they are, I've never been prouder to be an atheist in my life.
Thank you, sir.
Kathleen in Los Angeles, Republican.
You're next.
Kathleen, are you there?
Can you hear me?
Yes, go right ahead.
Oh, okay.
I kind of got off point listening to the atheist before I called in.
The atheist prior to me.
But what I want to say is that I cannot believe we've had nine years straight of Trump hate on Washington Journal.
We haven't had, you rarely have pro -Trump guests.
I mean, a handful of pro -Trump guests.
The establishment media does not have the interest of the American people.
It does not have the interest of America.
And yet you read from the New York Times and the Washington Post that they are the establishment, so you're giving us establishment news.
That's not our interest.
And this is why, and haters have been hating him for nine years straight, calling him, calling him with the hate for Trump, and yet he won.
And that doesn't mean on them that something is wrong, that maybe not accurate.
They called January 6th an insurrection when we know with Tucker Carlson's interview with Representative Clay Higgins that the feds were involved with that.
It was a federal entrapment or cover -up.
Also in Jimmy Dore's show, our podcast, his radio show, he also talked about that.
Kash Patel talked about how the feds were involved with February 6th.
They keep calling it an insurrection, and yet it was a FBI undercover operation.
Also, the other thing about...
I want to say this.
As a Black American, how can Black Americans support the Democratic Party when Black America is facing zero median wealth by 2053?
We've been voting for this party for decades.
And we are at the bottom economically.
And yet we continue, most of us, not all of us, continue to call in and defend the Democratic Party.
It's illogical.
It makes no sense.
For every 10 % increase in illegal aliens,
And this is another thing that the media did.
They said we can't use the term "illegal aliens." It's not politically correct.
Well, political correctness has destroyed America and has destroyed Black America.
We should be able to—that's in our code, in our federal code, an illegal alien.
For every 10 percent increase in illegal aliens, Black Americans lose one and one -half percent of their wealth.
And yet you have people, Black Americans, calling and defending illegal aliens.
It's about economic power.
You have no power if you have no economic strength.
Kathleen, I'm out of time, but we are going to continue to talk about the economy, about President Joe Biden's record and his legacy with Brendan Duke of the Center for American Progress.
But up next, we're joined by Republican Congressman Rich McCormick of Georgia, who made headlines for a moment that happened yesterday.
This was during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing where Congressman McCormick told Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that he does not get an A grade when it comes to his leadership of the U .S. Postal Service.
Here's that exchange.
Your reputation is done, whether you admit it or not, in the military.
If I have a skipper who things are going bad for, they're a good military officer, but you know what we do when things go wrong repeatedly?
We relieve them.
You know what you do when a CEO repeatedly fails and their business model falls apart and nobody wants to use that business anymore and it becomes non -profitable?
You fire them.
You know what we do in government when organizations fail over and over and over again and become unaccountable and are not going the right direction and have actually ruined the very business model that you seem to I just did.
I just did.
And they don't use your service anymore.
You bankrupt.
That is not true.
You bankrupt this through your reputation only.
Through your reputation, you are responsible for the fall of the postal service and the lack of accountability.
This Congress is responsible for the fall of the postal service.
I am trying to fix...
On your watch.
With all the AI.
With all the AI, with all the computer systems, you're worse than if I took a horse and picked up the mail and delivered it two miles down the road.
That's you.
I hope you got that on camera.
This is the response that the Postmaster just gave Congress when he doesn't like what he hears.
Literally covered his ears and gave himself the grade of A.
And with that, sir, I rest.
Good.
What's your major concern with the U .S. Postal Service, and what do you want to see changed in the next administration?
Well, let's start with my locality, Georgia, which ranks dead last in the United States for on -time deliveries.
I have personally had mail that didn't get delivered, certified mail, to a million -dollar home that couldn't even get to that address a month late.
It returns back to me and says, undeliverable.
That's the $6 payment for that one envelope.
A tax return that came to me certified that took four months in a congressional inquiry to get two miles to me.
Knowing several businesses that will not mail checks anymore with the U .S. Postal Service because they disappear.
And that's massive.
That's all over the United States.
I've heard about that from constituents all over.
I'm sure many of the people who are listening right now have had Christmas cards that they sent out.
What do you think is the reason for that, though?
The organization in general.
I mean, if you're trying to reorganize and your post -delivery on time goes down below 40%, into the 30s, you've done something wrong.
When you're making hires and it's just getting worse, you've done something wrong.
When we have a worse delivery system than you had in the 1970s, before all this technology, when people were hand -sorting things and delivering things with little Jeeps, and you did better than now?
You have a problem.
You have to take responsibility.
You've been in that job for four years.
And you can put your hands over your ears all you want, which I think a lot of bureaucrats do, whether they actually physically manifest that like he did yesterday, which actually made me smile because I was thinking, this is exactly what kids do when they want to hear somebody.
La la la la, I want to hear this.
And put their hands over their ears.
I loved it.
It was actually a physical manifestation so everybody could see this is what bureaucrats do when we complain about something.
They don't want to hear it.
Well, let's talk about Congress's job, which is passing a budget.
We've got a funding deadline, December 20th.
It seems that both Democrats and Republicans are resigned to passing yet another CR because they will not be able to fund the government fully.
And it's looking like a March deadline will be the next one.
What are you hearing about what's going to actually happen?
And do you think that that March deadline is a wise choice?
It's somewhat predictable.
We could see this happening a long time ago.
There's no way you're going to get all that done in a short period of time.
But we do have a limited runway.
I don't know why we should have this idea that we're going to get everything done this year that we haven't done in...
Almost 30 years.
So I think we need to have a reality check and make sure that what we're doing makes sense, that we're going to be able to pass what we need to pass.
Yesterday, there was a lot of debate in the Speaker's office over different factions inside of the Republican Party.
Some people wanted to get one good win with H .R. 2.
I personally think that the President, by executive order, can get H .R. 2 accomplished almost by himself.
I want to put that in a bigger bill to sweeten the deal so we can actually get some real...
So you want to do the border and tax cuts at the same time?
I do.
And you think that that's going to work given the very small majority that the Republicans have in the House?
You have to try to figure a way to make everybody happy to get this bill across the finish line.
Maybe grab a couple moderate Democrats, but we need to make sure that all parts of that very small majority have the votes to get this across the line.
That means everybody has to have something they're voting for in that bill.
I want to ask you about an interview you did with Fox News earlier this month.
You were asked about possible cuts to entitlement programs, and this is what you said, quote, We're going to have to have some hard decisions.
We got to bring the Democrats in to talk about Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare.
There's hundreds of billions of dollars to be saved and we know how to do it.
We just have to have the stomach to actually take those challenges on.
Can you elaborate on that?
Sure can.
So if you look at the non -discretionary budget, what most people call mandatory spending, it consumes over three quarters of our budget and it's growing every year.
We're paying a Trillion dollars in interest every year.
We have a $35 trillion debt.
If we continue to expand our debt at this rate, we'll lose the currency standard of the world.
Right now, since Bretton Woods in, I think, 1972, we've been the world standard, the gold standard of currency.
Everybody uses our currency to base everybody's currency on.
If we continue down this road, we'll lose that standard.
We'll lose our place in history.
If right now, we bring in about $4 .5 trillion in revenue, but we spend about $7.
That's a 30 % deficit every year.
Every year.
30 % deficit.
If you cut the entire non -discretionary spending, including the military, by the way, which makes about 15 % of our spending per year.
If you cut the entire discretionary budget, you still haven't gotten to equal.
You're just spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
You're done.
And this is the problem.
People have to have a realistic...
Look at how we're going to survive as a nation.
We keep on cutting.
This is the most compassionate thing we can do.
If we don't do something to tweak Social Security.
I'm just talking about small tweaks.
But we will have an automatic cut within 10 years of 21%.
That's not going to be voted on.
That's just going to happen.
I'm trying to save Social Security from bankruptcy.
Same thing with Medicare, by the way.
An 11 % cut will happen in about a decade if we don't do something to shore it up.
And we can't just say we're just going to print more money off because right now if we spent that entire $4 .5 trillion of income per year of revenue, we would take over seven years to pay off the debt without any interest payments and without any other budget.
No anything.
Congressman, what kind of tweaks would you make to Social Security benefits and Medicare benefits?
Be more specific.
Sure.
So there's actually some bills out there that have small tweaks that I know that moderate Democrats already bought into.
In other words, everybody who's close, you don't touch.
Okay, you bought into the system.
You have a promise.
We're not going to touch that.
But incrementally, over time, you extend the age for people who are young right now.
Young meaning what?
Define that.
That's why we're going to have to debate.
What is young?
Is it 40?
Is it 30?
I don't know.
But somebody who's not close to Social Security, at least a decade away, who can adjust their time schedule, that helps.
Because right now, we've been living longer.
But we still start Social Security at the same age.
But people are working longer, too.
We need to adjust to make this survive for everybody, for people who may be coming to Social Security earlier, who have problems, health problems and stuff like that.
We need to have that ready.
If we don't, we're not being judicious in the way we're preparing for the future.
We can also attack with the way we tax, the way we benefit.
Just small tweaks, but things that people can prepare for now, rather than...
In 10 years, saying, well, we have no choice, we've just got to push this through, and now we have a bad solution.
Let's tweak it a little bit so we can extend it for another 20 years.
We'll take your calls for Congressman Rich McCormick of Georgia.
On our lines, 202 -748 -8001 is for Republicans, 202 -748 -8000 for Democrats, and Independents are on 202 -748 -8002.
I want to ask you about Mr. Trump's nominee for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth.
Obviously, you've served for many years in the Marine Corps, in the Navy, and have been in combat zones.
So I want to ask you specifically about him.
I believe you guys met, you met with some other House members.
How did that go, and what are your thoughts on him?
It was really a positive meeting.
He met with the RC, the largest body of Republicans, about 170 members.
Not everybody was there, but we also had several senators in his support there who had spoken to him, who had looked into the accusations.
He did a really good job of shoring up against those accusations, which are anonymous, which nobody at Fox will say anything.
I don't know what they're talking about when they talk about these anonymous complaints.
He doesn't know what it's talking about.
His wife doesn't know what's going on.
They're all kind of like, just show me who it is and let's address it because I don't know who it is.
You're talking about the allegations of sexual assault?
Yeah.
Okay.
But he paid a settlement, so he does know who it is.
No, he didn't know who it is.
And he's saying to us, it's an empty allegation of an anonymous tip.
That's not the same thing.
And so that's why I heard the same thing as you.
And I had my concerns.
But that's not what we were told in conference.
We were told, no, these are anonymous tips.
We don't know where they came from.
I want to ask you about the drinking.
He has said that he's pledged to not touch alcohol if he becomes Secretary of Defense.
What are your thoughts on that as a medical doctor?
If somebody doesn't want to drink, I think that's fine.
I don't know how much he drinks normally.
I have no idea.
He was very sober and alert and interactive when he was in front of us.
All I can do is judge you by what I see and what I hear.
He's an intelligent guy, well -educated guy.
He's a guy who's kicked in doors and done combat missions himself.
He understands what the average soldier needs.
Is he an expert at contracting?
Absolutely not.
As a matter of fact, I took him aside after our conference and said, Really, it doesn't matter how masculine you are, how much DEI you get out of the military, if you don't have the most survivable equipment, you don't have the stuff that's going to develop the most lethality downrange, we're in trouble.
The most masculine soldier in the world is not going to survive the next battle.
How are you at contracting?
How are you going to...
Make this contract, which is really messed up right now.
We are really inefficient.
We're backlogged.
We have this up and down system that makes even the defense contractors very uneasy and very inefficient.
How are you going to fix that?
And he basically said, look, there's certain things I know, certain things I don't.
I know exactly who to hire to help me do those processes.
They're very much bean counting and very much into the minutia.
He said, but I have a good overview and I have a bunch of experts just like... Reagan.
Reagan wasn't an expert on everything, but he knew the right people to hire onto his cabinet to get the job done.
Reagan was a governor, so Mr. Hegseth has been criticized for never really leading a large organization.
And as you know, the Defense Department is the largest organization.
It's about 3 million people.
What are your thoughts on his management experience?
Well...
Reagan was a great governor, but he was also never in the Defense Department, and he never served in the military.
Yet, he was one of our best commander -in -chiefs in my lifetime.
I think, even like Trump, for example, I thought we did really well in Afghanistan while Trump was president.
That strength equaling peace thing really means something to me.
When you see an administration that comes in and reeks of weakness...
It invites war.
This is a guy who understands that we need to be lethal, we need to be strong, we need to be efficient.
He's very smart.
He's got the full support of the president -elect, and he's got the full support of all the senators I've talked to, except for maybe a couple people that are on the fence.
But once again, you're never going to have a nominee who's going to excite everybody.
Let's talk to callers and start with Rose, a Republican in Thompson's Station, Tennessee.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I have a compliment and a suggestion.
First of all, I like how you handled that postmaster.
The only opinion that really matters is ours.
Government workers have forgotten they work for us.
They cover their ears.
They won't take calls.
They refuse to read 500 -page bills.
So write down my site, sir.
StolenElectionNovella .com.
I uncovered dirt on all of them.
Let's get a response to that, Rose.
Go ahead, Congressman.
I personally could not get any accountability from the postmaster, as well as the post office I actually had local interactions with.
Went down there and said, Hey, can I get an answer why my letter can't be delivered?
A month and a half later, it came back to me, and they couldn't give me any answers.
They wouldn't give me my money back either, by the way.
I said, can I leave a phone number here?
I'm actually a congressman, locally.
I would love to help him solve this problem.
Never got a phone call back.
Didn't have time to see me then, and never could...
That's your congressman, locally, couldn't even talk to me.
Until the government becomes accountable, until it answers to the people, you have a government that...
Good morning.
The Postmaster, they do a good service, alright?
You're a whiner.
No personal attacks, Ronald.
But what did you want to say about the post office?
I pay for a post office box.
I don't get delivery to my house.
Okay?
It costs me $160 a year for a 3x5 box.
You're complaining about getting delivery and you don't even have to pay for it.
It's free to you.
It's a service.
It's an entitlement just like your social security you're wanting to cut.
What do you mean that mail delivery is free, Ronald?
What do you mean?
Every home in the United States gets delivered mail at their house.
They do not have to pay $160 a year to have it delivered there.
I have to if you have a personal box.
But I can't get mail to my area because it's in a restricted area.
They don't allow deliveries of any type.
So I have to have a mailbox.
So this isn't about your instance.
This is about a mail delivery system that's worse than the 1970s.
And quite frankly, it's not free.
When I paid $6 for one certified letter that didn't get delivered, that's not free.
Nobody gets mail delivered for free if it's personal.
Larry in Columbus, Ohio, Independent Line.
Yes, hello and thank you so much for taking my call.
I wanted to ask a couple questions here based upon the members of the current government.
The U .S. was founded by Freemasons.
How many members of the current U .S. government, percentage -wise, do you think are in a secret society like the Freemasons?
And question number two, how can we trust people in government if they pledged allegiance to a group of unknowns who cannot be held accountable?
And third question, are you yourself in a secret society or are you a Freemason?
If it's secret, I guess I wouldn't know about it, so I don't know.
And I'm sure if I asked around, I probably still wouldn't know because it's still secret.
And quite frankly, I don't know every member in Congress.
There's 435 of us.
I'm friends with, real close friends with probably about 20 of them.
I, myself, am a part of an organization called the United States Marine Corps, which is not so secret.
That's about all I have to offer.
I'm a guy who's very open book.
John in Halesville, Texas, Republican.
Halesville.
Good morning.
Good morning, Congressman.
I have some advice I want to say, and it's about three or four points.
You want to solve immigration?
You need to start putting employers in prison.
They knowingly hire them.
They're tax cheats because they don't pay the federal income tax on those employees, and everybody knows it goes on.
So that's one thing, and you have to use the word must, not may, because we know what may means.
That'll never happen.
But getting to the budget part, child tax credit.
Limited to one child.
I don't believe in it because I believe you have kids because you love them, not because the government's going to give you something for them.
Everybody looks forward to tax season.
Number two, raise the cap on the Social Security tax.
That'll bring a whole lot of revenue in.
And if you can do those two things, here's the big one.
Medicaid.
How many senior citizens are out there that pay for their Medicare out of their Social Security check?
A bunch of them.
Well, it's high time that the people on Medicaid don't get a free ride on the taxpayers' dime.
They need to pay a premium just like those on Social Security, Medicare.
If we can do just starting there, that would raise a whole lot of money.
And I just wanted to thank you, Congressman, and you and your family.
Have a Merry Christmas.
Thank you.
Well, first of all, Merry Christmas.
Thank you for those kind wishes.
When it comes to Medicaid specifically, there's about $413 billion we can save on just eliminating the fraud.
That comes with the Affordable Care Act when we don't have to verify our income.
That's fraud.
$413 billion.
Almost a half a trillion dollars.
There is tons of pork barrel spending out there that we know we can get rid of.
I have a bill right now lined up.
I think we're going to get through some really good bills to clean up this mess of waste, fraud, and abuse.
I like your ideas.
Some will have more merit than others.
But you know, it's funny.
I asked Elon Musk.
Very specifically, recently, because he made a statement when I was in Wyoming with him a couple years back before he was political.
He said, somebody asked him, what's your next big idea?
When you ask Elon Musk, what's your next big idea, people lean in and will listen.
He said, I have a million ideas.
I can't go to sleep at night because I have so many ideas in my head.
But the whole point is not how many ideas you have, but what can you actually execute?
What can you get done?
And really, we can have a...
Everybody in Congress has ideas.
We have more health care bills than we have congressmen.
We have 127 health care bills just from the Doctors' Caucus, and there's only about 14 doctors in Congress.
127 bills.
When you read through them, what ones can we actually get done?
What can we get across to finish them?
What can we get past the Congress, the Senate, reconciliation, and the President's desk, and actually make into law?
And that's why some of these ideas have more merit to them than others.
And if you can't get a majority to vote for them...
It could still be a great idea and never make it through.
We have a question for you on X, asking if you agree with Israel grabbing Syrian land.
So I actually was surprised when I heard that myself as a guy who's been to Israel, who's been over in that area.
I've never been into Syria before, but I will say that Syria is also got land basically grabbed by Russia and by Turkey.
And by other joint...
They're not the only one.
I don't know why we're focused just on Israel.
Israel is trying to protect themselves from Hamas taking that land and using it as a base to launch attacks into Israel.
But they're not the only ones who have land over there, that have interest in the land over there.
There's Turkish -controlled areas over there.
We don't talk about that.
There's actually, I think, at least three or four nations that have also grabbed land because they're concerned about who's in those areas and what they're going to be doing for it.
So it's not just Israel.
Israel has probably got the most at stake.
Yes, hello, good morning.
I noticed that you told the Postmaster General DeJoy that the Post Office was failing under his control.
When actually it was failing before he took control.
I think he's doing a pretty good job considering.
So I suggest that, you know, seeing how this Congress has been the biggest do -nothing Congress probably in history, maybe pull the splinter out of your own eye before you try to pull it out of someone else's eye.
Okay.
So when it comes to the Postmaster, he had four years.
Yeah.
He had problems before that.
He had four years, though.
I expect...
You could say it went way down, then went back up again.
But the inefficiencies I'm witnessing, the theft that we know is out there, that hasn't been addressed, four years is what you get.
I mean, I'm sorry.
I'm in the military.
If you have four years and you're failing as a commanding officer, you're going to be relieved.
I'm sorry.
Matter of fact, it's going to be about one year.
If you're a CEO in a business and you don't turn it around in four years...
You're fired.
I guarantee it.
That's the way it works.
And guess what?
If I don't do my job, if I'm a do -nothing congressman, you're going to fire me too.
I guarantee it.
Now, I'm top ten in legislation passed.
And I'll say this congress passed a lot of bills.
The problem is, the do -nothing was the Senate, run by Democrats, I might add, who never, ever took our bills and made them whole.
That didn't compromise on us, didn't let them die in the Senate over and over again.
We passed H .R. 1 on energy, H .R. 2 on the border.
And then they tried to spin it and say, Congress wouldn't do anything about it.
We did do things.
The Senate wouldn't come to the table.
It was the do -nothing Senate.
Let's get it straight.
The do -nothing Senate is what stopped us from getting things done.
Let's go to Nashville, Tennessee, Independent Line.
Richard, you're next.
Good morning.
I woke up to a great morning.
And Mr. McCormick, you're right down the road for me in Nashville, Tennessee.
I've been to Rossville, Georgia, and Tennessee, and I thank you for what you're saying this morning.
Stand your ground.
Here's what I'd like to say to the American people, especially the mothers out there, and the fathers, but primarily the mothers.
If we don't get our military under control, and we just had an anniversary of Pearl Harbor, a lot of people have forgotten 9 -11, and if you don't think they're not coming for us, you ought to be living in a cave somewhere.
So, if you want to send your children to fight in a foreign war again, like World War II, or Vietnam, and believe me, I grew up in Vietnam.
You go ahead and you keep voting the way you're voting, and you're going to have every child in this country fighting in the coming wars.
And they're going to come back.
Our women, it breaks my heart when I see people like Joey Jones on Fox News with no legs, other people that come through here.
So anybody that joins the military, they're doing it for service.
And what gets me is when you look at rural America, how all the jobs, the textile factories, everything has gone overseas for cheap labor.
Richard, we're running low on time, so I want to get an answer for you.
So when it comes to recruiting for the military, notice the Marines are the only ones making the recruiting goals.
I was a Marine for 16 years.
Matter of fact, the poster boy for the Marine Corps back in the chessboard commercial in the early 90s.
And I'll tell you what, people are drawn to the military for its service.
They want to be warriors.
They want to defend their country.
They're patriots.
Those services that say they're going to sell something else.
We're good to go.
I think?
We have some very dangerous places in the world right now, whether it be Ukraine, the Middle East, with Israel, or even Taiwan.
And we're on parity with China now.
They're building ships faster than us.
They have 50 deep water ports, and we have two that can build our largest aircraft for battle, sorry, our largest ship for battle.
We have, when you combine their paramilitary with their military spending, they're on parity with us, and we have to be very careful we don't fall behind them because of our inefficient contracting.
Regarding the military, this is Fox News reporting that a conservative group compiles a list of woke senior officers they want Pete Hegseth to fire.
That group is called the American Accountability Foundation, and it says that the woke takeover of the military is a major threat to our national security.
Do you agree with that?
In many ways I do.
My last year, and this is during Trump's administration actually, my last year in the military in 2017 I had several lectures on how to treat transgenders in the military.
Now we didn't even have transgenders in the military at the time.
I'm a physician.
What I need to know, are you a male or a female?
Because when you come see me I need to know if you're having an ovarian torsion or is it testicular torsion.
If I miss something, I get sued and you get harmed.
I just need to know who you are.
I'm going to treat everybody with respect.
We spent so much time on DEI -type policies that were instituted not by Trump, the commander -in -chief, but by woke, bureaucratic acting, political acting officers in the services and secretaries that had been placed there by... President Obama,
and we lost our mission.
We lost our focus.
And I think if we're not thinking like warriors, we're preparing for the next battle to be lost.
We're strategically preparing to lose the war.
In this case, it's a list of 20 general officers or senior admirals.
It says that they focused, excessively focused on DEI and other similar left -wing initiatives.
Eight of those 20 are women.
And it says those on the list in many cases seem to be targeted for public comments they made either in interviews or at events on diversity and in some cases for retweeting posts that promote diversity.
Do you agree that they should be fired?
I think they should be reviewed for sure.
And if they're not focused on the winning of a war, which is the only thing that a person who's in command of troops should be concerned with.
Preparing...
Now, if you're an administrative, if you're a...
Do you believe diversity in the military helps the United States win wars?
Using DEI type techniques, you're going to lose your army recruiting.
And he said, sir, you don't understand.
Those Marines, when they're going home from 8th and I, right down the street here, they're getting pulled over.
If they're not in uniform, they're getting pulled over by the police.
I said, well, wait a minute.
Are those military police?
No, sir.
So they're civilian police.
Yes, sir.
Do you have the same problem in the military police?
No, sir.
So why are you focused on the military?
This is a civilian problem.
We in the military don't have that problem because you're my brother.
We're all shades of green.
I don't care if you're black or white or Hispanic or whatever.
We're all shades of green.
We all bleed red.
That's what makes the military magic.
When you focus on our differences instead of what unites us, you've got a problem.
And that's what these problems have manifested in these people that divide us, not unite us.
Representative Rich McCormick, a Republic of Georgia's 6th District, thanks so much for joining us.
Always a pleasure.
Thanks.
Coming up, Brendan Duke of the Center for American Progress discusses President Joe Biden's economic record and his legacy.
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He was trying to kind of set the record straight and kind of give his perspective on how far we came under his administration.
I just think it's worth remembering just those dark days of January 2021.
Thousands of Americans were dying.
The unemployment rate was above 6%.
Millions of people had dropped out of the labor force because they wanted to stay safe.
And he oversaw this recovery, which is historic, which is better than our economic competitors.
And he really...
Wouldn't it have been more useful to his party had he done this during the campaign rather than this late?
I mean, I think he was saying, frankly, a lot of the stuff he had been saying, you know, right, while he was the Democratic candidate.
You know, talking about that historic recovery, talking about comparison to other countries, talking about how inflation was falling, talking about the administration's efforts to bring down costs.
So I think in some ways it was a case that he and the White House had been making consistently.
For the past year, past two years, etc.
But I think this was the final time to get to do that as President Biden.
Let's take a look at exit polls.
This is from CBS News.
On the economy, 67 % of voters described the state of the economy as, quote, bad.
45 % said their own financial situation was worse than four years ago.
30 % said it was the same.
24 % said better.
53 % said inflation was a, quote, moderate hardship, and 22 % said it was severe.
This is a pretty clear criticism of Bidenomics.
Yeah, I mean, we saw that in the election results.
I mean, there's no doubt about it.
I mean, I think, again, you know, voters, you know, grade on a pretty harsh curve, frankly.
And that's just kind of the way it is.
And I think that's something that...
Democrats and, you know, left of centers and progressive folks are going to have to think about how to, you know, address those problems.
But yeah, people, you know, clearly were feeling a lot of pain, were really frustrated about those high prices.
Those high prices that happen, you know, across the world, right?
That, you know, in Germany, in France, in Canada, they saw that same sort of inflation without the kind of...
Sure.
So, you know, we kind of turned off the economy.
Like a light switch, right?
That in February, March of 2020, people stopped going to restaurants.
People stopped going to doctor's appointments if they could avoid it.
We dramatically changed our economy and tried to keep people whole with assistance that was provided under President Trump and Nancy Pelosi.
Right, and so that's how we were getting out, but we weren't going to do that forever, and I think the thing we learned and we saw this in other countries as well is you can't just turn the economy off and on like a light switch, right that there are some readjustment pains and so, for example um, you know, hotel prices went down during the pandemic because nobody was traveling, and then all of a sudden, they go up because people are traveling.
That uh, the price of gas went up because nobody was driving anywhere in january of 2021, And then, when people got those vaccinations, as a result of the American Rescue Plan, faster than other countries, they wanted to travel because they'd been cooped up for a while, and that put a lot of pressure on the economy.
And we had millions of workers who hadn't been working because it was unsafe for them and their customers to be going to restaurants, be going to shows, be going to the movies, etc.
We're good to go.
invasion of the ukraine caused oil and food prices to shoot up again so we had all of these shocks again we saw we see it in other countries and we've seen
Yeah, they've experienced similar amounts of inflation, but nowhere near the growth we've been seeing.
You know, Germany is probably in a recession, for example.
So I think that, you know, that's kind of the choice is that I think the inflation was more or less...
Baked in, and nothing we could have done could have avoided it because of those reopening pains, because of those supply chain shocks from abroad, from China doing the COVID lockdown, which caused good prices to go up.
All of those things were unavoidable.
The choices President Biden made were around growth, and we really did get growth compared to other countries.
And so I think when you grade on that curve, which the American people didn't grade him on, and I think that's fair.
For them to not grade Amman.
But when you do grade on that curve, I think it was a really impressive result.
And we'll take your questions for Brendan Duke of the Center for American Progress on the economy.
The lines are by party, so it's 202 -748 -8001 for Republicans, Democrats 202 -748 -8000, and Independents 202 -748 -8002.
So critics of the administration will say that it's too much spending.
And they'll point to the $2 trillion American Rescue Plan.
Just as a reminder, that was passed in March of 2021.
$1 .9 trillion, $1 ,400 direct payments to about 85 % of Americans, $360 billion for state and local governments.
What do you say to that criticism?
Sure.
Again, Germany did not pass the American Rescue Plan, and they still got that same inflation.
So I just think fundamentally... all of that was baked in that all of these other countries were facing those same inflationary shocks that we did um but the american rescue plan got us growth so i think that is very much the key difference i think the other part is you know frankly we just did not know what was going to happen um in january february march of 2021 it was a really uncertain time
Now, you know...
What do you think of the role of the Fed?
Was it too aggressive?
Was it too...
Sure.
I think that they acted maybe a little bit more slowly than looking back, hindsight 2020, than would have been optimal.
But I don't think that fundamentally would have made that much of a difference.
Again, Other central banks faced a lot of the same issues.
And, you know, again, there was just a lot of uncertainty at the time.
Nobody had done this before.
There wasn't a pandemic playbook for monetary policy, right?
And so I think they faced the tough choice of balancing those risks.
And, you know, maybe they acted a couple months later than they could have in terms of, you know, tapering off some of the emergency programs they were doing.
But I think fundamentally the result would have been the same because so much of it was supply driven.
Let's talk to callers, and we'll start on the line for Democrats.
Owings, Mills, Maryland, Terrell, you're on the air.
Yes, ma 'am.
Good morning.
I listen to conservatives like David Stockman, who said that Donald Trump spent $8 trillion, okay?
And I'm looking at the numbers for the end of 2024.
We have a 4 .1 % unemployment rate.
We have 16 million jobs.
The consumer price index at 3 .3.
And I think the GDP is at 2 .8.
I'm paying attention to these numbers because I'm going to see what happens.
Hopefully, if I live the next four years, to see what Donald Trump does.
But I think Donald Trump started running for president two years before the election.
And I think he did this to sabotage.
Joe Biden, no matter what Joe Biden did, I think that Donald Trump wanted to sabotage Joe Biden.
Anything that he did.
And that's exactly what happened.
And I think that Joe Biden has done an excellent job bringing back this economy.
I remember those ships under the Key Bridge that was knocked down.
I remember all those ships that were offshores.
We had hundreds of ships offshore filled with goods.
All right, Terrell.
Any comment?
Yeah, I mean, I think that Donald Trump's mismanagement of the pandemic was a big reason why he lost the election four years ago,
Doesn't think he did.
And so I think that's a fundamental part of it.
Now, I think, you know, I think the American people, you know, frankly, maybe wanted to go back to the economy that existed in 2019, which is fair.
I mean, I think COVID was a, it was terrible.
There's no getting around it.
Thousands of people died.
You know, people were socially isolated.
A lot of people, you know, in particular industries, you know, lost their jobs, had to go find jobs.
And so it was just a terrible time.
And, you know, I think we made it out.
I think that, you know, Trump's mismanagement of the pandemic was embarrassing.
I'm really scared about what would happen if we face another threat with a HHS secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
But, you know, I think that his oversight of the pandemic Mo is in San Diego, California.
Independent.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I hope you're doing good.
Now, my husband works in the oil industry off the coast of Louisiana.
And the corporate boss, it's a very large company worldwide.
The corporate boss called a meeting last week and said that pretty much if Trump's drill baby drill
Yeah, so there's been some analyses showing that, you know, I mean obviously Donald Trump has campaigned on, you know, Making it easier for oil companies to drill oil is a commitment he has made.
But there have been a lot of analyses saying that oil companies don't want to drill because they want to keep their profits high.
And I think what the caller just explained is part of those dynamics that drilling more at higher margins is not good for them.
And so I think chances are he's going to try to claim he's...
Yes, I would like to know why they have to come down on Joe Biden so rough.
I understand that we have divided in this country.
That man tried to do the best that he can, that he could.
He's the one that gave you that big raise on Social Security a couple years ago.
And what are you getting this year?
Because the Republicans turn around and give you a little bit of money.
What was he supposed to do?
Do nothing?
When that pandemic came, we lost over a million people.
If he had done nothing like Trump, scared, To come to the floor for him and fight this stuff because he didn't know what to do.
And that's what they're doing now.
Everyone that they're putting in those offices, if we have something goes wrong in this country, these people that he's putting in office to be head of these departments don't know how to do nothing.
They don't know how to do nothing.
I don't understand why it has to be this way.
Leave that man alone.
He's going out of office.
Alright, Nathaniel.
What do you think?
And he also mentioned Trump's picks for the cabinet.
Yeah, so I think, you know, a lot of them are concerning.
I mean, first of all, you know, Donald Trump ran this very populist campaign.
There's been all these, you know, analyses saying, you know, Kamala Harris was the party of the establishment and, you know, it's too elitist and that's why, you know, the Democrats lost.
But he just keeps on appointing billionaires to his cabinet.
And so his treasury secretary is a hedge fund manager.
His commerce secretary is a hedge fund manager.
His appointee for the Department of Health and Human Services is an heir to a giant fortune who's never really worked a real job in his life and is completely unqualified to run one of the biggest government agencies.
I mean, the Health and Human Services.
Yes.
What are we talking about?
We're talking about Joe Biden.
The economy, okay.
What I don't understand is the American people.
I don't understand how we could be talking about economy when so much has happened that has proven to us that we have absolutely no control, Americans,
of what our politicians and Washington do.
And I don't understand why we're laying down Donna,
can you be more specific?
What do you mean by "this is communism"?
This is anti -American.
This meaning what?
This meaning everybody that isn't fighting for the country.
Everybody who doesn't think America is good enough because of all the infusion of racism and anything they can come up with.
It's just bull.
So Donna brought up about how much the government officials really I mean,
it's like steering a big ship where, you know, you can turn the wheel and things move slowly.
You can also hit an iceberg.
And so, you know, they have limited control over the economy, but more and more over time.
I mean, I think one important thing, you know, during the pandemic, with all that inflation, is just frankly, you know, we're a capitalist country, a free market economy.
You know, the federal government is not the one deciding the prices of goods.
It is not the one deciding, you know, what types of milk are going to be on the shelf.
Those are private companies that do that.
And that's a strength, but voters frequently put the blame on the government for what happens there.
And obviously there are policy levers by which the government can affect those things.
So, for example, under the Biden administration, they took on the meat processing industry, which is kind of an oligopoly of just a handful of companies that manage to charge high prices.
You know, they tried to take that on, for example.
So there are levers, but they are somewhat limited.
I think the most important thing is, you know, doing no harm.
And, you know, Donald Trump is going to inherit a very strong economy.
It's on him to not ruin that.
So, for example, he's talked about 10 to 20 percent taxes on every imported good.
That is going to cause prices to go up.
That is going to make it harder for people to buy things.
It'll increase unemployment because, you know, people, you know, various, you know, exporting companies are going to be able to buy goods at a cheap price, you know, and so they're not going to be able to, you know,
export to the world because many American manufacturers are big importers as well.
And so there's all sorts of knock -on effects.
Mass deportation, too.
So I think an important thing is not screwing it up.
I think the...
President has a lot of power, has limited power to make things go right, but has a lot of power to make things go wrong.
I want to ask you about tariffs.
So CNN is reporting this, this headline, Biden finalizes increases to some of Trump's China tariffs.
And as you know, President Biden kept a lot of Trump's tariffs in place, increasing them on certain Chinese -made goods.
So what do you think of this?
Why are tariffs getting so much attention in this next administration?
Yeah, so tariffs are a tool.
They're part of our trade policy portfolio, and we've had them for centuries.
And the ones that Donald Trump did during his first term are about one -tenth the size of the ones that he proposed during the campaign.
So there's just a...
Order of magnitude difference.
And I think tariffs, the Biden administration has been very deliberate in using them as a tool in a larger industrial policy strategy.
So, for example, the ones that they're finalizing today have to do with Chinese manufacturing of clean energy technology, which we want to build here.
So it's focused on those items.
It's not focused on clothing.
It's not focused on Mexican strawberries.
It's not focused on Canadian oil, which is, you know, Trump has proposed these tariffs on.
Nancy, in North Royalton, Ohio, Republican.
Good morning, Nancy.
Good morning, thank you.
The speaker was talking about a free market economy, but it's not always a level playing field.
I live in Ohio and not far from us and we're in West Virginia.
Cargill tin plant workers were sold out by the US trade agency which refused to pass some kind of a protective tariff for those American workers.
China was dumping cheap subsidized tin in the US.
Sherrod Brown even tried to intervene without any success.
So I really question, you know, what my government is doing when it comes to this because you will sell out American workers.
I'm not familiar with the specifics of the case.
I think that Joe Biden has been a big proponent of using tariffs as part of a larger industrial strategy.
you know increase them on chinese steel for example so i think um he's definitely used them as part of the portfolio i'm not familiar with the specific case that caller is talking about um but you know i think you know we have trade laws and um you know i think the biden administration tried to use them um in the normal way to um you know protect american jobs in key industries There's the Inflation Reduction Act at $740 billion.
There's also the Chips and Science Act at $52 billion.
Explain kind of this last minute push that the Biden administration is trying to get as much of that money out the door as possible.
What's going on?
Sure.
I mean, those are key investments in American competitiveness and jobs.
They're meant to kind of, you know, Keep our economy powering in the 21st century.
We know that the cheapest source of energy is going to be those renewables and that the country that is producing them is going to own a big part of the 21st century.
And so these investments are a down payment in that.
Similarly, the semiconductors, that is the new oil, they say, in terms of they're in everything.
We saw how it's really slowed down our economy in 2021.
When we didn't have access to them, and we need to produce them here, especially because Taiwan is obviously the big producer of them, and there's all sorts of geopolitical concerns.
And so these are key American competitiveness investments that really are about keeping America in the prime position in the 21st century.
And they want to make sure that they're safeguarded and not on the chopping block for repeal, and getting the money out the door is one way to do that.
Let's get a real quick call in from Randy in Arlington, Minnesota, Democrat.
Yes, the question that I have is, I am age 70 right now, so I had parents, relatives that lived through different pandemics, so I believe I was more in tune to the COVID.
My question was, when I never heard it once during the whole campaign thing, we older people, most of us that I know, quit working.
And then when they hired new people, let's just use the example of McDonald's, were they hiring people, younger kids, which I saw close to $19 an hour, rather than prior to the COVID pandemic,
where you saw older people kind of coming in and working?
And is that not part of the thing?
I got so tired of hearing, I had more money ahead of time, and I never, ever heard this issue brought up, because we older people...
We could live on a lower standard of income and they could pay us less, and they did.
Thank you.
President Biden cited a statistic that incomes are up $4 ,000 after inflation.
So we know those have gone up.
And a big part of that was the tight labor market and that fast recovery we had.
It took years, almost a decade, after the Great Recession.
Absolutely.
That's going to be one of the key things that we're going to be fighting about.
It's easy to say that.
When you start looking at how they actually do it, I think that becomes a lot harder.
So, for example, the Inflation Reduction Act, those investments...