CSPAN - Washington Journal 01/30/2025

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Jan. 30, 2025 07:00-10:00 - CSPAN

02:59:53

Washington Journal 01/30/2025

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Main

brian blase

14:26

mimi geerges

cspan 26:44

sean duffy

admin 09:01

Appearances

brian lamb

cspan 00:43

gary peters

sen/d 01:08

kurt nimmo

infowars 00:37

michael bennet

sen/d 00:51

muriel bowser

01:26

russ vought

00:54

tim kaine

sen/d 00:48

Clips

chuck grassley

sen/r 00:04

josh hammer

00:04

robert f kennedy-jr

admin 00:25

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donna in texas

callers 01:00

ryan in gainesville

callers 00:28

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Speaker	Time	Text
unidentified		And on C-SPAN 3, live at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, Kash Patel, President Trump's pick to lead the FBI, will speak to senators about his nomination before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
		These events all stream live on the free C-SPAN Now video app and online at c-SPAN.org.
		Coming up on Washington Journal this morning, your calls and comments live.
		And then Bobby Kogan of the Center for American Progress discusses the Trump administration's rescinding of a federal aid freeze.
		And Brian Blaise of Paragon Health Institute reviews the top health care priorities for the Trump administration.
		C-SPAN's Washington Journal is next.
		Join the conversation.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
		It's Thursday, January 30th.
		Last night, an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided mid-air near Washington's Reagan airport.
		Both aircraft are in the icy waters of the Potomac River and search and rescue operations are underway.
		There were 64 people on the passenger jet coming from Wichita, Kansas, three Army personnel on the helicopter.
		We will take your calls on that this morning and update you on the latest as developments occur.
		Phones are by region.
		Eastern or Central time zones, call us on 202-748-8000.
		Mountain or Pacific, it's 202-748-8000 and 1.
		You can send us a text.
		It's 202-748-8003.
		And we're on social media, facebook.com slash C-SPAN and X at C-SPANWJ.
		Welcome to today's Washington Journal.
		We will keep you updated on the developments with that crash here at Reagan's National Airport in Washington, D.C. Last night, well, early this morning at about 1 a.m., D.C.'s Mayor Muriel Bowser gave a news conference, and here's a portion of that.
muriel bowser ▲ ● ▼		Certainly, I speak for the people of Washington, 700,000 of us who are extremely sorry for the families who are experiencing loss tonight.
		And so we want you to know that we will continue to work with American Airlines to share information as frequently as possible and make sure that we're getting accurate information out to the public.
		But my sorrow for all of the people and crew on the plane and our military personnel on the helicopter is very deep.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		That's DC's Mayor Muriel Bowser, and she will be giving another news conference to update the public on the situation there at Reagan National Airport at about 7.30.
		So we're going to carry that for you live and we will show that for you.
		So make sure you stay with us for that.
		Well, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, newly sworn in, just sworn in yesterday, also attended that news conference.
		And here's what he had to say.
unidentified		Mr. Secretary Duffy, have you been in touch with the airtrack controllers who were in the tower at the time of the crash?
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		I have not.
unidentified		You have not?
		And second question, this is your first several hours in this position.
		What are your thoughts?
		What are you feeling right now?
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		My focus is on those who are impacted on this flight.
		And again, I've been the secretary for a little over a day, and The tragedy that we're going to deal with with this recovery, I think, is touching everyone's hearts, whether it's here in the greater DC area or in Kansas.
		And again, I think everyone here is thinking and praying for those who potentially have lost a loved one.
		And thank you.
		Yes.
unidentified		Two words for Secretary Dumbbell.
		The first thing you were talking about when we're in the situation with the President and Pete Hegseth both being there.
		Can you tell us more about the President's initial reactions through this as well?
		Yeah, exactly.
		This is a military home.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		So I was not in the situation room.
		I did have a conversation with the situation room where the president was located as well as with Secretary Hegseth.
		We were exchanging information.
		I would just note that not just the local team but the federal team has performed very well in this crisis.
		I know the president is incredibly concerned about what's happened here today.
		I'm sure we'll continue to hear more from him and I'll continue to consult with him and Secretary Hegseth.
unidentified		When it comes to the resources that you would be able to provide on the federal level, he's still getting what you need.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		Absolutely.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		The president has committed to this team and to the NTSB through the DOT that we will provide all resources necessary as we go through this recovery, but also the support from FAA and DOT as the NTSP investigates.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		That's Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
		We will keep you updated and we're taking your calls on the plane crash.
		There's a mid-air plane crash over the waters of Reagan National Airport, the Potomac River.
		64 passengers were on that American Airlines jet and three Army personnel.
		They have collided in mid-air.
		This is what Donald Trump, President Trump, has posted on Truth Social about this.
		He says, the airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport.
		The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time.
		It is a clear night.
		The lights on the plane were blazing.
		Why didn't the helicopter go up or down or turn?
		Why didn't the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane?
		This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented.
		All caps, not good.
		Three exclamation marks.
		This is Vice President JD Vance on X. Please say a prayer for everyone involved in the mid-air collision near Reagan Airport this evening.
		We're monitoring the situation, but for now, let's hope for the best.
		And here is Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
		He says, latest below, absolutely tragic.
		Search and rescue efforts still ongoing.
		Prayers for all impacted souls and their families.
		An investigation launched immediately by Army and DOD.
		This is from the media chief at the Department of Defense.
		It says, quote, we can confirm that the aircraft involved in tonight's incident was an Army UH-60 helicopter from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir, during a training flight.
		We are working with local officials and will provide additional information once it becomes available.
		Also, here is from the Washington Post.
		You can see a picture here of the aircraft in the water.
		This is search and rescue crew here and searching for survivors.
		There have been bodies pulled out of the water and no survivors as of yet.
		We'll take a call now from Max in Mechanicsville, Maryland.
		Good morning, Max.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Thank you for taking my call.
		This is a terrible thing that happened.
		I just wanted to give some perspective.
		I locally drive over that bridge to and from Virginia every day.
		So at least twice a day I drive over that bridge and see the traffic, the aircraft, aircraft flying over the bridge.
		Now, something that has been very different is the amount of helicopters in the air in D.C. lately.
josh hammer ▲ ● ▼		And hopefully, somebody, while reporting, will figure out why.
unidentified		And I'm not talking even twice as many helicopters.
		I'm talking a marked increase of helicopter traffic.
		So if you normally would see one or two, or Marine One or Marine Two, you now have five, six, and seven helicopters in the air for the last few months every day.
		Sometimes more than that, it seems.
		You just see the lights studded with lights from helicopters.
		So it would be nice to understand why that is the case.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		And here is the Washington Post that says rescuers are combing the Potomac River in search of survivors of American Eagle Flight 5342 collided mid-air Wednesday evening with an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport, sending both aircraft crashing into the water.
		No survivors have been found, and police have pulled bodies from the water, even as the deep, ice-cold water and lack of light complicate search efforts.
		The PSA Airlines-operated American Airlines aircraft was flying from Wichita to National Airport with 60 passengers and four crew members.
		And the helicopter was on a training flight with three service members on board.
		U.S. Figure Skating confirmed that several members of its community were on the plane.
		And let's talk to Rob in Port Crane, New York.
		Hi, Rob.
unidentified		Hi, good morning.
		It looks like the air traffic control needs a little bit of help.
		I don't understand why that radio call from the tower didn't ask the helicopter to go up, down, or sideways.
		I don't understand that.
		All they said is, do you see that?
		That was kind of a foolish thing, I thought.
		But anyway, I think this is kind of low-hanging fruit again, you guys.
		Why don't we start talking about something that's a little, you know, like more important to the American people, like what's going on in Washington with these horrible Democrats?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Well, we will talk about other things happening, Rob, in Washington.
		We just want to give a chance for people to comment on that horrible tragedy happening, unfolding right now here in Washington.
		And this is Ed in Glassboro, New Jersey.
		Hi, Ed.
unidentified		Yeah, good morning.
		I kind of am a little uncomfortable with your saying that there was a mid-air collision.
		I think that it would be more accurate to say that this airplane was struck by the helicopter.
		That's number one.
		Number two is: I think the most important thing for me to know right now is what is the identity of the people who were flying the helicopter.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And why is that important to you, Ed?
unidentified		Well, because I don't think this was an accident.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You think an Army helicopter intentionally hit a passenger?
unidentified		Well, I just don't.
		Why?
		If you get up in an airplane, you usually have to have a license and you usually have to be schooled and very knowledgeable as where you don't fly, how you fly.
		So that's the main question.
		We're going to have to find out why this accident happened.
		Was this a child flying the helicopter?
		Who was flying?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		I'm sure.
		Yeah, and the investigations are ongoing, Ed, so I'm sure we will find out more.
		And this is NBC News with this out of Dallas.
		Deep sorrow.
		The American Airline CEO says the focus is on the passengers and families and crew.
		After the crash, they have established a phone line to check on loved ones if you need that.
		And this is it says that the American Airline CEO, Robert Isam, issued a statement late Wednesday after that flight collided with a military helicopter.
		He says, I'd like to express our deep sorrow about these events.
		This is a difficult day for all of us at American Airlines, and our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, partners, first responders, along with their families and loved ones.
		It is, it says it is unclear if there are any survivors.
		So that's from the American Airlines CEO.
		Here's Guy in Stigler, Oklahoma.
		Good morning, Guy.
unidentified		Hey, good morning, Mimi.
		I'm a former Air Force pilot.
		After I left the military, I worked for United Airlines for a little while.
		And back, you know, back in the day, I couldn't even get an interview with a major airline unless you had five or six thousand hours of flight time.
		In the military, when I joined up in the 70s, they had very high hiring standards.
		Nowadays, you have DEI requirements where a certain percentage of people have to be a certain color to get hired.
		And they have lowered the standards across the board.
		And this has been going on for the past 20 years.
		So people used to call them minorities, you know, when I was flying, but they would get hired on with lower standards, lower test scores to fill the quotas, or they used to call them goals because quota is an illegal term.
		But in the last couple of years, you've seen a lot of close mid-air collisions, ground occurrences under ground control.
		And nowadays, you could get hired on with a major airline with 700 hours.
		That is frightening.
		There's nothing that makes up for experience.
		And when you train in a Cessna or a Piper and you get your couple hundred hours with a flight instructor and you get hired on and you go right to a major heavy airliner, these people have no experience.
		And we're going to be seeing a lot more of close mid-airs, ground insurances.
		I don't know what to say about the public about the air safety, but they're hiring people with no experience.
		And like the guy said, the helicopter flew into the airliner.
		The airliner was on an instrument approach.
		The helicopter was flying VFR.
		And this is the kind of stuff that happens.
		Helicopters on a trading flight, low-time pilots.
		And we're going to start seeing a lot more of these things happen over the next couple of years.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And I'm sorry to say that, but Paul is calling us from England in the UK.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Paul.
unidentified		Hello, Mimi.
		Good morning, Mini, Mimi.
		What a sad morning this morning.
		My heart goes out from Britain to the people who are the victims of a terrible collision.
		Terrible, obviously awful, awful.
		So my heart goes out to them, the victims.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And here's Tom in St. Leonard, Maryland.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Tom.
unidentified		Morning.
		Thanks, Daniel.
		My thoughts and prayers go out to the people that were involved in this crash and the family.
		First of all, it's a terrible, terrible mistake.
		What was that about cutting hours?
		Unfortunately, it seems like possible results of uh this culture of uh wanting to uh cut corners rather than uh pay the proper people in order to uh like um everywhere, like people in charge.
		People in charge are just like gotten the corners instead of uh serious hiring serious people.
		Also kind of uh struck by some of the insanity that I heard from callers earlier about immediately going to conspiracy theory.
		That one thing I gotta say, unfortunately for you all in the mainstream media, you have absolutely capitulated these people in a pumpkin party spread.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Tom, I'm afraid your earline is not not that clear, so I apologize.
		We're gonna move on.
		This is Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
		He was sworn in only hours before the crash and here here are his remarks about what his plans were for the agency.
		Again this, he made these remarks before the crash.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		We are going to usher in the golden age of transportation.
		We're going to work on efficiency, making sure our infrastructure actually works for the American people, for the American family, making sure that you can get to and from work back to your family in a timely fashion.
		We're going to work on congestion, work on an airspace that is more efficient.
		Getting people to fly in airplanes and not wait in terminals is is our mission.
		But I think we're in an amazing time as well, because when you think of the Department OF Transportation, you don't think of innovation, and we are in one of the most innovative spaces, I think, in government, Mr. Vice President, whether it's with drones or autonomous vehicles or EVITOLs or, to say, Ubers in the air another term for them but we are in a race to beat the rest of the world and to make sure we have rules in place that are going to make America the best home.
		For this.
		Innovation is critical.
		We are going to work on that at the Department OF Transportation, 47,000 employees strong.
		I guess that's not going to grow at all with the new executive order, but it's a great team and I look forward to working with them.
		And again, I'm honored that you did this today, Mr. Vice President.
		I'm honored for the president and his trust that he's placed in me and with that, let's get to work.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Thank you, the newly sworn in transportation secretary and this is Linda in Dallas, Texas.
unidentified		Good morning, good morning.
		I listen to C-SPAN all the time.
		This is my first time calling, but I had to call because the previous caller talking about DEI and that has nothing to do with this tragedy, and that's all I have to say.
		Thank you, bye.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And here is Kendra in Virginia.
unidentified		Hi Kendra hi uh Mimi, just like the previous caller said, I'm Calling because the person from Oklahoma referred to these people, I guess, in the helicopter, as maybe as DEI hires.
		And I'm offended because I'm a person of color.
		I'm a black woman.
		And he said DEI hires are colored people.
		So there are other categories of people that can be considered DEI hires.
		DEI does stand for, I do believe, people that may not have the qualifications for a position, but, you know, there are other people that could be a DEI hire.
		For instance, I voted for Trump, actually, but a lot of people in his cabinet I might consider DEI hires because a lot of them don't have the actual skill set or background for the positions that he's putting them in in his cabinet.
		So that's really all I wanted to say.
		DEI falls under a lot of different categories except color.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And we will go ahead and start taking your calls on anything else happening in Washington that you'd like to talk about.
		If you'd like to continue talking about the plane crash, you can certainly do that.
		Open forum starts now.
		The lines are on your screen.
		Democrats, 202-748-8000.
		Republicans, call us on 202-748-8001.
		And Independents, 202-748-8002.
		Our line for texting is open as well.
		It's 202-748-8003, as is our social media.
		And this is Roseanne in San Diego, California.
		Good morning, Roseanne.
unidentified		Hi.
		The reason I'm calling, I wasn't going to call, but I'm shocked at some of the callers that have called in already.
		In fact, I'm disgusted.
		So much blame.
		That's all they're doing is blaming.
		They don't even know what happened, and yet they've got the answer.
		They're blaming.
		And the guy that blames DEI people is just off the wall.
		There's no proof of that.
		Why he was even called in and said that is shocking to me.
		And it just goes to show what's wrong in America these days.
		Everybody's full of hate.
		Everybody has to blame everybody else.
		Nobody can say how horrible and sad this is.
		All they can say is, oh, is it somebody who planned it?
		Or, oh, it must have been some colored person who's not, you know, not qualified to be applying anything.
		It's just disgusting.
		And so I have to call in and apologize to all of our black citizens that they have to hear stuff like this after a huge tragedy.
		And to just say that I'm sorry I'm listening to Washington Journal this morning because that was so offensive that it's going to be with me for the rest of the day.
		And now when I look at that, the pictures there of those people trying to get the bodies out of the water, I'm going to think of somebody saying, oh, those colored people doing this to us.
		And I really resent it.
		I really, really resent it.
		And that's why I called in.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And the Washington Post has this report.
		It says that DC crash took place in congested airspace shared by jets and helicopters.
		It says that the airspace along the Potomac River where an Army helicopter and an airliner crashed Wednesday night poses some of the most complex challenges in the country for pilots, requiring them to rely on layers of procedures and electronic safeguards to avoid a catastrophe.
		Here is Jim in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Yeah, C-SPAN.
		Yeah, as the world gets more complicated, let's hire more people that are more incompetent, that can't read and can't write and barely can do arithmetic.
		That's going to solve the problems.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		This is Bruce in Franklin Grove, Illinois.
		Hi, Bruce.
unidentified		Hello.
unidentified		How are you today?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good.
unidentified		Well, I just was pretty disgusted with the responses of some of the earlier people also about race being involved and whatnot.
		And I also heard that like last week, Trump got rid of some people on the air safety board, traffic control safety board for the airlines.
		Is that true?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		I'm not sure.
		I'll look that up and I'll share with you what I'm able to find.
		You're talking about the NS NTSB, which is tasked with investigating the crashes.
unidentified		Yes.
unidentified		He disbanded it here like last week.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		It's not been disbanded, Bruce.
		The NTSB has not been disbanded.
		But we'll see if there's been any personnel cuts.
		We'll look that up for you.
		Janice in Aberdeen, Maryland.
		Good morning.
unidentified		I wanted to call in to say I heard quite a few hours ago that there was only one air control person in the I fly, used to fly a lot, Africa and other places, but I'm not putting any blame on anyone.
		I understood earlier, hours ago, I think, that there was only one traffic control person there when normally there are two.
		So it probably was a human mistake that he was not able to tell one of the either the helicopter pilot or the airline pilot to move up or higher.
		So it was just a mistake.
		No one is to blame.
		And it is quite a tragedy.
		And I'm so sorry to hear it.
		And, you know, the family members, the tragedy.
		It's quite a job to do something like that and important.
		We shouldn't be complaining or blaming.
		We should be praying for these people to be able to do their jobs.
		I'm certain it must be a tremendous job to do something like that.
		And so I'd like to encourage and pray for them, and particularly for the persons who have lost their loved ones.
		Thank you for taking my call.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Denise in Greenbelt, Maryland, Independent Line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Denise.
unidentified		Hi, good morning, C-SPEN.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		How are you?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good.
unidentified		Thank you for taking my call.
		First, I want to give out my sincere condolences to the families involved in this tragedy.
		Over at Dear Washington, D.C., I am black, and I'm actually calling about the comment about DEI.
		It's unbelievable to me that there are still people calling in with these comments because they are in this trance and believe the lies that's been told to them.
		First of all, like a young lady said, DEI does not only involve or include black people.
		It includes white women, first of all, who have had more advantages at being DEI and disenfranchised.
		It's not just black.
		Having family members who were pilots, black pilots, for 40-plus years, just retired with excellent records.
		That comment, especially by the guy from Oklahoma, I started to listen to him, but anytime they start bringing up DEI, you know, they're racist.
		It is absolutely sickening that we are still here, and we will probably be here for the next couple of years, as we've seen, you know, in the last week or so.
		Just the disgusting comments.
		And then these people have the nerve to say, oh, these folks are uneducated.
		No, you are, and you sound like it.
		You know, I'm actually calling the defense again of my family who were pilots, black pilots.
		Some of you were probably flown by them on the different airlines like United and American Airlines.
		And again, excellent records.
		And if you look at the crashes that have taken place, I hate to tell you, sir, they were mostly white men.
		So that's my comment.
		And again, my sincere condolences out to these families who were involved in this tragedy.
		Thank you for taking.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And here's Catherine in Burlington, New Jersey, Democrat.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Catherine.
unidentified		Good morning, Mimi.
		First time I got to speak to you.
		I usually talk to Greta.
		But Happy New Year and my condolences to the families and friends of the people on the airplane.
		I remember years back a similar incident in the Potomac.
		I used to live in Baltimore.
		What else I want to say?
		DEI.
		I'm going to just leave that alone this morning.
		So anyway, that's my call for the month.
		So nice talking to you, Mimi.
		And the people out there, please let's wait until we find out what happened and then make a decision about what happened.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Here's Ron in San Clemente, California, Republican.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		Hey, good morning, Mimi.
		I have three quick ones for you.
		First one is that yesterday I made some phone calls to American Airlines Reservation, and they had a glitch in their program.
		I thought that's kind of an odd coincidence, but that's my only comment about the crash.
		The second thing is about birthright born people born in America.
		And it's really interesting.
		You know, in 1939, the MS St. Louis came by and was, you know, telling people that they couldn't, these are Jewish immigrants from Eastern Bloc, and they said they couldn't come aboard the United States.
		And so when they went to Cuba, they got refused there.
		They came back.
		And as they were going by the four-mile or three-mile limit, an eight-month-old, an eight-month pregnant lady jumped off of the MS St. Louis and dove into the water and swam for three and a half miles so that she could have her baby born in the United States free.
		So, you know, that's just one little big net about birthright births.
		And the final thing is that Trump is creating a chaos and oppression and a terror society.
		And what he's going to wind up doing is keeping this going all the time.
		So the only thing I can suggest as a fix for all of this is we should remove about 80% of the Republicans from the Congress and about 20% of the Democrats from the Congress that are all on the MAGA team and get rid of them.
		And that's the only way we're going to do it.
		Now, otherwise, we're looking at four years of incredible chaos.
		Anyway, thanks so much for your time.
		Appreciate it.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And James, Newark, New Jersey, Independent Line, you're next, James.
unidentified		Yes, hi, Darling.
		I've been in politics since 1956.
		A little too much.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You've been doing what since 1956, James?
unidentified		Been into politics.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Oh, okay.
unidentified		Since 1956.
		Washing politics, men, politics, spies, no fear bubblings.
		But anyhow, about three years old.
		I grew up an activist.
		I was born an activist, really, 1963.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So what do you want to talk about this morning, James?
unidentified		Yes, but it's accident and different things.
		Now, Reagan's the one that nayed off 2,500 air traffic controllers.
		He fired them.
		But yet, we have to honor the name of Reagan.
		And also about the Trump USDA, 98% of them quit because these are scientists inspecting our food.
		98% of them quit because Trump wanted to change the location.
		All in all sis, Trump got more points for naying off 2,500 air traffic controllers, and Trump got more points for closing USDA.
		These are foundational American organizations which did good.
		Makes no sense.
		This country makes no sense anymore.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, James.
		A previous caller mentioned the crash.
		I just want to tell you that this is from WSA 9.
		That was in 1982.
		It says the Potomac plane crash rekindles memories of Air Florida Flight 90 tragedy.
		So what happened on that day was January 13th, 1982.
		It crashed into the 14th Street Bridge above the Potomac River just moments after taking off from National Airport.
		And you can see here rescue operations of pulling people from the very cold waters of the Potomac during that time.
		That was 40 years ago.
		It says, so what's happening now, this happened shortly after 9 p.m.
		This crash that happened last night, Wednesday.
		It was making its descent into Ronald Reagan National Airport.
		And the plane had 60 passengers, four crew members.
		As of this point, there are no survivors, but that is ongoing, so we will continue to update you with that.
		James, an Akron, Ohio Democrat, you're next.
unidentified		Yeah, like the last guy, I've been dealing with these politics since 1956.
		Watching that, in fact, I've watched the Washington Journal inception and all that stuff.
		But look, here's what I'm concerned with.
		I'm kind of really upset, and I get upset all the time.
		It's like the Lake and Riley Act that was passed.
		One-third of the Democrats voted for it, and it's not a popular bill with the Democrats because of the deportation and stuff like that that's in that bill.
		But John Lewis Voting Rack Act, not one Republican voted for it, not one.
		And when it became time to get it through the Senate, because in the Congress all the Democrats voted for it, the Senate, there was two Democrats, Tristan Sinema and the guy from West Virginia.
		I can't think of his name right now.
		But they voted against Joe Manchin.
		They couldn't get it in to even get a vote taken on the bill.
		And when they asked why, they stated that not them, but some of the Republicans, they were more concerned about if they get that bill through, the next thing we would have D.C. and Puerto Rico become a state, and therefore then we'd get in the majority because they felt that the representatives and the Senate people from those two states would be Democrats or black, basically.
		And they said the Republicans would never win again.
		And the Republicans right now, they had no problem getting Lake and Riley through in less than two years, but we've been trying to get voting rights since 1965.
		And we can't get voting rights for everybody in this country.
		And they say we're not racist, but all of the racists are in the Republican Party.
		The White Supremacists, the John Birch Society, the Whig Party, all the people in 1965, where they switched all the racist groups, went to the Republican Party, and yet they keep calling the Democrats racist.
		I'm really upset.
		I'm really upset.
		And not about the Lake and Riley herself.
		I think we needed something there.
		But I'm just upset about the voting for black people that are not allowed to vote.
		And I get disappointed when I hear black Republicans come in and say they voted for Trump.
		That is just embarrassing for me as a black person.
		I'm embarrassed every time I hear a black person call in and say he voted for Trump.
		Very embarrassed.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And this is, you mentioned Lake and Riley Act.
		NPR says Trump signs first bill of his second presidency, the Lake and Riley Act, into law.
		This happened yesterday at the White House.
		You can see that there.
		We're going to go now to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who is speaking to reporters.
unidentified		As well as in Kansas and across the country, this morning we all share in a profound sense of grief.
unidentified		I do want to thank the first responders who acted quickly last night, who ran towards danger, went into a very frigid river, and have worked throughout the night.
muriel bowser ▲ ● ▼		Chief Donnelly reported in last night's briefing that we have a strong mutual aid agreement in our region, and those teams have worked together throughout the night in really tough and heartbreaking conditions.
unidentified		And we should all thank them for their heroic efforts.
unidentified		So we'll have several updates today.
muriel bowser ▲ ● ▼		I'm first going to turn to the Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, and then you will hear directly from Chief John Donnelly with a situational update.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		Thank you, Mayor.
		Again, Sean Duffy here, Secretary of Transportation.
		We wish we were gathering for different purposes today.
		I just want to let you know that the Department of Transportation, the FAA, along with the White House, President Trump, local, state, and federal partners all working together on this incident in unison.
		I couldn't be prouder of this team that's been assembled working tirelessly.
		Mayor, I want to thank you specifically for your work.
		The American Airline flight coming into land was in a standard flight pattern as it was coming into DCA.
		So this was not unusual with military aircraft flying the river and aircraft landing at DCA.
		And again, if you live in the area, you'll see that frequently with those two aircraft working together.
		As many of you have reported, we have located the two aircrafts.
		The fuselage of the American Airline plane was inverted.
		It's been located in three different sections.
		It's in about waist-deep water.
		So that recovery is going to go on today.
		As that recovery takes place of the fuselage of the aircraft, NTSB is going to start to analyze that aircraft, partner with the FAA with all the information we have to get the best results possible for the American people.
		I would just say that safety is our expectation.
		Everyone who flies in American skies expects that we fly safely, that when you depart an airport, you get to your destination.
		That didn't happen last night.
		And I know that President Trump, his administration, the FAA, the DOT, we will not rest until we have answers for the families and for the flying public.
		You should be assured that when you fly, you're safe.
unidentified		Thank you.
		Thank you, Secretary.
		Thank you, Mayor.
		I'm joined today with Fire Chief Bonnet from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
		And I'm John Donnelly, Chief of the District of Columbia Fire and EMS Department.
		Last night at 8.48, the control tower sounded an alert, which alerts responders to respond to a report of an aircraft crash on or near the airport.
		That sets off an immediate response from the Airport Authority Fire Department, from the District of Columbia and Metropolitan Harbor Patrol fireboats and other fireboats on the river in order to support that type of operation.
		Very quickly, this call escalated.
		It became apparent, you know, the responders realized that they had a plane crash and immediately escalated to a response that ultimately included about 300 people last night.
		These responders found extremely frigid conditions.
		They found heavy wind.
		They found ice on the water.
		And they operated all night in those conditions.
		I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the agencies that responded in addition to DC Fire and EMS and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
		Montgomery County Fire Department, the Prince George's County Fire Department, the Charles County Fire Department, the Baltimore County Police Department, the Ana Rundle County Fire Department, the Alexandria Fire Department, the Arlington County Fire Department, the Fairfax Fire Department, the Prince William Fire Department, the Baltimore City Police Department, the Maryland State Police, the Maryland Natural Resources Police, the Department of Defense,
		the Joint Base Bowling Fire Department, and the staff there, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Coast Guard, the United States Park Police, the Metropolitan Police Department, the FBI, and the NTSP.
		Despite all those efforts, we are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.
		At this point, we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident.
		And we have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter.
		The District Office of the Medical Examiner has lead on reuniting these bodies and these people with their loved ones, and we will continue to work to find all the bodies and collect them and reunite them with their loved ones.
		We should also acknowledge that the Virginia Medical Examiner and the Army Medical Examiner are involved in this operation and a very important part of getting people identified.
muriel bowser ▲ ● ▼		Our hearts are certainly with all of the crew and American Airlines, and we'll hear from CEO Ison.
unidentified		Thank you, Mayor.
		Good morning.
		I'm Robert Isom, the CEO of American Airlines.
		I want to express my sincere condolences for the accident that happened at DCA last night.
		We're absolutely heartbroken for the family and loved ones of the passengers and crew members, and also for those that were on the military aircraft.
		Our focus right now is doing everything that we can to support all of those involved and also the PSA Airlines team.
		This is devastating.
		We are all hurting incredibly.
		We urge any family and friends looking for information about their loved ones to call our designated helpline, and that's at 1-800-679-8215, 1-800-679-8215.
		Here's what I can share at this early stage.
		American Eagle Flight 5342, operated by PSA Airlines, traveling from Wichita, Kansas to Reagan National Airport, was involved in an accident just before 9 p.m. local time on final approach into Reagan National.
		It collided with a military aircraft on an otherwise normal approach.
		And at this time, we don't know why the military aircraft came into the path of the PSA aircraft.
		Flight 5342, a CRJ 700, was under the command of four crew members.
		They carried 60 passengers, as you know, for a total of 64 people on board.
		In addition to local resources already here in D.C., American Airlines has activated our care team, and that's a group of specialists that are trained to support these types of responses.
		These team members are on site, are arriving soon.
		And additionally, we have members of our GO team that are on ground here in DC, and they're being deployed with resources to do everything that we can to take care of the needs of the families and the loved ones of the passengers and crew members.
		And that is our sole focus.
		And we're so grateful for the first responders.
		They've been working through the night with courageous efforts.
		We're actively working with local, state, and federal authorities on emergency response efforts and closely coordinating with PSA Airlines as they cooperate fully with the NTSB on the investigation.
		I know that there are many questions.
		And at this early stage, I just won't be able to answer many, but we'll provide additional information as it comes.
		Thank you.
		I want to introduce the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority CEO Jack Carter.
		The authority manages Reagan, Washington National, and Dallas International.
		Good morning, and thank you, Mayor.
		First, let me begin by expressing our condolences for all the victims of this flight and for their families.
		There's a lot of grieving going on, and so we're very sympathetic to that.
		I want to echo what was said about the first responders.
		When there's a problem in this area, everybody drops everything and they rush to wherever the problem is.
		So I want to thank the chief, the entire team from Washington, D.C., but just as important, the list of folks that the chief described.
		The federal authorities have been here en masse.
		And so a lot of effort was brought to bear.
		Unfortunately, we weren't able to rescue anyone.
		But we are in the recovery mode right now.
		And I just want to, you know, last night I expressed the fact that we hope to open at 11 o'clock today.
		And that is still the case.
		We're going to open the airport at 11 o'clock.
		And again, condolences to the families and thanks to the many, many who are still out there working very, very hard to complete this recovery.
		Thank you, Ma'am.
		I do want to acknowledge that the Virginia Transportation Secretary is here in addition to the Alexandria Mayor.
		And I will like to ask members of the Virginia Congressional delegation to the podium next.
		U.S. Senator Mark Warner, followed by Tim Kaine and Representative Don Beyer.
		Thank you, Mayor.
		I want to join with everyone else and express my condolences for the victims, for folks who don't live in the DMV.
		We are made up of a lot of jurisdictions.
		Reagan Airport's in Virginia.
		Across the river, we have Maryland, obviously the district.
		But as been indicated by the chief, when tragedy happens, all those distinctions between the various jurisdictions and our federal partners all disappear.
		And I want to again thank all the first responders.
		On a personal note, I'll just add that literally I now know I was coming back from the district from a dinner to my home in Old Town Alexandria.
		And while I did not see the collision, I wondered.
		I'd never seen this many red lights streaming towards the airport and across the river in Maryland about this time.
		My phone started blowing up and I realized that this actually had taken place.
		There'll be a time to figure out.
		I know NTSB will have a briefing later in the day.
		But to the victims, our condolences to the first responders, our thanks.
		Sorrow, thanks, and questions.
tim kaine ▲ ● ▼		So sorrow, as all have expressed, to the crew, to the passengers, to the soldiers, to their families, to their friends, to their loved ones, to people who are still trying to get information and unsure whether their loved ones have been lost.
tim kaine ▲ ● ▼		We offer our profound condolences to them and our sorrow for this tragedy.
unidentified		Thanks.
unidentified		I'll echo, Mayor, what you began with.
tim kaine ▲ ● ▼		When you see a challenge like this and you see people from so many different agencies, local, state, federal, with different uniforms, different badges, but working in such a coordinated way, even in the midst of a tragedy, it does give you a sense of appreciation and pride in people's willingness to come to the danger and work together.
unidentified		And I started to see that as a local official 30 years ago in Richmond and definitely have seen it here.
		And then finally, questions.
		There are going to be a lot of questions, obviously, a lot of questions.
tim kaine ▲ ● ▼		And that's what the NTSB's job is, is to be an independent investigator of incidents like this.
unidentified		And they are here.
		We were in dialogue with them earlier.
		Today, they've been here since they got the alert, and they will be doing the work and playing lead in answering the many questions that we have.
		And that's as it should be.
		It's not a time to speculate, it's a time to investigate and get answers to the questions we need.
		I have confidence that will be done.
		Thank you.
		Following up on the Senator, I think grief, thanks, and service.
		With millions and millions of Americans traveling every year, we are all grieving, knowing that it could have been our loved ones, it could have been us.
		And our hearts go out to all those who have lost folks.
		In a most partisan place, also, I'm really thankful that Democrats and Republicans, people from all over, have come together to try to make sure that people are served.
		As a local representative, I want the families to know that our office is available to serve you in any way we possibly can through this time of grief and transition and loss.
		And then also just note that we're deeply grateful for the people who risked their lives last night on a moment's notice and spent the whole night on the river in the ice and the wind serving us.
		And then finally, as Senator Kane, Senator Warner noted, after the NTSB investigation, we've got to make sure that at the federal level and with the support of Virginia, Maryland, D.C., We're doing everything we can to make sure this does not happen again.
muriel bowser ▲ ● ▼		So with that, it's been said already that the National Transportation Safety Board becomes the lead agency in the investigation.
unidentified		Our jurisdiction and D.C., where the crash occurred over the river, concludes as we in the leadership role of the Unified Command as we shift to a recovery effort.
		We expect the National Transportation Safety Board to provide briefings to the press later in the day.
		So, at this point, we can take a few questions.
		Yes?
		Can you say without a shadow of a doubt that people are safe to fly?
		What we're talking about, what we can talk about today, is what happened here with the collision of these vehicles.
		We said what we know, and that the National Transportation Safety Board continues to investigate.
		I don't know that any of us have been briefed on anything that would suggest any other aircraft are implicated.
		Yes?
		You're still missing 30-plus people in the water.
		What are some of the challenges in recovering them right now?
		Chief.
		So, the rescue operation or the recovery operation goes on.
		It's a lot of touch and feel in the different parts of the plane or in the helicopter and get the crash areas a little spread out.
		So, we've got some work to do.
		And I think it's a pretty normal type of situation.
		I don't think it's extraordinary.
		How spread out is this debris field?
		So, the wind started blowing last night, so we've had debris travel from the airport down as far as the Wilson Bridge.
		Mile-wise, how far is that?
		I couldn't tell you.
		Okay.
		Less than a month.
		This is a question for CEO Carter.
		You're going to open the airport at 11 o'clock this morning.
		How are you going to do that?
		And what impact is that going to have on operations, on passengers, on people's anxiety?
		How are we going to do this?
		Well, we're going to open the airport at 11 o'clock.
		It's safe.
		We've worked with all the federal agencies, FAA, and it's been determined that we can open that airport safely.
		The recovery effort that's on our property is on the waterfront.
		Our primary runway, 119, will be open.
		It's away from any activity.
		We're going to have a secure area around that.
		So all are comfortable that we can get back to operations.
		Now, each airline will announce or communicate to their passengers what their operations are going to be.
		Obviously, their networks were disrupted overnight, and so we might have a slow recovery.
		But the bottom line is we will begin to have aircraft move in and out of the zip water at 11 o'clock.
		Okay, so one, two, three.
		Has the flight recorder been recovered, the black box at all?
		I don't think we can say anything about what's in the NTSB's purview.
		You mentioned the airport opens three hours from now.
		There's a lot of helicopter traffic from the military, U.S. Park Police, and all that.
		Will helicopters be flying right through here as well beyond the recovery efforts?
		I don't know the answer to that.
		Jack, do you have anything to add?
		We don't have anything to add about that.
		Yes.
		Just for Secretary Duffy, can you reassure Americans that the U.S. still has the safest airspace in the world?
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		So the question is, can I guarantee the American flying public that the United States has the most safe and secure airspace in the world?
		And the answer to that is absolutely.
		Yes, we do.
		We have early indicators of what happened here.
		And I will tell you with complete confidence, we have the safest airspace in the world.
unidentified		When it comes to informing these families who have tragically lost their loved ones, what has that looked like so far?
		Have any of them been informed?
		The flight manifest, is there any details you can provide on that front?
		I see you, can you add anything?
		All I can say is that we have published the 1-800 number.
		We have family assistance centers set up here in DCA.
		We do in Wichita as well.
		I'm not at liberty to give the number of families that have been that have used those services, but we are making that use.
		We have over 100 team members that are either here or on their way.
		They're specially trained to work with family members, handle travel arrangements, hotel arrangements, incidentals, to make sure that we're taking care of people in any way that they can.
		As our teams are hurting and suffering, as our passengers and their families need assistance, we're doing everything we can.
		I don't have any other more information on that right now.
		Mayor, you're next.
		Chief Donnelly, can I ask you to describe the next phase of the investigation?
		How confident are you that you'll be able to recover all 67 of these bodies?
		And can you speak to some of the debris that's also being pulled out of the river?
		We understand there are some suitcases, you know, some other things that have been pulled out from the river.
		And I would like to ask anyone here, perhaps the Transportation Secretary or Mr. Isim, if we know anything about these victims, age ranges, nationalities, anything of that nature.
		So the next phase of this operation is going to be led by the NTSB.
		All of us are working together, though, to search the area and find victims.
		I'm confident that we will do that.
		And that will take us a little bit of time, though.
		It may involve some more equipment as far as the things being collected.
		I don't have personal knowledge.
		I know that we have been collecting debris that you would expect to see from a plane.
		Okay, anything about the victims?
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		So the question is about the victims.
		The NTSB is going to lead that portion of the contact with the victims.
		I believe American is going to be involved with that as well, and so will the FAA and the Department of Transportation.
unidentified		Secretary Duffy, we're going to take some questions over here.
		One, two, three, four.
		Okay.
		First Secretary Duffy, the flight path that the helicopter was on, is that a common flight path, and is it normal for helicopters to get clearance to cut across the busy approach path?
		So I don't know if you all could hear the question.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		It's a question about the flight path of the helicopter.
		I don't want to go into too much detail about the information we have from the FAA, but obviously it is not standard to have aircraft collide.
		I want to be clear on that.
		But prior to the collision, the flight paths that were being flown from the military and from American, that was not unusual for what happens in the DC airspace.
		And as this investigation moves forward, we will be able to provide more information to you about the details of that statement.
unidentified		I wanted to follow up on that question regarding the flight path, because you said it's standard.
		So can you speak to the conversations with the air traffic control?
		Were there blind spots here?
		I don't know if you can see that.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		So the question is, were there blind spots with air traffic control?
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		I don't want to make statements about that.
unidentified		I don't need into that answer.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		But again, I think whether it was air traffic control, whether it was military aircraft, helicopters, or the American flight, everything was standard in the lead up to the crash.
		Now, obviously, there was something happened here.
		You'll get more information and more details as this investigation moves forward.
		We'll learn what happened.
		But again, those who live in the DC area, we see military helicopters fly up and down the river.
		It's a standard path that they fly.
		They're used to aircraft landing at DCA, and there's a procedure in place because this happens every day.
		Something went wrong here.
		I look forward to the time and point when we can give you that information.
		But I don't want to comment on that right now.
unidentified		Senator Gayne, Senator Warner, you all have been very vocal about your concerns about busy runways here, air traffic.
		I know it's still early in the investigation.
		I'm just curious any steps that you all plan to take to address that.
		We have raised this issue continuously.
		We've got very busy airspace.
		I think we will ask questions, but at the appropriate time.
		But we are in this period right now.
		Families are still being notified.
		We're trying to figure out what happened.
		There'll be time for those discussion updates.
		Yeah, I just say the same thing.
		We've been pretty plain about our concerns, but it isn't a good time to speculate right now.
		We have faith that the NTSB will provide the answers about this.
		Okay.
		You look forth here, and I'm going to take three in the middle, and then we're going to have to wrap one, two, three after this young man.
		Thank you, appreciate it.
		Chief, I know again, I can imagine it must be traumatic for your first responders to have to deal with this.
		How are they doing right now?
		And are you all going to be offering any services to help them as they process this?
		So thank you for the question.
		Our first responders are Brazilian people, but yes, this call will be hard for them.
		Our peer support teams are already engaged with the responders, and we'll be following up on that to make sure that they're okay.
		But I think the concern is real.
		Okay.
		Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
		What kind of communication was there between the helicopter and the tower, the plane and the tower and the helicopter and the plane?
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		I don't want to say too much on the communication between the helicopter and the tower and the airline and the tower, but I will say this, there was communication.
		It was, I would say, standard communication.
		So there was not a breakdown, if that's your question, in communication between the military helicopter and the American airline flight.
		There was communication between the aircraft and the tower.
unidentified		Was the plane aware there was a helicopter in the area?
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		I would say the helicopter was aware that there was a plane in the area.
unidentified		You mentioned that, so the president, you said yesterday that you called into the briefing room.
		Has he returned to the briefing room since then?
		Have you spoken?
		Also, a question about the National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
		He's saying that there was 30 bodies that have been recovered.
		He just said that at the White House.
		Curious, I know you're in this presser right now, so that's hard for you to update, but I do have the question on the code seen for you.
		I can do the body.
		Okay, so in terms of body recovery, as we recover bodies, we have a process, and we're not counting any bodies until they're in the possession of the medical director.
		So there may be some fluctuating in numbers that other people would report, but our numbers from the medical examiner.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		So in regard to the president in the briefing room, I've been with this team for the last hour plus as we've worked through the details of information we wanted to give you.
		But it is my understanding that either this morning he was going to be in the situation room or the situation room is obviously briefing the president.
		He has been kept in full appraisal of what has taken place.
unidentified		Okay, last two of you, and you, ma'am, first.
		You mentioned that the aircraft are on a standard flight pattern.
		Just curious, when the airport opens at 11 today, will planes be on that flight pattern again?
		Are they being directed to fly a different way to land?
		Just do you want to?
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		Well, I mean, safety is paramount.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		And I don't have that information quite yet from the FAA, so I don't want to provide an information or I don't want to provide an answer or inaccurate information on what routes will be flown out of a DCA.
unidentified		Okay, last one.
		Two questions really quickly.
		What do you know about the experience in the history of the pilots of both the American Airlines plane and the Army Black Hodg helicopter?
		And then for Secretary Duffy, last night the President had said that this could have been prevented and questioned why air traffic control didn't tell its helicopter what to do.
		Is that something that investigators have determined should have happened in this situation?
		Quickly, Secretary.
		Just quickly, I don't have a lot of information to release, but these are experienced pilots.
		I know that the captain had six years with PSA or almost six years at PSA and the first officer almost two years.
		And again, standard approach.
		And that's about all I can say.
		Thank you.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		In regard to the military, I don't have information in regard to the experience of the military pilots.
		I would just note that this was classified as a training mission.
		Sometimes people could think that a training mission is someone who is inexperienced in the cockpit.
		This is, we call these missions that are flown in the DC area as our pilots are getting hours and experienced training missions.
		So don't read into that, that we had how many hours the pilots on the military aircraft had.
		And you had another question for me that was.
unidentified		Last night, the president had said that this could be prevented and also that air traffic control questioning why they may not have communicated with the helicopter telling them what to do.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		So we are going to wait for all the information to come in from this vantage point.
		To back up what the President said, what I've seen so far, do I think this was preventable?
		Absolutely.
unidentified		Thank you.
		Is there an acting FAA director?
		Thank you, everyone.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		We are back with you here on Washington Journal.
		You just saw that live news conference updating you on the situation in the Potomac River.
		Two aircraft collided: a Black Hawk helicopter, Army helicopter, and a American Airlines passenger jet collided on approach to Reagan National Airport here in Washington, D.C.
		The fire and EMS chief has said he is not expecting any survivors from that crash and that they have switched from a search and rescue to a recovery operation.
		27 people have been pulled from the plane, one from the helicopter.
		They are said to continue that until they find all the victims of that flight.
		The airport itself is set to reopen at 11 a.m.
		It's closed currently, and the NTSB is taking control of that investigation to find out what happened.
		We have that full news conference.
		We will have that full news conference for you on our website if you missed any part of it and would like to go back to that.
		And we're going to continue taking calls for a few more minutes on this segment.
		Here's Rob in Auburn, New York, Independent Line.
unidentified		Thank you for taking my call and covering the news conference.
		I would like to use this tragedy to make two bold propositions to my fellow Americans.
		Perhaps Mr. Trump could use this experience to offer retention bonuses to members of, for instance, the FAA, the Air Traffic Controllers Association, the National Transportation Safety Board, and encourage young Americans to go to work for the United States government.
		Second, in terms of Doge, the Department of Gross Exaggeration, perhaps Mr. Trump could encourage Mr. Musk to take off his Occupy Mars t-shirts, put on a t-shirt representing the USAID or the American Peace Corps, go back to his homeland of South America,
		where the unemployment rate among adults is 35%, where the port of Cape Town is in virtual collapse, and where the public school system is so badly broken for lack of economy.
		Let's get something good out of this tragedy.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Rob, and this is Alan in Brooklyn, New York, Democrat.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Alan.
unidentified		Yes, good morning.
		This is a very unusual week.
		There are so many meaningful overlaps here, even before this tragedy happened with the air flight.
		First of all, we're talking about people who came out as emergency responders who had to know what they were doing.
		They all had to be trained, even the lowest-level people flying helicopters, driving ambulances, divers who know how to search in these kinds of cold, dark conditions.
		Were any of them asked about their loyalty to the president personally over the Constitution, or were they asked only about their loyalty to law and the competence for their jobs?
		This is the same week that we're holding hearings to confirm a crew of cabinet nominees who were described gleefully by members of the Russian television program that if they were all approved by the Senate, it would help dismantle America from within, brick by brick.
		I would think this would be an occasion for every Republican center to consider whether this is the course they want to follow, whether they have enough courage to face a primary challenge in order to defend the Constitution and the competence of our workers from a president who would rather have incompetence in office who are pleasing his friend in Russia or who are pleasing his own ego.
		We don't have the luxury of this when tragedies like this happen.
		This is the same week that a distinguished experienced leader, Mark Milley, who had served as head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was outrageously stripped of his security and his status because he had the audacity to pledge his first loyalty to the Constitution over any one man who would be king.
		And for this, his whole family is being endangered.
		This is the same week we celebrated the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz from people who insisted on loyalty to the leader over loyalty to law.
		And if anyone saw Spencer Tracy in judgment at Nuremberg, they know the end of the film.
		One of the judges who was convicted of participating in the Nazi atrocities, even remotely, asked how could it come to this?
		I didn't know it came to this.
		And he was told by Spencer Tracy, it came to this when the first innocent man was wrongfully convicted on facts that were falsely presented.
		And if we are going to avoid this kind of thing in America, 80 years after Auschwitz, I can't notice the connection.
		We must focus on competence and law and not allow ourselves to fall into a dictatorship where any one man's will or ego is the primary controlling factor in our government.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Alan.
		On the Republican line in Mesa, Arizona, here's Mo.
		Good morning.
		Mo, are you there?
		Mesa, Arizona?
unidentified		And Colonel Lamar.
unidentified		Hello.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Oh, sorry.
		Phil in Aberdeen, Maryland, Independent Line.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning, Mimi.
		I was really disgusted this morning by when I picked up the turn on the TV, and the first thing I listen to Cease Band every morning.
		And the first thing I hear was to talk about the tragedy in Washington was caused by DEI hires.
		That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life.
		These things happen, and just to blame it on DEI hires is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
		I don't know which direction this country's headed, but we're headed down a really bad road.
		And I think that if we, as citizens, don't really get into people and let them know the truth, then it's going to be worse.
		But thank you, Mimi.
		I appreciate you letting me have my piece this morning.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Lynchburg, Virginia, on the Independent Line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Robert, you're next.
unidentified		Hello.
		Good morning, Mimi.
		And first of all, my prayers go out to the ones that lost no ones and the tragic accidents that happened.
		I'm a retired military guy myself.
		And anything that happened to America right now, the people that voted for Trump and the Republicans All responsible for whatever happened between now and four years from now.
		You want to read what you show.
		And Obama said, I can't believe so many people got hoodwink.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And Laverne, Fort Worth, Texas, Democrat, good morning.
unidentified		Good morning, giving Lord God.
		I want to make a comment on, I have listened to President Trump on one of his speeches, and he has said that he had stole this election and he was going to steal the next one.
		And also, there was not going to be any more elections.
		And I wanted to know, could Congress or the DOC or whoever could investigate that?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Laverne, I don't think President Trump has said that he stole the last election and stole this one.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		I don't, that's not accurate.
unidentified		Yes, he did.
		Yes, he did.
		He was making a speech.
		I think it was shortly after he had done his inauguration and he had made that comment.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		And with that, the next segment is Bobby Cogan of the Center for American Progress takes a closer look at the Trump administration's attempts to freeze federal aid and grant programs and the funding battles to come.
		Later, we'll talk to Brian Blaise of the Paragon Health Institute.
		He'll discuss the Make America Healthy Again movement and health policy priorities for the Trump administration.
		We'll be right back.
unidentified		American History TV, Saturdays on C-SPAN 2, exploring the people and events that tell the American story.
		This weekend at 3 p.m. Eastern, we'll bring you the military commissioning ceremony for Harriet Tubman, given posthumously by the Maryland National Guard.
		Maryland Governor Wes Moore also spoke at the event.
		At 5:30 p.m. Eastern, Michael Tackett looks back on the career and legacy of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, who stepped down as Senate Republican leader at the end of the 118th Congress.
		Mr. Tackett is the Deputy Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief for the Associated Press and author of a new biography on Senator McConnell titled The Price of Power.
		And at 7 p.m. Eastern, American History TV begins a new series looking at the first 100 days of past presidential terms.
		This week, we focus on the early months of President George Washington's first term in 1789, including the establishment of the office of the president, the formation of a cabinet, and the first judicial appointments.
		Then at 8 p.m. Eastern on Lectures in History, College of William and Mary lecturer Amy Stallings discusses the history of the 1607 Jamestown settlement in Virginia and efforts over the four centuries to preserve and remember the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
		Exploring the American story.
		Watch American History TV Saturdays on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org slash history.
		Book TV every Sunday on C-SPAN 2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books.
		Here's a look at what's coming up this weekend.
		At 8 p.m. Eastern, former Obama administration Homeland Security senior advisor Charles Marino argues that President Biden's border policies have weakened U.S. national security in his book Terrorists on the Border and in Our Country.
		And at 9 p.m. Eastern, critic and writer Colette Shade, author of Y2K, reflects on how cultural and technological innovations of the early 2000s impacted the past, present, and future.
		Then at 10 p.m. Eastern on Afterwards, Eva Doe of the Washington Post shares her book, House of Huawei, which examines how Huawei became China's most powerful company and what that means for its global competitors.
		She's interviewed by the Council on Foreign Relations Emerging Technologies and National Security Chair Adam Siegel.
		Watch Book TV every Sunday on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv.org.
brian lamb ▲ ● ▼		In his latest book titled Wasteland, author Robert Kaplan focuses on the importance of technology on determining the world's future.
		Kaplan, author of 24 books, holds the chair in geopolitics at the Foreign Policy Institute.
		In the chapter number three in his 177-page book, Kaplan claims, quote, civilization is now in flux.
		The ongoing decay of the West is manifested not only in racial tensions coupled with new barriers to free speech, but in the deterioration of dress codes, the erosion of grammar, the decline in sales of serious books and classical music, and so on, all of which have traditionally been signs of civilization.
unidentified		Author Robert Kaplan talks about his book, Wasteland, A World in Permanent Crisis, on this episode of BookNotes Plus with our host Brian Lamb.
		BookNotes Plus is available on the C-SPAN Now free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts.
		Democracy.
		It isn't just an idea.
		It's a process.
		A process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding its basic principles.
		It's where debates unfold, decisions are made, and the nation's course is charted.
		Democracy in real time.
		This is your government at work.
		This is C-SPAN, giving you your democracy, unfiltered.
		Washington Journal continues.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Welcome back to Washington Journal.
		We're joined now by Bobby Kogan.
		He is Federal Budget Policy Senior Director at the Center for American Progress, formerly advisor to the director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Biden administration.
		Bobby, welcome to the program.
unidentified		Mimi, thanks so much for having me on.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So yesterday, the White House rescinded the memo that had frozen all federal grants and loans.
		On Monday night, it had sent out a memo saying that all federal grants, about several trillion dollars, had been frozen.
		Can you bring us up to speed as to what happened and what's happening now?
unidentified		Sure.
		So on day one, the Trump administration proposed kind of a few illegal pauses of some parts of funding, right?
		So some of the Inflation Reduction Act spending, some of the bipartisan infrastructure law spending, and a lot of our foreign assistance.
		And then on Monday, they said, actually, we're going to freeze about a third of the budget, right?
		Grants, loans, and almost all of our federal financial assistance, not Medicare, not Medicaid, and not the things that go directly to people, but all the stuff that goes into states or authorities or that sort of stuff.
		On Tuesday, they then sent internal guidance to the agency saying, yep, let's carry it out.
		And the agency sent a bunch of emails to all their staff saying, yep, we're carrying this out.
		But then publicly, they started walking back.
		So privately, they were saying, let's go forward.
		Publicly, they walked it back and said, what?
		We didn't mean that.
		We just meant our original day one stuff.
		And then yesterday, they completely rescinded the memo that said, yep, let's do a third of the budget.
		And now they're back to kind of their original illegal pauses.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Okay, but the, so Caroline Levitt, the spokesperson for the White House, said that the pause itself is still in effect.
		The memo is not.
		But there was a court case and a judge has paused that.
		So what's happening with that?
unidentified		Yeah, so I have interpreted the way that I kind of square that is that I Because the White House's public stance was that the Monday memo didn't say what we all saw it, you know, read it to say that, you know, that Monday memo said, let's go beyond our initial pauses and instead pause a third of the budget, right?
		Pause WIC and Head Start and Snap and that sort of stuff.
		But then publicly, they said, whoa, we're not pausing all of those things.
		We're just doing our original stuff.
		Again, privately, their guidance implied that they, in fact, were going ahead, but their public stance was they weren't doing anything.
		So when Levitt then said, you know, when Levitt said, when they rescinded that Monday memo and Levitt said, well, we're still going ahead, I believe that what she was saying was, yeah, we're still going ahead with our original day one stuff.
		And this was a spin to pretend that they hadn't walked back their Monday stuff.
		Of course, federal judge interpreted differently and said, we now don't know what you're saying.
		So let's just pause everything while we're at it.
		You know, let's put a stay on everything while we're at it.
		But again, I believe that that was all their spin to pretend that they hadn't walked back their Monday order and said, well, our plan was always to just continue pausing our day one stuff.
		And so we're going to continue our day one pause.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So currently, given the judge's order, Bobby, is everything going forward as usual?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Are all those expenses going out or are they paused?
unidentified		So with a caveat that we don't actually know whether they're going to comply with the court order, if they're complying with the court order, the Monday stuff is paused, but the day one illegal actions are continuing, right?
		So the foreign assistance pause will still be continuing.
		And then also the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act stuff.
		So that stuff is still ongoing.
		I believe that's what Levitt was referring to.
		But again, the caveat here is that part of the issue is that the White House was giving different information to the agencies and to the public.
		And it's not really clear what, you know, what they're going to follow and what they think they have the authority to do.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So now the administration had argued that this freeze was necessary because they wanted to make sure that all funding complies with President Trump's agenda.
		You worked for OMB.
		Is this typical when a new administration comes in?
unidentified		No, it is not.
		It's also illegal.
		You are not allowed to pause for policy reasons.
		If you look at in 2020, the Government Accountability Office, GAO, which is tasked with determining whether you followed the Impoundment Control Act, when they said that Trump had violated it for his 2019 Ukraine kind of pause, they say very explicitly, you're not allowed to pause for policy reasons.
		So no, this isn't typical.
		And no, this isn't allowed.
		If you don't like a law, you are allowed to try to change it.
		Republicans have a trifecta.
		I would expect a lot of laws to change.
		And in fact, there is a path to legally pause a lot of the money.
		They probably wouldn't have been able to pause all of it.
		But there are paths to legally pause it.
		And there are paths to legally try, like filibuster proof, try to rescind a lot of the money that they might not like.
		But you are not allowed to, just because you don't like it, stop carrying out the law.
		Like that, that you're not allowed to do.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And we have Bobby Cogan with us for the next 20 minutes.
		If you'd like to call in and ask a question about that federal grant and loan money that has been paused by the administration and the memo that's been rescinded, you can do so.
		It's 202748-8000 for Democrats, 202748-8001 for Republicans, and 202748-8002 for Independents.
		You mentioned something called impoundment.
		Can you explain what that is?
unidentified		Yeah, so impoundment is any action or inaction that causes money to not be obligated or spent either temporarily or permanently.
		So it is any way in which you cause some money that is supposed to be obligated or spent to either pause or entirely stop being spent.
		That's what impoundment is.
		It is illegal.
		It was illegal before the Impoundment Control Act existed.
		And then the Impoundment Control Act came in and codified that and kind of actually gave two limited paths to doing it.
		So there were a few sparse court cases before Nixon that were never adjudicated, right?
		Just because the president does something doesn't mean that it's legal.
		You have to, the way you determine whether something's legal is it goes to court.
		And then a judge says, yeah, that's fine or no, that's not fine.
		So there are a few sparse cases.
		But Nixon, who Scalia called the Mahatma Gandhi of impounders, Nixon started kind of broadly impounding.
		And then those went to court.
		And before the Impoundment Control Act existed, the court, some cases were ruled non-justiciable because they couldn't find standing.
		But of the cases that were decided on the merits, Nixon lost every single one.
		And it's because the court said, hey, the law says here's the money and this is what you have to do with the money.
		So he was breaking appropriations law and breaking authorization law.
		And then we passed a law kind of a couple weeks before he left office being like, by the way, this definitely isn't allowed.
		But if you do want to do it, here are the paths.
		So impoundment, again, is some mechanism through which you are illegally not allowing money to go out.
		And so, as they say, ICA created two paths to legally do it.
		You could call for the money to be peeled back, and then you get to temporarily pause it while you called for it to be peeled back.
		You also could send a special message to Congress listing some bits of information, including what you're appealing back, how long you want to peel it back for, what the effect would be.
		And then you have to give one of the three justifiable reasons.
		And if you do all that, then you are legally allowed to pause it.
		But President Trump didn't do any of that.
		He didn't transmit a special message, so it's not okay.
		He didn't give the information required in a special message.
		And he didn't pick one of the three justifiable reasons.
		As I said, the government accountability office has said very clearly that I don't like the policy.
		Policy reasons are not a legitimate reason to pause.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Well, Bobby, unless you repeal the Impoundment Act, which is what President Trump has said he wants to do on the campaign trail.
		And his nominee to lead the OMB is Russ Vogt.
		He has also been a critic of the Impoundment Act.
		What kind of, first do you think it's possible politically that that would be repealed?
		And then what impact do you think that would have?
unidentified		Sure.
		So I would just reiterate that Nixon lost his impoundment cases before the Impoundment Control Act existed.
		I mean, some of them were adjudicated after it existed, but they were all adjudicated on pre-Impoundment Control Act law.
		So it's not, you know, the way that Russ Vogt and Donald Trump speak about this is they say, oh, well, presidents have always had the authority to do this.
		Presidents have been doing it for 200 years.
		Then this unconstitutional law came in and unconstitutionally stopped us from doing it.
		But we just need to, you know, as soon as that goes away, then we can go back to doing it.
		That's not true.
		Nixon lost every single case that was decided in the merits.
		So you can't do it because authorizing law says you can't do it.
		You can't do it because appropriations law say you can't do it.
		I don't expect the Supreme Court to overturn the Impoundment Control Act.
		The argument that they are making is that Congress may not bind you on spending.
		It's quite radical.
		They say you can bind someone on revenue, right?
		So they say that tax law is not optional.
		The president doesn't get to pick the tax law.
		They say that criminal law is not optional.
		You don't get to pick whether, you know, kind of the severity of any of the crimes listed or whatever.
		But they say that all spending law is optional.
		That everything is a ceiling.
		You can't spend without it, but it's not a target.
		Congress can't actually mandate it.
		So if Congress says, hey, here's $15 million for a bridge, you're obviously allowed to veto it.
		But what they're saying is that you can sign it into law and then say, that's fine, but I'm going to choose not to do this.
		They say that it would be unconstitutional to say, no, you must do this.
		And what that really means is that anything that is currently bound is also unconstitutional.
		It means Social Security's entitlement is unconstitutional.
		It means Medicare's entitlement is unconstitutional.
		It means Medicaid's entitlement is unconstitutional.
		It means SNAP's entitlement is unconstitutional.
		That the president would always have the authority to say, no, I'm going to give you less because I don't like this.
		That is a very radical belief.
		I don't think Congress would like that because it usurps Congress' role in not just the power of the purse saying, hey, we want to give you money, but in saying, yeah, you actually must do the money that we gave you.
		And so I don't think Congress will like that.
		But as I say, it's so radical.
		I actually can't, with the caveat that the Supreme Court has found creative ways to interpret the law beyond what many lawyers.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So, Bobby Cogan, I want to play for you a portion of OMB Director nominee Russ Vogt.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		He was asked in his recent confirmation hearings about this idea of withholding funding that has been appropriated by Congress, and then I'll have you respond.
gary peters ▲ ● ▼		Mr. Road, under your leadership in 2019, OMB illegally withheld $214 million that Congress appropriated to the Department of Defense to provide security assistance to Ukraine.
		The Government Accountability Office concluded that OMB's actions were a violation of the Empoundment Control Act and that your actions then forced Congress to reappropriate the funds.
		Just four years ago, you told this very committee that under your leadership, OMB would abide by the Impoundment Control Act.
		However, your past actions and public statements suggest that you may not follow this law in the future.
		So my question for you, sir, is if you are confirmed as OMB director again, do you commit to follow the law and allow OMB to withhold funding from and not allow and not allow OMB to withhold funding from programs that Congress has appropriate?
russ vought ▲ ● ▼		Senator, thanks for the question.
		I will always commit to upholding the law.
		I disagree with the characterization of the general accounting office.
		My time at OMB, we followed the law consistently, and we will continue to do so.
gary peters ▲ ● ▼		So that you can withhold funds that are appropriated by Congress?
gary peters ▲ ● ▼		Do you think that's within the law?
russ vought ▲ ● ▼		Again, Senator, we did not hold inappropriately funds.
		We were engaged in a policy process with regard to how funding would flow to Ukraine.
		We released the funding by the end of the fiscal year.
gary peters ▲ ● ▼		Do you believe the Empowerment Control Act of 1974 is the law of the land that you must follow?
russ vought ▲ ● ▼		It is the law of the land.
		As you know, the president has run on that issue.
		He believes it's unconstitutional.
		For 200 years, presidents had the ability to spend less than an appropriation if they could do it for less.
		And we have seen the extent to which this law has contributed to waste, fraud, and abuse.
		But as it pertains to the parameters of how we would use that, that's something that his team will have to consider when they are confirmed in these roles.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Bobby Kogan, what do you make of that?
unidentified		Thank you so much for letting me respond to that.
		I was watching it live and talking to my TV.
		So a couple things.
		Russ Vogt says we followed the law because we did release it.
		And that is not following the law, right?
		The law is actually incredibly clear.
		Section 1013 of the Impoundment Control Act says, if you want to defer funding, which is what they did, they didn't call for the rescission.
		They called for a pause.
		It's very clear.
		It says, if you want to defer funding, you must transmit a special message, which they didn't do.
		And then they say, by the way, there are only three acceptable reasons.
		And you heard Russ Vogt said, well, we were doing it for policy reasons.
		Policy reasons is not one of the three acceptable reasons.
		That's what GAO actually wrote in its statement.
		So here you can see very clearly Russ Vogt making the argument against himself in his statement.
		He says, but we released it before the end of the year, so we're kosher.
		That doesn't matter.
		You're not allowed to pause.
		But while we're at it, he actually released it so late in the year.
		I think he released it like two weeks before the end of the fiscal year, that money ran out.
		So GAO didn't even rule on how bad it was that the money ran out, but they waited so long that they ran out of time to use the money.
		And there were frantic emails from DOD to OMB at the time saying, please release the money, please release the money.
		We are about to run out of time.
		We won't be able to spend this on time.
		And that is quite literally what happened.
		Congress had to go in and rescind and then reappropriate that money to extend the period of availability to allow it to be spent.
		What he did quite literally was pause it so long the money couldn't be used.
		Why?
		Because they didn't like it.
		That is super duper illegal.
		And the fact that Russ Vogt is trying to defend that, which you can see he goes on to say, well, it's just because we don't like the law in the first place.
		Like that's what's going on.
		And it's fine for him to not like a law, but you don't get to just break laws that you don't like.
		Now, the final thing that I want to respond to is you said, well, presidents have been doing this for 200 years.
		And I kind of alluded to his argument earlier when I was speaking with you.
		There are a few narrow cases in the past 200 years.
		By the way, of those cases, some of the ones that Russ brings up are ones where Congress explicitly granted discretion to the president.
		So like Russ loves to talk about this 1803 gunboat case.
		And in it, there were two appropriations.
		One says, here's money.
		And another says, here's another set of money of up to this amount of money that you may use if you think it's in the public interest.
		And Jefferson didn't use that second pot of money because it became irrelevant because we did the Louisiana purchase.
		And so we no longer needed gunboats on the Mississippi because it was no longer our westernmost border.
		And so Jefferson didn't spend it, but Congress had explicitly given him the authority to not spend it.
		So that doesn't actually help his argument at all in any way, shape, or form.
		So there are a couple narrow cases of impoundment, but as I say, they were never challenged.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
unidentified		Just because a president does something doesn't mean it's legal or illegal.
unidentified		As soon as they were actually challenged, they lost.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's take calls for you.
		Mark is wanting to talk to you from Evansdale, Iowa, Independent Line.
		Hi, Mark.
unidentified		Yeah, Bobby, I got a question for you.
		Under the last term of Biden, he used funds to forgive Susan Roans.
		And the Supreme Court said straight out that that can't be done.
		So, how did he be able to do that?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Bobby Cogan.
unidentified		Hey, Mark, thanks so much for calling.
unidentified		I didn't hear exactly what Mark said.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So he was talking about the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness.
unidentified		Yeah.
		So the Biden administration argued that it had the authority to renegotiate existing contracts.
		That actually doesn't cause a dispersal.
		It revises an existing kind of financial asset.
		The Supreme Court said, no, you can't do that.
		So he stopped doing that.
		But it actually wasn't a dispersal or a lack of dispersal in either case.
		So it wasn't an impoundment issue in any way, shape, or form.
		It was a question about whether they could change an existing contract.
		But, you know, the Supreme Court said no, and so he didn't do it.
		I would say that it is common for presidents to try to do something they think is legal and then for courts to say no, you can't do that.
		And so, you know, it's not technically wrong for a president to try something and then for a court to swat it down.
		I would say, kind of what is special about this is that they are walking in saying, well, we just don't think the law that binds us is legal, right?
		So in that case, President Biden said, hey, we think we have authority under the Higher Education Act, and I think some other act for the second attempt at it.
		And so we think we have authority and so we think we can do this.
		In this case, there is a law that very explicitly says that the there are a bunch of laws that actually very explicitly say the Trump administration can't do this.
		And the Trump administration is walking and saying, yes, but we think that those laws are unconstitutional.
		So we think we can just ignore the law.
		And I think that that's kind of a difference in kind.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Here's Margie in Meadville, Pennsylvania, Republican line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Now, I'm an 87-year-old, reasonably intelligent person.
		And this just seems like common sense to me.
		I live in a small town.
		Every time they are going to pass a budget, which is balanced, by the way, the police chief has to come and the head of the water department has to come and the fire chief has to come and say what they did with their money and why they maybe want more the next time.
		So I don't understand the brouhaha.
		It just seems like common sense.
		What did you do with your money and what are you planning to do?
		And it just seems like then we wouldn't have studies on matching SOX, $900,000.
		And by the way, this is a perfect example of the need for line item veto.
		Thank you so much.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Bobby Cogan.
unidentified		Marjorie, thanks so much for calling in and for listening.
		So I actually think it's totally right for Congress to always reevaluate its budget.
		A third of the budget is up for negotiation every single year.
		Other parts are up every few years.
		I think it's completely right for Congress to consistently reevaluate its budget.
		I think this is a separate question of whether you are allowed to unilaterally not follow a budget that is already existing.
		So we are in the midst of negotiating fiscal year 2025 funding and we are temporarily running things on what's called a CR continuing resolution.
		And what's happening here is that President Trump has said, I'm just going to, I'm just going to stop following it because I don't like it.
		And that is, I think, where the problem comes in.
		Republicans want to trifecta.
		I would expect the shape of government to change.
		That's how democracy works.
		And I think that that, you know, the public voted for Republicans, and I would expect to see the government change more to be more in keeping with the Republican agenda.
		I think that that is a separate question from: is the president allowed to simply ignore the law in the meantime, even if Congress might end up saying no to those eventual things?
		And that I think is quite bad.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Danny in Dallas, Texas, line for Democrats.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Good morning from Dallas.
		I was calling to say, first of all, that we're already 10 days into this presidency and we've already got some pretty extreme executive orders.
		And the confusion around this one was particularly scary.
		And here's where I want to pose my question to Bobby.
		Me and my wife, at least, are on Medicaid.
		So we read somewhere that this would probably put it in jeopardy.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So my Utica, Ohio, Republican line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Virgil.
unidentified		Yes, good morning.
		Yeah, I'm listening to this, and I think it's not bad to take a break and look at some of these things and reevaluate what we spend money on, where we give our money.
		That's our tax money.
		And not only that, bring this up again.
		I used to own a record service and I had a contract with the post office.
		And there we go.
		Post office said at the end of the year, hey, I've got some extra parts I want to put on this.
		I've got to get rid of this money because if not, I won't get no bigger budget next year.
		And that's my comment.
		And I'll sit back and listen.
		Thank you.
		Thanks so much for calling in.
		I guess, again, I would reiterate: I do think it is legitimate to reevaluate the budget.
		What is illegal is to pause it entirely in contradiction with the law while you're reevaluating.
		Congress will vote on a new budget in months, and they will decide what they want to do.
		What is completely illegal here is to say, in the meantime, I'm just not going to follow the law.
		And I guess while we're at it, I'd say the pause that they proposed on Monday was sweeping and broad.
		It was, you know, it would have paused about a third of the budget.
		It would have paused, you know, Head Start facilities.
		On February 1st, a whole bunch of new grants go out.
		So, you know, Head Start facilities would have closed on February 1st.
		Section 8 money also goes out, goes out on a monthly basis to housing authorities.
		They have special veterans, families with kids, and people with disabilities have special preference for this.
		So those are kind of the bulk of the folks.
		So that means like, yeah, that means folks are missing their rent payment as kind of this assistance goes away.
		There were kind of immediate effects that would be seen here.
		But again, the point that I want to make is: I do want to give credence to the idea that it is legitimate to pause and sorry, not to pause, but to ask yourself, how do we want to spend our money?
		And that's what you want to do is you then change the law to make it be the way that you want it to be.
		What you're not allowed to do is just ignore the law in the meantime because you don't like it.
		That's it.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Bobby, does the OMB have a role to play in that process as far as how was the money spent?
		Was it spent wisely?
		Is this the amount of money that you really need?
unidentified		So, I mean, OMB does overview, and one of the legitimate reasons to pause, one of the reasons they could have done, is they are trying to find ways to be more efficient.
		That is one of the three acceptable reasons to pause.
		I don't like this policy, it is not one of them.
		I would just say while we're at it, because we're talking about OMB, what was so kind of nefarious last time when they did the illegal Ukraine pause?
		So it's an Impoundment Control Act violation to not spend money, but it is an anti-deficiency act violation to spend money you don't have.
		And that one carries criminal jail time.
		And so what OMB has done to insert itself in the process usually is they mess with the apportionment.
		That's where this is kind of this technical step where Congress will authorize and appropriate the money, and then OMB will formally release the money via this apportionment, and then the agencies will go about obligating and spending it.
		And OMB inserts itself by saying, okay, here you go, here's the money.
		And that part of it has to happen for non-policy reasons.
		It is about making sure the money actually just goes out the door in a regular schedule so you don't spend all too quickly or too slowly.
		But what OMB has done under President Trump and what I think they're going to be doing again this year was they came in and said, actually, you just can't have the money anymore.
		And so then if the agency tries to spend it and spend it kind of pursuant to the law, they are then facing criminal violations.
		That's what happened last time.
		That's why DOD couldn't just spend the money.
		They couldn't just be like, hey, we have to spend the money so we're going to spend it.
		That's why they were frantically emailing OMB saying, please release the funds.
		Because then if they were spending the money, the budget officers were facing criminal liability for spending this money that they didn't have, even though Congress had appropriated it.
		So yes, OMB has a role, but they are abusing this role.
		They abused the role last time, and we're really worried that they're going to abuse the role again.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		One more call for you, Bobby.
		This is David in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, Independent Line.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Hi, Bobby.
		My question was: you know, Trump is a master of deception and chaos.
		I think he already knows that if he goes through Congress, he's not going to succeed.
		So he just writes this executive order to create chaos and confusion.
		And then this issue would be rather taken up in the courts to determine how he would actually win.
		But in the meantime, he's sending a message to his base that, hey, I'm the president, and this is what I said I would do, and I'm doing it.
		So he doesn't really care whether veterans or the fresh start programs get the money or not.
		He just, and you know, 90% of the time, he doesn't even read what he's signing.
		He's just blatantly signing based on what his advisors are presented.
		So do you think that is the case with President Trump here?
		David, thanks so much for calling in.
		I think chaos is right, right?
		They wrote and rescinded this memo, or the memo was released and then rescinded within 43 hours.
		And in that meantime, it seemed like they called to cut a third or to filially pause a third of the budget, stuff people rely on, like stuff like nutrition, stuff like housing, stuff like education, right?
		All of those kind of in that pause.
		And then they privately said that they wanted to do that and publicly said they weren't doing it and then peeled it back.
		But then in peeling it back, they said, oh, but we didn't change anything so much that a judge said, I guess we'll just pause anything anyway, even though you, even though you peeled it back, because we don't know what you're actually trying to do.
		So I think chaos is right here, right?
		Like this feels like Trump 1.0, where no one could kind of figure out what was going on because there were so many contradictory things.
		I do think to your point, the purpose was to get to the courts.
		As Mimi said earlier, Rust Vote has made very clear that they don't think the Impoundment Control Act is constitutional.
		They want to get that in front of the courts.
		And the Washington Post reported yesterday, I think it was Washington Post, Washington Post reported yesterday that the Trump administration internally had been very clear, like the purpose was to get this in front of the courts.
		Because what they're trying to do is they're trying to argue that the president has the authority to completely ignore congressional dictates and put differently.
		They want to argue that congressional dictates cannot happen when it comes to money.
		And that puts at risk everything, right?
		That puts at risk people's Medicaid.
		That puts at risk people's nutrition assistance.
		It puts at risk anything that Congress is actually trying to do to help people, which I will just say is in contradiction to what Trump ran on, right?
		He ran on lowering prices for people, but it doesn't lower prices for people if you take away their nutrition, if you take away their education, if you take away their health care.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		Bobby Kogan, former advisor to the director of Office of Management and Budget in the Biden administration and currently Center for American Progress Federal Budget Policy Senior Director.
		You can find their work at AmericanProgress.org.
		Bobby, thanks so much for joining us.
unidentified		Mimi, thanks so much for having me on.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Up next, we'll be joined by Brian Blaise of the Paragon Health Institute.
		We'll talk about the Make America Healthy Again movement and health policy priorities for the Trump administration.
		Stay with us.
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		Washington Journal continues.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Welcome back.
		We're joined now by Brian Blaise.
		He's president of Paragon Health Institute, formerly White House National Economic Council policy advisor in the first Trump administration.
		Brian, welcome.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Amy, thanks for having me.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Just to ask about Paragon Health Institute, your mission and your funding.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Sure.
		Paragon, I founded it about three and a half years ago, and we are a health policy research institute that is dedicated to evaluating how government programs are working and developing sets of reforms that empower patients and really reform government programs by changing incentives so that people are oriented and sort of all the actors oriented at getting as much value out of the system as possible.
		We're a nonprofit, so we're funded by individuals and foundations.
		Paragon takes no corporate or industry funding.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And why did you feel the need to create Paragon Health?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Was it, like, what are the issues that you're trying to solve?
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Health policy is, I think, the most important domestic policy issue facing the country.
		It's a huge part of family budgets.
		It's a huge part of what the federal government does, a huge part of what states do.
		And policies are not working for the American people.
		They're not working for patients.
		The quality of health care is often underwhelming.
		And they're not working for sort of the hardworking American families and the taxpayers that are financing these programs.
		So there's a lot of things broken that need to be fixed.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Why is it?
		Why is health care so expensive in this country?
		And as you said, the quality is not there.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		I mean, that's a very go and answer that for a long time.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		What's the biggest reason?
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		I mean, a lot of it goes back to the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s.
		They used cost-based reimbursement.
		So hospitals were getting as much from the payer as they claimed their cost to be, which led to a very inflationary increase.
		And we've really separated the end user of health care from the price of those services.
		90% of what we spend in health care comes from third-party payers.
		It comes from the government bureaucracy or it comes from health insurance companies.
		So we've created this big wedge between the supplier, the producer of the service, and the user of that service.
		And there's a lot of sort of intermediaries in the process, and some of them play valuable roles, and some of them I think are less valuable.
		But they have just led to sort of escalating costs over the past really several decades.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		I want to play you a portion of RFK Jr.'s confirmation hearing from yesterday.
		He talked to senators.
		This is Senator Michael Bennett.
		He's a Democrat of Colorado.
		Talking about his previous views on health issues.
		And then I'll get your response.
unidentified		Did you say that COVID-19 was a genetically engineered bioweapon that targets black and white people but spared Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people?
robert f kennedy-jr ▲ ● ▼		I didn't say it was deliberately targeted.
robert f kennedy-jr ▲ ● ▼		I just quoted an NIH-funded and NIH published study.
unidentified		Did you say that it targets black and white people but spared Ashkenazi Jews?
robert f kennedy-jr ▲ ● ▼		I quoted a study, or I quoted an NIH study that showed that I'll take that as a certain phrase.
unidentified		I have to move on.
		Did you say that Lyme disease is highly likely a materially engineered bioweapon?
		I made sure I put in the highly likely.
		Did you say Lyme disease is a highly likely militarily engineered bioweapon?
robert f kennedy-jr ▲ ● ▼		I probably did say that.
unidentified		Did you say that I want all of our colleagues to hear it, Mr. Kennedy?
		I want them to hear it.
		You said yes.
		Did you say that exposure to pesticides causes children to become transgender?
robert f kennedy-jr ▲ ● ▼		No, I never said that.
unidentified		Okay, I have the record that I'll give to the chairman, and he can make his judgment about what you said.
michael bennet ▲ ● ▼		Did you write in your book, and it's undeniable, that African AIDS is an entirely different disease from Western AIDS?
unidentified		Yes or no, Mr. Kennedy?
robert f kennedy-jr ▲ ● ▼		I'm not sure if I may.
unidentified		I'll give it to the chairman, Mr. Kennedy.
		And my final question: Did you say on a podcast, and I quote, I wouldn't leave it abortion to the states.
		My belief is we should leave it to the woman.
		We shouldn't have the government involved, even if it's full term.
		Did you say that, Mr. Kennedy?
robert f kennedy-jr ▲ ● ▼		Senator, I believe every abortion is a tragedy.
unidentified		Did you say it, Mr. Kennedy?
unidentified		This matters.
michael bennet ▲ ● ▼		It doesn't matter what you come here and say that isn't true, that's not reflective of what you really believe, that you haven't said over decade after decade after decade, because unlike other jobs we're confirming around this place,
michael bennet ▲ ● ▼		this is a job where it is life and death for the kids that I used to work for in the Denver public schools and for families all over this country that are suffering from living in the richest country of the world that can't deliver basic health care and basic mental health care to them.
unidentified		It's too important for the games that you're playing, Mr. Kennedy.
unidentified		And I hope my colleagues will say to the president, I have no influence over him.
michael bennet ▲ ● ▼		I hope my colleagues will say to the president, out of 330 million Americans, we can do better than this.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		What do you think of that, Brian Blaise?
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Well, it doesn't sound like Senator Bennett is ready to vote to confirm Mr. Kennedy as secretary.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		I would say that, you know, I think the president selected Mr. Kennedy because of the compelling message around Make America Healthy Again.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Which we'll talk about.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		But I wanted to ask you, do you believe that he is qualified for that position?
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, I do.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		He was selected by the president, and I think he is qualified.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You believe he's qualified because he was selected by the president or because of his qualifications?
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, I mean, I think both.
		The president vetted candidates for that position.
		It's a really important position.
		And I think that Mr. Kennedy brings certain attributes and skills to that position that are going to be a good fit to be secretary.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Make America Healthy Again.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Walk us through some of those key points.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		So I think, first of all, it's diagnosing the state of American health.
		And if you look at many measures of American health, one of the principal ones being life expectancy, we've been in decline.
		So starting in 2014 for three straight years, life expectancy in the U.S. declined.
		And then, of course, we had the pandemic and the tragedy around the pandemic.
		So life expectancy is lower now than it was a decade ago.
		And I think you've got an increase in many chronic diseases, diabetes, obesity.
		I think during the hearing yesterday, about two out of three Americans struggle with obesity or overweight.
		And there are sort of problems with children, too, both in terms of I think a third of kids overweight or obese, as well as a lot of mental health challenges that were severely exacerbated during the lockdowns in the pandemic.
		So you think you have a lot of, I mean, American health has stagnated over the last 15 years, and I think public policy has failed to recognize that.
		It's been focused on very different things in health policy.
		And I think he's going to reorient the conversation back to what matters for American health.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And we'll take your calls for Brian Blaise talking about health policy.
		Our lines are by party.
		Democrats 2027488000.
		Republicans 202748-8001.
		Independents 202-748-8002.
		Mr. Kennedy mentioned getting chemicals out of food.
		That would require regulation of the food industry.
		What kind of regulation do you think is needed right now?
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Well, I mean, and also it overlaps with the USDA and the guidance that the federal government puts out.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		I mean, puts out to consumers.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Puts out to consumers.
		Yeah, I think one of the main problems in what the government has put out in terms of nutrition advice is the food pyramid.
		If you go back to when the food pyramid was created several decades ago, right, it really emphasized a heavy carbohydrate diet.
		And it really overplayed problems with fat.
		And what we've learned now from nutrition science is that that was the exact wrong guidance to be giving to American families.
		We didn't need to have high sugar, high carbohydrate diets, that the excess sugar is really what's problematic.
		So I think, you know, if I'm looking at it from a sort of what should they do first, you should look at what is the government initially doing, what information are they putting out so that they're providing Americans with better information about what they put into their bodies.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		But going back to the chemicals such as food dyes, preservatives, is that something that you feel that the government should mandate be out of our food supply?
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		I think they need to run a process on that and weigh the pros and cons.
		I know that the FDA just banned, I think, red dye number three from our food supply starting in 2027.
		I know that is consistent with the direction that Mr. Kennedy wants to take.
		So it seems like there's bipartisan agreement on certain food additives and chemicals that should be removed.
		That's not my area of expertise.
		So I think they need to run the process.
		They need to understand the science.
		Ultimately, I think, and he said this about, you know, I'm fine with people that go to McDonald's and have cheeseburger and Coke, right?
		It's about making sure that Americans have the information that they need so that they can make the best decisions possible for them.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And you agree with him that it should be the same with vaccines, that you should just make whatever choice on vaccines without the government telling you these are the vaccines that are recommended or required.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Well, I think there's differences with like the COVID vaccine and the requirements the government put on the COVID vaccine and certainly like the mandate to have military members.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So leaving aside the COVID vaccine because that's a newer one.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		But if we're to look at, for instance, polio or I don't think there's measles.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, I mean, from listening to his testimony yesterday, he endorsed the polio vaccine, the measles vaccine.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		I don't think there's disagreement among whether Americans should be taking those types of vaccines.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's talk to callers.
		We'll start with Catherine in Cleves, Ohio, Democrat.
		Good morning, Catherine.
unidentified		Good morning, She said.
		I'm a longtime listener, and I call pretty frequently.
		But my statements are, first, we have plenty of money in our health care system.
		The problem is that we have CEOs and stockholders who take all the cream, and then we're left with just whey for the people who pay the bills.
		I'm 76 years old.
		I'm on Medicare.
		I'm handicapped now on oxygen 24 hours a day.
		And I see my health care benefits falling apart and not being able to get the things that I need.
		We have plenty of money in health care.
		It's just that we need to be, what would I say, it's you make no profits off of health care.
		Health care should go all to the people.
		And my second one is, I question your views on how you think that Mr. Kennedy is qualified.
		If this was 100 years ago, we would say he was a snake oil salesman.
		He changes.
		We can't really depend on what he says because he won't even admit to the things he said in the past because it doesn't meet his criteria today because he's trying to get a job in the Trump administration.
		If he was trying to get a job in someone else's administration, he would be singing a different song.
		So if you trust this man, I wouldn't trust him.
		Family doesn't trust him.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Catherine, we'll get a response on those two topics.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, so on topic number one, I agree there is plenty of money in the health care system.
		I think that profits are fine.
		Profits are actually good.
		We want to have a profit motive and suppliers that can make a profit by providing better health care services, by developing innovative products to get them to consumers.
		But the profits that many in the health care industry get now are not the result of providing value to a consumer.
		They're about how much lobbying power they have in Washington.
		So a lot of these groups, insurers, hospitals, they get more money from the government than they do from the private sector.
		And the resources that are allocated to them are more a function of the lobbying power that those individuals, that those organizations have, rather than the value that they provide.
		On Mr. Kennedy, he would be an appointee of President Trump.
		So on areas that they disagree, and abortion is one of them, the president sets the policy agenda.
		And his appointees, the cabinet officials, and all of the people that work in the White House, they have to follow the agenda that the president puts out.
		The president was elected.
		He got 77 million votes.
		And part of that was an embrace of this Make America Healthy Again movement, which was really spearheaded by Robert Kennedy.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Sarah is next in Edgewater, Maryland, Independent Line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Sarah.
unidentified		Yeah, good morning.
		You mentioned earlier that there was a dye that was removed from the Food and Drug Administration.
		They have known for decades that that dye causes cancer in rats.
		And the question is, why would they even allow this to be in food when they know that, right?
		Because this has, in some cases, probably caused cancer.
		Then the second thing is healthcare in America, call it profit care.
		And as you said, there is such a thing as people should make some money.
		However, there's a lot of fraud, waste, and abuse going on.
		And, you know, when you look at every major insurance company that offers Medicare Advantage plans, they have actively defrauded the federal government by tens of billions of dollars a year and have gotten away with it.
		And there has been absolutely no consequence.
		The government should shut down an insurance age, an insurance company, when they actively defraud the federal government.
		Why are companies allowed to continue to offer Medicare Advantage plan when they have defrauded the federal government?
		That I think should be addressed.
		And then the last thing that I wanted to say is a lot of doctor offices today do not do their own billing anymore.
		And I have experienced this by talking to people who work for these outside companies that do the billing for the doctor office.
		And there's a lot of fraud involved in that, too, where employees get incentivized by adding additional costs to the total bill by adding procedures and changing the coding that's being used so that they can make more money.
		And then.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Okay, Sarah, it's a lot there.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's get a response.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Sarah, thank you for that.
		Let me focus on the middle of your comment there on fraud, waste, and abuse.
		I agree.
		There's a tremendous amount of waste, fraud, and abuse in our health care sector.
		I think that comes back to what I mentioned.
		There's a lot of misaligned incentives throughout the healthcare sector with really all of the individuals.
		On Medicare Advantage, there are more than 30 million seniors right now enrolled in Medicare Advantage.
		It's actually more than half of all Medicare enrollees have chosen Medicare Advantage.
		And what Medicare Advantage is, is it is a senior who's on Medicare who chooses to get their benefits offered through a health plan.
		They get the traditional benefits of covering hospital care and physician care.
		They get the pharmaceutical benefit.
		Medicare Advantage plans also offer supplemental benefits.
		They can offer vision, dental, and hearing coverage.
		They can offer gym memberships, benefits that seniors value.
		So I think there's value in Medicare Advantage.
		That said, I think there are ways to improve Medicare Advantage.
		Paragon put out a very comprehensive report last year on ways that we think the Medicare Advantage program could be improved.
		They hit on one thing that you mentioned, the insurer profiting.
		The main issue of controversy there is around its risk adjustment program, where insurers get paid more based on having sicker enrollees.
		And that has given them an incentive to diagnose all of the conditions of the enrollees.
		And in many cases, they have overdiagnosed.
		They've exaggerated the conditions of the enrollees in order to get more money from the government.
		And we think that is a real problem and something that the government should look to address.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's talk to Lynn next, a Republican in Catawba, North Carolina.
unidentified		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
donna in texas ▲ ● ▼		Yes, I was watching yesterday Bobby Kennedy, and I was, I'm always taken back when he's getting drilled by these Democrats.
unidentified		I mean, they have a freaking meltdown.
		There's no sense in it.
		They, Elizabeth Warren, it seems like it's the Democratic Party that just give the man a break, give him a chance to answer a question.
		They just keep on and on and on.
		I think that what he's trying to do and what President Trump is trying to put in place is the warnings to let everyone know about the number three red dot that Bobby has known for how many years did he say, 30.
		I could be wrong on that, but there's no telling what we don't know.
		I think that with his health condition that he has studied, this has been his cup of tea, so to speak.
		He has done his research.
		He's written six books on nutrition.
		He's very active, and he's exactly right.
		I'm always envious of seeing people in China be so much smaller than the people in the United States.
		I only wish I could be a size three again.
donna in texas ▲ ● ▼		There's things I could do myself, but I also know that President Trump is trying to get these warnings out, get his cabinet in place to give you the warnings, not to tell you that you can't go to McDonald's.
donna in texas ▲ ● ▼		It's a choice thing, just like your Amendment 1 that gives you the right to speak.
unidentified		It's a choice thing.
donna in texas ▲ ● ▼		But know what you're eating or know what you're drinking because of the possible harm of the side effects.
unidentified		As far as health system, the cost, the last caller was exactly right.
unidentified		It's crazy how expensive everything is.
donna in texas ▲ ● ▼		And I think that over time, jobs has just been added to jobs and billing to win out to other companies.
donna in texas ▲ ● ▼		And there is ways to cut the spending, which in the long run would help the consumer, which is us.
unidentified		And I think that President Trump, give him a chance.
		Spend like 10 days.
		There's no sense in the attitude of the grilling and the screaming.
		Give the man a chance.
		Got it, Lynn.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Anything to add to that?
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		So Lynn, like the previous caller mentioned, sort of the craziness with the health care billing structure.
		I agree.
		That's a pry because we have too much that runs through bureaucracy and insurers.
		Just to step back and give you some context on the Department of Health and Human Services, it is a massive federal department.
		It's got 80,000 employees.
		If you think about the federal budget, the Medicare program, the Medicaid program run through the Department of Health and Human Services, and you've got all the public health agencies.
		So you've got NIH, FDA, and CDC.
		So it is impossible for any one man on the planet to know everything about all the health care programs that are managed by the Department of Health and Human Services.
		So you've got a set of other people who have been appointed, selected by President Trump.
		Dr. Oz at CMS, Marty McCary at FDA, Jay Bhattacharya at NIH, for example.
		And these are very serious, reform-minded individuals that I think are going to be really great leaders at the individual agencies within HHS and provide good recommendations both to the Secretary as well as to the President.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You mentioned about 80,000 employees at HHS.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Are you concerned at all about the potential cuts in the federal workforce in that department impacting the services they're able to give to the American people?
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		So it's a tough question to sort of evaluate right now because we don't know what the exact impact is going to be of that order.
		I mean, I know that there's a severe problem with government workers that have not gone back to work in the office.
		So that's one of the issues that is trying to be addressed.
		The Trump administration put out that only 6% of federal workers are back in the office full-time.
		I do think like some of the work that FDA, CDC, and NIH do, yeah, you need to have the scientists there.
		You need to have the evaluators there.
		I don't know the ramifications of that order.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Jeff in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Democrat, good morning, Jeff.
unidentified		Hi, I'm Brian.
		I wanted to know if you promote the restrictions they're trying to put on the people on the government food stamps about restrictions what they can buy in supermarkets when it comes to sweets, whether it's ice cream, chips, or sodas.
		Because we have an overweight president that's drinking eight cans of diet soda a day, and he's addicted to fast food.
		Now, I work out, I have great blood sugar.
		I should be entitled to buy what I want in the supermarket.
		You know what I mean?
		A lot of these people voted for him.
		You know what?
		I hope these are the people that he hurts the most because.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Jeff, are you on SNAP?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Do you get food stamps?
unidentified		Okay.
unidentified		I work out, and I should be entitled to eat whatever I want.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And currently, Jeff, there's restrictions on what you're able to buy with those food stamps, right?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You cannot buy soda.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		No, there's no restrictions.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Or there are no restrictions.
unidentified		Exactly.
		Sodas, they're imposing all kinds of things.
		Kennedy and, like I said, Trump are really trying to hurt us on this program.
		They really are.
		And he's drinking eight cans of diet soda.
		There's chemicals in there like aspartain and all that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Sorry, Jeff.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		About the restrictions on food stamps.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		So there is a policy debate now on whether the SNAP program, whether enrollees in that program should be restricted from using that benefit on sugary sodas, on sweets.
		Really a substantial percentage of the spending on that program goes to those consumption of those products.
		There is also a sense that money is fungible and people will use their own money on those products.
		I myself, my view is that I think it's okay for the government to place restrictions on a government benefit.
		So if the government studies this and thinks that there is a problem with too much overconsumption of sugar, soda, and sweets, which clearly there is in the country to place limits on that welfare benefit, then that sounds like a reasonable public policy to me.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Here's another Jeff, this time in Bayville, New York, Independent Line.
unidentified		Thank you, Meepi.
		Mr. Blaze, I'd like to point out to you that you said that there's no disagreement apparently between people understanding that the measles vaccine and the polio vaccine are working.
		But that's not true.
		Mr. Kennedy has been opposed to those specific vaccines.
		And that's been brought out in the hearings yesterday.
		He says though, with his own words, when the senators recount what he has said and then confront him with that, and then he changes his mind suddenly because he's been offered the job, which also has been pointed out, part of the psychopharmacy.
		He's a very dangerous man to have as HHS secretary.
		It couldn't be worse because there's a very great concern, for example, that H5N1 could turn into a pandemic at some point.
		Hopefully it won't, but there's certainly tremendous concern in the public health community that it would.
		Do we want somebody like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of the vaccine program at a time when that vaccine will save millions of lives?
		I don't think so.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Well, I mean, what he said yesterday is that he is pro-vaccine, he is pro-polio vaccine, he's pro-measles vaccine.
		I take him at his word that he is in favor of all those vaccines.
		And I know Marty McCary, who has been nominated to lead FDA, is also pro-vaccine.
		He will follow the science and make the recommendations that ultimately are in the best interest of the American people.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		He did say a lot at the hearing that he's going to follow good science.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Is that problematic that maybe people have different ideas of what good science is and what bad science is?
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Clearly, I mean, if you just look at the experience in the pandemic, there were a lot of government recommendations that came out from closing of schools to the six-foot distance guidelines that had no scientific basis at all, but were promoted at the time as being backed by science.
		So I think there is like science is a process.
		Science is evolving.
		It is evaluating what the evidence is.
		And I think there are good studies that are well designed, that have control groups that you can draw definitive conclusions from.
		And then there are studies that are weak, much weaker, and that they may come to a conclusion.
		But because of the study's design, you can't really draw conclusions from them.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		One more call for you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		This is Alex in Washington, D.C., Republican.
unidentified		Hey, thanks for taking my call.
		So a really quick background on me.
		I have a PhD in the sciences, and I think that Robert Kennedy is a good choice only for the purpose of radical transparency.
		I think there's been a massive loss in trust in institutions, and a lot of that is actually well-founded.
		And to people who are opposed to him, I just think that you need to understand that, well, when you have the previous NIH having their discussions about the lab wars or they're saying they're 50-50, or if it comes out of China, we'll never know because we want to a whistleblower.
		And then they go publicly and they say it definitely didn't come out of China.
		It's conspiracy theory.
		You have the new incoming head of, I believe, NIH Dave Atacharya, who was actively censored by the previous head of, I think it's the NIH, that would be Fauci and Collins.
		These are the things that are the seeds that will sow distrust in the expert class.
		And the fact that the expert class hasn't been able to latch onto that and realize that they need to go through a season of transparency if they're ever going to regain their credibility is really astounding to me the amount that they've fought back and pushed back against that.
		And I think C-SPAN can help.
		Emily Knope at Open or U.S. Right to Know has done great work on this in terms of getting the documents, whether it's the DARPA grant that basically looks a lot like the genetic sequence of COVID-19 that just shows that there's a lot of evidence that was suppressed for a long time and even the media hasn't really been forthcoming with it.
		And if you all can do that, we'll get to a place where people can trust experts again.
		So thank you very much, Mr. Harris.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Alex.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, and I think he makes reasonable points.
brian blase ▲ ● ▼		I think there is a severe lack of trust in the public health authorities, largely because of the pandemic response, and that transparency, both in public health and really more broadly throughout the health sector, will help the American people have more confidence in the recommendations that they get from experts.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		Brian Blaise is president of Paragon Health Institute, former White House National Economic Council policy advisor in the first Trump administration.
		You can find his work at paragoninstitute.org.
		Thanks so much for joining us.
unidentified		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Coming up, more of your phone calls in open forum.
		You can start calling in now.
		Democrats, 202-748-8000.
		Republicans, 202-748-8001.
		And Independents, 202-748-8002.
		We'll be right back.
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mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Welcome back.
		We are in open forum, so you can call in and discuss any public policy or politics issue that you would like to discuss.
		We are following, of course, the developments of the plane crash from last night.
		Here in Washington, a American Airlines passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided midair and crashed into the Potomac River.
		That is a recovery operation.
		All 67 people on board both aircraft are believed to be dead.
		And we will let you know anything we find about that.
		Also happening this morning, getting underway very soon in a few minutes, is Kash Patel's confirmation hearing.
		He is President Trump's pick to lead the FBI.
		He'll be on Capitol Hill to speak to senators.
		He's a former Justice Department prosecutor, and he previously worked as senior counsel to the White House Intelligence Committee and as an advisor in the first Trump administration.
		That gets underway in a few minutes.
		Over on C-SPAN 3, that's live coverage of that Senate Judiciary Committee.
unidentified		It's also on C-SPAN now and on our app.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Then right after this program at 10 a.m. Eastern, it's Tulsi Gabbard's confirmation hearing.
		She's nominated for the Director of National Intelligence.
		And she has served in the Army National Guard and Army Reserve since 2003.
		She also represented Hawaii in Congress as a Democrat and then switched during the 2020 presidential, she switched to the party, sorry, to the Republican Party in 2024.
		So that's live here on C-SPAN.
		Both those confirmation hearings are going to be on our website, c-span.org, and on our app, C-SPAN now, and you can watch it there.
		We will take your calls.
		We are expecting Secretary of Defense Heg Seth to have a news conference, and we will go to that.
		But first, here, Cedric in Alvin, Texas, Democrat.
unidentified		Yes, good morning.
		My heart goes out to the people that accident that just happened.
		And I'm really sorry about that.
		Okay, I want to touch on the gentleman that you had on before.
		I don't know why we, I know C-SPAN probably got this history of people have selective memory.
		In the Obama administration, Michelle Obama was trying to incorporate eating healthy and sugary drinks in school for kids and lunch and all that.
		And after that was all after they that Trump administration took over, Donald Trump scrapped all that.
		So what I'm trying to understand, why is he trying to bring it back now that when it was somebody else's idea, and now he wants to do that?
		And then a C-SAN should have a history of all that.
		I'm trying to understand why.
		I want to ask that gentleman there.
		And also, I want to say about them putting stuff on your medical record that happened to me.
		They changed the code and they put down that I had seizures.
		And what I did, I had to contact the insurance company to tell them that I did not have seizures, that they did that.
		And then the insurance did not pay the doctors off for that.
		And then the doctors always got mad and dropped me as one of their clients.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Tedric.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Here's Donald in St. Joseph, Missouri, Republican.
unidentified		Hello, Nevi.
		Yeah, I was hanging on the line and wanted to talk to Brian, but I want to say something about that helicopter passenger plane crash.
		I wish that the news media would look up and report to us who the pilot of the helicopter was and the circumstances and their authorization to fly that night.
		But anyway, what I was going to say about talk to Brian about was: I think the government is still trying to cop out and pull the wool over the American people's eyes about this dangerous stuff that they're putting in our food.
		You know, the European Union doesn't include all these things in our food, like high fructose, hydrogenated items, and anything that makes the food addictive by its taste.
		And I was disappointed in RFK Jr.'s answer yesterday.
		I was listening to it.
		And I thought he was in there.
		He was going to take all these additives and nasty things out of our food that's causing us to be obese and diabetic and heart condition.
		And he says, oh, I still support anybody who wants to eat a greasy hamburger.
		Fine, that's great if they want to do that.
		Well, that's like saying, well, we're going to know that a lot of people like it now, so we're just going to sprinkle it around everywhere.
		You just go down to 7th and Grand and you buy all the fentanyl you want.
		The working class people cannot just go and hire a dietitian to review all their food and have their own chef and get all the working class people have to go to the grocery store, which they can hardly afford anymore, and get what they can get.
		That stuff just needs to be taken out of our food.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Got your point, Donald.
		Let's talk to Mason and Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Independent.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Hey, how's it going?
		Thanks for taking my call.
		I wanted to touch on the immigration topic.
		An article came out yesterday, and it was widely reported that Donald Trump had withdrawn the deportation protections of 600,000 Venezuelans under mainly the TPS, temporary protective status for asylum.
		And I wanted to just touch on that, that I have a lot of Venezuelan friends who are here legally.
		And that basically I just don't understand it because these people are fleeing from communist authoritarian governments.
		And we should not only invite them in, but welcome them in too because they want to contribute to our way of life and they are fleeing political persecution.
		So thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		David in Independence, Louisiana, Independent Line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, David.
unidentified		Good morning, Mr. BB.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Morning.
unidentified		Thank you.
		We had a newspaper article printed in 10-16 of 24, and it's on the LA Illuminator.
		Okay, that's all lowercases, no spelling, no spaces, excuse me.
		LA Illuminator.
		And I've seen on channel 40 of MSNBC, they had the editor-in-chief, his name was Greg LaRose, and he's with the LA Illuminator.
		And they had to cut him off for some reason.
		I didn't even know who he was and all, but we had this article printed concerning noise pollution.
		And it's what our local government has done out here on my neighborhood and what they've done to us, the response since.
		And if you want to see a picture of Citizen Dave and his wife, you can look it up on LA Illuminator.
		Got it, David.
		Thank you, Miss.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And here's Brenda in Fort Lee, New Jersey, Democrat.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Brenda.
unidentified		Hi, good morning, America.
		I'm just calling to let you know that I'm very, very, very sad of being a Democrat for the part that things have gone so good with President Trump, things he's doing for America.
		And I'm thinking of switching over to becoming a Republican.
		Things have to change in America.
		You know, things have gotten so bad when the other president was in office.
		And now that President Trump is doing, it's like so different.
		And that's my say-so.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Brenda.
		Here's Mike in Dallas, North Carolina, Republican.
		Good morning, Mike.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Thank you for taking my call.
		First of all, I'd like to say my prayers are going out to the people in the air in the crash.
		And Mimi, I don't know.
		Maybe you weren't brought up.
		Well, when I was coming up, you know, you looked on the bag of sugar and it said pure cane sugar.
		Now it says, you know, granulated, you know, processed sugar.
		What that is is beet sugar.
		So, you know, we're not really eating the same things that we did when I grew up anyway.
		There's so much fractose corn syrup.
		But anyway, Mimi, one thing I'd like to say is I'd like to see more Democrat calls.
		You know, I mean, you know, I'd like to see like five to one Democrat calls to Republican calls if it could.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Why is that like that?
unidentified		Well, I didn't know how stupid I was, and I didn't know how much of a Nazi I was until the Democrats told me.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		But you know what?
		Going back to your original point about the food and the sugar and things like that, what do you think is the solution?
		You know, because you've got one side that says it's just a matter of, you know, educate people and they'll make the right choices, and others want actual regulation where you're telling the food industry, you can do this.
		You cannot put that in our food, et cetera.
		What do you think of that, Mike?
unidentified		Well, go back to the 70s, Mimi.
		I mean, people had, you know, Coca-Cola, they had snacks, sugar snacks all the time, but you didn't see the obesity and the diabetes in younger children like you're seeing today.
		So there's got to be a connection with food.
		And yeah, the food manufacturers, they need to be gone over and told, you know, you can't do this.
		I mean, if you, Mimi, or somebody else will tamper with somebody else's food, introduce a poison or anything to a food, that is illegal.
		You know, you can't do that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Got it.
		Here's Bonnie in Cape Coral, Florida, Independent Line.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Yeah, I had three points if I can get them.
		Number one, on the rudeness at the hearings, which is many hearings, not just that one, that maybe what they have to do is stop allowing all the political boviating.
		And as long as the speeches and question are, is the amount of time given for the answer, so that somebody can't sit there and go on and on and then demand yes or no, yes or no, and not allow a person to answer.
		Equal time, question and answer.
		I hope some congresspeople are listening to you right now.
		And another thing is about the red dye.
		I think it's in tongues.
		I looked at my tongues, and then someone told me it'd take a while to be able to stop it.
		I'm 85 years old because they have to retool.
		I understand that, but there may be some way they could have both products out at the same time if somebody wanted to pay a little more and not have the red dye.
		That might solve that, especially when it's a medical thing.
		I'm taking that for medical reasons, and now I find out I think there's red dye.
		Somebody could check on that out there.
		Point number three: I know people who vacationed in Italy and came back and said they ate anything they wanted, and they felt wonderful with eczema, with various problems, with stomach problems.
		So there is a difference in food.
		And I made the three.
		Thank you very much.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And here's Rick in Cotekill, New York, Independent.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Rick.
unidentified		Hi.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi.
unidentified		Thanks a lot for taking my call.
		So I'd like to just say something about the Senate confirmations.
		You know, Trump has clearly given the people who are getting confirmed or at least getting questioned to say whatever they feel the Senate wants to hear.
		And they go completely against what they've said for the last five, ten years on a topic just so they can parse it in a way that they know people are going to it.
		And then when they get in, they're not going to pay attention to what they said.
		It won't matter anymore.
		So I've seen that for every single person who's been on the confirmation slate.
		They're saying things that they believe people want to hear, particularly the Senate wants to hear.
		And it counters everything they've said for almost a decade.
		So please keep that in mind when you hear continued confirmation.
		They're not telling the truth.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		And here is Brian, Missouri, Republican line.
		Hi, Brian.
unidentified		Good morning.
		What I would really wish is that the media would have the backbone to ask questions after the initial answers.
		They never follow up with stuff that gets to the core of what the person was supposed to have answered.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You're talking about in what?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Can you give me an example?
unidentified		In every situation, whether it's Trump talking, whether it's hearing candidates, whether it's press corps, they give a soundbite.
		Sure, it's easy to say, well, I support the president, or I want to do what's right for the American people.
		Think that, well, sure, I'm certain, but it didn't answer the question.
		And it's like one of the things that drove me this the other day, they had the press conference, and she says, Well, we're going to open it up to every sort of media.
		And if you want to apply to come, whether you're on a podcast or a website or you know, but nobody said, Well, yeah, but you're not opening it up.
		You're saying apply.
		You know, Trump's only going to allow people in who are Trump supporters.
		You're endorsing his ideology.
		So, and the other thing is, why didn't somebody say, Yeah, you want to make it look like you're all inclusive and wide open, but really what you want to do is say, We'd rather hear from somebody who has 500,000-person platform than letting one of the major media sources who tends to question you on your bunk that goes out to 70 million people.
		They want to look inclusive, but they're not.
		And there's so often you hear in the hearings, these guys sit there and they give these soundbite answers.
		And I agree with the lady who just said, you know, the guy will give a four and a half minute rant and then say, I got a yes or a no question because the time's running out.
		But it was just him making a political speech.
		He didn't really want to ask a question.
		And they do that on both sides.
		The Republicans want to sit there and then the Democrat will sit there and bash the guy again.
		But they're not asking questions, they're giving speeches.
		So I agree.
		If you're going to ask a four and a half-minute question, the guy ought to have four and a half minutes to give his, whatever he wants to line on.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Brian.
		And as a reminder, we do have confirmation hearings going on right now.
		Kash Patel, nominee for FBI director, is over on C-SPAN 3.
		If you want to watch that, that's happening live right now.
		We'll also have it for you on our website.
chuck grassley ▲ ● ▼		Expose that a special agent in charge of the FBI.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And this is Bradley in Northport, Michigan, Democrat.
unidentified		Yeah, thank you for taking my call.
kurt nimmo ▲ ● ▼		First of all, I'd like to compliment the two Capitol police who continue to be brave and stand out from their peers, I guess, that aren't brave enough to stand up and tell us what actually happened on January 6th.
unidentified		And also, you had an earlier guest on, Mike Davis, I think was his name, and he had his display in vaccine A3 or whatever he was affiliated with.
unidentified		Anyway, he sort of downplayed the whole January 6th violence.
kurt nimmo ▲ ● ▼		And it sort of brings me to my point: police across the nation for years have gotten away with a lot of things that are very questionable.
unidentified		They felt threatened from grabbing a candy bar and not showing their hands to reaching for a cigarette and are killed, and they're let off of that.
kurt nimmo ▲ ● ▼		January 6th, these cops were attacked with polls that had Trump's banners and flags on them, and they stood there and took that.
kurt nimmo ▲ ● ▼		What if they would have drawn out their weapons and shot a few of them?
unidentified		I'd ask the rest of the country, how would you have reacted to that?
		Would you have still backed the police in sticking up for law and order?
		Or would you have hid behind Trump?
		Like I'm sure you would.
		Just asking the question, America, and please ponder it.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Here's Independent Line, Lewiston, California.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Andy, you're next.
unidentified		Yes, good morning.
		Good morning.
		Thanks for taking my call.
		A couple issues.
		I've heard it a few times, and I don't think that the American public is getting fooled at all.
		These picks.
		They're just giving answers exactly what the senators want to hear.
		I'm wondering, are they under oath, Mimi?
		I haven't heard but one that took an oath to swear to their answers.
		And I haven't heard, I didn't hear RFK Jr.
		I didn't hear Hegseth.
		It's just a joke.
		They just completely turned 180.
		And then one more thing.
		I find it quite ironic and very hypocritical for these people not to let some of these immigrants in our country want to shout and cry and moan about, oh, they're criminals and they're rapists and everything.
		Well, what I find hypocritical about that is you just re-you know, the president just released 1,500 criminals back into our society that basically defaced our Capitol.
		It was just disgusting.
		And I like for people to ponder that as well.
		You're not going to let people in that want to work hard for their families.
		Yeah, you don't have any problem with releasing these people back into society that you saw right on TV with your own two eyes doing what they did.
		Thank you, Mimi.
		Have a great day.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Andy.
		You too.
		Here's William in Tennessee, Republican line.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Hi, good morning.
		Thank you for having me on.
		Ma'am, I just wanted to start off by saying that number one thing is thank God that Donald Trump became the president.
		The things I want to cover is we need to be discussing in Congress term limits.
		I think that with the all-Republican House, all-Republican Senate, this country for the first time in 20 years, will be able to see legislation passed in the numbers of 100, where in past legislations and past Congresses for the past 20 years, we have not been able to pass more than maybe 20, 30 pieces of legislation a session.
		And that's not how this country runs.
		This country runs on curtailing and passing laws.
		And I feel as though that that is about to start happening.
		I think that what Donald Trump is doing with securing the border is going to be more effective to all Americans.
		I think that it's crazy that the national news media right now is not selling more about the still senator Bob Menendez, who was sentenced for 11 years.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		William, he's no longer a senator.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You said he is not a senator.
unidentified		He has stepped down?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Yes, absolutely.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		That was a while ago.
unidentified		Okay.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Yeah.
		And he was replaced.
		He was replaced temporarily by Senator Hillme, and then there was the election, and Andy Kim is now in his seat.
unidentified		Copy.
		The one thing I wanted to also mention was yesterday, the NBC White House correspondent kept trying to correlate with the White House representative that Trump had changed his policy from violent criminals, was what we were going to round up first, and equating that to routing up people that were just illegal immigrants.
		I don't understand why the national news media is not listening to all the different services and all the different government entities where ISIS particularly said that they are going to the most violent people first.
		And nine times out of ten, those illegals that they are there for, that are the violent criminals, are around other illegals.
		They're just supposed to leave them there.
		I don't understand why the national news is trying to propel that there is some change in method on what we're doing with rounding up these illegal immigrants and putting them where they need to be and sending them back to where they belong.
		Whereas it's a crime.
		It's a federal crime.
		And we no longer are going to sit by and watch our country just be infiltrated.
		I don't understand why there's this whole narrative that we are trying to hurt people when all we're trying to do is secure our borders and make our country more safe for our citizens.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Got it, William.
		Independent line, Bealsville, Bealsville, Pennsylvania.
		Dave, you're next.
unidentified		Hi.
		The first thing is I wanted to call but Brian Blaze.
		I totally disagree with his on Kennedy, okay?
		And the thing of it is, this country, I agree with Trump on some things, like the border, because it needs to be taken care of.
		But as far as Congress and the Senate goes, Kennedy's going to get pushed through because Trump's minions in the Senate are going to push him through.
		The man has no business in there.
		And all I can say is, God bless Trump.
		I totally disagree with him as a person, but he is the president of the United States.
		And to all the self-proclaimed Christians who voted him in, I love my God, and I'm praying to God that Trump does the right things and that our Congress and Senate does the right things.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Here's Jeff in Coatesville, Indiana, Democrats line.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Good morning, Mimi.
		As you said, I'm a Democrat.
		But when I was watching the hearing yesterday, I'm appalled at the Democrat representation that was displayed yesterday with their rudeness and unprofessionalism and really lack concern.
		Their I got you questions weren't really questions.
		They were just points and trying to let the candidate or the person in the high seat not get a chance to answer truthfully and honestly.
		And just basically, it was all political, political games and upmanship.
		It made me think of a documentary that's out on YouTube, a documentary that summarizes a 90-minute film concerning places, one place in America that's represented by thousands.
		It's called North Putnam.
		And there's two YouTube videos that I would like your viewers to look at before they really decide their views about what happened yesterday.
		One is a 25-minute video that says the hopes and struggles of a rural America public school.
		And it's about 25 minutes long.
		There's a trailer that's three minutes and 24 seconds long that summarizes that even further with some different views.
		This is not narrated.
		It's a professionally done documentary.
		And then ask yourself, who's done more for these people?
		Senators or the person that's trying to be in the health and services administration.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Jeff.
		Here's Paul in Dubuque, Iowa, Republican line.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Hi, Amy.
		78% of the population voted for Trump.
		And what we need to do is shake things up.
		Wait, wait.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You said 78%?
unidentified		Is it lower than that?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Of the population?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You're talking about the popular vote.
unidentified		Yeah, popular vote.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		The popular vote came in at about 49.5%.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		I got to give you that correct number.
unidentified		Which is fine.
		Thank you.
		You need to let Trump shake things up, especially in the HHS and the FBI.
ryan in gainesville ▲ ● ▼		They need to be shooken up, and the eighth floor of the Hoover building needs to be shaken up, too.
unidentified		Shaken up in what way, Paul?
ryan in gainesville ▲ ● ▼		They need to make sure that those offices are running the right way, and they're not prosecuting people because of their political views.
ryan in gainesville ▲ ● ▼		And we need a change in our government.
unidentified		We need a change in this country.
unidentified		That's why Trump was voted in.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Okay, and Paul, just so you know, it's 49.9% of the popular vote.
		77.3 million votes went into President Trump.
		That's what you were talking about.
		You thought it was 77%.
unidentified		Yeah.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		No.
		Big difference.
		Here's Ray in Newark, California.
		Democrat.
		Good morning, Ray.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I am really disappointed at the way Musk and the Trump administration are going about trying to reduce the budget, government spending, because it seems like they're picking on programs that actually affect individual people.
		In the meantime, the government is subsidizing some very large companies.
		They're subsidizing Amazon.
		Why are we subsidizing Amazon?
		With billions of dollars, the same thing for Intel, Boeing, Tesla, even.
		Tesla's getting all sorts of contracts.
		Let's say Musk is getting all sorts of contracts for the various companies that he has, and yet they want to trim off what ordinary working people receive, people who are not multi-billionaires.
		And I think that's just really unfair.
		And I'm really disappointed at Trump's picks for his cabinet.
		You know, I had always felt that presidents would be picking the best and the brightest, you know, to run our government, that the population would pick the best and the brightest.
		Well, I don't understand why we would pick a Secretary of Defense who has so many tremendous problems.
		I mean, how many years has he been clean and sober?
		You know, what are his triggers?
		You know, if the job is stressful, will he begin drinking?
		You know, so it doesn't seem, it seems like he's just too risky.
		And then he puts people, other people in place who don't know anything about the departments that they're going to be taking over.
		And, you know, lastly, it's just sort of mind-boggling.
		The day before the inauguration, when Trump had this rally, he was declaring such appreciation and thanks to Elon Musk, who he said went to Pennsylvania for a month and that nobody knew those voting machines like he did.
		And I won.
		And that is a very suspicious comment.
		And I would hope that this would be looked into.
		This is very important, I think, because, you know, Elon Musk has a lot of technological knowledge that allows him to produce his own rocket ships that can go out to the International Space Station.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Sorry, Ray, we're running out of time, so I'm going to move on to Mike, Independent in Connecticut.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Go ahead.
unidentified		Hi, Kellogg's Corporation, one of the largest cereal makers in the country, publicly acknowledged that its products in the U.S. may contain genetically modified GMO corn in Europe, in Europe, excuse me, in the United States.
		In Europe, they have pledged its customers not to use genetically modified ingredients.
		Now, Roundup is that pesticide that's in their product.
		And why are they continuing and why does the United States allow this?
		Because it's killing us.
		And it's been done for years and years.
		And I love their cereals of the past when I was a kid.
		Corn flakes, Rice Krispies, you name it.
		And I just want to mention that.

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