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Yesterday, the House approved a short -term funding bill averting a government shutdown.
The vote came just hours before the deadline following several days of uncertainty.
For this first hour, we want to hear your thoughts on Congress approving that stopgap funding bill and averting that shutdown.
Here are the lines.
Democrats, 202 -748 -8000.
And Independents, 202 -748 -8002.
You can text your comments to 202 -748 -8003.
Be sure to include your name and city.
You can also post a question or comment on Facebook at facebook .com slash c -span or on X at c -span WJ.
Good morning and thank you for being with us.
We will get to your questions and calls in just a few minutes, but first we want to talk with Punchbowl News congressional reporter Mika Solner about the budget deal and what happened last night.
Good morning, Mika.
Good morning.
The government shutdown was averted last night with just a few hours to spare for people just waking up this morning.
What happened?
Yeah, so this has been a really crazy week on Capitol Hill.
There was a lot of back and forth.
There was a lot of concern about a potential government shutdown, just like we see every year.
But luckily, Congress was able to find a deal last minute that pleased a lot of members that were holding out against the continuing resolution to fund the government and include some of the priorities such as disaster aid, the Farm Bill,
and Farmers Assistance that was important to many members that were concerned about getting these through the next year.
Mika, you mentioned a few of the provisions that did make it in.
What were some of the things that got cut in order to be able to be approved?
Definitely a lot of concern about whether or not they were going to do a separate vote on raising or extending or bolstering the debt limit.
That was an ask for President Donald Trump, as well as Elon Musk, who was calling for it on X.
And as we've seen that he has had a lot of influence so far in this Congress and probably will continue to as Trump takes office shortly next month.
But, you know, some of these provisions and and it was.
The debt limit was not included, as you just mentioned, but it was discussed.
What are we expecting to see next in terms of the debt limit?
Yeah, I think we're going to see a showdown here between some of these conservative Republicans that, you know, never vote to vote for the debt limit.
But I think that it's going to be also interesting to see the relationship between Trump and these lawmakers, too.
This was a major ask by the president, who obviously expressed what he wanted via Truth Social and on X.
And House Democrats and Hakeem Jeffries actually said that the new plan that was eventually passed by the House was actually a win for Democrats.
We're happy not to be dealing with that.
So that is not going to be pleasing, I think, for the incoming president.
But we're going to see what happens here.
And we can expect a very, very busy next few months.
And as with most spending bills, Democrats did vote in favor of it.
It made the difference, especially with 34 Republicans voting no.
Explain why that number of Republicans is significant considering the leadership elections or for the House Speaker election is coming up in just a few weeks.
Yeah, definitely.
I mean, a big swath of conservative Republicans and members of the House Freedom Caucus.
We're good.
We're good to go.
I think they were very involved.
And I think that Elon Musk's involvement in particular, I think, surprised a lot of Democrats and Republicans and also frustrated a lot of members.
I know Republicans even privately were saying that Elon Musk, he's not an elected official.
He doesn't know how Congress works.
He doesn't know how governing works.
And he should not be weighing in.
There was even some frustration, I would say, with Trump saying that his asks are too last minute.
He needs to give Congress more of a heads up.
So it's going to be a very, very interesting four years in terms of how Trump
What's the mood in the conference?
Yeah, it's going to be a very interesting fight.
I think Speaker Johnson's going to be in a difficult position, but he has been this whole time.
You know, I think that he's going to have a wide swath of support, but there are definitely members who say they're uncommitted.
I know Congressman Thomas Massey is a no, and I asked him after this plan if he remains a no, and he said, Mika Solner is a... Congressional reporter with Punchbowl News.
You can find her work online at punchbowl .news.
Mika, thank you so much for being with us this morning.
Thank you.
We are starting the program today, hearing your reaction to the House and Senate, Congress, approving a short -term funding deal through March 14th.
You can give us a call.
The lines again, Republicans, 202 -748 -8001.
Democrats, 202 -748 -8000.
And Independents, 202 -748 -8002.
And again, you can also send us a text message or find us on X or Facebook.
We will start with Al in Plymouth, Massachusetts, line for Independence.
Good morning, Al.
Good morning, Al.
Poor grandchildren, $32, $33 trillion in debt.
They probably will not have a standard of living.
The Fed cannot keep control of inflation.
Notice that.
We can't get interest rates down.
Nobody wants to point.
That it was the trillions of dollars that this administration spent, the left -wing media complex, wants to ignore that inflation.
We lost the middle class because of inflation.
And if folks are not invested in equities, which most people don't, you're not going to build wealth.
You're going to lose.
And I just, you know, where is the great society?
We were promised in the 1960s.
Where is the era of big government is over, Bill Clinton declared.
I want to remind people that the former Department of Education Secretary Bill Bennett under Ronald Reagan said when I got to the helm of the Department of Education, I realized that the cables were cut.
The bureaucracy just did what the bureaucracy always does.
So, we will see.
I would rather have these folks that are successful in business make these decisions rather than the donors that Nancy Pelosi had block Biden out.
So let's see how this works.
It's far different than what we've seen for 60 years.
That was Al in Massachusetts.
Patrick in Pittsburgh, line for Democrats.
Good morning, Patrick.
You know, it's incredibly sad when you watch what the media cartels are doing with regards to assaulting Elon Musk and Vivek, particularly when it comes to their involvement,
their absolutely essential involvement in the narrative of pushing our country forward and going into a situation in which we can slash...
Our budget.
They have been brought in essentially as experts in business and in funding, and they have the audacity of calling Elon, Elon the king, President Elon.
They have the guile to think that the American people don't have choices.
Well, we do have choices.
That's why it's essential that the Republican Party field Vivek as Speaker of the House.
There are literally no restrictions whatsoever.
I would love to see Elon as Speaker of the House, but I think that's a bit much, particularly with the size of his business empire.
And I think we need to demand, demand audits of the military industrial complex, which is so out of control.
They have not passed an audit in the last eight business cycles, eight national We're good to go.
Jim, in Winter Park, Florida, line for Republicans.
Good morning, Jim.
They all know they got to get up and they got to make their speeches so that their people in their cities believe that they are the ones that killed the Republicans or the Democrats and all the news media and it bothers me that you guys are as bad as the news media in this thing.
They pretty much have ignored the story that was in the WALL Street Journal yesterday about Biden's the ability in his complete presidency, and every person that was in his administration knew it and lied about it, and they got away with it.
And they're getting away with it because none of you in the media are interested in saying anything about Biden.
He did not say one word about the budget yesterday.
He didn't come on the air, he didn't talk about it.
You know everybody's got to get it done.
You know why.
Because he probably couldn't put 10 words together.
The man has not been the president in his administration.
And Kamala Harris spent the whole time campaigning, saying that she wouldn't change anything that he did.
And she lied about it.
And every one of the Democrats, including Schumer and all the other guys, know exactly that Biden was not running this country for the past four years.
It was underlings.
Or was Barack Obama standing behind him with his hand up his back of his shirt, making his mouth move?
And it's a shame that nobody in the media wants to put that out there for anybody to see.
You should be ashamed of yourself that you opened this show about this stupid budget thing when Biden should be the topic that's being talked about today.
That was Jim, and we will go to Mary in Louisiana Line for Democrats.
Good morning, Mary.
Yes, thank you for taking my call.
I just want to reflect on what the caller said just before me about Biden this, Biden that, Biden this.
Biden is still working.
I don't know why they keep saying that the man is dysfunctioning and everything, but he's still working.
I mean, they create a problem and they want Biden to come out and...
Mayor, are you still there?
Yes, I'm still here.
They want Biden to come out and save them when they do things wrong.
Uh -oh.
Trump created the mess with the budget and now they want to blame Biden for it.
Thank you for taking my call.
That was Mary in Louisiana.
It was Speaker Johnson speaking to reporters yesterday after the vote, the fourth proposal, voting on the fourth proposal he brought forward during the short -term budget debate.
Here is what he told reporters.
I'm really grateful that tonight, in bipartisan fashion with overwhelming majority of votes, we passed the American Relief Act of 2025.
This is a very important piece of legislation.
It funds the government, of course, until March of 2025.
That was a big priority for us.
This is America first legislation because it allows us to be set up to deliver for the American people.
In January, we will make a sea change in Washington.
President Trump will return to D .C. and to the White House and we will have Republican control of the Senate and the House.
Things are going to be very different around here.
This was a necessary step to bridge the gap, to put us into that moment.
Where we can put our fingerprints on the final decisions on spending for 2025.
We also, in this bill, as you know, took care of Americans who desperately needed and deserved the assistance.
We had a record hurricane season.
Hurricanes Helene and Milton, in particular, did dramatic damage across at least six states.
The Carolinas of Virginia, from Florida, Tennessee.
All the way through.
And they have been waiting for the federal government to assist.
We did that tonight in this bill.
We also took care of our farmers, many of whom were on the brink of collapse because of Bidenomics, frankly.
Because the inflationary cost of their inputs and the inability they have right now to get loans from the banks and the lenders to put their crops in the ground.
To put the seeds in the ground in the spring.
So we had to take care of that, and we did.
We are excited about this outcome tonight.
We're grateful that everyone stood together to do the right thing.
And having gotten this done now as the last order of business for the year, we are set up for a big and important new start in January.
We can't wait to get to that point.
We encourage swift passage in the Senate now.
They need to do their job as the House just did.
We will all go home.
I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas.
Happy Hanukkah, happy holidays, and a happy new year, because I hope not to see you until we get back after that.
I was in constant contact with President Trump throughout this process, spoke with him most recently about 45 minutes ago.
He knew exactly what we were doing and why, and this is a good outcome for the country.
I think he certainly is happy about this outcome as well.
Elon Musk and I talked within about an hour ago, and we talked about the extraordinary challenges of this job.
And I said, hey, you want to be Speaker of the House?
I don't know.
He said this may be the hardest job in the world.
I think it is.
But we're going to get through this.
We are going to unify this country and we are going to bring the America First agenda to the people beginning in January.
We cannot wait to get started.
I hope you all have a great holiday.
Speaker Mike Johnson, after the vote, he mentioned Elon Musk, and Elon Musk also talked about Speaker Johnson on X after the vote, saying the speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances.
It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces.
Ball should now be in the Dem court.
Back to your calls, Joy in Chicago, Line for Independence.
Good morning, Joy.
Good morning, and Merry Christmas.
So this whole thing, it just seems like one of those Saturday morning cartoon villain episodes.
I mean, it's so tribal.
This Democrat, this Republican, you did this.
And while we're bickering, we have an oligarchy forming.
I don't understand why anybody can't see what is in front of them.
Instead, they want to make all these accolades about it's this, Elon Musk is that, and that.
This man, these billionaires, they can care less about the working man.
And I don't understand why people are trying to make it seem like it's something else when it is exactly what it is.
These are wealthy, wealthy people who can care less about the working man.
And we allowed it to happen because we're tribal.
While we're down here bickering, we're all working class people down here.
We're suffering.
The prices are not going to go down.
This is all high corporations.
So it's the United States of corporate America.
That's what I call it now.
And it's sad.
And I don't know about what Republicans feel.
I don't know what the Democrats feel.
But I know what me as an American veteran feels.
And that is that the millionaires and billionaires are taking over this country.
Merry Christmas, everybody.
That was Joy in Chicago.
Herbert in Michigan, line for Republicans.
Good morning, Herbert.
Good morning.
Yeah, I'm a lifelong Republican, but I do not have my head in the sand.
People need to realize this inflation was not caused by spending.
Donald Trump spent $5 trillion in 2020.
No one's blaming him.
Inflation was caused by his tariffs.
Even Donald Trump knows that.
So when it comes to tariffs, he's not doing that again.
Republicans are just so ignorant now.
I cannot vote for a Republican again.
It's so ignorant.
They went way off the rails.
Claiming all this on Biden is just ignorance.
Bottom line.
Herbert, talk to me about the bill that was passed last night.
What are your feelings about the...
Well, I mean, our debt needs to be paid.
But what they need to do is stop giving these billionaires.
I don't understand how anyone in this country, all these Trump supporters now, and all these Republicans, you really think these billionaires are going to do anything to help you?
A guy that cares a lot about them and goes to work every day, you think they're going to do anything to help you?
No.
We gotta get rid of these huge tax breaks that goes all the way back to Ronald Reagan, who started it.
That has never worked.
I mean, this is the bottom line.
You gotta pay your bills, but when you're not taking in enough money to pay your bills, what do you do?
You just keep adding on your credit card.
And that's what we're doing.
That was Herbert in Michigan, and Herbert mentioned Republicans and their role in the bill.
This headline from the New York Times, Republicans who rejected a bill Trump had sought, and it talks about the 38 House Republicans who refused to vote for the spending deal that was pushed by President -elect Donald Trump.
It says they're largely...
Thank you.
We're good to go.
Thank you.
They are also well -known brands in their solidly Republican districts that allow them more freedom when it comes to stepping out of line from what the party leader demands.
And then there is Representative Chip Roy of Texas, who has been at odds with Mr. Trump since he declined to vote to overturn the 2020 election results.
And then endorsed Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida for president.
Mr. Roy has been publicly at war with the president -elect this week over Mr. Trump's demand to raise the debt limit.
And it was Chip Roy tweeting after the funding bill vote in the House yesterday, saying on this third funding, he has funding in quote marks CR.
Back to your calls.
Steve in Florida, line for Democrats.
Good morning Steve.
I agree wholeheartedly with the caller from Michigan.
The deficit has been rising and rising since the 80s because of this, I want to call it an economic, I guess it was called an economic theocracy where we give these corporations these tax cuts and tax loopholes and we take away all of the regulations that Keep them in balance.
And I think this is what caused the deficit being what it is.
Not spending for social programs.
The money goes out.
One dollar is the same if the dollar goes to a corporation or if the dollar goes to a working person.
It's the same dollar.
And we pay taxes on it and the government raises revenue.
There's so much more money now going to these corporations through these tax cuts, and there's no tax being paid on it, so there's no revenue being raised to match any minimum spending.
We need to take care of our old and disabled people.
This approach to commerce, this supply -side economics, it's been ruining our country.
You can see the graphs of the deficit going way up and our jobs that have gone overseas for the last 35 or 40 years.
It's all due to this approach to the government, the slashing of government funding for education.
I wish that we could finally realize that every time somebody does this, we're going to be digging our way out of a recession.
Thank you.
That was Steve John in Florida, Line for Independence.
Good morning, John.
Good morning.
Merry Christmas, everybody.
Happy holidays.
As far as the bill to avert the shutdown, I'm okay with it.
I mean, you know, what it started with was a giant monstrosity of pork -filled garbage.
And through the power of social media, the pressure that was put on these politicians was enough to scrap that giant piece of garbage.
And at least, you know, it's pared down and we do get some relief to the farmers.
Although, you know, the way Washington works, $110 billion to the farmers, you know, how much money is really going to get there that they need immediately?
Probably going to take years.
And then, you know, as far as...
I'm just more impressed with the power of social media to put pressure on these politicians to save their skins.
It was amazing what was able to be done.
Now, you know, as far as in the future, I hope all these politicians realize, you know, we do want a primary.
If you're not going to follow the will of the people and what the people want, then we don't want you.
I mean, they shouldn't feel safe.
I was watching C -SPAN yesterday morning and watching all the House of Representatives folks losing their mind over Elon Musk saying, we can't have billionaires running.
Well, I don't know if they know who George Soros is, but he's been helping those guys out for, God knows, 25, 30 years.
All the DAs put into these blue cities.
That's George Soros.
You guys, you know, you better wake up.
There's billionaires on both sides of this thing, and we are just the little people, so we just got a seat.
But now, at least we got a seat at the table with social media, where we have somebody in our corner who lets us speak, so we can put undue pressure on these people who just want to sell us down the river.
Will we ever get out of $35 trillion worth of debt?
I highly doubt it.
Guys, have a great holiday.
Love you all.
Bye -bye.
That was John in Florida.
And this article from Politico about last night's passage of the short -term spending deal, it talks about the vote count and what that looked like.
It passed 366 to 34 with the support of 196 Democrats and 170 Republicans.
It was Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.
He spoke to reporters after the House vote yesterday.
Here are some of his remarks.
House Democrats have successfully funded the government at levels requested by President Biden in order to meet the needs of the American people in terms of their health,
safety and economic well -being.
House Democrats have successfully fought for families, farmers, first responders and the future of working class Americans.
House Democrats have successfully fought for $100 billion in disaster assistance in order to make sure that those everyday Americans whose lives have been turned upside down in terms of hurricanes,
storms, tornadoes, wildfires, floods, and other extreme weather events can get the assistance that they need.
We're good to go.
Which wanted a $4 trillion blank check by suspending the debt ceiling in order to enable them to cut Social Security, cut Medicare,
We're good to go.
and cut nutritional assistance while providing massive tax breaks for the wealthy, the well -off, and the well -connected.
This is a victory for the American people.
We have successfully advanced the needs of everyday Americans, but there are still things to be worked on, and we look forward to that fight in the new year.
Happy holidays.
Back to your calls.
Joe in L .A .J., Georgia.
Line for Republicans.
Good morning, Joe.
Good morning.
Love C -Span.
Y 'all do an incredible job.
We are really fired up down here in L .A .J.
We've invited Elon Musk.
To come down and tell the people in L .A .J. and North Georgia about his great plans to cut spending, and we're so fired up.
We thank Trump with Trump president and Musk cutting waste.
We'll have the greatest stock market in history, the greatest economy.
In fact, we feel like we're in investor heaven, and the country is going to prosper like never before.
So we're fired up and energized down here at Boo's Famous Barbecue in Ellijay and all we can say is go Trump and thank God for Elon Musk and we want him to come to Ellijay.
Joe, who invited him to Ellijay and have you heard back?
I did.
Yes, I did.
I've been an activist in the Republican.
I've been the number one caller at talk shows for about 30 years and I invited him and Congressman Rich McCormick, who's another taxpayer champion, he's helping us get him to Ellijay.
That was Joe in L .A .J.,
Georgia.
Timothy in Virginia, line for Democrats.
Good morning, Timothy.
Good morning.
I call more to protect the Democratic Party and Joe Biden.
People seem to forget what Joe Biden inherited from Trump.
He inherited a $7 trillion debt.
Biden only had $2 trillion.
Biden received a presidency where we was entering COVID.
He did a good job on COVID.
He also did a good job on that $7 trillion debt.
So a lot of times, it's easy to forget what Trump bought and what he's going to bring again.
Biden actually, as a Democrat, passed the bill last night.
But they seem to be destroying him.
Because they say he can't talk and he can't do nothing and all that mess.
The reason I'm calling is, all those votes Trump got, a lot of those was Republicans and Democrats.
No matter what they say they are, to get that number, you need both sides.
When the Republicans and Democrats vote for him, everybody's happy that he won.
But to listen to the list of things that I don't have much to say,
but I just couldn't sit here and listen to all this bad talk about Biden.
You only got four years.
If he did three and a half years of perfect, you don't judge a man.
on the last six months.
I hope we come together because I'm down here in the middle class and everything Trump talking about doing affects me and other people in this class.
Nothing he said was designed to help us.
It was all designed to bring us down.
And I think as a person, as people, we need to see what helps us.
We need to vote on what helps us.
That's all I got.
That was Timothy in Virginia.
Ray, Plattsburgh, New York, Line for Independence.
Good morning, Ray.
Hello.
Yes, about the last caller too that was a Democrat.
Apparently nobody understands economics.
It takes money to make money.
If you keep taking these businesses' money, To pay higher taxes, then they can't take that money and create jobs that would generate revenue of taxes across the board from everybody and putting them to work.
Yes, I do agree to stop corporate welfare, but the corporate welfare that I'm talking about is we should not be still sending...
money to China for a developing country when they are the biggest threat to the United States freedom and people need to go back to school and learn economics before they open their mouth and talk about Democrats that help Americans.
They don't help American disabled people.
I've lived in New York for over 20 -some years, and I've been disabled because of a spinal injury, and New York only helps with $87 a month for over 20 years,
but these illegal immigrants come in New York State and get $750 a week, and cash, massive cash.
Why?
Disabled people are suffering because of the Democratic Party.
And the thing of it was, I was a long -life Democrat until Obama went into office and created this mess that Trump inherited.
And Biden, I don't see how anybody can have that man sign any bills that was passed last night.
The man should not have even been able to sign the pardon.
He's not even in his right mind to be charged with the crimes of laundering taxes.
Okay, that's a lot, Ray.
We'll leave it there.
And the bill is on its way to President Biden after the Senate passed the bill last night as well.
The Fox News notes that the Senate advanced the third version of the short -term spending bill, 85 to 11.
It's heading to Biden's desk.
He has signaled that he will sign it.
And yesterday during the White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean -Pierre was asked about President Biden's absence during the funding talks.
Why hasn't President Biden said anything in the public about this?
Don't the American people deserve to know why millions of federal workers could enter this holiday period without a paycheck?
Well, Americans need to know that Republicans are getting in the way here, and they are the ones who have created this mess.
That's the reality.
That's the fact.
And the president...
Let me just take a step back.
This is not the first time we've been here.
And the President has had this approach before.
He understands how Congress works.
He's been around for some time.
He understands what strategy works here to get this done.
So this is not the first time that we're...
I'm being asked this question about the president and his outreach.
I just mentioned he made two calls.
He was in touch with the Democratic leaders in both the House and the Senate, Schumer and Jeffries.
And his team is continuing to have that conversation.
But this is the mess that was created by Speaker Johnson.
He needs to fix this.
That's what the American people need to be very clear about.
Very clear.
There was a bipartisan agreement.
And he's not holding up his side of the bargain here.
We hear that message from you, but why aren't we hearing that directly from the President?
Why haven't we seen or heard from President Biden himself?
This is a strategy that we have done many times before, not the first time.
And this is for Republicans in Congress, in the House specifically, to fix.
They created this mess.
There was a bipartisan agreement.
There was.
There was a bipartisan agreement.
There was a bipartisan agreement.
There was a bipartisan agreement.
And so what we want to do and what the president wants to make sure we do is he stands ready to help get a bipartisan deal through.
That's what he wants to see.
And, you know, this is something that Republicans should own here.
What they tried to jam at the 11th hour...
That was White House Press Secretary Karine Jean -Pierre during yesterday's press briefing talking about We're good to go.
But the House Republicans excluded RFK provisions allowing D .C. to redevelop the site from the bill.
It also says that while its stadium hopes dimmed, D .C. got at least one win.
The bill included a dramatic boost in funds for D .C. police to support federal events and the presidential inauguration, which city officials had pushed for.
That inauguration just about 35, 36 days away.
We'll go back to your calls.
Jim in Parsons, West Virginia, line for Democrats.
Good morning, Jim.
Good morning.
Yeah, there's several things I wanted to point out.
Just listen to other people call in.
I think there was a gentleman called from Florida, and I believe he was on the right track as far as seeing things clearly.
I feel like you constantly have to remind Republicans because they watch too much Fox News.
And there's always this mantra of we have to cut spending and cut spending and cut wasteful spending.
You know, people just need to remember that America, our population has grown.
We're a huge nation and we pride ourselves on having a sophisticated, advanced civilization.
People need to stop and think.
Everything the government has to pay for, a lot of that's providing jobs.
You know, our costs have increased.
Everybody wants a bigger paycheck.
You know, that's natural.
So that's a normal thing.
And as far as a deficit...
You know, it's not a good thing to have your country running in a deficit constantly.
Well, your deficit is created when you're not bringing in enough revenue, tax revenue.
Now, that's not saying, oh, let's increase taxes on everybody.
But getting rid of all these little shady, weird loopholes and exemptions, the House of Representatives dictates the IRS tax code.
People need to look at that.
You know, and even Biden pointed that out.
Billionaires that don't pay taxes?
I mean, it's a bizarre situation.
But they're allowed to, I forget what the term is called, to plow their money back into acquiring and buying more and more property, more and more things, assets.
They don't have to declare that as taxable earnings, as, you know, more the middle class people have to.
So that's kind of strange.
You know, I'm saying the deficit is more.
That was Jim in West Virginia, Tiny in Brookshire, Texas, line for Republicans.
Good morning, Tiny.
I think it was the third, man, because I'm so tired.
Biden don't need to be signing anything.
He got in when they elected him, he had dementia.
And then the King, Jeffrey, is going to say, they stopped this and they stopped.
They started it.
And they're just like, they need to stop sending money to all these other nations and giving illegal immigrants money.
No, they are the reason that we are in this mess.
It's their fault, but they want to blame Trump.
You know, no, it's not our fault, but it's your fault.
Yes, yes it is.
It's a Democrat fault.
It's been their fault from the beginning.
They need to stop drinking that Jim Jones Kool -Aid because we know how that ended for the black people.
Paul in Nampa, Idaho.
Line for Republicans.
Good morning, Paul.
Good morning.
Yes, I think one of the first things I'd like to say is We've got the border wall remnants going up for auction for the nearest bidder 5 % of their worth.
That really disturbs me that they're going to do that.
As taxpayers, we've already paid for that.
I find it repulsive that the President of the United States, albeit cognitive decline, is able to make those decisions.
I would assume he still probably has the codes and the football.
Well, we won't get into that.
He probably still has the ability to do that.
I find that disturbing.
He decided to go ahead at the last minute to spend another, what, $169 billion on student loan giveaways.
What about the people that busted or took us for 20 years trying to pay theirs off by working two and three jobs a day?
Every day, five days a week.
They get no respect.
They're disrespected by doing that.
You know, it's an endless list on and on and on.
This administration has been nothing but a free money giveaway of our taxpayer dollars.
And it's just, it's never going to stop until the 20th of January.
And who knows, it'll probably go on.
The last thing I wanted to say was when it comes time, To turning all the machines over and all the computers and everything that's involved in the administration with the Democrats.
They want to sabotage, sabotage Trump's process of getting settled in and getting this working government right away.
And I think there should be an extended penalty for people that do that.
And I just, I disagree with it.
Paul, I haven't heard that story.
Where did you see that?
Good morning.
Unlike one of your previous callers who had nothing but detrimental statements to make about you and your fellow people and positions that you hold, I appreciate what you do and your colleagues at C -SPAN do.
I was glad that I listened to a previous gentleman referring to loopholes, tax loopholes.
At the time, back when they were passing the Republican tax bill in 2017, I would listen to C -SPAN, not just for shows like yours, but for all the various hearings they had.
My impression at the time when they were going through the process was when they limited, lowered the tax thing, Down to 20 % originally.
But essentially what it amounted to was the fact that they were supposed to, at that time, get rid of all these loopholes.
That they were supposed to be paying a solid 20%.
Marco Rubio, at the time, previous to them finalizing the bill, he asked for less than a 1 % increase for the corporate tax rate.
In order that they turn around and they increase the child, you know, the credit that's child care tax credit.
They refused, but at the very last minute, they turned around and they lowered the tax level for the very rich.
Essentially what it boils down to, this morning, no one has talked about, they've talked about the aid for the farmers and everything else.
My understanding is one of the things that was cut out of the bipartisan tax bill, That had been agreed by both Republicans and Democrats was millions of dollars that were aimed for going to research for child cancer.
I have a deep concern about that because I suffered from a rare form of leukemia myself.
I feel sorry for the gentleman who is a veteran and feels the way he does.
But at the same token, one of the things that I also understand was being cut out.
Well, I can't verify this last statement.
I've heard to the effect that Elon Musk has called for $1 .5 trillion in tax benefits and paying them for $2 .5 trillion in mandatory spending,
which Which means Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and various other programs.
They've already given an indication.
The Republicans could have stood by their original bipartisan tax bill.
They are taking over the entire government in a matter of another month to two months.
They could have turned around and they could have, they had the power to rescind the bipartisan tax bill.
And at the same token, Progress with what their particular aims are.
I think it was really atrocious on what the Republicans had done.
And I'm speaking of this not as a Democrat, not as a Republican, but as someone who views things from, you know, from an independent viewpoint.
That these legislators are supposed to be in there taking care of people, and in the Christmas spirit, I think it was abominable that they did the cuts to the research for child cancer.
That was John in Clifton, New York.
And John, we appreciate your kind thoughts towards C -SPAN.
I do want to share this letter to the editor.
It was in today's Wall Street Journal newspaper.
It is in response to a...
We're good to go.
We're good to go.
I think?
Intensely competitive environment in political news precisely because we were founded as a nonprofit.
Because C -SPAN has no advertisers who demand viewership numbers, we don't have to frustrate or animate to drive audiences to our content.
We are a network described many years ago by journalist Brooke Gladstone, which, quote, dares to be boring.
We know that on many days, the number of people... Tune in to watch a Senate debate on, say, agriculture policy can be small, but our nonprofit structure makes this okay.
Through the support of the distributors that fund us, Comcast, Charter, Cox, Verizon, DirecTV, etc., we have been able to create an institution to which Americans know they can turn to for unfiltered political news when they want it.
Back to your calls.
Ralph in New York, line for Democrats.
Good morning, Ralph.
How are you?
I'm just calling about just listening to the people that, the lady from Texas and the guy from Idaho, I guess.
They're just putting them together.
They should have a kid together because most of these people, they just watch nothing but Fox Network.
And that's where they get most of their ideas with no facts.
No.
Ralph, you still there?
Yeah, I'm still here.
I'm still here.
Yeah, just talking, just realizing that they don't have the information.
They're just coming out of nowhere.
I grew up in Queens, and I walked the same step as Donald Trump.
I know exactly where he grew up, where he lived, where he was raised at.
My best friend that I went to college with lived right next door to him.
Talk to me about the funding bill, Ralph.
What did you think about the passage and what was included, not included?
That was Ralph in New York.
Debra in West Virginia, line for Independence.
Good morning, Debra.
Good morning.
I just wanted to talk about, I like C -SPAN.
They show us the truth.
They show us what is going on in the Senate and the House.
And thank God for Joe Biden in the last four years.
He has done a lot for this country throughout his Thank you.
uh cost in the last few years and everything well the truth about the social security and medicare and the va and the retirement federal retirement funds bush jr when he was in office he stripped all of those of the the trust fund money and used it for his wars
And they was counting on the people, you know, having kids and refunding the funding and everything.
Well, people stopped having as many kids and the funding didn't grow as much as they thought it was going to.
But they have given loopholes to companies and corporations and billionaires that don't pay Social Security.
What, you know, the country is so divided.
And one person says one thing, another says another.
And what I think they need to do is do a flat tax.
Everybody pays according to their income, and it stays that way.
That way there's no more borrowing.
They can pay back what we have borrowed.
This country is so far in debt.
And then I watched the other day about how When the country was taken from the gold standard and how much gold the United States had and where it was stored and now they're saying we have no gold,
it's already gone.
And, you know, you hear so much and you don't know what is the truth.
You know, we need more truth in this country.
And the lies every day coming out of Fox News and Newsmax and even CNN.
That was Debra in West Virginia.
Dorothy, our last call for this portion of the show in Maryland, line for Democrats.
Good morning, Dorothy.
Good morning.
I just want to express when the man called in and he said he knew about economics and that taxes were the reason why It would make rich people not be able to hire anybody.
That has never happened.
No businesses ever went out of business because they paid taxes.
They went out of business because they didn't have no customers.
Customers, that's where businesses make their money.
It has nothing to do with taxes.
They need to pay their taxes.
And another thing, those tariffs is what caused the farmers to go under that Trump put in.
He had to bail them out during his administration.
He had to bail them out, and they've still been bailed out because China is not going to buy from them.
They're not doing it now.
They're planning to absolutely stop buying anything from the farmers.
And you can read that.
China's planning on doing it, and a lot more farms are going to go under.
And another thing, Social Security is not contributing to the debt.
Listen to me, seniors.
Social Security does not contribute to the debt.
All politicians will tell you that.
But they want to do something to Social Security because that's the only tax that we don't get back every year.
And that's the only way they're going to be able to pay the debt that they've made is to make sure we're too old to get it, and they use it to pay that debt.
I'm telling you, that's what they're doing.
It's a trick.
We are not contributing to the debt.
So why do they keep talking about Social Security?
Social Security does not.
Ask anyone.
Anybody.
Thank you.
That was Dorothy, our last caller for this hour.
Next on Washington Journal USA Today, White House correspondent Joey Garrison will join us to discuss the latest on President -elect Trump's transition and President Biden's legacy.
And later, Society of Professional Journalists Executive Director Caroline Hendry will be with us, and she is going to discuss President -elect Trump's recent and potential actions against the news media.
We'll be right back.
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.
We're good to go.
We're good to go.
I think?
C -SPAN digs into its archives to present President -elect Donald Trump's nominees in their own words, discussing policy, politics, and their relationship with the President -elect.
On Monday, featured nominees include Florida Senator Marco Rubio and New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
On Tuesday, we'll hear from Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth.
Wednesday, we'll feature North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
On Thursday, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.
His nominee for Homeland Security Secretary.
And on Friday, President -elect Trump's nominee for Education Secretary, Linda McMahon.
Our marathon continues on Monday, December 30th with Tulsi Gabbard.
And then on Tuesday, December 31st, we'll hear from Dr. Mehmet Oz and Mr. Trump's nominee for FBI Director, Kash Patel.
Watch Trump nominees in their own words.
Our marathon begins on Monday at 8 a .m. Eastern on C -SPAN 2.
Washington Journal continues.
Joining us now to discuss President Biden's legacy and President -elect Trump's transition is Joey Garrison, White House correspondent for USA Today.
Joey, thank you so much for being with us.
Yeah, thanks for having me.
We'll start with the latest, what everyone is following this morning, and that is the short -term spending deal that was approved last night.
Remind us where President -elect Trump was.
He's not president yet, still has about a month before he takes office, but what was his role in this debate?
Well, rewinding a couple days ago, it looked like there was a deal between Democrats and Republicans led by Speaker Mike Johnson, and essentially Trump and Elon Musk,
who is really turning into a very influential voice.
In this next administration torpedoed the bill for spending that Musk was alleging had been added on and he thought would be unnecessary.
And so they had to sort of start over.
Trump wanted as one of the components there to be a two -year suspension of the debt ceiling.
That ultimately was not in the final package.
And so...
What we saw in this whole fight over the last couple days is there are still a faction of Republicans in the House that are willing to defy President -elect Trump.
And it kind of signals that even though there will be a majority, a slim majority for Republicans in the House for Trump, and obviously in the Senate, it's not always going to be an easy road to get some of the policy legislative items that Trump wants in his next agenda.
Now, what we saw pass at the end of the day, like I said, didn't have the debt ceiling suspension, but it was pared down slightly beyond what Democrats had hoped for.
However, there is $100 billion for disaster relief aid.
This, of course, comes in light of Hurricane Helene and other disasters we've had, as well as...
We're good to go.
And it was during yesterday's White House press briefing that press secretary Karine Jean -Pierre defended President Biden's absence during the funding debate while President -elect Trump was very visible.
But there was the finger pointing as to who would be to blame if the government were to shut down.
What were the president and president -elect saying?
Yeah, so the White House took the strategy here of, look, there was a deal on the table.
That was enough to pass, and then Musk and Trump, and they kept on saying not just Trump, but Musk and Trump.
I think Democrats, the White House feels like that plays to their hand, and you're going to hear a lot of that from Democrats in this next term.
But they killed the bill.
So they said, you know, I think that they thought, perception -wise, that Republicans own this issue, and so that's why you saw Biden publicly never said anything in front of cameras about this issue at all.
They essentially deferred to Congress, and specifically House Speaker Johnson, to figure this out.
That was a strategy that ended up working by not having Biden out in front of the cameras talking about this issue.
Of course, with early this morning, the Senate taking the final action.
It'll be going to President Biden's desk, we expect, later this morning.
And there's technically a slight lapse.
And one of the reasons why the funding debate Took as long as it did, and the extension didn't get passed until late last night or early this morning,
is the effort to abolish the debt limit or extend it that President -elect Trump was pushing for.
Why did he want that to happen now?
Well, he essentially wanted to kick it off, kick it to the, after the next election, until 2027.
And so it wouldn't be an issue for his early first two years before the midterm.
We're good to go.
As a result of that, I don't suspect they will because you're going to still have these Freedom Caucus members, Republican hardliners who kind of balk at any major spending at all.
They're going to continue, it looks like, to be a thorn for Speaker Johnson.
And, you know, another issue to look at moving on from this is the future of Mike Johnson as the Speaker.
We saw, of course, last year That some of the hardliner Republicans on the political right of the party had no problem wanting to push out.
McCarthy, after similar sorts of spending fights, and some are already talking about Johnson's leadership job being in jeopardy.
At the end of the day, for him, though, I think he feels like he has at least averted a shutdown, averted what could have been a real crisis, is leaving on relatively good terms, it seems, with Trump on the matter.
And I think if he thinks that he can continue To have good graces of Trump, that'll go a long way.
But that's something to watch here in the weeks ahead.
Our guest with us for the next 35 minutes or so is Joey Garrison, White House correspondent for USA Today.
If you have a question or comment for him, you can start calling in now.
Republicans, your line, 202 -748 -8001.
Democrats, 202 -748 -8000.
And Independents, 202 -748 -8002.
We are just a little over a month away from President -elect Trump taking office, again, being sworn in.
And it was earlier this week that Senator Roger Wicker, he's the incoming Armed Services Committee chair, told reporters the committee is planning on holding the confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary pick, on January 14th.
What do we know about where his nomination stands and his meeting with senators?
Well, look, I feel like he kind of weathered the early storm surrounding his nomination.
I mean, obviously with the allegations that he faced put him in an early bind there.
But Trump kind of challenged him to fight through that as he meets with senators.
And he picked up what seemed to be kind of a key endorsement from Senator Ernst from Iowa.
I don't know.
Hegseth really pushed back on sort of a media tour where you saw him on Fox and other story shows a lot.
And we'll see where it goes.
Again, we're talking about a slim margin there in the Senate, but I think that his chances for a confirmation look better today than when this process first began.
And there are a few other of President -elect Trump's nominees who might have an uphill battle when it comes to the confirmation.
Is there anybody else that could maybe, or I'm sorry, what's the status of some of those?
Yeah, I mean, I think two of the most challenging ones are going to be Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead HHS.
Of course, there were stories that popped up a week ago where a key attorney of his, advisor that's been helping him, came out to try to,
in support of withdrawing or disapproving of the polio vaccine once upon a time.
Now, Kennedy says that he doesn't share that view, and Trump took questions on that last week, this past week, and said that he, of course, supports the polio vaccine.
But those are the sorts of things that raises questions among members of the Senate.
There's also, on the Republican side, there's going to be senators who worry about his abortion views, and that could be another hurdle for him, another one who could be difficult.
I don't know.
You know, what this means when Trump and supporters talk about going after the deep state.
Is this going to just be trying to prosecute enemies, past enemies of the president -elect?
Those are questions that a lot of people have, especially Democrats have concerns about that, and there's some Republicans as well.
I still think maybe Patel is looking better.
I think Patel might have a fairly clean path compared maybe to Kennedy in terms of some of the questions.
But we'll see.
I mean, this is all going to play out here after January 20th.
We have people lined up to talk with you.
We will start with Saipir in Maryland, Line for Independence.
Good morning, Saipir.
Hi, good morning.
I was just wanting to ask, are there any conversations or, you know, what the conversations are about with regard to Elon Musk receiving billions of dollars, millions of dollars from the federal government?
How, is there any conversations about any impact to that and the role that he's playing right now?
Yeah, thanks for the call.
I mean, yeah, there's a lot of questions being raised by that from Democrats, especially, you know.
As you said, this is the richest person in the world, and he has significant contracts with the federal government.
And now we see, as an unelected individual out there, he's exerting enormous influence over how Congress acts.
I mean, you know, his series of tweets that he had, I guess it's not tweets, but posts on X a couple days ago.
So...
Yeah, you're correct to ask that question because it is something that the Democratic side is going to point out relentlessly here.
Ann in Georgia, line for Democrats.
Good morning, Ann.
Yes, I just want to say, maybe I'm crazy.
I'm 81 years old.
What is happening?
Elon Musk is the vice president, going to be the vice president?
I never seen the incoming president take over.
Just take over.
What is going on?
Elon Musk, what is his role?
Money?
Trump is not the president until January.
So how did he just take over?
Like Joe Biden is nowhere.
Well, you're right about that.
I mean, he's not the president until January 20th, but as we know, Trump has, you know, really large influence, of course, on the Republican Party.
With the Republican House majority, they were kind of looking toward...
We're good to go.
We're good to go.
Do you think this relationship between Trump and Musk is going to stay strong the way it is right now?
Or is Trump eventually going to get tired of who is currently a strong ally of his?
This relationship kind of kicked off after Musk endorsed him during the campaign and he's been a constant presence at Mar -a -Lago during this transition period.
And we'll see what it's going to look like actually inside the White House.
Are we going to see Musk there on a daily basis?
Again, it's sort of a construct that we've never seen before.
And again, we'll see how it plays out here in the weeks ahead.
And in addition to Elon Musk, one of your recent pieces, you note that at least 14 of President -elect Trump's picks for senior White House staff positions or cabinet posts,
they've worked in his first administration in various capacities.
What does that tell us about the incoming Trump administration?
Yeah, the numbers is even larger now.
I mean, so if you rewind eight years ago, Trump won and they didn't know exactly who We're going to be the top people assembling as part of their administration.
This time, they had a core group of people, those who stayed loyal while others kind of...
Trump jumped aside and left Trump for various reasons.
So you have folks like Stephen Miller, who's going to be a top domestic policy chief of staff, Dan Scavino, others who Trump, again, that loyalty question is very big for him.
And so all this does to say is they've had people in place here.
And they're really looking at day one of the next White House, the next administration, as one that they want to be historic in terms of the level of executive orders, executive actions that we're going to see taken.
I think you could expect things, obviously, on immigration, dismantling some of Biden's policies on climate and other issues like that.
And they're really going to, they say, hit the ground running.
On not just the day one, but the first 100 days.
And they'll be helped in doing that by having people who have been here before.
And so, yeah, there's a lot of newcomers.
Musk, although he's not official, well, he is leading the Department of Government Efficiencies, another newcomer like RFK Jr.
But really, there's a stable of folks who worked here, been here before during that first Trump administration.
The OMB director, for example, Russ Vogt, Good morning,
Jerry.
Good morning.
The government shutdown that they was going to have, I think it's the dumbest thing that they ever come up with, and I think they ought to do with it.
I'd like to see Donald Trump do away with the government shutdown, and the Republicans and Democrats, they act like a bunch of two -year -olds, and they ought to be there,
get the job done 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
We'll get a response from our guest.
Yeah, the cost of living pay increase, that was originally part of the original deal brokered between House Republicans and Democrats.
That did not end up being in the final bill that passed, so that was one of the add -ons that ...wasn't in the final product.
I think it's since 2011 there hasn't been a pay increase for members of Congress that was trying to address that, but the politics of such a move, while inflation is still a thorn for a lot of people, while we're in the holiday season,
wasn't great optics.
Now, I think the speaker kind of spoke to what a lot, when the average American sees what's been...
Phil, Long Island, New York, line for Independence.
Good morning, Phil.
Good morning.
You know, I just want to cover a couple things.
You know, when everybody talks about a shutdown, you know, and they use fear tactics on both sides, you know, and what it comes down to is most federal workers are eligible for unemployment insurance if they get shut down, okay?
And with that, okay, if they're furloughed, all right, most times in the past they've gotten their money back.
Most... U .S. citizens that work have faced layoffs, whether in the private sector or the public employment sector.
Dinkins had a layoff, and Bloomberg had a layoff from city workers.
And it happens all across the country.
They're not exempt from what the rest of us have to go through, okay?
And they could apply for unemployment insurance as well.
And the other big thing, you know, and it wasn't brought up this time, you know, the Long Island and New York Republicans, they got everybody BS'd on the SALT deduction.
You know, my state and local taxes are like $13 ,000.
I have no problem, even though the state wastes my money, with what I'm paying.
And I have no problem with Nassau County taxes and the town of Hempstead taxes.
The bulk of my taxes, $9 ,000 plus, goes to school taxes, which are separate, okay?
And those are included in the SALT deductions.
And what the problem is here...
on Long Island, is nobody wants to face up to these school boards and these administrators making two three, four hundred thousand dollars sometimes while collecting pensions, and shoot down these budgets.
And what the school boards do with the administrators is they threaten the kids.
Sports, art and music okay.
So all these, these uh people that want to increase the salt, no matter where my kids go, wherever I move, that federal debt goes with me and the problem is with these school districts.
Well, I mean, the caller seemed at the beginning to be kind of downplaying the effects of a government shutdown, but I think...
The majority of members of Congress look at it as their duty to make sure federal workers who agree to work with the federal government are paid when the government says they're going to be paid.
And there would have been impacts, especially going into the holidays.
And as we've seen in past government shutdowns, there's political blowback when one occurs.
It is not something that the American public want to see.
It is damaged.
Both parties in the past, both really wanted to avoid this.
From Johnson's perspective, for example, in the House, to have this under his watch happen would not have been a good look.
I don't think Trump wanted to see it, even though...
Alexander, Brooklyn, New York, Line for Democrats.
Good morning, Alexander.
Good morning.
Happy holidays.
Thanks for the interesting conversations today.
I mean, I don't know.
It's just a little time to say so much.
I mean, I'm literally right here taking out fabric because I'm a garment manufacturer, because everybody's just so concerned about the chaos that's going to happen with these tariffs if they do come in from China and, you know, Canada, everywhere else.
But the thing that I will say is Democrats at this point...
Just have to let it burn.
They just have to let these Republicans that have gone so far off to the edge.
I mean, look at the people that you're talking about for the nominations for this cabinet.
I mean, Patel, you have, I mean, like, you know, the Gabbard.
Democrats should have nailed Bush through Obama and told the American people what disaster.
Bush was, what disaster Republicans are for the economy as far as fiscal responsibility.
You know, when Hakeem Jeffries went on the House and he was talking about how Republicans create these large messes and then Democrats have to come and pick up the pieces and make things better, let them burn it down.
Let them burn it all down so people can truly see what chaos the Republican Party is.
Well, yeah, the caller mentioned the tariff promise of President -elect Trump.
And yeah, he said on day one, there will be new tariffs on goods coming from Mexico as well as Canada.
And, you know, there could be an inflationary impact on that, and that's what raises a lot of economists' concerns when you talk about these across -the -board tariffs on imports, as well as he also has talked about tariffs for China.
And, you know, one of the reasons Trump...
We're good to go.
I think?
Yeah, it's not going to be easy to bring down the price of goods.
And that, of course, came after a campaign in which he said right out of the gate he'd be able to lower costs.
But it is not an easy thing, as the president -elect acknowledged there.
And these tariffs, you've got to wonder what kind of impact they will have.
So, yeah, I hope that addresses one of the questions that the caller had there.
President -elect Trump has talked about several of the policy areas he will be focusing on once he takes office, but President Biden is also wrapping up his time in office.
What is he doing to cement his legacy in these final days?
Yeah, so a couple things.
So Biden had a speech, it was about 10 days or so, at the Brookings Institution here in D .C., where...
He really kind of laid out what he wants his economic legacy to be.
And of course, when it comes to the economy, it's one of the issues that really kind of hurt his presidency in terms of his perception.
He was really unable to convince Americans that he was going on the right direction to turn around the economy.
But he has...
What do you think about Trump?
You know, on that front, he has told his administration to spend as many money that they have from these packages, whether that's infrastructure, the chips bill to produce microchips at factories,
to get that money out the door before the next administration comes in.
They've also been racing here at the Senate to confirm Biden -appointed judges.
We're good to go.
We're good to go.
We're good to go.
I think so.
Gabriel in Durham, North Carolina, line for Republicans.
Good morning.
Yeah, thanks so much.
I just want to say that I believe wholeheartedly in limited government, but I also want to say that it's really important that government works well.
And so I am a little concerned as to some of the things that have come out in terms of the rhetoric from Elon Musk and some of the other individuals.
I think...
Yeah, Doge, there you go.
But the point being is that, you know, when the organizations that we rely on for Social Security and Medicare, Medicaid, if they're not run properly, they really can have downstream effects.
And right now I understand there are definitely some, you know, waste and things that can always be trimmed off, but what's the approach?
to that the administration is taking I should say to actually look at the civil service that's there and to make it where some of those people that have been there and very much sheltered and can't be fired unless just cause is presented what what's their approach
Yeah, so you referenced DOGE.
That, of course, stands for what's called the Department of Energy, or I'm sorry, the Department of Government Efficiency.
It's an informal...
We're good to go.
We're good to go.
I think?
We're good to go.
I think?
Really, Republicans keep citing it when it comes to anything that's going on in Congress, that they want to defer to, well, we have this Doge committee going on, this effort,
and so really it's going to be a constant thing cited by the administration, it looks like, by Republicans, and we'll see what kind of end product comes out of it.
David in New York, Line for Independence.
Good morning, David.
Good morning.
Good morning, Mr. Garrison.
It's actually very good to speak to you this morning as a White House correspondent.
Thanks for calling.
You're welcome.
And thanks for being there.
But I'm just very curious to find out what you think of that Washington Journal article that came out stating that within months of the Biden administration,
Yeah.
Right.
Well, I don't know about stolen election there.
But, yeah, I think you're referencing a Wall Street Journal story that came out a couple days ago.
And, yeah, I mean...
If you watch Biden when he was first elected to how he's signing off, and I saw him yesterday at the White House, there's definitely been a physical decline there.
The White House throughout the four years made efforts to limit the amount of time, for example, Biden...
We're good to go.
In some ways, a lot of what you see in that story shouldn't be a huge surprise because, again, this ultimately led, of course, to Biden not seeking re -election after he initially gave it a try.
We saw what was a disastrous debate performance where he really didn't seem to be able to be in it mentally or in terms of energy.
You know, there was...
He's the first 82 -year -old president we've ever had.
And, of course, Trump will be eventually the oldest president we've had.
And so, again, there were definitely efforts made by White House aides to try to, you know, again, limit the exposure that Biden had to the public in terms of where...
Good morning.
I'm talking about a couple of things.
First, If this vote had been delayed until the 3rd of January, everything would have been very much red and more Republican.
The other thing is, according to Trump, he's going to stop money going to illegals.
Like, he won't be able, under FEMA, to take money away and give it to illegals, and so American citizens don't sleep in tents today.
That sort of thing.
So, I believe a lot of things are about to happen.
If you're not in a detention camp and you don't get any food or shelter like you do in New York, you'll simply get nothing.
And for those who won't go back, I heard there are stories about the Queen Charlotte Islands off of California and the Inland Strait between Washington State and Alaska on the Canadian borders where they'll just dump people until they find a place to put them out.
That's it.
Goodbye.
Yeah, the caller was referencing the mass deportation plan of the incoming president.
Tom Homan, who's going to be the border czar of sorts for Trump, has been going to cities.
He actually met with New York Mayor Eric Adams regarding some of the deportation plans there.
And that's turning into maybe an unlikely allyship between Adams, who has voiced many frustrations with the influx of migrants in New York, and the Trump administration.
And yeah, I mean, it's a big promise of Trump to be able to execute these mass deportations.
It's unclear.
Roger.
Waterloo, Iowa.
Line for Democrats.
Good morning, Roger.
Good morning.
Good morning.
The reason Elon Musk went and injected himself into that bill was because there was a provision to block computer chips from entering China.
Without those computer chips, Tesla is a dead horse.
It won't function.
There was a lot of other provisions that got pulled out, just as camouflage.
Yeah, there were some trade provisions regarding China that are not in the final bill.
I can't speak to the exact motives of Elon Musk, but I do think part of this was sort of a power play by Trump and Musk coming in and wanting to show their sway.
We're good to go.
The White House is always a busy beat to follow and to be on.
What are you going to be watching between now and the first few months of the new Trump administration?
Well, again, the confirmations right off the bat.
There's already been difficulty just on this, you know, introducing them to senators, you know, once we get to actual votes.
Only one, of course, and that was Matt Gaetz very early on with the Attorney General nomination, he was the only one who was withdrawn, but could there be more of those?
You know, I'm interested to see...
Just how the White House is going to operate differently under the Trump administration.
How frequently will the press secretary hold briefings with the press?
Is it going to be a lot like the first Trump term where those were often combative?
Is it going to be sort of a different tone with the press this time?
You know, and again, I want to see how many of these policies Trump is able to do very early on.
From what we understand, there's going to be sort of a whole menu of executive orders.
How far -reaching are these going to be?
And then, you know, the first issue for this next year is going to be the renewal.
Bob, in Minnesota, Line for Democrats.
Good morning, Bob.
Hey, good morning.
You're referring to the New York trial?
Oh, Bob's not on the line anymore.
Well, I think he was referring to the hush money verdict.
I've not been reporting on that issue specifically, but I think Trump, his attorneys have tried to cite the Supreme Court's immunity argument to try to say that he shouldn't be.
We have one last call for you.
It is Lori in Waxham, North Carolina, line for Independence.
Good morning, Lori.
Hey, good morning.
Lori, are you there?
I think the caller was asking who's paying them for their...
Well, they're not being paid in their roles.
With Doge, but these are very independently wealthy individuals.
The richest man in the world, Musk, doesn't need to have a small check for his efforts on the Doge thing.
And Ramaswamy is very rich in his own right.
That's one of the...
So in terms of other funding for that group, I don't think there's anything to speak of on that.
Of course, Musk has interests in this, as some callers have pointed out, with his own contracts with the government, etc.
Our guest, Joey Garrison, White House correspondent for USA Today.
You can find his work online at ustoday .com and you can find him on X at Joey Garrison.
Joey, thank you for being with us today.
Next on Washington Journal, Society of Professional Journalists Executive Director Caroline Hendry will discuss President -elect Trump's recent and potential actions against the news media.
We'll be right back.
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We're good to go.
I think?
We're good to go.
We're good to go.
Washington Journal continues.
Joining us now to discuss President -elect Trump's recent and potential actions against the news media is Caroline Hendry.
She is the executive director for the Society of Professional Journalists.
Caroline, thank you for being with us.
Thank you for having me.
It's a great privilege.
Why don't you tell our audience about the Society for Professional Journalists, your mission, and who you work with?
Right.
Well, the Society of Professional Journalists is the oldest and most broad -based journalism membership organization in the country.
We go back to 1909, and we stand for working journalists, all the journalists across the country who are doing the really hard work.
Of reporting on what's happening around them and reporting it and interpreting it truthfully and accurately and informing the public.
So we work with press freedom allies in very many different organizations to protect our First Amendment freedom of the press.
Right.
Well, it's...
We should go back to the civil rights era.
And back in the early 60s, when reporters were covering the civil rights movement, states' officials were trying to weaponize defamation cases to basically censor them.
So there's a landmark decision from 1964 called New York Times v. Sullivan.
And that set a very important standard for plaintiffs that are trying to win a defamation suit.
If you're a public official, you have to show that any disputed statement, there was actual malice behind it.
It's called the actual malice standard, the test.
You have to prove that the disputed fact or statement The people who published it or said it,
if in your broadcast, knew it was false or showed reckless disregard for whether it was false or true.
So it's a high standard and it's worked well.
It's been successful.
And that's appropriate that there be a high standard.
In this case, the case settled pretty early, only after about eight months.
And frankly, we're concerned that it sends a message that employers might not support their journalists in cases of this kind.
We're frankly a little concerned that there's going to be a chilling effect.
On journalists and their news outlets.
That if it is seen that you have to make massive payouts against legal challenges that this is going to put a damper on the kind of really fearless and independent reporting that the public needs to hold the powerful to account.
Our guest for the next 35 minutes or so is Caroline Hendry, Executive Director for the Society of Professional Journalists.
If you have a question or comment for her, you can start calling in now.
The Lions Republicans, 202 -748 -8001.
Democrats, 202 -748 -8000.
And Independents, 202 -748 -8002.
President -elect Trump has also filed lawsuits against a couple other organizations, including the Des Moines Registered newspaper and their pollster.
He says that they committed consumer fraud and election interference over a poll that showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading him.
That was in Iowa.
Before the election, and he has also filed one against CBS's 60 Minutes claiming that an interview with Vice President Harris was partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference,
saying that those were meant to mislead voters.
Are there precedents or protections for maybe an editorial decision?
Right.
Well, I think it's very important that we preserve and maintain the guardrails for a free and independent press.
And what we're concerned about is this is basically the dawn of a new era of lawfare against journalists and their employers.
It just should not be seen as normal.
I think it's very important that...
We maintain the legal guardrails.
And you mentioned the New York Times v. Sullivan ruling, 1964, so important.
This case, the one in Des Moines, the Des Moines Register case, was brought under a consumer fraud statute, actually.
And we think that that is really misguided.
Those sorts of deceptive practices.
Laws were designed to protect consumers.
For powerful elected officials to put themselves in that place and say they were somehow injured in this matter seems like a real stretch and we really hope to not see more cases like this.
But we're concerned and the Legal Media law bar is really concerned too.
We're afraid that there's just going to be an onslaught of these kinds of cases.
And so folks in the media and their allies are gearing up and trying to prepare for the need to defend themselves.
It's...
We believe in ethical journalism, principled journalism.
We believe in holding ourselves to the high standards that we expect of others.
And we very much believe in accountability and transparency and admitting it if you make an error.
But making an occasional error is not tantamount to...
It's not illegal.
We have constitutional...
Yes.
Ma 'am, I'd like somebody to explain to me, like, President Trump was accused Of rape in a dressing room and I've been in several dressing rooms myself and trying on clothes and stuff like that and I've been by them several times and their walls are not insulated.
You can stand by one and listen to a conversation inside of it.
If a woman were being raped inside of that, don't you think she'd at least scream or holler?
Well, I think the caller is referring to the case of a journalist in New York, and the president -elect was found liable in civil court for,
you know, not rape, but sexual misconduct.
That was a finding in court.
So this came into the public eye when this lawsuit just recently was settled.
There was a defamation case against ABC News.
Anchor George Stephanopoulos over the issue of him referring to the president -elect being found liable for rape.
And there's just, you know, debate over whether that term was, you know, used loosely or, you know, was it accurate to say that.
And so that was the crux of the matter in this case.
I know that there are media lawyers who felt that case was winnable, but it was settled out of court, $15 million judgment and million -dollar legal fees, $16 million.
So that is unfortunate, and people do misspeak.
Yes, good morning.
I'd like to ask Ms. Hendry or let her know that the people are begging and we are thirsting for News that give us the who, where, when, where, and why.
And I say that because we are the first to know when gas prices are high and when the increase occurs.
But no one never reports to us and tell us why it's happening, what causes the problem, who profits from it, or any of that.
And it seems as though that the people of being and news people are held to a standard that those in government are not.
The same law that you just reported on, you know, President -elect Trump has a long history of not telling the truth or deceiving people or whatever they call that fake news.
But when people have died because he advised We're good to go.
I think?
Right.
Well, the caller refers to something we believe very strongly in, and that is that the powerful need to be held to account by a strong and independent free press.
I am heartened every day by the great investigative reporting that I do see.
There should be more of it.
There have been far too many cutbacks in newsrooms across the country.
We are seeing, though, a flowering of new news outlets cropping up in the nonprofit sector often.
And often they are public -spirited news outlets.
They are not there to make a profit.
They're there to serve the public.
We think that it's critically important that journalists be able to inform the public about these important issues.
I'll just mention that an important way that investigative journalists...
We're good to go.
I think?
Often people think anonymous means the reporters don't know who they are.
They're just random people.
No, not at all.
Reporters and their editors know who these sources are and the information that they provide is carefully verified and checked out.
But the very ability of sources with critically important information to come forward needs to be protected.
And the SPJ and our allies have worked hard to advance legislation in the states and at the federal level to protect the confidentiality of sources and journalists.
Happy to talk more about that if folks are interested.
We can talk about that.
It's a piece of legislation that passed the House a couple times and failed in the Senate last term and not something that they will pick up this term either, and that's the PRESS Act.
The full name is Protect Reporters from... Exploitive State Spying Act, it's a mouthful, but it does, the provision of the act is that it prohibits the federal government from compelling journalists and providers of telecommunication services,
example phone and internet companies, to disclose certain protected information except in a limited circumstance such as preventing terrorism or imminent violence.
Well, it's bipartisan legislation.
We were so happy that we got support for this on both sides of the aisle.
We think that it's not something that should be seen as one party or another.
We are disappointed that it fell short this time in the 118th Congress but we will be coming back in the 119th Congress and we hope that it is going to again be seen as the bipartisan measure to protect the public's right to know that it is.
So we are disappointed but we are not giving up by any means.
Some of the reasons it's What I think is really needed is that we have some good guidelines at the federal level in the Department of Justice that say actually you have to have a very strong reason to successfully issue a subpoena for reporters' records.
What do you mean by confidentiality?
Guidelines can be changed by the next administration.
They can change within an administration.
They need to be codified in law and we're going to be working hard to do that.
Bob in Massachusetts, Line for Independence.
Good morning, Bob.
Good morning.
Well, I'd like to start off at least with the honesty of the media today is beyond belief for what that they will do.
I mean, I don't hear any reports about the 51 intel officers that told that Hunter Biden's laptop was information, disinformation, when the FBI had the thing for well over a year and knew it was not.
And all those guys were still involved in the government, so they knew it was not.
And did you people look at it?
Heck no, you weren't interested.
Now, there's way too many topics to go on from that angle.
But I have to say the very biggest and the worst thing is is the Russia collusion where they gave Pulitzer Prizes Pulitzer Prizes to people that knew they were lying and they got proven to be liars and did they give the Pulitzer Prizes back?
No.
Donald Trump created peace deals, right?
The Abraham Accord.
We've heard of those.
And did the Nobel Peace Prize people who give prizes for Nobel Peace Offerings and peace deals.
Well, I think that there's a lot of work that those of us in the field need to do to Rebuild trust.
I think there is a lot.
There is a perception among folks on the right that the press is biased.
There's perceptions on the left that the press is maybe enthralled to corporate interests.
So there's mistrust and distrust that we are committed to working to try to dispel.
I think that The public would do better by trying to sample news sources across the political spectrum,
but also really try to seek out sources of news information that are demonstrably committed to accuracy, to ethics, to...
Very much transparency about their own practices, about holding themselves accountable for when they get it wrong.
So I do hope that people will not believe everything they see on this social media platform or that or this particular, you know, kind of...
James in Swansea, North Carolina.
Line for Democrats.
Good morning, James.
James, are you there?
Yes.
Go ahead, James.
We hear you.
Yes, I just want to thank my other caller that was just on talking about the 51 CIA personnel that were in the other thing.
But I guess I'm just looking for truth in media.
You know, be a Walter Cronkite.
Don't lie on air and expect people to believe it.
And I think we forget about the warp speed.
Who did warp speed?
That was...
Trump and the COVID vaccine.
There's nothing ever said about that.
Also, gas was $1 .71 when Trump left office in 20.
And they never actually play exactly what Trump says.
It's always a shift or never actually play the clip of what he actually said.
It's a play on words.
Try to be a little bit more honorable in your profession.
Try to be a Walter Cronkite.
Well, I love that you mentioned Walter Cronkite.
I think what you're referring to there is the idea of being fair and balanced and not necessarily, you know, skewing one way or the other,
really trying to bring objectivity to your reporting, being open about where you're getting your information.
I think that there are still a lot of journalists who strive to meet that standard and do so day in and day out.
It's a hard profession.
Journalists work under conditions that are extremely challenging often.
And one of the things that we're concerned about right now is that how journalists, working reporters across the country are perceived and how they're treated.
Very often that's influenced by what folks see at the national level, at the top echelons of government, and the coverage of what's happening there.
I'm very concerned that the hostility.
We're good to go.
I think?
Tell the truth.
They're seeking out the truth and they're trying to report it accurately.
Of course, everyone makes mistakes.
And there's many, many ways to tell a story.
So the way that you might have told the story is not the way another person would.
But I do think there's just an enormous amount of integrity in the profession.
We have this question on X.
It's from Sally Sue.
She asks, why did the FCC abolish the Fairness Doctrine?
Well, that's a very good question.
I think the general idea is that we need to have an open market of ideas.
And the solution to... Speech that we don't agree with is to use more speech.
So I think the idea of fairness, though, is deeply embedded in the journalism industry.
No, we're not requiring that there be an absolute equal amount of time given to one side or the other anymore.
But there's very many Laura,
in Massachusetts, Line 4 Independence.
Good morning, Laura.
Hi, good morning.
I really believe that Caroline is sincere in what she would like to see the media be.
But unfortunately, there's just so much corporate consolidation.
When you've got Bezos and Musk and Murdoch controlling the big media corporations, I'm sure it has to trickle down to some sort of We're good to go.
It's difficult for them to be, let's say, you know, objective when you have to serve certain groups to keep your job.
So I don't think it's the reporters.
I think the reporters would love to be able to be more objective.
I think when, you know, when they have a Trump story where he's saying they're eating the dogs or eating the cats.
You just see that same story regurgitate on every station, in every newspaper, when it's such an asinine comment.
Why would the media even pay attention to that?
I think they need to ignore something like that instead of blowing it up and sensationalizing it.
Thank you so much.
Right.
Well, I think one of the things that you, I think, alluded to is the importance of importance of fact -checking and that's taken on a controversial air in some cases but it is actually vital and central to journalism.
We need to fact -check and I do think that journalists take that responsibility very seriously.
I am also very encouraged that there's A resurgence of a flowering of non -profit journalism outlets that are cropping up in states across the country to cover local communities.
It's very much needed.
You might have heard the term news deserts.
With the contraction of newsrooms and the closure of newspapers across the country, We've seen more and more communities having to get by with really no coverage or very diminished coverage of public affairs in their communities.
And we know from research that that results in more corruption, more wrongdoing, just less accountability for The government to the people.
So, you know, you mentioned corporate interests.
Again, I think there's growth in outlets that are not corporate, are non -profit, and they're very public -spirited, and I'm very heartened by that.
I would just say that if you have those kinds of news outlets in your area, Please go to them.
Use them.
Donate to them if they're seeking members.
Subscribe if they have subscription models.
Because the more news coverage we get, the better the public is going to be.
The more reporters there are, the more bandwidth there are to focus on the important issues, the consequential issues, and maybe not just the latest sound bite or the latest scandal.
I have a question.
A statement that the news media is so corrupted.
Thank George Stephanopoulos.
What did that cost ABC and their overlords, Disney?
$15 million?
So the media is very corrupted.
And everybody has their own personal agenda up there, but none of it's...
I heard very little of it as Republican.
It's all Communists and Democrats.
And they all run the same game like the 51 Intel officers, people.
They were all lions.
Thank you.
So, I think that you mentioned, again, the ABC News settlement.
I think there's interpretation over what was said and whether that was defensible or in court or not.
You know, I think ethical journalists, the best of the most principled journalists, can make mistakes.
And really a hallmark of our profession is that we admit that and we correct mistakes as soon as we uncover them and realize that there's been a mistake.
We have corrections, we have clarifications.
So in general, that's really important.
And I do think that often people are getting their views of the press from public officials who actually have a real vested interest in delegitimizing reporters.
Because reporters may bring to light information that maybe doesn't make the public officials look great.
And so the best way...
For often, the officials feel like my best defense is a good offense.
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to criticize the press, try to delegitimize them, try to make the public feel like they're not telling the truth all the time.
Because maybe they were telling the truth about that public official, but that public official just doesn't want the public to know that.
So I think it's a tactic that we're seeing increasingly, and it's taken hold over the last 10 years in a way that is really destructive to our democracy.
Sandy in Orlando, Florida, Line for Democrats.
Good morning, Sandy.
Hi.
First, I want to correct the first caller that talked about Eugene Carroll and tried not...
Maybe saying that she was being raped in the Bergdorf Goodman store.
The high -end stores are not your typical area where you try on clothes.
They have walls, they have doors, and back in that day and age, they were private.
So they're not like your TJ Maxx or Target or Macy's.
So I just want to say that.
So people might not have been able to hear her if she was.
The second thing is I subscribe to print media.
Thank God here in Florida, you know, we're in a crazy state.
Our local paper and USA Today, I subscribe to both of those.
I want to support those journalists.
They're real journalists.
I watch CNN.
I also watch Fox.
I don't even understand.
I look for people who are educated, who have journalistic education behind their name.
And Fox has had to pay a lot more and millions and millions of dollars more for Dominion than ABC ever thought of paying.
And the other thing is, you know, we have to have, this is the one thing that worries me the most.
Is that if the press is suppressed, that's what happens in fascist regimes.
You can see it all over Europe, you can see it other places, but if you have never traveled or listened or watched about fascism and all of that kind of stuff or read about it, you cannot understand it.
So this is a really worrisome thing to me and I appreciate...
Well, thank you very much.
And you brought up a very important issue.
And it is true that autocratic regimes often attack the press, they suppress the free press, they take over the organs of news and information.
And often it's not...
It's not one fell swoop.
It's more like death by a thousand cuts.
And that's what media professionals and observers are really concerned about.
As I said before, we're worried that we're at the dawn of a new era of lawfare against news outlets.
And that's how they go bankrupt.
One thing that's important though, one important guardrail that I don't think we've talked about is that it's called anti -slap legislation.
And a slap is a strategic lawsuit against public participation.
Basically what it is, is censorship by lawsuit.
Bringing frivolous cases against critics.
People whose speech or publications We're good to go.
We're good to go.
I think?
I think?
We're going to bring that back in the 119th Congress, and we'll be supporting that.
It's very important to try to fight back and push back against these efforts to suppress the free press, as you said, through lawsuits,
trying to wear them down, intimidate them, and ultimately force them to go out of business.
We have time for one last call.
Jack, Tallahassee, Florida, line for Independence.
Good morning, Jack.
Good morning, Tammy.
Yeah, the former president and the president -elect today have criticized the press.
He's criticized law enforcement.
He's criticized that the press is, that there's no true information.
And he has a lot of followers, as you can contest, in the election.
And I think it's...
Well, let me see if I can find the right word.
It's a shame that he continues to desecrate the press and how the news isn't true and everything.
I can remember Adolf Hitler very little, though.
But he took the press, as I understand it, away from the people, you know, the true meaning of, you know, and that's how Hitler got where he would control of Germany.
But anyway, it's just a sad commentary because it's relentless how the former president and president -elect Yeah,
I completely agree that it's a concern, a major concern, and we are worried that it's filtering down, that it is creating a climate.
That is very hostile to reporters, not just at the national level but in communities across the country, that reporters now are finding themselves at the center of very public harassment campaigns and intimidation efforts and threats.
And it's just, I got into reporting, You know, 40 plus years ago.
And it was never easy, but it was nothing like this.
What today's reporters are facing in terms of harassment and intimidation, people follow the examples of their leaders.
And when their leaders are seeking to undermine and delegitimize the fourth estate, that has an impact.
And it's a very...
Caroline Hendry is Executive Director of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Caroline, thank you so much for being with us today and for this discussion.
It's been a real honor.
Thank you, Tammy.
We are wrapping up today's Washington Journal with more of your calls during open forum.
You can start dialing in now.
The lines on your screens, Republicans, 202 -748 -8001, Democrats, 202 -748 -8000, and Independents, 202 -748 -8002.
We'll be right back.
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Welcome back.
For the next 25 minutes, we are in open form.
We will start with Fernando in Galveston, Texas, line for Republicans.
Good morning, Fernando.
Good morning.
How you doing?
Doing well.
I just want to know, Are you still talking about the media or just open forum?
It's open forum.
Oh, okay.
I wanted to call about that.
The other day I was watching your program and I don't get to see y 'all too often because I got things to do anymore.
But I heard a lot of people talking negative things about the president.
It seems to me that everybody's saying, you know, maybe they didn't vote for the president, but you got to show respect for the man because he is who he is.
And he doesn't get paid for what he's doing, so he has to do it because, you know, he loves our country, which I do too.
So, you know, it's up to people to think about, but it's really important to me because I show respect to my parents.
I expect people to do the same thing for him.
That's all I have to say.
That was Fernando.
Lisa in San Antonio, Texas, line for Democrats.
Hi, Lisa.
Yeah, I was just curious.
With all the threats that Trump and his people and others have been making on the Republicans, why after they go through the...
All the nominating hearings for these cabinet members.
Republicans are being threatened and kind of changing their mind.
Is there any way that the vote on the actual cabinet members could be a secret ballot so that way no consequences could come back on the Republicans who really don't endorse the people that Trump is...
Howard, in Oregon, Line for Independence.
Good morning, Howard.
A lot of media just repeats talking points from politicians, one side or the other.
And let's not also forget that the media, even the new wave of socially driven media, is mostly interested in getting listenership or readership and making some profit.
So there's a lot of drive.
Well, I would say that C -SPAN is an exception to the things I've just said, so I'm a very avid C -SPAN watcher.
I do get a lot of news from YouTube and the various podcasters.
But again, even though I'm looking at things I agree with, I also look at things I disagree with because everyone's got a spin and people can't believe 80 % of what they're hearing because most of the media broadcasters or podcasters,
they have an agenda.
They're trying to either promote themselves or promote a product or promote a candidate or a philosophy.
And so it's very difficult these days for the average listener.
That was Howard in Oregon.
Michael, New York, Line for Republicans.
Hi, Michael.
Hi, good morning.
I just wanted to make a mention.
I was watching the journalist that was just on.
You know, she is a paid lobbyist for journalism, and I know that she may be looking at things through a very small myopic eye.
But if you watch some of the different channels on TV, they are extremely slanted.
And she was obviously very slanted as well.
I think that's really what's happening to the journal.
I am a journalist.
I've been working in a small newspaper in my local town for many, many years.
And if you're not writing down the middle and showing the facts one way or the other, people are going to turn you off.
I read an article the other day, 98 % of a specific cable channel is negative against Republicans.
That's why people are turning those channels off.
Michael, how long have you been a journalist?
35 years.
And do you want to say the name of your outlet?
No, I'd rather not.
Thank you for asking that.
That was Michael in New York.
Nikki in Chandler, Arizona.
Line for Democrats.
Good morning.
Hi, Nikki.
I wanted to say about the media is that a lot of times people don't want to hear what the Republicans are saying because they're being so angry and mean and doing things that people don't like.
So of course they don't want those things to come into the media.
If Trump is saying something and no one likes it and he's doing this stuff every day, then of course he's going to get a lot of negative press because he's being a negative person.
So now we want to take that negative person and say, oh, let's just talk about the one nice thing we can find instead of saying all the true things that's really going on.
Pedro, in New Mexico,
lying for independence.
Good morning, Pedro.
Good morning.
Good morning there.
Yes, I want to second the points that the journalists did, I think two quarters ago or so.
I think it's true.
I myself, I'm in my 50s, and I still remember the 90s.
I used to admire PBS.
There was someone called Jim Lehrer and the McNeil Hour.
And I remember when the invasion of Iraq happened, we used to hear the point of view from the Iraqis, from them.
It's not like we do these days that we primarily hear them from think tank specialists here in the United States.
So to me, the media has truly deteriorated now.
How much of that is allocated to the journalists themselves and how much is allocated to their bosses, to the corporations themselves?
I don't know that answer.
I will not go there.
But I wish we went back to those days because media to me, even Peter Jennings in ABC in the 90s, I used to look up to him.
I don't look up to them anymore.
And in closing, I would say this, especially for foreign news, I have to go and listen to Russian Today, RT America,
which was closed two years ago.
Now, are we talking about free media?
We ban it.
In the United States, CGTN, the Chinese, the Iranian news.
Why?
Because I cannot trust that my government will tell me the full truth, but only perhaps what is politically suitable to us.
So I just wish there was a way to restore some of that.
In the meantime, I have to go on the Internet to hear both sides, or sometimes three sides.
So anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts about that, if possible.
Thank you.
Steve, in Highland Park, Illinois, line for Republicans.
Good morning, Steve.
Hello, good morning.
I just wanted to respond to a couple of things I heard the previous guest say.
And primarily, I heard her express a lot of concerns about, I guess, Trump is filing lawsuits against news outlets because, you know, for defamation or whatever.
I think her concern is based in their guilt because they know they were lying.
And now they know they've gotten caught.
And then I also wanted to respond to something I heard her say where, oh, it's our job to hold the powerful accountable.
And I wanted to ask her, where did she hold Adam Schiff accountable when he said he had definitive proof that Trump is a Russian colluder and then nothing?
Where was the accountability for Adam Schiff that she's so -called holding the powerful?
And then I wanted to ask one other question.
Of her so -called professional society members, where do they donate their political donations?
And where do they identify as their political leanings?
And I'll bet you it's in the 90 percentile for Democrats.
So again, I wish I could have asked her that.
Thank you.
That was Steve in Illinois.
It was yesterday that Senator Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor.
It was his final speech as the GOP leader.
Here are some of his remarks.
It's not entirely clear yet how or when Congress will conclude its end of the year business.
But when the Senate does adjourn, I'll just about mark the end of my tenure as a Republican leader.
I've made it clear this year that our colleagues haven't seen the last of me.
I still fully intend to keep frustrating my critics in the years ahead.
But while I still command this particular podium, I thought I might make a few observations I've picked up along the way.
Folks, come to Washington.
Do one of two things.
Either to make a point or to make a difference.
To make a point or to make a difference.
It's usually not that hard to tell who's doing which, especially in situations like the one we're in right now.
The people who are here to make a difference recognize pretty quickly you never get everything you want, but often you can get quite a lot.
And the folks who prefer to make a point have a funny habit of reminding us out loud how poorly they understand that fact.
I don't care to count how many times I've reminded our colleagues and our House counterparts how harmful it is to shut the government down and how foolish it is to bet your own side won't take the blame for it.
We'll go back to your calls.
Ernest in Exeter, Rhode Island.
Line for Democrats.
Good morning, Ernest.
Good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
I always appreciate C -SPAN.
It's where I try and get most of my news.
Also, BBC.
But I think that a lot of this talk about the press, about the threat to democracy, is really a ruse, to be honest with you.
I think Trump has his sycophants in there who want to change the culture of America.
That's the Stephen Millers of the world.
No question about that.
But we need to look at the man, Trump, and what he really wants out of this.
The fact of the matter is, is that he's nothing but a common thief.
And he's looking to just steal as much as he can in the next four years.
Case in point, anybody who's been to a casino, anybody who's been to a casino has lost.
Meanwhile, Trump Casino went bankrupt.
Now, it wasn't because he was losing at the table.
It was because he was just stealing from within.
He just stole the shell out of that company until it had nothing left.
And this is what he does.
And right now, the Secret Service are all down at Mar -a -Lago, and he's charging exorbitant rates for these people to stay at his resort.
Trump is not an intellectual.
He has no interest in any cultural issues.
He's a basic thief, and that's what he's going to do in the next four years, is steal as much as he can.
Thank you for all the C -SPAN does.
Robert in Ohio, Line for Independence.
Good morning, Robert.
Good morning.
I wanted to speak on I feel like she was more of a defender of journalism in the past,
or I would say recent, as opposed to the past.
I think that I was offended that she thinks that my opinion of journalism is filtered down from Our leaders.
I think that if she thinks that the American people are picking their leaders thinking that one side is more moral than the other, she's sadly mistaken.
It is on the subjects.
It's on the policies that I think the people are leaning toward.
I think that That she ought to focus her efforts on the mispractices that's happened in journalism in order for the people to regain trust in journalism and be open with what's being done with these mispractices.
We've been outright lied to and we're upset about it and she's feeling us being upset but she is Taking the wrong message from it.
We want both sides held accountable.
And it's very obvious and evident that both sides have not been held accountable.
That's what you do to hold the powerful accountable, is both sides are powerful.
It's not just one side.
And if she can't see and recognize that her profession has been taken over, Or at least perceived to be taken over by one side.
As an independent, I want both sides held accountable.
I think it's important.
I think that's why our founders gave them the power that they have.
But they're abusing it right now.
And that's just my opinion.
And I hope that she takes and listens and reevaluates.
And I hope that they come up with a way of holding Robert,
can I ask you a question?
Certainly.
What news sources do you follow, do you listen to, and do you think any of them right now are doing a good job of holding our leaders accountable?
No, I don't.
Well, to answer your question, I have honestly stopped listening to the news for the last eight years.
Because of the divisiveness.
It's just the fact that I've come to the conclusion I can't believe them.
So to get any kind of feel of what is believable, I have to listen to the far left or what seems to be the far left and far right.
Fox is obviously known to be the right -wing media.
But they seem to have more of the left.
hearing the left side of things on their channels as well or on their in their shows, but I'll listen to MSNBC and CNN as well because I kind of want to know what am I not hearing from Fox.
So that's the best I could tell you.
That was Robert in Ohio.
Just about five or six minutes left in today's program and wanted to share a programming note.
Starting tomorrow, we are kicking off our annual Holiday Authors Week series.
It is eight days of authors from across the political spectrum whose books shine the light on important aspects of American life.
We will be featuring an author every day.
For the next eight days, you can find the full lineup of authors and who is going to be appearing on which days on our website at c -span .org.
Back to your calls.
David in Riverside, California, line for Republicans.
Good morning, David.
Good morning, Tammy, and good morning, America.
A lot of people on my side, the Republican side, they were so happy about winning the election.
They tried to enjoy that the other side was unhappy.
I don't personally understand that.
When I saw Trump was probably going to win, briefly I prayed that God would comfort America, because I knew a lot of people would be really sad, and some think it's the end of the road.
But I may have felt that way of Kamloon.
The Republican Party, which is a traditional party that Trump represents, we aren't going to do anything un -American.
In fact, the risk was Trump losing.
With Trump winning, he's not going to challenge elections like he did in 2020.
We need to stop the war in Russia.
I think that's very important.
Because of the risk of widespread war in Europe and the possibility of nuclear war, Ukraine can maintain their territory and Russia some of their gains like Crimea and establish some kind of demilitarized zone like we did in North Korea.
And then the war between Israel and Iran, Israel needs to overthrow the government of Iran and the people of Iran are very pro -American, is my understanding.
So we are going to see in the next four years how the Trump administration plays out.
I don't think it's the end of the world and you don't need to move to Canada.
What's that old song?
It's the end of the road as we know it, and I feel fine.
Well, I feel fine.
I think we're going to be okay.
Kamala was a clear and present danger to our country, but it didn't happen, so we don't know for sure how it would have played out.
But her values were as radical as any candidate I've ever seen.
Thank you, Tammy.
You're doing a good job.
That was David in Riverside, California.
Rick in Birmingham, Alabama, Line for Democrats.
Good morning, Rick.
Good morning, Tammy.
I was just responding to that first call that you had on an open forum about respecting President -elect Trump.
Now, I understand what he was saying, but I'm not going to respect anybody that was convicted of felons.
He shouldn't have never been the president anyway because he was a convicted felon, so I can't respect that.
And as far as him saying that, hey, he's had a chance.
He's had four years.
Hey, how you doing?
Thanks for taking my call.
I just have a few quick points.
I'm concerned about the WHO treaty that was signed by the Biden administration.
And how that's going to impact, because it supposedly is going to shift the power of government in the event of another pandemic, which they're pretty much assuring us.
I don't know how they can do that unless they're going to put it out there themselves, another pandemic, and it will shift the power from the federal government to the World Health Organization.
That's one point.
And the other point is with the DOGE, Department of Government Efficiency.
Who's paying for that?
Is that going to be on the taxpayer dime?
Because everybody is championing this Doge thing under Elon Musk and Vivek Ram Swamy.
And nobody is asking, who's paying for this?
Are they going to reallocate the funds by shutting down other federal agencies and reallocate the funds to pay for that with taxpayer dollars?
I mean, a lot of this stuff is not really making sense to me.
and I think the American people have been so dumbed down to the point like they can't even see the trickery that's going on with this so I would like if you could address that I would really appreciate that and thank you for having me on.
That was Richard in Brooklyn, New York and our last caller in today's program.
We appreciate everyone who tuned in and called in, our guests who joined us on the program.
We'll be back tomorrow morning at 7 a .m. Eastern with another edition of Washington Journal.
Enjoy the rest of your Saturday.
Glory Edom, the founder of the well -read Black Girl podcast and digital literacy platform, will talk about her book Gather Me, a memoir in praise of the books that saved me.
Watch live and join the discussion on Washington Journal, Sunday morning beginning at 7 Eastern on C -SPAN, C -SPAN Now, our free mobile video app, or online at c -span .org.
We're good to go.
Ahead of the presidential inauguration on January 20th, American History TV on C -SPAN 2 presents a four -week series, Historic Inaugural Speeches.
Each weekend, listen to inaugural speeches given by presidents after they were sworn in.
From Franklin Roosevelt through Barack Obama on Saturday, December 28th, we'll feature President Roosevelt.