Coming up on Washington Journal this morning, your calls and comments live.
Then Florida Republican Congressman Carlos Jimenez, a member of the Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees.
He discusses federal spending deadlines and foreign conflicts.
And former Acting CDC Director Dr. Richard Besser on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s HHS Secretary nomination and potential changes to public health policy.
Washington Journal is next.
Good morning.
It's Thursday, December 12th.
The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week in New York City has prompted a nationwide conversation about the health insurance industry.
So in this first half hour of the program, we'd like you to weigh in on that.
What's been your experience with health insurance?
Has it been mostly positive?
Or have you been mostly frustrated?
How would you improve the industry?
Our phone lines are by region this time.
If you're in the eastern or central time zones, call 202 -748 -8000.
Mountain or Pacific, it's 202 -748 -8001.
We have a line set aside for healthcare professionals that includes those that work in the health insurance field.
That number is 202 -748 -8002.
You can send us a text.
Welcome to today's two -hour Washington Journal.
The House will gavel in at 9 a .m. this morning, and we'll take you there at that time.
And as you're calling in, just a reminder that we don't accept calls that celebrate violence or...
Celebrate the shooter or congratulate the alleged shooter in any way.
So please do keep that in mind.
Here's a headline from CBS News that says this.
As anger at United Healthcare boils over, Americans pay more than ever for health insurance.
The article says health insurance costs are far outpacing inflation, leaving more consumers on the hook each year for thousands of dollars in out -of -pocket expenses.
At the same time, some insurers are rejecting nearly one in five claims.
That double whammy is leaving Americans paying more for coverage, yet sometimes feeling like they're getting less in return.
Frustration over denials and medical costs has fueled an outpouring of vitriol against health insurance companies in the wake of the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Also last week, a similar outcry led Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to reverse a decision To limit anesthesia coverage during surgeries.
And also, I just wanted to show you this real quick from Kaiser Family Foundation.
It's a survey they did.
It says it highlights problems with denied health insurance claims.
And it says this that, here's the chart.
So denied claims were somewhat more common among those with employer -sponsored or marketplace insurance.
This is the percent of adults who say that in the past 12 months, But we wonder what your experience
has been with.
Take a look at a recent Yahoo Finance interview with Oscar Health CEO Mark Bertolini.
He addressed the frustrations with the current healthcare system in the United States.
We've heard from security agencies talking about a rise in violence in the health sector, largely in the facilities themselves, especially in the last year and a half.
What does that tell you about what you need to expect and how you're thinking about the company and where it needs to go in order to help reduce this tension that is clearly being felt by the American public?
Well, the American public exists in a system that was designed 80 years ago after World War II.
It was designed in a way that we built a lot of hospitals across the country, and we also provided benefits free through employers as a way of making wage control work after the return of soldiers from World War II.
And I think that system is largely now broken.
And it has been broken for some time.
I've been an advocate for change for a long time and believe that we have ways to get it better in this country.
And I think it largely starts with making sure our healthcare system meets the needs of individuals, not the needs of groups.
And right now our system in large part is built around meeting the needs of groups.
We're getting your thoughts on the health insurance industry in the United States.
We have this from Facebook.
Janelle says, The American healthcare system is profit -driven, which is a significant problem that requires real solutions because it is not focused on serving people.
Jim says, Never had a problem with the private system, and I typically use it over the VA, which has rarely been good.
Stephen says, My mom paid in for 50 years, and they deny her therapy for stroke.
And Debbie says, good, but I've always thought that it was wrong for them to be for -profit.
And we'll go to the phones now.
We'll start with George in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.
Good morning, George.
Good morning.
Yeah, you said a lot.
You put out a lot of fodder there, but I'm going to keep it on your topic best I can.
I paid $20.
$500 a month for health insurance.
And it's the kind of health insurance that you don't want to use.
It's for big things.
I'm a contractor, always have been, 60 years old, and I didn't want to end up needing something drastic and spending all my money and fighting for my life and not having a life to come home to.
And so I have this hefty plan.
It's not really.
I see your mouth moving on the TV, but I can't hear you because my TV's muted.
Anyway, it's not really that good.
And now I'm wondering because I'm hearing cases where they're not being covered.
And that's a lot of money.
That's $100 ,000 easily every four years.
And, you know, they should just change the name of it.
It's not really health insurance.
It's something else.
And now I'm even skeptical if it's going to work, if I do need anything.
So, you know, I was watching C -SPAN the other night, and it was the hearings.
It was probably a replay, the hearings on Bernie Sanders was driving it, and it was the hearing on, you know, the food and how it's causing all the problems.
And it's like, it's playing the obsolescence.
It's deplorable.
I don't know what I'm going to do, but right now I can do what I'm doing, but I don't know.
All right.
And George, by the way, you can always hear me just in your phone.
You don't have to hear me on the TV.
But I appreciate you muting the TV.
That's exactly what we need people to do.
Sam in Hillsdale, Michigan.
Good morning, Sam.
And Sam, do you have employer sponsored insurance?
United Healthcare.
All right, Sam.
And let's go to Newport, New Hampshire, to Eric.
Good morning, Eric.
Hey, good morning, America.
It's been a good month for us.
But my experience in health care, recently I was in for a heart procedure.
I didn't use my health care much at all.
I have a private insurer.
I work for the government.
And the bill was very expensive.
I was in for five days and met multiple procedures.
However, I came out with a $900 bill.
And what is frustrating to me is there are people that, and I guess we'll kind of overlay the topic, that don't pay for any insurance.
And the government pays for every dime.
And I pay for health insurance.
I pay a good premium.
And I still have the $900 bill when I come out of the hospital.
Yet other people...
You know who are not paying anything for insurance to get comp or fully not one dime out of their pocket and they get the best health care just like I would get and also say this because I think why we're talking about this topic is obviously the shooting and I don't want to go too far into that but when if someone felt that people who are not paying for insurance
All right, Eric.
And this is NPR that says this.
And they've got a map here of the United States.
And what this shows, We're good to go.
I think?
Concentrated in the south of the United States.
Here's Texas with that.
So that's about medical debt.
And this is Sarah, Edgewater, Maryland.
Good morning, Sarah.
Hi, I'm a broker and I deal with Medicare supplement coverage.
I do not sell Medicare Advantage plans.
The reason why I don't sell those plans is because of the large number of complaints that seniors have experienced.
When they are in one of these plans, and I have talked to countless seniors or family members that have complained to me about the fact that their medical claims were denied and the dealings that they had with the insurance company.
So I choose not to mess with that.
And one thing that I think is not explained to seniors is, when they sign up for Medicare A and B, and they have the original Medicare, Thank you.
Through plan administrators, what goes and what doesn't go.
This difference is not explained to seniors.
And here's one other thing that I want to point out.
It offends me as a taxpayer to read for years investigative reports from multiple news outlets like the New York Times and other news outlets that have pointed out that there has been so much fraud going on with Medicare Advantage plans.
where insurance companies have defrauded the federal government by hundreds of billions of dollars with this medicare advantage plan and the problem is if i or any other agent or a licensed individual professional commits fraud and we cheat we lose our license and our livelihood but when an insurance company does it they can slowly continue to offer health insurance
Sarah, help us understand how companies would be defrauding the U .S. government.
So private insurance companies defrauding the government through Medicare Advantage.
How does that work?
There have been, you know, some reports.
It's called what you call "upcoding," right?
And I read about it first in a Honolulu Advertiser article years ago, and this doctor really explained what happened.
And then there was also some stuff with New York Times talking about that.
So when you sign up for an Advantage Plan, every senior that signs up for an Advantage Plan The government pays anywhere from about $1 ,000 to $3 ,000 a month for that senior to be enrolled in that plan.
And then there is a formulary that they use between the government.
And what has happened is, and you can read this online, so these insurance companies have taken a person who has a medical condition and under normal circumstances, let's say they get $1 ,000 a month for that person to be enrolled in the Advantage plan.
So they went through the medical records of that person and added up More issues, medical issues that were not really there so that they can get more money from the government.
So maybe the person had diabetes and now they're adding another health condition that that person may not have had to get more money from the government.
So now instead of $1 ,000, now they're getting $1 ,500 or $2 ,000 or $3 ,000.
So there was a lot of stuff going on where companies literally went through medical records and...
Well, somebody did go through medical records, and they made these health conditions for seniors worse to get more money out of the government.
And as I said, there were some reports on that with the New York Times, and then there's the Honolulu Advertiser.
We thank you for that information.
Very useful.
Mike in Youngstown, Ohio.
You're next.
Yeah, good morning.
How are you today?
Good.
I had some surgery done years ago.
Quite extensive surgery.
I had problems with my bowel.
I was very ill.
The doctor that operated on me did the last surgery trying to straighten me out.
That day, that afternoon, he came in to see me.
I said, well, when am I going to be getting out of the hospital?
He says, well, that's up to the insurance company.
He told me.
I couldn't believe it.
I said, that's up to the insurance company.
I said, you're the one that did the surgery on me.
And he says, well, I don't have any say about that at all.
And, you know, I found that quite amazing.
And what ended up happening, Mike?
Well, nothing good for me.
You know, they put this mesh inside of me to fix a hernia, and it all rotted out.
But Mike, in that initial surgery, were you able to stay in the hospital as long as you felt like you needed to, or as long as your doctor wanted you to?
About a year later, because it rotted out inside of me, and they had to cut through my abdominal wall, and the doctor came in and told me to sign up for disability.
I said, what are you talking about disability?
I said, I don't know anything about that.
That was the last thing that I had in mind on doing.
In fact, I never thought of that.
And I wanted to go back to work.
And he told me, well, you're disabled now.
We had to cut through your abdominal wall to remove that mesh that was rotten inside of you.
And the whole thing is, I mean, it's all based around money.
Today, I'm disabled, and I have been now for about 12 or 13 years.
I had to quit working.
The government doctor told me I was disabled and he put me on disability and it ruined my life financially.
Totally.
Sorry to hear that, Mike.
This is David on Facebook who says this about the health insurance industry.
It's a scam.
Preventative health care increases expense.
It guarantees they will find something, anything to treat.
Nothing guarantees a steady paycheck like subscription services, or in this case, recurring payments for, quote, treatment.
Sometimes unscrupulous doctors even make stuff up.
And Ed from North Texas sent us a text.
I've been retired for 15 years.
I have UnitedHealthcare under Medicare.
I've had a number of health issues and I'm very satisfied with the insurance, with the exception of hearing aids, where I will not pay $5 ,000 for a pair.
Yeah, thanks.
Good morning.
I've been fortunate, I guess.
I just turned 70.
I really have no complaints against the healthcare industry, but I've had no major problems so far.
But the older you get, you get more concerned.
I find out that the healthcare system in the United States is definitely being stressed out right now.
The waiting time is much longer and this, that, and the other things.
So I just hope that it works out.
And the insurance companies, I don't know.
I don't know that much.
I've never had an issue.
I've had gone through maybe two or three different insurance groups throughout my lifetime.
They all serviced me very well.
And the problem is that this thing with the latest, the shooting of this guy...
This brought this thing to the front and center of our narratives.
I mean, what's going on today, discussions about this.
But you can't go out and shoot people.
I thought that was a little bit out of line, but at the introduction of the show, you said you don't want to have people calling in and saying things that are terrible about individuals or violence or anything like that.
Is it your time?
Can I finish my comment?
Sure.
Okay.
Thanks for your feedback there.
This is Joseph, Buffalo, New York.
Good morning, Joseph.
I tried to switch over to a different carrier, and I'm still waiting on the cards.
I never have gotten them, and nothing's happened with them.
I'm just sitting there going, and I call the lady, okay, where's the cards?
And currently I have a health issue, and they haven't done anything.
They just give me medication to put on it, and it's just a horrible feeling.
Because that's all you do.
You get medication, but you don't get...
I currently have knee problems, and I've been trying to get knee replacements on it.
Get the runaround.
Nothing ever happens.
It's the most frustrating thing in the world.
And, you know, I'm not that old, but I've been medically retired for maybe 10 years now.
And it's the most horrible thing in the world.
All I do is sit here and just take a bunch of medications, and it does nothing.
And the person I was trying to switch coverages with, I still haven't gotten the cards.
All she does is says, well, they're coming.
Well, they're coming.
Well, it's supposed to be by before 2000.
I haven't seen card one.
Is this something that you can download from the internet or anything like that?
Can you access an electronic version of the card?
I never thought of that, but I can try that.
I'll see what happens.
All right, and this is Mary in Des Moines, Iowa.
Good morning.
Yes, good morning.
I am 91 years old, and I have Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Wellmark.
And my supplement is Plan F.
My supplement is with Blue Cross, and I have Medicare.
And I've had shoulder replacements because of arthritis in both shoulders and I have shots in my knees because I have arthritis, old age arthritis.
And I want to say that I have had very good service with Blue Cross Blue Shield Wellmark and it's been handled.
I've had other surgeries and that's been my experience.
I just want to share that.
I have no complaints with my insurance company, what they charge me, or how it's been handled with Medicare.
Thank you.
And this is Kathy in Cayuga Falls, Ohio.
Good morning, Kathy.
Hi, good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
I've had good experience with the health industry.
I had some major health issues with cancer and a car accident.
I'm fairly happy, even though I'm not completely recovered, but I was calling about.
I have 20 years, almost 20 years experience working with dental insurance for a job, and I wanted to speak out because what I have seen over the years is a systematic approach to slowly but surely stop covering procedures.
And what's really bothered me recently is that a lot of policies that our older patients have won't cover the type of cleanings that older patients need, just as like one little specific policy limitation and and that's how they kind of get you and they seem to increase their profits by doing it and it's to the point where it's, it's Manipulate,
it's compromising standard of care in the dental industry when they do that because patients freak out because it's not covered and then they don't want to get treatment so they might not even come in for a cleaning which is so important especially for older adults and it's scary for me personally because of my health issues.
I can understand and see what's going on, what I work with every day but I don't understand how that might affect My future health given my personal history and so that's what I wanted to say and I appreciate you taking my call.
All right Kathy and this is Steve in San Jose, California.
Hi Steve.
Hello, thank you for taking my call.
I have had very good experience with my health care.
I suffered a stroke about three years ago.
I was hospitalized for five days.
I did not pay a dime.
However, I have the original Medicare and Physician Mutual as my secondary insurance.
I get phone call after phone call.
We're good.
Um, you get enticed by.
This is free, that's free.
Um, you get 175 dollars returned to you.
But beware um, you cannot choose your doctor.
You have to?
Um, get a doctor out of their network.
Network, you can't shop around.
And number two, because it is run by Wall Street, They are in a position to deny you surgeries, life -saving surgeries and drugs, especially if you are old and they feel that they've invested too much money in your health.
At that point,
So beware.
All right, and this is James, Buffalo, Kentucky.
Good morning, James.
Hey, good morning to you.
I always like your show.
It's entertaining.
But, hey, here's the whole scenario.
All these bleeding -heart Democrats that are calling in with this medical problem and that medical problem, first and foremost, they deserve what they get because they voted for Biden.
He allowed the whole country to be flooded.
Uh, money is being spent on all these people from around the world and they're getting better medical care than all these bleeding hearts that are calling in.
They deserve it.
Uh, there's no reason uh, for us to be taking care of the whole entire country or the whole entire world.
Uh, and the money.
And then when he wants to put that two, two million he wanted to put two million, we stopped.
The Republicans stopped that.
He wanted to put two million people on the.
Uh, I've never been to the doctor.
And I'm an old man.
But at the same token...
That's probably because of my upbringing.
I had to work from five years old all the way up to now.
So, you know, when I...
But anyway, make a long story short, the Democrats that are calling in, they deserve what they get.
Yeah, we got that point.
And this is James in Michigan said, I had serious brain surgery last year.
United only covered one of the required two anesthesiologists needed for the procedure.
I was left with the bill as they did not approve the two.
And finally, Albert on Facebook said, I paid over $1 ,500 to see a nurse for 10 minutes.
They charged me $30 for two Tylenols alone.
Well, up next on The Washington Journal, we'll talk to Republican Congressman Carlos Jimenez of Florida about next week's government funding deadline and the GOP trifecta in Washington come January.
And later.
Former acting CDC director Dr. Richard Besser discusses Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s HHS secretary nomination and potential changes to public health policy.
We'll be right back.
Book TV, every Sunday on C -SPAN 2, features leading authors discussing their latest non -fiction books.
Here's a look at what's coming up this weekend.
We're good to go.
We're good to go.
Watch Book TV every Sunday on C -SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv .org.
Are you a non -fiction book lover looking for a new podcast?
This holiday season, try listening to one of the many podcasts C -SPAN has to offer.
On Q &A, you'll listen to interesting interviews with people and authors writing books on history and subjects that matter.
Find all of our podcasts by downloading the free C -SPAN Now app, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome back.
We are joined now by Representative Carlos Jimenez.
A Republican of Florida.
He's on the Armed Services and the Homeland Security Committees.
Congressman, welcome to the program.
Thank you.
It's my pleasure being here.
I want to start with drones.
You're the chairman of the Homeland Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security.
You recently held a hearing on the security threats posed by drones.
And I want to ask you specifically about what's happening over the skies in New Jersey.
This is The Guardian that is talking about...
Drone cluster sightings.
Can you tell us first kind of what's happening there in New Jersey and then a little bit more about the hearing that you held?
Well, from my understanding is that they've seen hundreds of sightings of drones in New Jersey and the problem is nobody knows who's flying them.
Nobody knows where they came from.
Nobody knows what they're doing and nobody knows where they went.
That's a problem.
And so, you know, the hearing really outlined the fact that Most of America is really unprotected from this threat.
And it's a threat.
I'm not saying that there's something nefarious going on.
We don't know.
But it just doesn't seem right.
It's certainly odd.
But most of America is unprepared for if a nefarious actor wants to do some harm to us, either by surveillance or, God forbid, put some kind of payload on these drones.
We are ill -prepared to defend ourselves, and that was highlighted in that hearing.
And what's the solution, Congressman?
How do we protect ourselves from nefarious actors?
Look, the threat's just going to get worse, because as you embed artificial intelligence into these drones, they don't need to be piloted anymore.
Some of the technology that we have actually interrupts that pilot.
To a drone interface as it's being flown.
We do have some defense capabilities in some of our facilities, but once AI is input into those drones, it takes more than just interfering with the pilot and the drone itself.
It's going to take more measures.
The problem that we have, I believe, in the federal government is that we have too many agencies with too few money, too few resources.
What kind of action are you going to be taking?
You said too few resources.
Is there something coming up in the budget negotiations to address this topic specifically?
I think we need to centralize or at least we have too much decentralization.
Too many agencies have a little bit of money to deal with the issue.
We need to really focus in our federal efforts and what are we going to do as a nation to combat this threat before something happens.
I don't have a specific plan right now.
I think we need some more hearings.
I need to talk to some more people.
This week you were elected the new vice chair of the Republican Governance Group.
It's known as RG2.
It's a House GOP caucus of the center -right.
Can you tell us about that?
Well, yeah, we're really like the majority makers.
These are most of the members that we have in our group.
We sit down on Tuesdays and we talk about policy and we talk about different bills, etc., and then what our stance is going to be.
We are conservative, but more to the center.
And there's about 40 to 50 of us in that caucus.
I'm greatly honored that I was elected as the vice chair, and my job is to make sure that the leadership understands the position of our caucus and also help our leader, our chairman, Dave Valadao.
So again, it's a great honor, but that's the group, the makeup of this group, and it's one of about four major caucuses that we have in the Republican conference.
If you'd like to join the conversation with Representative Carlos Jimenez, you can do so.
Our lines are by party, so Republicans are on 202 -748 -8001, Democrats 202 -748 -8000, and Independents 202 -748 -8002.
You serve on both Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, so I wanted to ask you about the nominees.
That are going to be coming before the Senate starting with Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence.
Your thoughts on that?
She's got some controversial statements that she made in the past.
And I'm sure that those are going to be brought up.
Again, the Senate has to do their job in confirming these nominations.
The President has the right to choose the people that he wants, but the Senate also has the job of confirming them and vetting these candidates.
She has made some controversial statements in the past and I'm sure that she's going to have to explain that to the Senate before she gets confirmed.
And the nomination of Pete Hegseth, where do you stand on that?
Well, again, you know, it's certainly an out -of -the -box kind of nomination.
He's a very intelligent individual.
Obviously, he went to Princeton and went to Harvard.
He served in the Armed Forces.
And to be frank with you, as a member of Armed Services, The Pentagon needs to be shaken up.
We have a lot of people in there.
The bureaucracy, I think, is way too burdensome.
We have to be much more nimble as we face the pacing threat of China that China poses to the United States.
And the acquisition of weapon systems, the development of weapon systems, all of that, our industrial base, all of that needs to be upgraded.
And again, we need to be much more nimble.
And you're going to have to have somebody that's going to shake it up.
I don't know him personally.
I've never met him personally.
I know that there's some accusations of things in his past.
And again, the Senate is going to have to do their job, vet it out.
And that's who the president wants.
But again...
The Senate has, you know, they have their role to play in this.
And so I will, I'll defer to the Senate.
But, you know, I have confidence in the Senate will do the right thing.
And you mentioned China.
So I just want to ask you about the news that's just come out this morning from CBS News that Mr. Trump has invited China's Xi Jinping to the inauguration.
Your thoughts on that?
I think, look, China is our number one threat now and will be into the future.
I think it's good to speak to our adversaries and our potential adversaries.
I know President Trump likes to engage when he's trying to deal with people, whether they be friends or foe.
And so inviting Xi Jinping, I think, is a way to We're good to go.
Yes, good morning.
Thank you for having me, Mimi.
Thank you, Representative Jimenez, for your time.
My question is regarding, and I'm using air quotes, the drones that are flying around New Jersey and the Northeast.
I'm saying this is a global phenomenon.
This is not just happening in the US.
There's also the same thing happening in the UK.
The same thing is happening in China.
And the media doesn't like to talk about it because it's a bipartisan issue.
Both sides want to know.
So it's not entertaining for people.
That's why we're just getting A hint of this after almost a month of this happening.
So I guess my question for you is the only way we're going to be able to attack these things over our country is probably through you guys.
You guys have to vote on how to deal with this.
Congress and everybody in the government has to vote on this.
I want to know if this keeps going on, are you guys going to vote on settling this?
Because...
I think this is tied to a bigger issue.
If we can't figure out who's above us, then we are in trouble.
The most powerful military in the world is failing us and we're still giving them a lot of money.
And I think we have to really think that we are very vulnerable right now.
All right, Stephen, let's get a response.
Go ahead, Congressman.
I think, look, like I said in the beginning that, yeah, our defenses against these drones here in the homeland are woefully inadequate.
Now, do we have some facilities that have some capability against certain types of drones?
Yeah, yeah, we do.
But as I stated, as these drones become more and more autonomous, I think their danger increases.
And so I'm concerned the fact that, and I opened it up and said, we don't know who's flying them.
We don't know where they came from.
We don't know what they're doing, and we don't know where they went.
That's a problem.
And so we need better answers from our personnel, especially the federal government.
And if they know something, we need to know what that is.
If they need some authorities that they don't have right now, we need to give it to them.
Because I do fear the threat of...
I'm with you.
We just need better answers and also we need better solutions of how it is that we're going to deal with drones that pose a threat to Americans.
They're getting cheaper.
We have so many drones right now that are owned by private citizens.
What is a threat drone and what is just a recreational drone?
Again, those are difficult questions that we need to answer, but we need to protect America and we need to find those answers.
On the Republican line in Coos Bay, Oregon, Beverly, good morning.
Good morning.
How are you?
Good.
Good.
I have a question and a comment.
Why isn't the Coast Guard looking out over the ocean to see where those drones are going?
And also, I think the government knows what these drones are, otherwise they'd have fighter jets up there chasing them away like they do with everything else.
So, what about that?
I don't know why the Coast Guard doesn't know if they're flying back over the ocean.
As some people have said, they come out of the sea and then they go back to the ocean.
I don't know why.
I'm just as frustrated as you.
We should know why.
Again, we need to know who's flying them.
We need to know where they came from, why they're buzzing around, and where they're going.
And that seems to me, just follow one back and see what the heck, where it lands.
And I don't understand why they couldn't answer those questions.
I'm a congressman, I guess I'm a member of government, but if somebody underneath some of the agencies that we're supposed to be overlooking know the answer and they don't tell us,
that's frustrating to us just as well.
So yeah, fighter planes aren't the answer to this because these drones fly so slow that really a fighter is not going to be too effective, but helicopters are.
And so why don't they do that?
Why don't they follow them back?
I don't know.
I don't have the answer to that.
We need to get the answer to that.
And if this phenomenon continues, then we need to get to the bottom of it.
Patrick in Murrieta, California, Independent Line.
Good morning.
Hi, good morning.
Good morning.
Yes, one of the groups I'm on, I notice there's a town right next to me called Temecula.
And the last few days they've been talking about multiple drones being flown over Temecula in Southern California.
So I find it kind of interesting.
I turned on C -Span this morning and saw the congressman talking about this and happening out here.
Again, it's a phenomenon that's apparently happening not only in different parts of the United States, but as one caller said, around the world.
Again, we need to get to the bottom of it because people are now...
And Congressman, who would be in the government dealing with this issue?
Is it the FAA?
Is it the Defense Department?
DOD has a role, obviously.
I mean, some of these drones have been buzzing around sensitive areas of our defense.
Defense apparatus, so I have an understanding that DoD may have some answers on on this and they have they maybe they haven't been asked the FAA has a role obviously these these These are aircraft.
They're in our airspace And so there are various agencies that have Homeland Security has a role to play in this again.
We need to start focusing our Our attention on the issue federally and one of the problems that I see is that we have too many agencies and not enough resources and we need to focus those resources and then also come up with an action plan.
What are we going to do about them?
We have a whole bunch of drones flying in a certain area.
How are we going to deal with that?
And come to those answers as a nation and I would expect that the Trump administration is going to be looking at this issue and then...
Good morning.
Thank you.
I have a part 107 license to fly drones commercially.
They don't even get off the ground if they're in a restricted airspace, so they have to be authorized by the FAA.
Good chance they're mapping something.
It's probably a real simple solution.
I'll just hold on and see what you've got to say about it.
Well, I mean, you know, you have a license and you fly according to FAA rules, but that doesn't mean that everybody who's flying these drones are going to abide by those rules.
And again, if you have some nefarious What do you think about drones?
Congressman, Janet in Florida on a different subject is asking on X Why does Donald Trump want to make enemies of Canada and Mexico?
And I believe she's referring to the tariffs.
It's not really making enemies.
Look, we've had a problem with the southern border where millions of people are coming from Mexico into the United States.
And if Mexico is not going to help us with the problem, then you have to...
You have to demonstrate to them that you're serious about it.
They're not our enemies, but again, they're not acting as our friends either, as they allow millions of people to flow into the United States through their country.
And so it's time for Mexico and Canada to control their immigration and their borders with the United States.
And if it takes a little bit of twisting of the arms to say, hey...
You know, to you, it doesn't matter because, you know, okay, come on into our country, then go on to the United States.
It's not our problem.
Well, now it is your problem.
And now you share our problem.
And that's one of the ways that President Trump, in his previous administration, was able to get Mexico to agree to or remain in Mexico policy.
By doing the remain in Mexico policy, it reduced the immigration problem in the United States by 70%.
Carol is a Republican in Austin, New York.
Hi Carol.
All right, Carol.
Ma 'am, we had a hearing on this subject a couple days ago just to bring it to light.
And so because of the hearing that we had, it was brought to light in front of the American people.
And so we were expecting answers.
We got no answers, which now is going to lead to either more hearings either on a public setting or in a classified setting.
I would expect that the next thing we're going to do, we're going to go in a classified setting.
And so maybe some of the things they couldn't tell us in a public setting, they'll be able to tell us in a classified setting.
And once we have better information about what this is all about, then we'll take some action if we have to take some in Congress.
Remember, the executive branch has a lot of authority to do a lot of things.
And why they're not doing certain things?
Well, we need to get to the bottom of it.
And if we in Congress have to pass legislation that authorizes them to take further action, then we will do so.
But we need to get that information first.
Unfortunately, in that first hearing, we didn't get much information out of the fact that they were apparently as lost as everybody else, which in itself is very troubling to Congress.
So yeah, we're going to take further steps.
And by the way, that hearing is on our website in its entirety at c -span .org, security threats posed by drones.
You can watch that.
Just put drones in the subject line and you'll be able to see that if you're interested in the topic.
Here's Judy in Brooklyn, New York.
Democrat.
Good morning, Representative.
You know, as an attacked Spain American citizen, I am so disheartened by the lack of progress from our elected officials.
It just seems like you know how to place blame.
And Judy, what problem are you talking about specifically?
Okay.
We'll get an answer for you.
Go ahead, Congressman.
We have a role to play in Congress.
There is three levels of government.
One is the executive branch, one is legislative, and one is judicial.
In Congress, people seem to think that we can snap our fingers and things go away.
It doesn't work that way.
And so you need to be a student of how government works.
I'm just as frustrated as you are.
Look, I had a lot more power when I was mayor of Miami -Dade than I do as a congressman to get things done.
As mayor of Miami -Dade, I can look at a pothole and say, fix it, and it'd get fixed.
In Congress, it doesn't work that way.
In order to fix that pothole, I actually have to have an act of Congress to fix the pothole.
And that's the way that this government works.
We have oversight over the administration.
We've asked questions of the administration about that issue.
They have no answers, at least in an unclassified setting.
We need to get to the bottom of what is happening.
And then if the administrative branch actually needs legislation for them to act on this issue...
Then we have to pass that legislation.
And that's the way that it works.
And you may not like to hear it, but that's just the way it is.
Cindy in Richmond, Kentucky is asking you, if oil is supposed to make us so rich and powerful, why are the Republicans not drilling all that oil in Florida?
There's not much oil to drill in Florida to begin with.
And by the way, there is oil being drilled in the Everglades in Florida as we speak.
And so we have pockets of oil and resources in different parts of this nation.
The oil that we have in this nation are in other parts mostly.
But there are in Florida, like I told you.
We're drilling oil right now and we're pumping oil right now in certain parts of Florida.
So yeah, we are.
But we don't have as much oil as they do in Texas or in Pennsylvania.
We don't have as much gas as maybe what they have in New York and other parts of this country.
You know, where those natural resources lie is where we need to get them.
But we do need to start drilling for more oil.
We do need to start using American natural gas more than we are right now.
We also need to increase our refining capacity so that we can become not only energy independent like we were before, but energy dominant.
And what does that mean?
That we can now supply the world with energy and then substitute American oil and gas For Iranian oil and gas, Russian oil and gas, and Venezuelan oil and gas.
And that has a number of benefits for America and a number of benefits for the security of America also.
This is James in Prairie Hill, Texas, Independent Line.
When you get back to U .S. House, he's doing a great job.
He's got his work cut out for him because Democrats are missing something.
Yep, yep, we heard you.
And also...
I know what they are, yeah, I hope so.
I hope that would be the end of the drone, or at least we get an answer of what the heck is going on.
And real quick, Congressman, the funding deadline is December 20th.
Are you looking at a March CR, or what do you think is going to be happening with funding?
I think we're going to get the answer to that when we come back on Monday.
Right now we don't have that answer, how long it's going to be.
It's going to be a CR without a doubt.
There's no time to do the appropriations.
I don't think the Senate is there anyway.
So there'll be a CR that'll take us a certain amount of time.
I would expect, I really would expect something about around March to give us time then when the new Congress comes in to come in and determine.
It's probably going to be some kind of reconciliation bill.
And then...
How we can get appropriations done and move through and then what the new administration is seeking in terms of funding.
I know that we also want to save money.
I know that the new Doge department that's being headed by Elon Musk and Ramazwani are going to be looking at that and we're going to be helping on part of that caucus.
And there's a lot of money to be saved.
There's a lot of waste here.
All right.
Representative Carlos Jimenez, Republican of Florida, member of the Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, thanks so much for joining us.
It's my pleasure.
More of your phone calls after the break.
An open forum you can start calling in now and later.
Former acting CDC director Dr. Richard Besser discusses Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s HHS secretary nomination and potential changes to public health policy.
James M. Bradley's biography of Martin Van Buren is the first full -scale portrait of the AIDS president in four decades.
Mr. Bradley is the co -editor of the Martin Van Duren Papers and teaches in the public history program at the State University of New York at Albany.
In his introduction, James Bradley writes, as this biography will show, James Bradley with his book Martin Van Buren,
America's First Politician, on this episode of Book Notes Plus with our host Brian Lamb.
Look Notes Plus is available on the C -SPAN Now free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts.
C -SPAN Now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what's happening in Washington, live and on demand.
Keep up with the day's biggest events with live streams of floor proceedings and hearings from the U .S. Congress, White House events, the courts, campaigns, and more from the world of politics.
We're good to go.
Attention middle and high school students across America.
It's time to make your voice heard.
C -SPAN's Student Cam Documentary Contest 2025 is here.
This is your chance to create a documentary that can inspire change, raise awareness, and make an impact.
Your documentary should answer this year's question, your message to the president.
What issue is most important to you or your community?
Whether you're passionate about politics, the environment, or community stories, Student Cam is your platform to share your message with the world.
The House will be in order.
Since 1979, we've been your primary source for Capitol Hill, providing balanced, unfiltered coverage of government, taking you to where the policies debated and decided, all with the support of America's cable companies.
C -SPAN, 45 years and counting.
Powered by cable.
Since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, C -SPAN has provided complete coverage of the halls of Congress.
Washington Journal continues.
Welcome back to Washington Journal.
Again, this is a two -hour journal, so we'll be with you for just under an hour.
And then take you to the House.
But something that's already underway on C -SPAN 2 is officials with the VA testify on recent multi -billion dollar technology modernization projects.
That's going on live, the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee hearing on C -SPAN 2.
And at 10 a .m. this morning, a look at ways to empower people with disabilities.
Senate Aging Committee witnesses will talk about some of the challenges faced by the disabled, including home care.
We're good to go.
I think?
Let's go to the phones to Joe in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Democrat.
Hi, Joe.
Hey, how you doing?
Good.
You know, I'm sorry the representative was not able to address.
I was in his district not too long ago.
But about to the drones, people have a reason to be concerned about these things.
Back in 2003, I was taking a securities course that dealt with Coast Guard weapons of mass destruction capability and they were saying how difficult it is to check all the bulk carriers at sea and of course the scenario was,
Even back then, was the issue of drones being launched from.
I think it's something that people have a right to be concerned about, swarming and A lot of states, you can't even fly a drone unless it's registered, and it can't be above 200 feet.
So, and can't be flown over certain areas.
All right.
Thank you very much for your time.
And William in Cleveland, Ohio, Republican.
Good morning.
William.
Good morning.
Yes.
Hi, William.
Good morning.
I'm here.
Well, like I was saying earlier, in reference to the drones, quite frankly, that's a matter for the Department of Defense.
They monitor those guys.
They watch for unidentified aircraft coming into our territories, either off our coastlands or even being flown within our country itself by parties that may be practicing an espionage.
But, you know, with regard to these drones that are...
over our military bases, the only thing I could figure that is is, since the obviously the Department OF Defense is fully aware of them but they're not reporting, it is because they've already reported to their chief and commander, and the chief and commander happens to be the president of the United States, so he's obviously aware of these craft and he's obviously authorized these craft to travel across our country
so that they can gather the intel that they need.
That they can't his son couldn't transfer from the garage.
Um, you know that they could then learn how to invest their funds in the Chinese power markets and make their monies and then hide those funds that they profiteered through their Virginia,
in Riverside, California, Independent Line.
Yes, I'm just checking in on this China again.
I heard yesterday, I've heard for about a year China's been buying up our lands, farmlands, whatever, in the Midwest.
And I'm just curious who's selling this.
Is this our federal government or is this an independent person that owns the farm and selling it right next to our bases?
Does anyone have an answer to that?
I'm just kind of...
I'm interested why this would be happening.
And it's happening all over the country, I guess.
I mean, where there's vacant land by a military base.
So could someone help me with that question?
Thank you.
Well, we'll do our best.
But in the meanwhile, here's Pete Hegseth, the nominee for Secretary of Defense.
He spoke to the press following a meeting on Capitol Hill with Senator Susan Collins of Maine.
Here it is.
It was a great meeting with Senator Collins.
And again, office after office, having the opportunity to spend time with these senators who have invested their careers in ensuring that our warfighters get what they need.
It has been an amazing educational process and Senator Collins, like her colleagues before her, reiterated that.
It was a wonderful conversation.
We focused on what needs to be done to make sure this Pentagon is focused on warfighting and lethality.
And we look forward to staying in touch with her.
I'm certainly not going to assume anything about where the Senator stands.
This is a process that we respect and appreciate.
And we hope, through time, overall, when we get through that committee and to the floor, that we can earn her support.
But it's about earning support in this process in ongoing conversation.
And just to answer the caller's question about the Chinese buying land near military bases, the Atlantic Council has this on,
this was from July of this year.
It says China's ability to buy U .S. land near military bases just got more restricted.
It says that in early June, the U .S. Treasury Department We're good to go.
A growing number of state -level restrictions on foreign real estate investments and increased congressional scrutiny on greenfield investment.
So you can see that at theatlanticcouncil .org if you'd like to read that.
And this is Lee in Wamego, Kansas.
Democrat.
Hi.
Mr. Jimenez is either lying or he's ignorant on the oil production in the United States.
So I can fix ignorant, but I can't fix him lying.
The United States is the number one producer of oil in the world, period.
13 .5 million barrels per day coming out.
We are energy independent.
Energy independence is defined under the Trump administration as exporting more oil than we import.
And we have been doing that for several years now.
So according to the Trump definition, the United States is energy independent.
Go to EIA .gov, EIA .gov for all my naysayer Republicans, EIA .gov, and they'll tell you.
13 .5 million barrels of oil.
So when Donald Trump says that he's going to drill baby drill, he ain't talking about oil.
He's talking about Stormy Daniels.
Thank you very much.
And also some news from this morning.
Time magazine has announced the person of the year, and that is Donald Trump.
You could see that at time .org.
There's the cover of person of the year for Time magazine.
Mike in Huntington, Indiana, Independent Line.
Good morning.
Yes, I don't understand why somebody don't shoot it down, those drones.
And Paul in the UK, Democrat.
Good morning, Paul.
So that's what we want.
And that's what the U .S. government should strive for as well, whoever gets in.
Next time, probably.
Whatever.
So when you say...
Oh, he's gone.
Okay.
And here's Patrice in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Republican.
Yes.
You have American devastation, open borders, human trafficking.
Patrice?
Yes.
Yes, we're listening.
Go ahead.
Yes, you have this administration that has allowed...
Open borders for human trafficking right in our faces.
You have balloons flying over our intelligence early in the year.
And now you have the drones that are suspected to have AI intelligence within them.
And you have people that are still calling in, defending this administration.
And then you have the news, including C -SPAN, that has allowed for this kind of negative talk to continue on about a president -elect that's coming in to try to make America better.
The news media is part of the biggest problem that has caused all this.
You all.
Patrice, who do you listen to as far as the media?
Like what?
You good Patrice?
Okay.
Roger in Abilene, Kansas.
Republican.
Good morning, Roger.
Yes, thank you for the band.
It's a megaphone for people who want to talk a little bit about what they feel.
I called in four years ago about the illegals crossing the border.
And everyone that came on your show would say, we need to stop this.
We need to stop this.
Here we are four years later.
Has not been stopped.
I just saw this last congressman mentioned.
They don't know what this is.
Are we going to go four years of these drones coming over us?
Or are we going to, what's going to happen?
I know we have billionaires in this country that would enjoy, they would totally embrace the challenge to go shoot one of those down.
And they would love it.
Roger, do you believe that this would cause a problem on the ground if people started shooting up in the air?
Yes, I can see that.
I can see that.
And they could say these only can be shot down in the ocean.
And these billionaires would just love this.
This would be very exciting for them.
And we have those in this country.
Thank you.
Susan in Worcester, Massachusetts, Republican.
Hi, Susan.
Yeah, hi.
I agree with that other lady.
The mainstream media, it's dead.
We don't listen to them.
We don't care what they say.
They're all liars.
They're all corrupt like the Democrats.
I listen to Alex Jones, Joe Rogan, Tuck Carlson.
They've got the best media.
And thank God, if you could read a report about Alex Jones, you can keep his awards as the Democrats tried to take it away from him.
What's happening with the left?
These people are crazy.
And Joe Biden, when is he going to get up there and tell the American people about the drones?
They know.
They know what's going on.
It's unbelievable.
We let this psychotic idiot run this country for four years, but I don't really think it was Obama.
And what Trump did to Obama, the Clintons, the Bushes.
We got them all knocked off the pages, too.
All the help she had.
She was a lousy candidate.
They could blame her color.
We didn't vote.
No, we want a smart woman, not an idiot.
We'd like a Pam Barney to run for president.
She couldn't do it.
Pamela Harris, where is she?
I haven't seen her since she left.
Biden, with all the drones and all the scraps.
All right, Susan, this is Cynthia in Youngstown, Ohio.
Democrat, good morning.
Good morning.
I think, you know, I kind of agree that the media did not do its job, but I also think the Democrats are responsible.
The Democrats, their number one priority should have been calling Trump and the other people who tried to overthrow our democracy and calling them to task and making sure that they would never come into power.
And the Democrats did not do that.
The Democrats have always had this approach.
We'll take the higher road.
We'll put our nose to the grindstone.
We'll get work done, which is what they did.
And Biden did deliver us from the pandemic and all of the, you know, that hasn't been looked at or talked about at all in the media, the devastating effects of that pandemic and how long it took us to move forward, you know,
just the supply chain issues.
And so on the other side, They just figure out ways to manipulate the media and manipulate their message.
And the fact that they were able to convince so many people and brainwash so many people and that the Democrats didn't do something about that, that's the elephant in the room.
Because people really believe that we've had a bad economy for four years.
And if you look at the facts, it's been one of the best economies we've ever had.
And they're going to go in there, they're going to change the message.
And say it's good, and then they're going to take credit for all the work the Democrats did.
And that's what they always do.
And the Democrats really need to strategize better.
All the way down to the local level, our local Democrats failed us.
They should have had a candidate long before Kamala Harris.
They should have been prepared, and they weren't.
And if the Democrats don't look in the mirror and look at what they did wrong, they're never going to overcome this.
All right, Cynthia.
And some news from NBC.
This is Biden to commute sentences of 1 ,500 nonviolent offenders in the biggest single -day act of clemency to date.
It says, the president said, quote, America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances.
It says that he's commuting the sentences of almost 1 ,500 offenders.
He's pardoning 39 others.
Explaining what may become a defining act in the dying days of his presidency, Biden said in a statement, as I said, America is built on promise of possibility and second chances.
Biden continued, as president, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities.
Good morning.
I was a radar air traffic controller for 15 years and I wanted to talk about the drones.
The drones, they have a restriction on how high and no restriction on how low.
They can't come over and get on your property and look in your window or anything.
That's against the law.
All right, Robert.
This is Matt in Falls Church, Virginia, a Democrat.
I am listening to a lot of people today and it's just amazing to me how many people think oh well we should be extremely worried about this and this is a terrible thing and America can't stand for this and I just feel like what world are you living in?
America is not invulnerable anymore.
We haven't been since 9 /11.
There's this idea we can spend millions and billions...
I heard that person say we should give billionaires the ability to shoot these things down, like waste tons of money on it.
I think we should figure out what happened first and just wait and be patient.
So many people want to jump to conspiracy theories because nobody trusts anybody anymore.
The person who said the mainstream media is dead is correct in that the number of people who watch the mainstream media is dying.
That's my comment.
Thanks.
Good morning.
Before I make my comment, I just want to say that I think that C -SPAN is the most important thing on television.
I also think that everyone on Washington Journal does a great job of facilitating and inviting discussion.
My comment is that, you know, we have so much political divisiveness in this country.
We have had for a long time.
All right.
And here's Peter, Seattle, Washington, Democrat.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I am thinking about the drone situation.
If it was going to be some foreign country or something like that, why would they be running all their running lights all the way around these things all the time so everybody can see them?
And Amazon, I think, was interested in running drones and stuff, so maybe Amazon dropped that plan because of what kind of hysteria we're hearing right now and sold them off to somebody,
and maybe they're using them.
I don't know.
It's just so stupid.
All right, Peter and Melanie in Seneca, South Carolina, Republican Line.
Good morning.
All right, Melanie.
And Steve in Linfield, Massachusetts, Democrat.
Good morning, Steve.
All these people are so upset that these are potentially Chinese drones when Trump is inviting China to our inauguration.
He's the oldest president in the history of the United States.
He's got a terrible record on the economy.
Our economy is already booming.
We have all these people calling in hoping he's going to save our economy, but they don't watch the news because the news won't tell them the truth.
It's infuriating to listen to people so angry about drones.
And how the media is terrible, but yet their facts are so terrible.
You know that Trump added double to our deficit that Obama did.
Obama had two terms, but yet we're worried about Chinese drones that are, I'm sure, have a logical explanation.
I just, so many people that are so upset about the media maybe should take a second to look around and get your facts somewhere else other than Fox News.
That's all I have to say.
Thank you.
All right, Steve.
And that's it for Open Forum.
Up next, we'll have former acting CDC director Dr. Richard Besser.
He'll give us his take on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s HHS secretary nomination and potential changes to public health policy in this country.
We'll be right back.
Attention middle and high school students across America.
It's time to make your voice heard.
C -SPAN Student Cam Documentary Contest 2025 is here.
This is your chance to create a documentary that can inspire change, raise awareness, and make an impact.
Your documentary should answer this year's question, your message to the president.
What issue is most important to you or your community?
Whether you're passionate about politics, the environment, or community stories, Student Cam is your platform to share your message with the world.
Since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry.
C -SPAN has provided complete coverage of the halls of Congress, from the House and Senate floors, to congressional hearings, party briefings, and committee meetings.
C -SPAN gives you a front row seat to how issues are debated and decided, with no commentary, no interruptions, and completely unfiltered.
C -SPAN, your unfiltered view of government.
The House will be in order.
This year, C -SPAN celebrates 45 years of covering Congress like no other.
Since 1979, we've been your primary source for Capitol Hill, providing balanced, unfiltered coverage of government, taking you to where the policies debated and decided, all with the support of America's cable companies.
C -SPAN, 45 years and counting.
Powered by cable.
Washington Journal continues.
Welcome back to the program.
We're joined now by Dr. Richard Besser.
He's former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control.
That was during the Obama administration in 2009.
And also currently president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Dr. Besser, welcome to the program.
Thanks so much for having me on this morning.
You said in an op -ed that President -elect Trump's selection of RFK Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department is, quote, Dangerous.
Explain that.
You know, one of the things you didn't mention is that I'm a pediatrician and I practiced pediatrics for more than 30 years.
And I know that as a pediatrician taking care of children all over the country, there was nothing that I did that had more proven value for the health of my patients than making sure they were vaccinated fully and on time.
I would get questions all the time from parents about different vaccines and what they were for and how I felt about their safety and we would have great conversations.
There was trust there.
And so the reason I say that the selection of RFK Jr. as the potential Secretary of Health is dangerous is that he has done more than just about anybody to undermine people's trust in vaccines and their safety.
And so, having someone with that microphone, someone there in the cabinet who is undermining the belief, I want to
play this clip for you of the, The portion of a Meet The Press interview with President -elect Trump, where he was asked about his choice of RFK Jr.
And his skepticism about vaccines, and then I'll get your Reaction.
Let me ask you about RFK Jr.
He has obviously...
Talked about his skepticism of vaccines.
He's expressed opposition to childhood vaccines.
Do you want to see childhood vaccines eliminated?
If they're dangerous for the children, look.
So possibly?
When you look at some of the problems, when you look at what's going on with disease and sickness in our country, something's wrong.
Are you talking about autism?
Well, if you take a look at autism, go back 25 years, autism was almost non -existent.
It was, you know, one out of 100 ,000.
And now it's close to one out of a hundred.
I mean, what's happening if they can find it?
Now, I did something the other night that was a little unusual at Mar -a -Lago.
I called the drug companies, the top drug companies, and I called RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz and some of his people.
I said let's all get together and let's figure out where we're going because we're going to do a lot of things number one we're going to reduce prices because the middleman makes more money than the drug companies in all fairness to the drug companies there's a middleman that nobody even knows who they are and you look at our drug prices they're much higher than the prices for the same medicine for the same stuff so we met and we were met for a long time And we talked about pricing, and we talked about vaccines, you know, in terms of what happens.
We talked about pesticides.
We talked about everything.
And I think a lot of good things are going to come from him.
And he's not going to upset any system.
He's not going to upset this.
He's not looking to, you know, to reinvent the wheel totally.
But when you look at the numbers...
We really don't have a very healthy country.
Sir, going back 25 years, studies show that there is no link between vaccines and autism.
And yet, it sounds like you are open to the possibility of him looking at...
I'm open to anything.
I think somebody has to find out.
If you go back 25 years ago, you had very little autism.
Now you have it...
Well, they say because they're better at identifying it.
One in 100 ,000, and now it's one in 100.
That's...
That's a pretty bad number.
Dr. Besser, your reaction to that, specifically what he was talking about, vaccines and autism?
Well, first, unfortunately, the president -elect is sharing misinformation.
In the year 2000, one out of 150 children ...was diagnosed with autism.
That was the rate of autism.
It wasn't 1 in 100 ,000.
It was 1 in 150.
And at that time, a lot of work was done to try and understand...
Why are we seeing autism in children?
And since then, there's been a lot of work to understand why are the rates of diagnosis going up?
One thing is clear.
In 2004, the Institute of Medicine, which is an independent body of experts, released their report, an extensive study looking at the question of, is there any connection between vaccines and autism?
And their conclusion was clear, that there is not.
Since that time, there has been a lot of research to try and understand the rise in autism.
Some of it has to do with better diagnosis.
There's been a big push to try and identify children at a younger age who are on the autism spectrum so that they can get the services that they need.
And in many states, having that diagnosis is critical to being able to access those services.
So part of it is due to increased diagnosis.
We need to do more research to understand the part that isn't due to diagnosis.
What is causing that rise?
But diverting research into looking at a question that's already been answered is cruel.
It's unfair to parents whose children are autistic who have questions as to why.
It's unfair to parents who are concerned about safety of vaccines.
It's unfair to the nation.
I'm old enough and have practiced pediatrics in enough places.
I've seen a number of these diseases that we prevent through vaccines.
I've seen children with polio, with measles, with meningitis.
And we don't want to go back to a day when these are our big concerns in our communities.
And we don't need to.
We want to make sure that parents have the information they need to make really informed decisions about the health of their children.
You know, if you look before the COVID pandemic, which was the most politicized public health response in our history, before that, there was almost no difference by political party in terms of how people trusted science and the ability of science to provide answers to improve our lives and our health.
Since then, There's been a major difference, a major difference by political party with more Democrats believing that science provides truth, far more than Republicans.
And that is dangerous.
You don't want to have a situation where politics and science are so interlaced.
Regarding vaccine safety data, you know, Mr. Kennedy said he wants to make that data public.
Is it not already public?
Yeah, I don't know what data he's asking about.
The data that is used to approve vaccines is public.
And then after vaccines are licensed, there is surveillance.
There's information that's collected about anything that may have happened in a time frame related to a vaccine to try and understand, is there an issue?
First, approve a vaccine.
You really want to make sure that once it's used in millions and millions of people, there aren't rare side effects that you weren't able to detect when a vaccine was initially being studied.
And that information is all public.
And so, you know, I would encourage people to go onto the FDA website and Google and look for that information because it is there.
I'm not sure what he's talking about in terms of making information public that isn't.
We are going to be talking with Dr. Richard Besser for about 20 minutes until the house gavels in.
And if you'd like to join that conversation, you can do so.
Our lines are regional.
If you're in the eastern or central time zones, it's 202 -748 -8000.
If you're in Mountain or Pacific, it's 202 -748 -8001.
Yeah.
This is a trickier one to talk about than vaccines.
Because where you live, the community you're in, will affect in a great way.
How much fluoride do you consume in your diet and your water supply?
The addition of fluoride to public water systems was ranked as one of the top 10 public health interventions of the 20th century.
The reason it was ranked that way is that small amounts of fluoride Strengthen our teeth and prevent cavities.
And so by putting small amounts of fluoride into public water system, we saw a dramatic decline, 25 % decline in childhood cavities.
That goes on to stronger teeth for adults.
And that's a wonderful thing.
I grew up in New Jersey.
Our water system wasn't...
Fluoridated.
A good visit to the dentist for me was two or three cavities.
People who were exposed, children who were exposed to low levels of fluoride were not experiencing that.
And one of the beautiful things about it is it didn't depend on your income.
Everyone had the benefit of that small level of fluoride in their water supply, regardless of how much money their family had.
But how was that level determined?
Isn't that determined at the local level?
And could some localities be putting too much fluoride in the water?
Well, it is determined at the local level.
And it's tested at the local level.
And the reason I think it's important for parents to have conversations with their doctors is that now there are other sources of fluoride.
There's fluoride in toothpaste.
There are some vitamins that children receive that have fluoride in them.
And so having a conversation so that you understand what is in your water supply.
Are you drinking bottled water that may not have fluoride?
Are you drinking the water from your system?
Those are important.
You may want to talk to your child's health care provider about fluoride supplementation.
One of the challenges there, though, is that for individuals who have lower income, that's another cost, a cost that they may have to bear, that they wouldn't have to bear if there was fluoride in their water system.
But this is one where you really want to be informed.
You want to know what is in your water supply and whether your child needs to have additional fluoride supplementation or not.
Let's go to the phones now and talk to Debra in Westchester, Ohio.
Good morning, Debra.
Good morning and thank you for taking my call.
I have the privilege of working with my parents who had a daycare and so I ran the CACFP for them program for the food program for 12 years regarding nutrition for our children.
And I was just appalled at the beginning of the Obama administration when the United States Department of Agriculture allowed All foods on SNAP.
Sugary soft drinks, etc.
And 50 % of our children in the Head Start program in New York are at an unhealthy weight.
And I don't understand why because the government, it's hypocritical, the government has on my plate, which used to be the food pyramid,
the daily recommended Recommendations are like 20 % protein, 20 % fruit, 30 % grains, 30 % vegetables, and one small serving of dairy a day.
We don't have the inside to break it down.
You're a doctor, you're a scientist.
Why on earth would we make that?
Why can't we make a change back to what we had before 2008 /9?
That's my question.
Dr. Besser.
Deborah, is your question about the food plate versus the food pyramid?
Well, she's gone now, but you can go ahead and answer that.
Yeah, so, you know, one of the things that I think would be wonderful is if the new administration decides to take on childhood nutrition.
And one of the ways that could be done that I think could get bipartisan support would be to look again at the school lunch program.
During COVID, there were a number of government actions that I thought were terrific.
One of them was providing universal school lunch to every child in America.
There are 30 % of children in America who get over half their calories from the school lunch.
And what would it mean if we as a nation said, we want to make the school lunch in America the healthiest lunch possible?
It would take an investment.
There are a lot of schools in America that either never had kitchens or have had to pull them out because they haven't had the resources to maintain them.
But if every school had a kitchen...
And could provide a healthy, nutritious lunch for every child in America, that would go far to address some of the issues that Debra's lifting up.
If in the discussions around what goes into that school lunch, what makes up that healthy plate, we keep big agribusiness out of there.
And we eliminate all the processed food and really have real food there.
Children would not only get a healthy lunch, but they would learn to appreciate and enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy food.
And that would go a long way in terms of diet as people got older.
But I think one of the biggest things that could be done to address nutrition in America is to raise the minimum wage and make sure everyone had a living wage and could buy healthy food.
Healthy, nutritious food costs more.
And there are so many people in America who lack the resources to provide the food that they know they want to give to their children.
And they are forced into positions of giving processed food that they know is not as healthy.
But if we raise the income of people in America, hardworking people in America, that would go far.
And Dr. Bessarofsky Jr. has also vowed to scrutinize the additives in the food in the United States.
He blames the food and the drug industries as well as the I'm sorry, could you ask that again?
Well, food additives are regulated.
They are scrutinized.
It's very important that they are to make sure that nothing we allow in our food system is dangerous.
Any additional efforts in that area, I think, are a good thing.
But I think it is a bad thing to put forward a message that just about anything can go into our food supply.
They are heavily regulated in terms of what's allowed into food.
And that should continue to be the case.
Mark, in St. Paul, Minnesota, good morning.
Good morning.
It is my recollection that Dr. Fauci said that he was the science.
I have two questions about the science then.
Number one, Dr. Besser was a six -foot distancing thing.
Was that based upon the science?
And number two, was wearing cloth masks based upon the science as well?
Thank you.
I'm sorry, what was the first part of that?
The first what?
Six -foot distancing.
Oh, six, you're right, right.
So, you know, these are good questions.
I ran emergency preparedness and response at the CDC for four years, and I started that...
When Katrina hit in New Orleans, and then I left CDC shortly after the swine flu pandemic.
And I can tell you this, early in an outbreak, you make recommendations based on the best available information.
And it's critically important that you let people know what you know, what you don't know, and what you're trying to do to get additional information.
And you let people know that as you learn more, Recommendations are going to change.
And that's important because otherwise whenever a recommendation changes, it can undermine that trust.
It can be a sense of, well, there's flip -flopping going on here.
During COVID, there was a lot of information at the beginning in terms of what people were asked to do and told to do that changed over time.
I have a close relative who was in the hospital with COVID early in the pandemic.
By a year later, just about everything that was done for my relative early on turned out to be not the way to go, and it changed.
And I understood that that was based on learning.
And over the course of time with learning, we learned what was most effective and what was not.
So this applies to things like distancing.
How far should distancing be in a classroom or between people?
It has to do as well with masks and which masks are most effective and whether other masks can provide any benefit whatsoever.
So these are areas where science early on in particular...
What is your opinion of the COVID vaccine for children?
Yeah, you know, I think that the COVID vaccine is critically important.
The COVID vaccination saved millions of lives during the pandemic around the world.
You know, over time, it's important to look and see, you know, for vaccines like COVID, who is at the greatest risk and ensure to provide vaccination for them.
I recommend COVID vaccine during the pandemic.
I just got my booster this fall for COVID and got my flu shot.
And I urge people to look at the recommendations.
Vaccines are recommended for children.
And talk to your child's health care provider about that.
We vaccinate children for a number of reasons.
We vaccinate them to protect them from an infection.
We also vaccinate
Good morning, Dr. Besser.
I recently, I think it was on the Washington Journal within a week, I believe, a gentleman on talking about a product and the pesticide that other countries have banned.
Talking about autism, and I think it started with a G, and it was such a long name, I didn't have time to write it down.
Could we talk about that being the cause of autism instead of the vaccines?
Thank you, sir.
Yeah, thanks, Ingrid.
I think your question raises an important point and it's, you know, if we're diverting our government dollars, the National Institutes of Health, to continue to look at questions that have already been answered.
uh and and the connection between vaccine and autism has been answered it means that there's not enough dollars around to look at other other things uh and your question about could there be a pesticide related that's a valid question i don't know if that particular pesticide has been studied maybe it has but it's so important that people are able to lift up questions and that we can turn to to scientists to try and provide answers to that and once an answer has been provided there
Here's John in Schenectady, New York.
Good morning, John.
They focus on vaccines.
That's not the only thing that R .K. Jr. is against.
Like you said, with the pesticides and the chemicals in our food.
My son is learning disabled.
He does have high -functioning autism.
And I do believe it's from the extra vaccines that he got.
Because, like Trump said, some of the vaccines, like the polio vaccine and the mandrake, how can you, being a pediatrician, not work for a private sector, Before, like you just said, it's proven, so -called proven,
that the chemicals that are added in our food that are banned in other countries are not harmful for us.
They are harmful for us.
And what RPA Junior wants to do is get rid of all this stuff and make us a healthier country.
And it has to start with the food that is given to us.
So, Dr. Besser, the questions about the food, any chemicals in the food, and that RFK Jr. wants to try to remove those and possible links with learning disabilities in kids.
Yeah.
You know, I think that asking questions about connections between what we eat...
What we're exposed to in the environment, in all kinds of different ways, in our health.
Those are really important questions.
And I know that parents whose children have different developmental disabilities, learning disabilities, want to know, is there a reason for this?
Is there something that could have been done differently so that this isn't the case?
Is there some kind of explanation?
So those are important questions.
I think though that when a question You know,
Mr. Kennedy He put forward some good ideas for us to focus on, mixed in with misinformation.
He led one of the largest anti -vaccine organizations in the nation.
And that is the piece that really troubles me.
I'm not at all troubled by lifting up the desire to look at chronic diseases in children and say, what can we do more?
As a pediatrician, that would be a wonderful thing.
We do a lot of lip service in this country about how much we care about children.
But when you look at Congress and the amount of resources that they put in to address issues around the health of our children, it is inexcusable.
It's such a small fraction of resources.
Children don't vote, and it shows in terms of how Congress acts.
Anthony, Miller Place, New York.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Dr. Besser, please define safe and effective, and can you explain why the Congress and the Senate, as well all their staffers, exempted themselves from any vaccines?
Why are they delivered under emergency authorization to this day, and why are there no black box warnings?
And sir, were you ever in the military?
Have you been enlisted in the army by any chance?
Dr. Besser?
Thank you.
I was a lieutenant commander in the U .S. Public Health Service and proudly served our nation in that regard.
I was not in the army.
But when you look at safe and effective for each vaccine, there are clear standards that the Food and Drug Administration puts forward in terms of what does effectiveness mean?
How much of a protection should you see?
No vaccine protects 100%.
And that's a challenge.
Some of our best vaccines provide 95 % protection.
Uh, that that basically means 95 of people who get that vaccine will will uh, avoid getting that disease.
But five percent of people who get that vaccine for some reason uh, they won't get the immune response, the protection, the protective factors, and they still are at risk for that disease.
In terms of of safety, there's a whole number of of issues that are looked at when vaccines are being studied.
They look at local reaction, is there, is there swelling or soreness in the arm?