CSPAN - Washington Journal 09/02/2025

All Episodes

Previous Next

Sept. 2, 2025 06:59-10:03 - CSPAN

03:03:57

Washington Journal 09/02/2025

Participants

Main

mimi geerges

cspan 37:04

Appearances

donald j trump

admin 02:10

howard lutnick

admin 00:45

james lankford

00:33

linda mcmahon

01:20

peter navarro

admin 01:41

Clips

al green

rep/d 00:09

barack obama

d 00:02

bill clinton

d 00:02

george h w bush

r 00:02

george w bush

r 00:04

jimmy carter

d 00:03

kristen welker

nbc 00:10

patty murray

sen/d 00:21

ronald reagan

r 00:01

sean duffy

admin 00:08

Callers

david in wyoming

callers 00:06

maggie in oklahoma

callers 00:19

Large

Audio Only |

Scroll

Show episode speakers

Speaker	Time	Text
unidentified		On C-SPAN2.
		And a quick reminder that all of our congressional coverage is available on our free video app, C-SPAN Now, and our website, c-span.org.
		C-SPAN.
		Democracy Unfiltered.
		We're funded by these television companies and more, including Buckeye Broadband.
		Buckeye Broadband supports C-SPAN as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy.
		Coming up on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, we'll take your calls and comments live.
		Then, Washington Post Congressional Reporter Mariana Sota Mayor and the Hills White House columnist Niall Stanich preview what's ahead this fall for Congress and the Trump administration.
		And financial analyst Paul Ouslander, president of Seabridge Private Wealth, on how financial markets and Wall Street are reacting to President Trump's economic agenda and actions to reshape the Federal Reserve.
		Washington Journal starts now.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
		It's Tuesday, September 2nd, and it's the first day of school for many students around the country.
		Statistics show that public school enrollment is dropping and that trend is expected to continue.
		And a recent poll shows that support for public schools is waning.
		This morning, we're getting your thoughts on that and asking about your level of confidence in public schools.
		What do you think of tax credits or vouchers for private schools?
		Do you have an opinion of cell phone use in school and technology use in general for education?
		Here's how to share your thoughts.
		Democrats, 202-748-8000.
		Republicans, 202-748-8001.
		And Independents, 202748-8002.
		If you're an educator or a parent of a student in K through 12, you can call us on 202-748-8003.
		That's the same number that you can use to text us, include your first name and your city-state.
		And you can also post your comments on social media, facebook.com/slash C-SPAN and X at C-SPANWJ.
		Welcome to today's Washington Journal.
		We'll start with a Hill article, and this is the headline: Public schools in a bind amid enrollment declines.
		It says that K through 12 enrollment is on the decline between a combination of dropping birth rates and more school choice options, putting schools in a bind.
		It says the public school system is expected to see a drop of millions of students over the next five years, a hit that will affect schools financially and potentially lead to the closure of more districts.
		Ways to combat this phenomenon are limited as experts say schools will have to look at scaling down operations or competing with other educational institutions.
		And let's take a look at the poll results that I mentioned.
unidentified		This is the PDK poll.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		They take a poll every year.
		This is their 57th annual poll.
		That's been since 1969.
		Let's take a look at Americans who give public schools an A or a B grade.
		So when asked about their local schools, they rate those as 43%.
		Now it was in 2013 that that number went to its highest level, which was 53% for their local schools.
		When asked about public schools nationally, how they would grade those, only 13% gave a grade of an A or B, and that is the lowest number since the poll's history.
		Another question they asked was about public funding for private or religious schools.
		So here's what the question was.
		They said, if you were offered public funds to cover at least a portion of the cost to send your child to a private or religious school instead, do you think you would keep them in public school or would send them to a private or religious schools?
		So overall, the number said 59% that they would send to private or a religious school if part of that, at least part of that money was paid for by the government.
		Let's see, broken down by party and its independents that were the highest number.
		That was at 84%.
		71% Republicans said that they would send their kids to private or religious schools and 47% of Democrats.
		Let's take a look at what President Trump said in a cabinet meeting about education and his administration's policy.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		So we're bringing education back to the states, to put it in a more simple fashion.
		We're going to let the states educate our children again.
		And, you know, we're rated out of 40 countries, we're 38, 39, or 40.
		So obviously, it's not working what they've been doing for the last 30, 40 years.
		And if you go back, the best are like Norway, Denmark, Sweden, some of the other Finland.
		They're very highly rated.
		If you go back to just take a look at anything you want to do, you just look at us in the past.
		If we gave Iowa or gave Indiana or gave, and I don't say every one of them, you know, a guy like Gavin Newscomb is not going to do well.
		Certain states won't do well.
		But even California, you cut it up into sections.
		You have Riverside, you have this, you have that.
		You cut it into five sections.
		And, you know, if you had a good governor, you'd be able to do well.
		But certain states will be able to compete with Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and everyone.
		It'll be just as good.
		So I figure you have close to 40 of those states.
		And then you have 10, you have five that won't be very good.
		You have five disasters.
		And we'll have to work on those disasters.
		But for the most part, we will have education that will go zooming up in those charts just like we have in everything else we've done.
		And I think it's one of the most important things we're doing at this table.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Getting your thoughts on your confidence level in America's public schools.
		And we'll start with James, who's a Republican in Kataning, Pennsylvania.
		Good morning, James.
unidentified		Yes.
		I just don't have much faith in the public schools or very little.
		It seems that my life's an example of public schools.
		There's no accountability.
		Children are left on their own.
		I mean, the schools need parents to be involved.
		And I never had that.
		And, well, that's all I'm going to say, but we need the alternative of vouchers or people being able to choose their schools because there's no competition to a huge degree if you're at a bad school.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, James.
		Here's Arthur in Florida, also a Republican.
		Good morning, Arthur.
unidentified		Yes, ma'am.
		Basically, I don't have that much confidence in the public schools.
		Part of the reason being that we have kicked God out of the public schools.
		And also, it's almost like the parents are being told, you don't have anything to say about what we're doing.
		So, right there, that hurts any faith in the public school system.
		And by the way, when my daddy went to school, this was a little one-room school up in the mountains.
		They didn't have all that money for everything, but they taught them the basics of free R's, taught them morals, taught them be good citizens.
		I mean, now I don't know what they're teaching in the schools.
		That's all I've got to say, bye.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		The Texas Tribune says that Texas will require public school classrooms to display Ten Commandments under a bill signed by the governor.
		It says that Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 10, even though a similar Louisiana law was deemed unconstitutional.
		Supporters say Christianity is core to U.S. history.
		And here is Drew in Chicago, Illinois, independent.
		Hi, Drew.
unidentified		Hi.
unidentified		Can you hear me?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Yes, I can.
unidentified		Right.
		So about the public schools, like, well, I myself am a student, and I go to a public school in Chicago.
		And just what I've noticed is, I mean, in relation to like core subjects like math and reading and science and stuff like that, usually it's okay in relation to just like it's not, I don't know.
		The big problem that I really see is in the social sciences, where for me personally, it's like a lot of the time it seems like it's just extremely biased against the United States.
		It seems like there's constantly this drive to make people kind of hate ourselves and to kind of villainize ourselves.
		And I think it's having a really bad effect.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		What grade are you in, Drew?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Are you in high school?
unidentified		Yeah, I'm in my junior year.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So give me an example of something you might have studied that is geared towards making Americans feel bad about themselves.
unidentified		Well, the biggest thing would actually be the United States history course that I had, where the main source of information was actually the name again, this book by Howard Zinn called A People's History of the United States.
		And the entire idea was that, well, that the United States has been extremely, I will just evil, I guess, or corrupt in the way that it's worked and that the whole system is bad.
		And kind of the whole idea about slave-owning people creating the country and all this stuff.
		And about how, you know, one of the ideas was that in World War II, we were no better than the Nazis.
		And I mean, that's just obviously not true.
		I mean, I don't really see how that's something that is even acceptable to be taught.
		But it's just this constant idea that somehow we're supposed to not think that we're great.
		And I mean, I just don't think that that's true at all.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And do you feel that you can speak up in class, Drew?
		I mean, like, during this, when you were studying that, did you feel that you could raise your hand and say, I don't think that that's true?
		What do you think?
unidentified		No, no, I don't think I could.
		Even an assignment, you know, I mean, you can only write about or answer questions with the sources that they give you.
		And when all the sources are similar and saying those kinds of things, you can't really go against that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		Well, we appreciate you calling in.
		And is today your first day of school?
unidentified		No, it's like, this is like my third week.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		Well, good luck this year, Drew.
		Here's Fran, New Hampshire, a Democrat.
		Hi, Fran.
unidentified		Hi.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Go right ahead.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		We're listening.
unidentified		I support public schools.
		And in particular, I support the curriculum that the public schools offer.
		When you send your child to a private school, many times the parents do not take time to find out what the curriculum is.
		Do they actually do much in the way of social studies?
		Do they do much in the way of history and government?
		These are all courses that all public high schools and elementary school students take as a requirement.
		No requirements in many of those private schools.
		So I really feel that parents need to take a look.
		I agree that there are occasions when an alternate choice to the public school is needed because of the condition of the school.
		But otherwise, I hope that they will continue to support their public schools.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Fran, here's Joseph, Fredericksburg, Virginia, Independent.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Joseph.
unidentified		Hi, thank you.
		I somewhat support public schools, but there is major issues.
		I went to a Catholic school from grade one to five, and then a public school from grade six through 12, and then the college, et cetera.
		I've also been a collegiate professor for the last 31 years.
		And I can tell you that the analytical abilities and the mathematical abilities have definitely decreased from students today, 2025, compared to 1993 when I first started.
		I would prefer to see public schools stick more to the basics, reading, writing, arithmetic, mathematics, of course, when I say arithmetic, and stay away from the cultural issues that have tear apart many of our public schools.
		I definitely support the ability to have some chartered schools, some funding going towards that, as to put some competition at public schools to revamp their curriculum to help prepare students for the outside world.
		In addition, when I went to public school, I graduated in 74 from high school.
		We were required to take a shop class.
		So I think having students take a shop class, being able to do learning how to do some mechanics, whether it's woodworking, automotive, even putting together a computer, a laptop, et cetera, would be the ability to think through problems and being able to solve what those problems are.
		Sticking to the classic in terms of our reading and, like I said, much better ability.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So, Joseph, I want to go back to what you said about math.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Why do you think there's been a drop in math skills, and what do you think needs to be done about it?
unidentified		Okay, I think one of the reasons why there's been a drop in math skills is people are, the students today, excuse me, are wedded to their phones.
		Remember the old Star Wars Luke Skywalker having that hand with instruments on it?
		Same thing.
		They can't survive without a phone.
		So they tend to look things up in Google.
		They don't understand adding, subtracting, percentages, geometry, that kind of stuff.
		I know I have problems in my class understanding percentages, increases or decreasing what the percentage changes are.
		So I think if the students had to go back to learning traditional mathematics as opposed to on the phone, they would be able to retain and then utilize those concepts in real life.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
unidentified		I would go back to real-world problems in terms of mathematics in the classroom and being able to, like I did many years ago, to be able to solve them.
		And then the same thing with change.
		When I went to work at a drugstore, I had to do change on my own.
		Today, students can't do that.
		They have to actually look at the register because they can't figure out how to give change back if somebody uses cash when they purchase an item.
		That type of traditional stuff.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Joseph.
		And this is Steve, a retired educator in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
		Hi, Steve.
unidentified		Hey, good morning, Mimi.
		First thing, I'm getting ready to write.
		The title of the book is: I'm writing this book so I can be a guest on C-SPAN.
		But anyway, I taught school for 31 years, and a couple things I want to talk about first.
		People don't understand who sets the curriculum.
		The state sets the curriculum.
		Teachers don't set the curriculum.
		The state sets the curriculum.
		We teach what the state says to teach.
		Okay.
		Next thing.
		Ten Commandments in the school.
		I think it'd be great.
		I would love that.
		Every day I'd say, okay, let's take a commandment.
		Thou shalt not commit adultery.
		Let's see.
		Donald Trump has had three wives and committed adultery with all of them.
		Okay.
		Next thing, parents.
		There are only two people responsible for a child's education, and that's the parents.
		There's where the lack of comes in as far as learning.
		My kids, when they went to school, knew the numbers, knew their colors, could tell you who their parents were, where they lived, their phone number.
		My wife was a kindergarten teacher.
		She had kids every year.
		Didn't know their parents' name, didn't know where they lived, didn't know their colors, didn't know their phone number.
		And the fact is, there's only two people responsible for a child's education, and that's the parents.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So, Steve, tell us what did you teach in what grades?
unidentified		I taught science.
		I taught seventh-grade science.
		It's a good example of karma.
		I was such a hellion in the seventh grade that I got put back for 31 years as a seventh grade teacher.
		Okay?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		And here's Randy, Michigan, Line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Randy.
unidentified		Good morning, Mimi.
		I'm going to explain to everybody how dumb of a country we really are.
		We had 178,000 overdoses and alcohol-related deaths last year in 2024.
		We had 83,000 for all drugs.
		We've been looking for 80 years for somebody to die from POT.
		It's never happened.
		Can't find a single person, not even a child.
		This lie about you lose your hand-eye coordination.
		Well, they better rethink it.
		We had 201 driving accidents in Michigan from POT.
		We had 8,000 people.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Randy, what does this have to school have to do with public schools?
unidentified		Google this.
		Well, I believe in public schools, but when they brainwash our kids to believe something that's not true, so we can go into another country and take over their country under disguise of drugs.
		We've got to get rid of their drugs when we spray paraquat over their whole country and kill a bunch of people and throw people in our country in prison, take away their right to work over a lie.
		I mean, you tell me how you get any government official out here to explain to me how we can have alcohol as the number one killer in our country, worse than any drug, worse than any fentanyl, any drug.
		178,000 alcohol-related deaths and overdoses in our country.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Randy.
		And back to that poll.
		This is what it says about how satisfied are you with the amount of input that you have in your child's education.
		So that came out as 60% were very or somewhat satisfied.
		31% said not very much at all.
		If you were to put that by party, so Republicans are at 50% saying not too satisfied or not at all satisfied.
		80% of Democrats said they were very or somewhat satisfied.
		And Independents were at 73% at very or somewhat satisfied.
		If we went back to your view of eliminating the Department of Education, this is at opposed or strongly opposed.
		66% said they were opposed or strongly opposed to eliminating the Department of Education.
		For those that said they support or strongly support eliminating the department, it's 22% and don't know at 13%.
		Back to the phones to Art, Streamwood, Illinois, Independent Line.
		Hi, Art.
unidentified		Hi, how are you doing?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good.
unidentified		I am 82 years old.
		I started public school in 1946.
		The basic tenants of schooling was to teach you how to read, how to write, and how to do adding the subtraction.
		Those are the basic tenets that schools were at that time.
		And those tenets taught me well.
		It seems to me that education is far away from the basics that it was there to develop for.
		And to me, it's very opposing or very disapproval of what the Education Department is doing right now with all of these social interactions and so politicized.
		It's unbelievable to me that people can send their children to a system that takes more out of teaching them how not to be socialized and not to learn the basics of education, reading, writing, and arithmetic, which was all it was about at my time.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So, Art, let me ask you a question because sometimes people call us and say, you know, the problem is that we don't have enough civics education.
		So people need to learn civics.
		Would you consider that part of the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic?
unidentified		Well, the basics didn't.
		We developed, the first reason you go to school are the three basics.
		What you go to after that is to develop your socializing with other people above and beyond your family.
		Politics never played a part in any part of my education.
		It's just been in the recent several decades that this has occurred.
		And to me, it's a detriment to a child's development.
		A child does not have to be forced to have to decide things politically.
		It should only be a social interaction.
		And his education should still be a basic part of his development.
		And those basics are reading, writing, and arithmetic.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Understood that art.
		And here's Jesse and Fina Republican.
		Hi, Jesse.
unidentified		Good morning, Mimi.
		And I am a teacher, just to clarify.
		And, you know, so I'm headed to work this morning.
		And I will tell you, the problem that I see is too much technology use and not good programs when we're talking about that.
		And I just think it's really funny because we learned from COVID, if you look at the stats, that online learning programs really led to lower outcomes, lower performance levels.
		And we keep using more online programs.
		And those programs, most computer-based programs, if you learn about it, were created for students with disabilities and trouble learning.
		So it's really not good to force those more and more on more and more students.
		Think about it.
		And I was just thinking about it from a taxpayer standpoint.
		We have all these computers getting charged and like the energy use is just out of control.
		I can't believe taxpayers aren't thinking about this.
		And I'll just say, charter schools aren't any better than public schools.
		It comes down to who's running these schools.
		And there's a lot of slum lords running schools in the West, I will say, in New Mexico and Arizona.
		And so it's really unfortunate.
		And I'll just say, you know, I started a business myself, pencilpals.com, coolest, newest, funnest writing and drawing tools for all learners.
		We are all about social justice, social conscious, special education.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And Jesse, what do you teach in what grade?
unidentified		So actually, this year, I'll tell you, I'm on a travel job assignment, and I'm with Phoenix High School, A Phoenix High School, and I work with some kids with incredible, I mean, I have some kids in wheelchairs, Down syndrome.
		I'm a special ed teacher.
		And I like, I love, I mean, I love my job.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Okay, so let me ask you about cell phone bans in school because it looks like it's happening.
		At least 22 states have signed legislation regarding cell phone policies in K through 12.
		Are you in favor of a complete and total ban, Jesse, like from the beginning bell to the end, including during lunch and during breaks?
unidentified		You know, I think the whole cell zone thing, I can't believe we're still talking about this.
		Like this has been an issue since I started in the, you know, in 2010, and they were around before then.
		And I think this is just a drop in the bucket because no one's even enforcing anything, you know.
		And so if you're not enforcing your rules, what's the difference?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, we got that.
		And this is on Facebook.
		Lauren says about his confidence in America's public schools.
		Overall, no, you can see it in the young adults today.
		Time for school choice.
		Let me take my tax dollars and educate my child.
		And this is Lori who says public school system isn't the problem.
		It's the DEI liberal administrators and teachers need to put back physical education, home economics, and shop classes.
		And this is Erin who says, yes, but it often depends on the community due to the heavy reliance on local property taxes for funding.
		The issues with disparities between public schools are a reflection of residential segregation, which is often more pronounced in the wealthiest neighborhoods and kept that way through NIMBYism and exclusionary zoning.
		Aggressively enforcing fair housing and building affordable, low-income and middle-income housing in these communities is just as important as promoting social mix in low-income housing revitalization efforts in historically poor neighborhoods.
		And you can join the conversation on Facebook and on X.
		And this is Rob, who is calling on our line for Democrats from Laurel, Maryland.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		How are you doing this morning?
		Good.
		I've got a lot of confidence in public schools.
		I was raised in public schools.
		I did go to Catholic school for a very short time when I was in elementary school.
		But I think really what we're looking at here with people have been saying like for the past 30 years or 40 years or whatever, public school system education seems to have declined.
		It's also, if you notice, at the same time, this is the same time that private school education with public funding has increased.
		There are some things I don't think we should put so much into private industries, like for instance, the healthcare industry, the, you know, not just education, but our prison systems, anything that we put, public funding into private entities.
		And don't forget that most private schools have some sort of theological backing that is part of the education system that really should not even be publicly financed.
		As a matter of fact, if you take the public school system and you take that money away and give it to the Catholic schools, they are actually teaching theology, plus, they don't pay taxes at all.
		And so that's kind of the shift of funding has got a lot to do with how well you're going to be able to run any type of organization, including any educational association.
		And there's no reason why the curriculum and the public school couldn't be brought up to snuff with any other school.
		Most private schools, by the way, are way too much money for the average person to send their kids to private school.
		So they're not paying taxes and yet they are getting public money.
		That's a nice big advantage.
		Plus, don't forget they get to get rid of students that they don't like because they're not performing well or they're hard to handle.
		Can't do that in a public school.
		You got to educate everybody.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Rob, and you can join our conversation.
		The numbers are on your screen.
		Democrats are on 202748-8000.
		Republicans 202-748-8001.
		And Independents 202748-8002.
		If you're an educator or you are a parent of a child in K-12, give us a call on 202-748-8003 to share your thoughts on public schools.
		Let's take a look at what Education Secretary Linda McMahon said about school choice at a recent event in Washington last month.
linda mcmahon ▲ ● ▼		And President Trump is just absolutely committed to school choice.
		He doesn't believe that any child should be trapped in a failing school.
		And in the, you know, the big beautiful bill, there was about $60 million put in, first of all, for the remainder of the spending of this school year, and then ongoing, increasing the budget for school choice up to now about $500 million.
		That's a significant amount of money to give students choice.
		And as you and I discussed, it was the silver lining of COVID that parents, for the first time, were able to see the kinds of curriculum that students had in their school.
		There was a lot of, you know, there was a lot of DEI, there was a lot of wokeness in the curriculum.
		And so it was incredibly eye-opening, you know, to parents who saw that.
		And so they wanted to make sure that they had more control over the curriculum in their schools.
		And so for the first time, they were attending board meetings.
		They were doing a lot of the things that made them involved in what their children's education was.
		And so that was incredibly important.
		And I urge parents, go to school board meetings, run for the school board so that you can have impact in what your children are doing because that is incredibly important.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		The Education Secretary, and we'll go back to your calls to Norman, who's an Ithaca, New York, Independent.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Norman.
unidentified		Hey, Mimi.
		Good morning.
		My confidence in public school is born of life experience.
		When I went to school in kindergarten, I could already read.
		Second grade, I did a whole year's worth of reading in a weekend.
		They took my work, threw it in the trash, and asked me if I was a smart out.
		Fifth grade, I'm in remediation, and I was tuned out of school.
		My parents put me in a private school.
david in wyoming ▲ ● ▼		I spent, what, not even a full year and won the most improved reader for that year.
unidentified		And to the well, I'll be charitable.
		The school I went to, we read from the King James Version of the Bible, the Vs, the Thou's, so on and so forth.
		So final reading shot through the roof.
		Five years later, I go back to the public school.
		I didn't have to crack a book.
		I just cruised.
		So I went to school after the Navy, and I wanted to be a math teacher.
		And I went through the program for mathematics.
		I didn't take any of the EDU courses.
		I had more mathematics than any public high school teacher.
		I got to teach geometry one year.
		Every single one of my students passed here in New York to the regions.
		The following year, I was put out to pasture, i.e., I had collateral duties because I worked at a school for at-risk youth.
		And now I tutor calculus privately.
		So the teacher who replaced me, his major was in psychology.
		And on day one that he got there, he was counting down the days to retirement.
		So all this stuff.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Wait, he's a psychology major and he's teaching math in high school?
unidentified		In a public high school.
		And Mimi, when I started out life, I was studying electrical engineering.
		And if you get a degree in electrical engineering, you're practically a mathematician these days.
		And oh my goodness, I couldn't believe it.
		But he had the Masters of Education.
		And I had not quite a master's in just straight up mathematics, but I didn't have any of those EDU courses.
		And my button went out to pasture, so to say, and then after that, because it was a school for now, get this, at-risk youth who would much rather kill you than do their geometry.
		But my two greatest teachers in my life, Mimi, my mom, who was a pretty strict Irish Catholic, and senior team in the U.S. Navy who didn't put up with no mess.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Norman.
		And here's Lisa Alexandria, Virginia, Republican.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		My confidence in public school is zero for their socialization.
		I'm here in Fairfax County.
		Their education is, I'd go ahead and give them a 9900% when they're educating them on reading math and science and stuff.
		But when it comes down to our Fairfax County School Board, their focus is on, you know, the transgenders using bathrooms.
		And we fought them against the elementary school system, but they've implemented it in the high school system.
		Hormones are at their worst in high school.
		I know because I was a teenager.
		And I put my kids in private school in elementary school, so they got a Catholic education.
		They passed their exit exam on the first try.
		Most of the students that have been there K through 12 had to take it remedial, remedial.
		And I was like, you know, I can't afford to do this for my grandchildren.
		I'm helping my daughter out.
		But, you know, I'm like, I'm glad they're getting a good education, but the social stuff, they just need to leave it alone.
		You're going to learn who's gay, who's not, as you grow up, and it's not going to be a problem because most of them are in our family.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's go to Elena in Concord, California.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Elena, you're a parent of a child in school.
unidentified		No, I'm a teacher and a parent.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Tell us about your child in school and what you teach.
unidentified		Well, I teach, I'm retired now, but I wanted to comment on the people who are talking about reading, writing, and arithmetic, which is true.
		That's what you're supposed to be teaching in the first few grades.
		However, at fourth and fifth grade, it becomes reading to learn, math to learn.
		It's curriculum that you take what you've learned and you apply it.
		You apply it to the real world.
		And that's what we do in public schools.
		So when I hear this only reading, writing, arithmetic, it's also application.
		How are you going to use that?
		What books are you going to read to put forth what you've been learning, how to read, how to write, and so on.
		So, you know, I get confused about people who only want to hear reading, writing, and arithmetic.
		Come on, guys.
		What do you think?
		And the curriculum I wanted you to know comes right out of Texas, especially here in California.
		And some of it, you know, it's real slanted sometimes.
		I don't know.
		And so teachers like to add what they want to it.
		We add field trips, especially here in California.
		We can go on several field trips and learn about the history of our state, learn about California, learn about how it applies to being a United States citizen.
		We have civics classes.
		I took my fourth graders to the state of California.
		I took them to Sacramento every year.
		They learned all about, you know, government as far as it went in fourth grade.
		And they were very interested in it.
		So, you know, I get tired of this bashing of public schools.
		Teachers don't go to school to ruin your children every day.
		We go to school to help the community and be good citizens.
		Believe me, we do.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		And here is Miriam in Grovetown, Georgia.
		Democrat, good morning.
unidentified		Thank you.
		And I appreciate that last caller and Rob who spoke.
		I think we better be careful what we wish for.
		Every time the big money people, they're always trying to find ways to get our tax money.
		And I remember listening to Romney and Obama when they were campaigning.
		And I was looking them up and doing some information.
		And Betsy DeVos and Romney were really, really big on wanting to privatize Schools because they were going to invest in them and make money.
		So it's sort of like, you know, when you were a kid and somebody came and said, hey, you know, that I'm going to give you this big, big nickel.
		It's big and it's, and just give me your tiny little dime.
		I have a feeling that in a few years, we're going to be real, we could regret this because it's going to be, as let me just read this really quickly.
		For decades, this was in 2023, Betsy DeVos and her family have spent millions on anti-public education agenda, defunding, destabilizing, and demonizing public schools and public schooling, while at the same time promoting private for-profit schooling.
		So just be aware that all of this, oh, the public schools are terrible.
		Both my kids went to public schools, and they both have one has a master's, one has a law degree.
		So it's, I don't, I think we better be careful.
		And also, just one more thing: Steve Jobs, and I remember reading his book, Steve Jobs' book on Apple.
		And he said, one of the main things of why his Apple technology on his iPad, you know, the thing we have, works so well, is he took a calligraphy class.
		And that's how he did all his, you know, how he did this, however, he designed his program for what we see.
		It was from a calligraphy class.
		So it's not just reading, writing, and arithmetic.
		It's critical thinking.
		It's all the different things that you experience.
		Public schools, apart from a private school, public schools have everybody come together so you really get an idea of your community and everything.
		If you say, oh, I've got to just go to this public, this private school who everybody thinks exactly like me, then I think you're really missing a lot of life.
		I just think you are.
		Anyway, that's my idea.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Miriam.
		And here is USA Today from July.
		It says: Trump administration will return more than $5 billion in public school funding it withheld.
		It said that the federal government froze the money on June 30th to allow for the White House's Office of Management and Budget to review nearly $7 billion allocated for schools.
		Well, here is a statement from July from the NEA president Becky Pringle.
		She says this: Playing games with students' futures has real-world consequences.
		School districts in every state have been scrambling to figure out how they will continue to meet student needs without this vital federal funding.
		And many students in parts of the country have already headed back to school.
		These reckless funding delays have undermined planning, staffing, and support services at a time when schools should be focused on preparing students for success.
		Sadly, this is part of a broader pattern by this administration of undermining public education, starving it for resources, sowing distrust, and pushing privatization at the expense of the nation's most vulnerable students.
		Back to the calls to Robert, Cincinnati, Ohio, Line for Republicans.
		Good morning.
unidentified		All right, I have no credibility in education.
		They don't teach you nothing no more.
		They went away from all the academics that they were teaching when I went to school.
		Now, now that you know, now that you see all of this, all of it is that these super overtly educated people, stupid, overtly educated people, they don't have no companionship with nothing but a book.
		And then they get in there and they try this trans.
		Do you know the real definition of trans is Greek?
		It's a Latin word.
		It's three.
		It's the letter three.
		It's the number three.
		Just like transmission means there's three missions, drive, neutral, reverse, as in transsexual.
		You know, transsexual, they tried to use the transsexual word about 20 years ago, and it didn't work for their weird little freaky fetish thing that they had going on because transsexual means there's three ways that a human being can have sex.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Robert.
		This is William, Savannah, Georgia, Independent Line.
		Hi, William.
unidentified		Hi, how are you?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		I'm okay.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		How are you doing in Savannah?
unidentified		Pretty good, I guess, for a retired teacher and a retired law enforcement officer.
		I worked for 30 years in education, and I did not plan on getting an education, but due to EEI hiring practice was in the early 80s.
		Every agency, CIA, NSA, Teaching Service, GBI, wanted to hire me, but they could not because I did not fit the right LSA minority they were looking for.
		So I ended up in education as I was going to school.
		And people said, you work in psychiatric hospitals, you've done all these things.
		Why don't you try education?
		So I started off my first year teaching in a class for special needs kids that had behavioral disorders.
		Basically, I started off as 15-year-olds in fifth grade.
		And what they lacked was discipline.
		They liked having somebody that cared about and somebody that would be there day after day with the same rules and structure.
		And children that had been in third grade for four years or fifth grade for two years began to see progress because I focused hard on the language art skills.
		You can't study science, you can't study math, you can't study history without being able to read.
		So we spent two and a half hours a day just doing language arts.
		And that proceeded.
		I did early education for five years.
		And then somebody said, why don't you try middle school?
		You know, be great at that.
		They need a coach.
		Well, I went to this school applied.
		And next week, you know, I ended up as the best football coach.
		And I ended up teaching middle school for 12 and a half years where I did special ed.
		And then we went into these things back then, which was called pullout or resource classes, where you send the special needs kids to an instructor outside of the class where we had a smaller group.
		So I did that.
		And eventually another school called me because they had a self-contained EVD class that they knew the teacher and they would not let this class inside the building.
		They were an outside port at least.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, William.
		Let's take a look at the American Federation of Teachers, President Randy Weingarten.
		She was on this program earlier this summer.
		And this is what she said about the Education Secretary's budget and cuts to the department.
unidentified		You know, you can say things publicly, all of what she said, let's cut waste, let's cut bureaucracy, let's move local control.
		All of that we agree with.
		The devil is in the details.
		So let's look at the skinny budget or the budget.
		They say they want to do career tech ed.
		We need to have more pathways for kids.
		It shouldn't just be, you know, college or bust.
		We should actually think about the other kinds of pathways we have for kids from high school, community college on.
		They didn't put one dime into Career Tech Ed.
		They're actually transferring or trying to transfer all the Career Tech Ed programs to the Department of Labor.
		The Department of Labor knows nothing about educating children.
		Pre-apprenticeships, yes, the apprenticeship programs that the trades do are fantastic.
		We need to do that for advanced manufacturing, for culinary, for healthcare.
		Not a dime in there.
		Not a word about that.
		Number two, Title I. Title I is a premier program.
		Sorry for being so factual.
		Title I is a premier program started by Lyndon Johnson in the aftermath of Brown versus Board of Education to help lift up all kids from poverty.
		They have cut that program by about $5 billion.
		That program disproportionately serves red states.
		Mississippi gets about 20% of its funding from Title I, New York about 7%.
		What does Title I go for?
		And why does it go as a per-child allocation?
		For reading instruction, for lowering class size, for summer school, for after school, for computers.
		They've cut that, and then they want to give the rest of it to the states as opposed to directly to schools for kids.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And you can see the rest of that or all of our programming on our website, cspan.org.
		Mike, Houston, Texas, Republican line.
		Mike, what's your confidence in America's public schools?
unidentified		Well, it's very low.
		I remember in 2013, at the start of President Obama's second term, he was promoting the idea of smaller class sizes.
		He said we need smaller class sizes.
		And it's interesting because there was a statistic, I read it in National Review about a year later, and the reference to it had to do with funding by National Review.
		They looked at 1983 to 2013, and during that 30-year stretch, student enrollment in public schools increased by 7% over 30 years.
		However, the number of employees hired by public schools across the country during that same 30-year period increased by 55%.
		Now, that is just eye drop.
		It just pops your eyes out of your head.
		55% increase in, but they're not teachers necessarily.
		So what exactly?
		Now, I understand there might be more special needs and so on.
		I'm totally understandable.
		I understand that point.
		But 55%, the money is not going to the teachers.
		The teachers are not seeing increases.
		That is telling.
		So to me, when I hear the idea of not having competition in public schools, I reject that.
		I think you do need competition, if only to force them to get the cost per student down and have them get more innovative with how they train teachers.
		You know, if you look at any industry, any industry at all, any company that people work for, the private sector, companies always find ways to do more with less.
		They do, and become more efficient.
		But public schools don't have an incentive to do that.
		They don't have incentive to be more efficient.
		The cost per student year over year over year, I understand the inflation rates, but it's not getting a return.
		I saw a stat just the other day that said like 80 different, there was no one in the K-12 schools in the state of Illinois who read at grade level or something, or maybe it was just high school or eighth grade or something.
		But the idea that we tolerate such mediocrity of reading levels in schools.
		What happens after COVID, for example?
		There is no sense of urgency that I saw to fix problems.
		I know here in Houston, they had a bunch of money that was allocated to new HVAC units, and that money went for annual costs.
		It didn't go to fixing the HVAC units in the schools anywhere.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So, Mike, let's take a look at teacher salaries.
		This is from that PDK poll.
		So, the National Education Association shows that in 2025, about teacher salaries.
		So, new starting salary for new teachers, the average, the national average, is $46,526.
		The average national teacher pay, so including everybody, not just new teachers, is $72,030.
		They asked their respondents: Do you think that salaries for teachers in your community are too high, too low, or just about right?
		Too low came in at 64%.
		About right, 20%, and don't know is 16%.
		So, that's the national average breakout by Republicans, Independents, Democrats, Republicans, 39% saying it's too low, 62% of independents, and 73% of Democrats saying that teacher salaries are too low.
		And here is David in Rochester, New York, Independent Line.
		Good morning, David.
unidentified		Good morning, Amy.
unidentified		How are you today?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good.
unidentified		I really appreciate this program and I appreciate this topic.
		I started teaching in 1982, and I retired in 2018.
		And over the course of those years, the biggest, I think, one of the obstacles that we had here, at least in New York, was that every three or four to five, maybe six years, we always seemed to come up with a new program, a new philosophy.
		Common Core was a total bust.
		We had the Regents Action Plan here in New York, and it seemed like every time we finally got into something that we adjusted to and made new textbooks, adjusted our curriculums and all that, they would change it.
		And so, one of the biggest problems I think in public education today is the remarkable lack of consistency.
		I taught history, and I taught government for 36 years, 37 years, or whatever it was, 35 years.
		And we were more or less left to our own devices, especially when we were applying the curriculum.
		A gentleman mentioned an hour ago or so about Howard Zen.
		We use that book, but we also use a book that went sources and resources and went to the opposite extreme.
		So, we tried to impress upon our students that, look, there are very many different ways of looking at things.
		You have to evaluate this on your own, and you have to make your own judgments.
		I don't think we have that anymore.
		There's just so much.
		And here's one other thing: in the last four or five years of my career, it seemed like we had meetings and meetings and meetings and meetings and meetings, and we weren't really concentrating on what we were doing.
		And that was how do we teach?
		I had a principal, a wonderful principal, one time that said, Here's what you do: your lesson plans should be this.
		What do you want to teach?
		And how do you know they learned it?
		And that was the basic philosophy that I used for the longest time, and it worked phenomenally.
		We had a teacher, I had a colleague that taught U.S. history, and his region's exam scores were phenomenal.
		They were in the top tier for many, many years.
		And then they changed the regions exam.
		And so we had to reapply.
		We had to call them.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So, David, I heard what you were saying about the lack of consistency, but I want to go back to what you said about offering different things in social studies and saying you make your own decision.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Do you think students today are being taught critical thinking and how to evaluate those different sources?
unidentified		Not to the extreme, not to the point that it should be.
		Because what happens is that teachers get so bogged down in terms of what the curriculum, the state curriculum, and which the local curriculums require, and they don't concentrate on teaching those skills.
		I was fortunate enough that I did not have a state test that I had to worry about for the most part.
		And so we were able to look at different topics.
		We were able to look at different issues.
		We were able to look at in real time and tried to foster how do you feel about this.
		I remember back when Columbine happened.
		And I sat there and I thought myself at that time says, Boy, things are going to be very, very different as a result of this.
		And they were.
		And one of the things I had, I talked to a couple of my colleagues is, how do we teach this?
		How do we deal with this?
		And not just that, but other issues.
		I mean, you know, David, I just got to move on to other callers.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's talk to Elmer in Birmingham, Alabama, Democrat.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Elmer.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Go ahead, Elmer.
		How are you doing?
		Yes.
		I like to feel a monkey maintenance.
		I want to talk about schools.
		I want to talk about a VIP.
		A bit is a VIT.
		And this man said we got a bronze star and a pitful heart.
		And they didn't even save the man.
		I tell the minister supposed to take care of their own is not why you own this man.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Richard in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Republican line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Richard.
unidentified		Good morning.
unidentified		How are you today?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good.
unidentified		All right.
		I want to talk about my experiences in public schools.
		I was a teacher from 2019 into 2020, and then I moved on to be an instructor of process technology at a local university in Oklahoma.
		And it is very, it's a difficult profession.
		I was alternately certified in Oklahoma because they were short on teachers.
		I taught physics five periods a day, two AP Physics I, one AP Physics II, and two general physics.
		And student body, as the day wore on, the students became more antsy.
		That's one of the things I know.
		By the way, I want to appreciate all the teachers out there.
		It's a hard job.
		So one of the things that an administrator told me to focus on loose control of your students.
		You know, I didn't nitpick every little thing they did, but I will add that another factor in this is the student body was roughly 60% Hispanic, and there were certain people that certain students who could not speak English.
		I like to say I communicated through mathematics.
		Physics is heavy into mathematics, and I was pretty good at it.
		I was a chemical engineer most of my career, and then basically, according to the rules of corporate America, I was too old to get a new job.
		So I went ahead and did this.
		So I taught right up until COVID happened and then had to teach online.
		So that was 2019 into 2020.
		It was pretty crazy.
		But I also saw the effects of COVID afterward when I was doing the instruction job in here in Oklahoma.
		And a lot of the students didn't have the basic skills they needed to function in college.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So, Richard, do you, you're in Oklahoma.
		Do you know about the America First test that is for teachers that are coming from New York and California?
		Have you heard about this?
unidentified		Yes, I've heard about this.
unidentified		I've mentioned I am retired now.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, so what do you think of that?
		So I'll just make sure everybody knows.
		So this is the New York Times.
		The test is meant to filter out teachers who hold, quote, antithetical to Oklahoma values.
		It says that Oklahoma will require teachers coming from New York and California to pass a test to combat what it calls, quote, woke indoctrination.
		It says that it is meant to ensure that educators promote American exceptionalism and help protect against what he called radical gender ideology.
		It says, quote, if you come to Oklahoma, you will abide by our state law.
		You will abide by our standards and teach those in the classroom.
		That is the Ryan Walters, who is the state superintendent.
		What do you think, Richard?
unidentified		I have a lot of trouble with it.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Why?
unidentified		When I was, well, the reason I have a lot of trouble with it is if you teach something like physics, it's hard to work woke ideology into that.
		It's hard to work it into that, into your lessons.
		So it's, to me, it's just not going to happen.
		So why take the test?
		It would be better to make sure that they're confident.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		And with that, we will take more calls later in the program.
		But later on the Washington Journal, we have financial analyst Paul Auslander, president of Seabridge Private Wealth.
		He discusses how financial markets and Wall Street are reacting to President Trump's economic agenda and actions to reshape the Federal Reserve.
		But first, after the break, Washington Post Congressional Reporter Mariana Sotomayor and the Hills White House columnist Niles Stanage preview what's ahead this fall for Congress and the Trump administration.
		We'll be right back.
unidentified		This fall, C-SPAN invites you on a powerful journey through the stories that define a nation.
		From the halls of our nation's most iconic libraries comes America's Book Club, a bold, original series where ideas, history, and democracy meet.
		Hosted by renowned author and civic leader David Rubinstein, each week features in-depth conversations with the thinkers shaping our national story.
		Among this season's remarkable guests, John Grisham, master storyteller of the American justice system.
		Justice Amy Coney Barrett, exploring the Constitution, the court, and the role of law in American life.
		Famed chef and global relief entrepreneur Jose Andres, reimagining food.
		Henry Louis Gates, chronicler of race, identity, and the American experience.
		The books, the voices, the places that preserve our past, and spark the ideas that will shape our future.
		America's Book Club, premiering this fall, only on C-SPAN.
		Looking to contact your members of Congress?
		Well, C-SPAN is making it easy for you with our 2025 Congressional Directory.
		Get essential contact information for government officials all in one place.
		This compact, spiral-bound guide contains bio and contact information for every House and Senate member of the 119th Congress.
		Contact information on congressional committees, the president's cabinet, federal agencies, and state governors.
		The congressional directory costs $32.95 plus shipping and handling, and every purchase helps support C-SPAN's non-profit operations.
		Scan the code on the right or go to c-spanshop.org to order your copy today.
		Get C-SPAN wherever you are with C-SPAN Now, our free mobile video app that puts you at the center of democracy, live and on demand.
		Keep up with the day's biggest events with live streams of floor proceedings and hearings from the U.S. Congress, White House events, the courts, campaigns, and more from the world of politics, all at your fingertips.
		Catch the latest episodes of Washington Journal.
		Find scheduling information for C-SPAN's TV and radio networks, plus a variety of compelling podcasts.
		The C-SPAN Now app is available at the Apple Store and Google Play.
		Download it for free today.
		C-SPAN, democracy unfiltered.
jimmy carter ▲ ● ▼		Democracy is always an unfinished creation.
ronald reagan ▲ ● ▼		Democracy is worth dying for.
george h w bush ▲ ● ▼		Democracy belongs to us all.
bill clinton ▲ ● ▼		We are here in the sanctuary of democracy.
george w bush ▲ ● ▼		Great responsibilities fall once again to the great democracies.
barack obama ▲ ● ▼		American democracy is bigger than any one person.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Freedom and democracy must be constantly guarded and protected.
unidentified		We are still at our core, a democracy.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		This is also a massive victory for democracy and for freedom.
unidentified		Washington Journal continues.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Welcome back to Washington Journal.
		Joining us now for a roundtable is Mariana Sotomayor, Congressional Reporter for The Washington Post, and Niall Stanage, White House columnist for The Hill.
		Welcome to both of you.
unidentified		Good to be here.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Thanks.
		So, Maria, I will start with you.
		Sorry, Mariana.
		The Congress is back after the August recess.
		The government runs out of money in 28 days.
		Are we going to have a shutdown?
unidentified		I mean, all signs so far point to possibly.
		And the reason why is because Republicans, who obviously are in charge of the House and Senate, don't necessarily have a set plan.
		We've heard from President Trump, who wants to see a clean extension of current funds.
		That's something that Republicans are mulling, but let's remember that in the Senate, they need Democratic votes to ensure that the government stays open.
		So there are conversations about how to entice those Democratic votes.
		There are Affordable Care Act subsidies, for example, that expire at the end of the year.
		Democrats absolutely do not want to see that expired.
		Do they tack that on?
		That would go against Trump's asks to make sure that it's just, again, clean extension.
		Don't add anything in there.
		So those conversations are ongoing.
		We've seen that under pressure, Congress can get things done.
		We've seen in this Congress, Republicans have been able to get things done under the pressure from the president.
		But again, you add the Democrats into this factor who are really not showing willingness to, at this moment, negotiate because they have seen how Trump has rescinded a number of already appropriated funds.
		They're like, why are we going to say okay to money that he could potentially claw back on his own?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So what's the solution here, Niall?
		And how much is President Trump going to be involved?
		How much is he going to put his thumb on the scale on this?
unidentified		Well, as Mariana already said, I mean, there's a situation or a scenario from the White House where they're talking about the fact that the president can't be curtailed.
		That at least is their position.
		But in relation to the shutdown itself, Mariana follows the granular details of it more than I do because she's up on Capitol Hill.
		But my sense is the blame game is starting very early here, which in itself indicates the likelihood that there will be a shutdown of some kind.
		We're seeing both parties really hit the other for purported inflexibility, for the idea that they're trying to drive too hard a bargain or they're not being bipartisan enough.
		Now, we can all litigate who's right and who's wrong in that respect, but I just think it's interesting that at this stage, a month out, we're already seeing the arguments being made about whose intransigence would be to blame for a shutdown.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Now, Mariana, the Democrats were burned before, as you said, and they did go along when there was going to be a shutdown before they went along with Republicans and got a lot of criticism for that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Do you think that there's an appetite for letting the government shut down and kind of digging their heels in for Democrats?
unidentified		Yeah, Democrats, of course, will argue that they're not trying to cause a shutdown.
		But yeah, you are completely right.
		House Democrats, all but one, voted against funding the government earlier this year.
		It was the Senate Democrats that really saw a division.
		And of course, at the end of the day, there were enough Senate Democrats after the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, said that he was going to vote to fund the government.
		And I think that's where a lot of the focus is going to be.
		A lot of these senators already eyeing the leader saying, okay, what are we going to do?
		Let's strategize early.
		That was a big criticism from before that they started talking about this way too late.
		What are we going to do in this case?
		And you're already hearing from a lot of Democratic senators, including some who did support funding the government earlier this year, saying, I don't know if I can vote for this because we have seen throughout the year how Trump and Congressional Republicans have clawed back funds.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		If you'd like to join our conversation with Mariana Sotomayor or Niall Stanage, if you've got a question or a comment about what's happening at the White House, what's happening in Congress this fall, you can give us a call.
		Democrats are on 202-748-8000.
		Republicans 202-748-8001.
		And Independents 202-748-8002.
		You can start calling in now.
		I want to ask you, Mariana, about the Epstein files as that will come up.
		We've got Representative Tom Massey, a Republican of Kentucky.
		We've got RoConna, a Democrat of California.
		They're going to be holding a news conference tomorrow with survivors of abuse of Epstein and Ghillene Maxwell.
		What are you watching?
		What are they hoping to accomplish with that?
unidentified		Yeah, even before tomorrow's press conference, something to watch for today is Speaker Mike Johnson and also the House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer will be meeting with a number of these accusers behind closed doors.
		So that's today.
		That's ahead of this press conference tomorrow on Capitol Hill.
		But of course, this issue between Massey and Khanna that they're forcing will actually come to a head this week.
		It's called a discharge petition.
		They essentially need to get support from 218 lawmakers to force a vote to release the files.
		Of course, we know that over this past month, the Department of Justice has sent over files to the Oversight Committee.
		The Oversight Committee has been reviewing them, but they haven't been released publicly yet.
		Democrats already also trying to frame the conversation saying, we don't know if we can trust Republicans to release all the files.
		Has DOJ even sent all the files?
		So that is why you are seeing Massey and Khanna continue to press their own petition.
		But of course, even if it passes the House, it's the expectation that all Democrats, 212 of them, will sign on to this.
		There's only a handful of Republicans needed to make sure it forces a vote in the House.
		If it were to pass, it still has to pass the Senate.
		We haven't really seen the Senate engage with the Epstein files all that much.
		And if it passes the Senate, the President has to sign that into law.
		And we have very much seen how the President wants this issue to go away.
		So despite the pressure mounting over on the House side, it would be interesting to see if it even gets to the Senate and to the President's desk.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Niall, what is the White House saying?
		Obviously, they want this issue to go away, as Mariana just said.
		So is the President going to be putting pressure on James Comer, on Speaker Johnson?
unidentified		Well, we could say some of the things that the president has said, but I'm not sure that profanity is allowed on C-SPAN.
		So he is obviously pretty adamant that he wants it to go away.
		And I see the political reason why this is a very rare issue in which a sizable share of the Republican base is critical of President Trump's actions and those of his administration.
		There's a Quinnipiac poll just last week.
		34% of Republicans disapprove of the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So if you're putting that into context, that's a lot of Republicans.
unidentified		It's a lot of Republicans at a time when the current president has a vice-like grip on the Republican Party on almost everything else.
		You know, with 34% of Republicans disapproving of almost anything he does in any other area.
		I think that does briefly sort of speak to the fact that a good share of Trump voters do and did take him seriously about these ideas of, you know, draining the swamp.
		He was going to expose deep secrets.
		And then it seems like that just hasn't happened.
		And there has been this sort of really unflattering juxtaposition between Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, saying that the client list was on her desk awaiting review, and then a short time later saying the client list doesn't exist.
		A large number of Republicans, as well as, of course, many other Americans, are understandably discontent about that situation.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's talk about redistricting.
		The redistricting fight started in Texas.
		And what are the administration's plans to push this to other states?
unidentified		Well, the administration's plans are to maximize the potential Republican gains.
		So obviously they are concentrating on Republican-led states.
		Indiana is one of the other states that has been mentioned.
		This, I think, goes to the importance of the midterms for this administration.
		So far, the administration has been able to act in a more or less unchecked way with Republican majorities in both chambers.
		It's a very small majority, obviously, in the House.
		Typically, the party that does not hold the White House does well in the first midterms.
		And so the administration is trying to build a layer of insulation against that historical trend with what we have seen in Texas, perhaps with other Republican-led states.
		But of course we have from the Democratic side, Governor Newsom in particular, in California, arguing that he will essentially act as a counterweight to that, getting Democratic, extra-Democratic.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		What are you hearing from Congress from both parties?
unidentified		Yeah, you know, this is something that I think if you ask lawmakers, they wish it wasn't happening because it's not something that typically happens mid-decade.
		However, it's been interesting to see how forceful Democrats have been on this issue because we saw just a couple of years ago North Carolina redistricted.
		They gained, Republicans gained three seats.
		Democrats didn't push back at that point in time and they actually cite that moment as a reason why they know that they just have to go to the Democratic states where they can try and redistrict to push back against this effort.
		Of course, California is not by any means a done deal.
		It has to go to the voters in November.
		We're seeing Republican and Democratic fundraisers just funneling money to make sure that voters either vote for this or against it, depending on what they want.
		We're seeing in Utah, for example, that's actually separate from all of this.
		The courts there actually said that that state has to redistrict.
		That's likely going to position Democrats to gain a seat.
		We also have now seen in Maryland, that's the next state that we've seen now, Missouri.
		I think Republicans are going to meet as early as this week to redraw the map.
		They're in Republicans' favor.
		And we've seen the Maryland governor say, well, we're going to respond.
		If you guys add a seat, then we'll try and add a seat here, too.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Well, speaking of things that typically don't happen, we're hearing from the president and also Democrats of holding a convention in the middle of not a presidential election.
unidentified		Yeah.
		I mean, it's already the Super Bowl for congressional candidates or congressional reporters, I should say.
		The midterm year is something that we're always, you know, watching.
		And it started early because of redistricting as to how the map is going to look.
		Now you add these conventions, and my goodness, is it going to be quite a year?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		But what would you do at one of those conventions?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Like, what would it look like?
unidentified		I am not entirely sure.
		I mean, past its precedent, right?
		Where maybe it'll be like the RNC and the DNC that we saw last year, but maybe to a much smaller scale.
		Of course, you're going to have a lot of congressional candidates who would love to speak, but giving a majority of those members time, that would, what, cause a weak convention possibly to happen?
		It's a little unclear as to what exactly that would all look like.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		But we'll cover it on C-SPAN anyway.
unidentified		We'll be there.
unidentified		We'll be there.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, let's talk to callers.
		Mike, Youngstown, Ohio, line for Democrats.
		Hi, Mike.
unidentified		Yeah, good morning.
		Good morning to your panel there.
		I would like to see the full and complete truth about Epstein come out because Trump is just full of hatred.
		And, you know, I think he's the worst president we ever had.
		All he does is spew hatred and he wants to fight with everybody.
		And, you know, I mean, he gave the rich people a tax break and he's going to kick poor people off of food stamps.
		Well, you know what?
		Good luck because they're going to get slaughtered in the midterms.
		And then we'll see how his attitude.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You talked about how the Big Beautiful bill is playing across the country.
		We're seeing some town halls.
		What are people saying?
unidentified		Yeah, you know, Republicans aren't holding that many town halls.
		That was a consistent trend throughout August.
		But of the ones that we did see, there were a lot of people who were pushing back against the one big beautiful bill.
		And we saw how the White House tried to reframe what Trump, that was the name that Trump gave this bill.
		They want to reframe it all to a working class tax bill.
		It sounds better.
		And when you actually poll people, there's been a number of polls that have shown that when you pull the one big beautiful bill, people say, nope, that's unpopular.
		I don't like that.
		But when you pull the specifics, taxes, tax breaks for families, more people are likely to say, okay, that sounds good.
		I'm looking forward to that.
		So Republicans trying to hone in on that message.
		But of course, this kind of shows how Democrats have been aggressive and done well in trying to frame this bill.
		It's maybe one of the successes that we don't talk about Democrats as much as they have to figure out, you know, the path forward for their party.
		But they've been saying it's the one ugly bill, pointing out the fact that millions will be losing their Medicaid in the upcoming years.
		And more closer to the midterms, there's people who are on food stamps, for example, who will see those cuts and a number of others.
		Another federal benefits, people are going to lose access to that.
		The threat of rural hospitals possibly shutting down, that was already a crisis in a lot of parts of America.
		There are likely people there living in those areas likely to have more issues to be able to go to hospitals, et cetera, et cetera.
		So that is resonating, and Republicans are going to have to try and spin this.
		And we've already seen the White House try and change the conversation on that.
		Can I just briefly piggyback off Mariana's comments there, which I think were all correct?
		I do think that sometimes in particularly Washington political journalism, there tends to be a concentration on the process.
		So it's a big success in the media's eyes if a president gets a big piece of legislation passed.
		That's a big win for him.
		The problem here is that that particular bill is really quite unpopular.
		And people, whether it's a consequence of Democratic framing or the actual substance of the bill, there's not a lot of sign that voters like it.
		And I think that element of things has been slightly underweight in some of the coverage that has more concentrated on Trump's political success in getting it passed.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Alan in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, Independent Line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		Hi, good morning.
		I appreciate both Mariana and Niad.
		We've been watching you guys here and there.
		I appreciate your coverage.
		But you know, so I have a comment and a question.
		Comment is that the federal student loan program is now resumed.
		And two-thirds of all borrowers are unable to pay.
		So even before the pandemic, Trump's student loan chief said that 85% of all borrowers were never going to be able to repay their student loans.
		The lending system is a catastrophic predatory failure from which standard bankruptcy rights, which are called for in the Constitution, have been removed.
		Now, I respect your guests, but this whole conversation that I've heard so far has been dominated by palace intrigue and inside Washington baseball.
		And that's not the business of the American people.
		No, people are dying just on the student loan issue alone.
		We're talking about a fifth of the public who are probably never going to be able to repay these loans.
		A fifth of all American adults.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Alan.
unidentified		Very big.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's get a response.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Niall.
unidentified		Well, I mean, I'm sympathetic to the point of view that Alan puts forward there.
		I mean, I'm never quite sure how opinionated I can be here, but I mean, I consider the cost of American college education obscene.
		You know, I was brought up in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom for good or bad.
		But going through that system, I went to college for a fraction of the cost that people would be able to go to college here.
		I do think there's, to Alan's point, an argument to be made about the way that administrative rules in American colleges and universities have expanded massively and increased the cost of education massively.
		And, you know, I think it's, obviously, I think it's a bad thing if people are burdened by excessive debt for the very admirable goal of educating themselves.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		We got this on X from TimeZone who says, no, literally no one in America cares about shutdowns because nothing really shuts down and they only last a day or two.
		It's free days off for non-essentials.
		What do you think, Mariana?
unidentified		Yeah, I mean, we have seen a number of government shutdowns just last a couple of hours, a day or two, but we always remember the ones that have lasted about a month.
		That was during Trump's first administration, where we saw it go for over a month.
		And that is more when we saw, you know, trash piling up at national parks.
		We did see federal workers start to ask questions about when they're going to be able to make payments.
		And that starts to affect things like the postal system, right?
		Also air traffic control.
		So it's true.
		Yes.
		When the government shuts down for a couple days, sometimes even over a weekend, when really the effects aren't really felt, then sure, I understand, but it's the consequence, and that is going to be part of the problem.
		If we do shut down, how do you get out of it?
		Because we've seen the shutdowns under Trump 1 last spectacularly long, sometimes historically long.
		And what that resolution means, when does it come, that causes a lot of questions and will eventually start to affect.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And just to be clear, like air traffic control, TSA, they still work during a shutdown.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		They just don't get paid until later.
unidentified		Yes.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Until the government opens up again.
		Robert in Lake Jackson, Texas, Independent Line.
		Good morning, Robert.
unidentified		Good morning, Meanie.
		Good morning, Niles and Ms. Sotomayor.
		I wanted to make a quick an observation about the shutdown itself and then segue to Mr. Stanage about something that he might be interested in as an Irishman from Irish President Michael Higgins.
		Let me go ahead and circle back to the shutdown itself.
		I think the shutdown, while Democrats may favor it for a time because it could stifle Trump's agenda for a time, it's also a double-edged sword because it promotes distrust in the system and it would allow corporations to jump in,
		take the opportunity to offer their version.
		Because if you recall from JD Vance's observations in, I think it was Steve Bannon's war room, he said that he wanted to get rid of all government employees and replace them with their people, right?
		This ties into Curtis Yarvin's concept of rage, retire all government employees, right?
		Because basically that's the neo-reaction, dark enlightenment philosophy.
		Get rid of nation states, get rid of big governments, break it all down into sovereign corporations, which would rule over small city-state patches.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Robert.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And then there was something else you wanted to say about Northern Ireland?
unidentified		I wanted to.
		Yes.
		Yes, Mr. Stanage.
		Irish President Michael Higgins, he called upon the UN Secretary General to mobilize an international military coalition to essentially invade Israel in order to stop the genocide in Gaza.
		I wanted to know, as an Irishman, one wanted to know what your take on that was.
		All right.
		Briefly on President Higgins and Gaza, Ireland is generally seen as the most pro-Palestinian nation in Western Europe, and there are historical reasons for that.
		Irish people have traditionally identified very much with the Palestinian cause on the basis of military occupation and subjugation by a neighboring power.
		The idea of an international force actually going into Gaza is obviously massively risky and I suspect won't in fact happen.
		Right now, we're seeing a flotilla, very different situation trying to break the blockade of Gaza to deliver food aid.
		But certainly, I mean, even as the center of gravity in American popular opinion has moved toward a more pro-Palestinian position, it's still very different from where that center of gravity is in Ireland or other European nations, which are much more firmly pro-Palestinian.
		And any comments on the administrative state.
		It's certainly true that people around President Trump and around Project 2025 have been, well, have had a desire to change the civil service in a very fundamental way and to have their people embedded in there because they don't believe that that is so much, well, they think that the existing situation was liberal and frustrated President Trump first time around.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And let's talk to Margie, who's in Meadville, Pennsylvania, Republican.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I was wondering if they have any information on the maybe the backhauls of the White House, the comments that we don't hear about Putin pretty much thumbing his nose at the president after he left that meeting and then continuing to bomb Ukraine.
		And then this huge meeting they're all having over in Asia with Putin and North Korea and India and China.
		What's the comments?
		I mean, what's going on at the White House of how they're going to address that?
		Thank you.
		So briefly, Margie, thanks for the question.
		I think one of the interesting things that we're seeing since those very high-profile meetings has been President Trump almost stopped talking so much about the Ukraine war.
		And to me, that speaks to a concern of exactly the kind that you identified, that President Putin perhaps has no real intention of meeting President Zelensky, or that the momentum that the White House was seeking to build up hasn't really materialized.
		That is obviously a problem.
		We're seeing some of the more optimistic language that the President used fall away.
		There's actually an interview he did, I think, at the very end of last week with the Daily Caller, which is just coming out in bits and pieces where he seems to acknowledge to some degree that he misjudged the situation there or that he had an overly optimistic view of what President Putin was willing to do.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And this is Raymond Seminole, Florida, Democrat.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Raymond.
unidentified		Hey, how you doing?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good.
unidentified		Well, and how do you guess?
		Yeah, I just want to get back to the House and the balance in the House.
		Really, there is no red wave, blue waves.
		It was funny a couple years ago when they talked about, oh, it's the red wave.
		I laughed at the Republicans.
		There's not going to be any red wave.
		And guess what?
		There's not going to be any blue wave.
		This country is split right down the middle.
		Some people do social science part.
		Some people do how it affects their economy.
		We're so polarized that the big, beautiful bill will affect some people in some ways and be perceived in some ways and some people will perceive it in another way.
		So the bottom line is, you know, when it comes to the polarization and how we're voting, a perfect example is the Georgia bill.
		Everyone said, oh, you can't go and you can't vote in Georgia.
		They're not going to give you water and line, this and that.
		And what happened?
		We had a huge turnout, biggest turnouts and stuff.
		So the bottom line is, is that anyone that comes up here and tells you that it's going to be swayed one way, people keep underestimating Trump.
		The reason why he wants those five seats, because he knows it's going to come down to five seats.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So what do you think, Mariana?
unidentified		Yeah, I mean, besides polarization, it's also the fact that we have seen in redistricting before this mid-decade redistricting, we have actually, we actually have like the lowest in history number of swing seats.
		It's, I think, down to 30 or so.
		Now you add a number of these states trying to gain more seats in their favor.
		That goes even less.
		So the fact that the country is polarized, but also that the map itself is becoming more polarized.
		That's why you see a number of very far right, far left, but also not much consensus in the middle.
		There are a number of lawmakers, I talked to many of them, who are frustrated by the state of affairs because they do want to work in a bipartisan manner.
		They do see policies and actually agree on a number of more nuanced policies that don't necessarily get national attention.
		They want to see those bills passed.
		And I think that's the interesting thing that we've seen this year with a number of Republicans trying to put discharge petitions on the floor.
		Of course, that's again when lawmakers themselves try and force votes on issues that leadership doesn't necessarily want to put on the floor.
		That's a trend that we could continue to see.
		There's been threats by a number of Republicans on a bipartisan issue, which is banning lawmakers from trading stocks.
		That's something that's coming, I would say, throughout the next couple of weeks.
		So those threats are there because, again, there is a consensus to try and get things done.
		But to your point, polarization is very real.
		And the fact that redistricting has only limited the number, I would argue, gerrymandering.
		So that's the political reason to try and draw a number of these districts.
		That's just making it less likely to find consensus on Capitol Hill.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Nile, I want to ask you about the announcement.
		We're hearing about an announcement of the president announcing something at 2 p.m. today.
		Kyle Cheney, Politico, putting it on X.
		It's an unspecified Oval Office announcement from Trump this afternoon.
		Do you know what that's about?
unidentified		All I know is that Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary, has apparently told other reporters it's relating to the Department of Defense, but I don't believe has given any further details about what specifically that is about.
		Obviously, Pete Hegseth has been a rather controversial Secretary of Defense thus far.
		I'm not implying that it's to do with his future.
		I just am not sure whether it could perhaps be about some of these deployments that we have seen or have been implied that could be coming of trips to other cities or things like that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Here's Stanley in El Dorado, Arkansas, Republican.
		Hi, Stanley.
		Stanley, you got to turn down your TV.
		We can hear it.
unidentified		I'm not sure.
unidentified		Stanley?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Dave, Palm City, Florida, Republican.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Dave.
unidentified		Good morning.
		So the big thing that we're all fighting is the amount of money that is spent by the federal government.
		And we're coming up on the time in which the budget is supposed to be done by the end of September.
		So what interests me is the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is trying to push to lower the amount of money that is being actually spent by the federal government.
		Yet I never hear anybody ever ask any questions to the Democratic leadership or Democrats. about what they think is the top line spending number for the next fiscal year.
		And if we're ever going to get out of the hole that we're in with the deficit, we need to come to some conclusions about maybe returning to the pre-pandemic levels of spending.
		And I wanted to hear what the guests are thinking about how the news media might ask or press the Democrats for some answers on that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Mariana.
unidentified		Yeah, I think that is actually a question that many of us will be asking now that lawmakers are coming here.
		It's also a question for Republicans.
		How much do they want to spend?
		As we've seen Trump also, and along with Republicans, try and curtail a number of funds.
		I think when it comes to Democrats, previously when they had their majorities, they were arguing for like $2.5 trillion.
		That goes back to an asset Biden wanted.
		To your point, though, they haven't necessarily clarified exactly how much they would be okay with spending.
		But I will point out, you know, Democrats are in a place where they are learning lessons from the 2024 election.
		It was a massive loss for the party across multiple fronts.
		And there are conversations about, okay, well, if we continue to press and say we want this much money or we want to add funds back to make sure that federal workers are, you know, put back in place here in this department, in this area.
		There are legitimate conversations about how much to actually allow that to happen if they were to take back their majorities.
		And the reason why is because there is an outcry from the public and there are those questions from the public of, well, if the deficit continues to increase, what does that mean for the future of our country?
		So there are those conversations happening.
		Do Democrats get to a point where they're going to say, well, you know, I want to reduce this amount of money?
		I am not sure, but I have heard enough from Democrats at least to be able to report that they are having those conversations and definitely understand that they're not going to be able to grow the federal government to the exact same way that they want.
		I mean, of course, we'll see if and when they get to the majorities what they would do.
		But that is a legitimate concern that they've adopted because of what they've learned from the 2024 election and what voters are actually asking for.
		The other point here is just simply that the politics of this are always kind of tricky because people, by which I mean voters, tend to hate government spending unless it benefits them, whenupon they hate cuts to government spending.
		So, I mean, for completely understandable reasons.
		So if you look at even when President Trump has been running, he has talked about not touching Social Security, for example, which is, of course, a massive item of government spending.
		Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, all of these things, food stamps for those who receive them, which is many, many millions of Americans, all of these things are actually rather politically difficult to cut because the beneficiaries of them and the people related to the beneficiaries of them are understandably opposed to them being cut.
		That's one of the political conundrums to grapple with on.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And Mariana, HH Secretary, RFK Jr. is expected on the Hill this week.
		We'll be covering that here on C-SPAN.
		What are you expecting from that?
unidentified		I mean, it could be fireworks, at least from the Democratic side.
		I'm sure they're going to be pressuring him and peppering him with a number of questions, you know, beliefs on vaccines to the latest CDC retirements that have happened that have come because they just did not like RFK's positions on vaccines, mRNA vaccines.
		I'm obviously very curious to see what Republicans will say.
		Senator Bill Cassidy sits on this committee.
		He was, of course, the key vote.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		He is a doctor.
unidentified		He is a doctor.
		Exactly.
		That's why a lot of us were watching to see how he would vote on his nomination.
		He has been keeping pretty quiet.
		I wouldn't be surprised if, even as early as today, there's going to be reporters asking him what he believes about RFK's latest moves.
		And I mean, I don't know how intense Republicans will be in pressuring a number of these cabinet officials because, of course, they voted for them.
		But, you know, you could see a pretty thorough line of questioning as much as Democrats may be more vocal and trying to ensure that the hearings become a little bit more, let's say, media frenzied.
		Republicans tend to take a slightly more cautious approach, but still, all eyes are going to be on Cassidy and how he's asking questions.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And Niall, remind us about the shake-up in the leadership of the CDC and who's in charge right now.
unidentified		So the shake-up is basically that the previous director, Susan Monares, was fired.
unidentified		In addition to that, four senior people resigned.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And she was fired because?
unidentified		Well, it is believed she was fired because she declined to rubber stamp a changed policy on vaccinations, generally speaking.
		I don't think that the specific details have really emerged in an undisputed fashion yet, but it was something pertaining to a split with Secretary Kennedy on vaccinations.
		Now, it's interesting, she was, of course, praised both by Kennedy and by President Trump when she was first nominated.
		Also, Mariana mentioned Senator Cassidy, who I think is kind of key in all of this, because he has implied that during the confirmation process, Kennedy told him that he wouldn't change the sort of key expert panel that the CDC has on vaccinations.
		In fact, Secretary Kennedy fired everyone who was on that panel and replaced them with his own people.
		Is Senator Cassidy going to have something to say about that this week?
		We shall see.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Here's Susan in Hartsdale, New York.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Democrat, good morning.
unidentified		Hi, good morning, Mimi, Niall, Mariana.
		I'm calling because I want to know if the following is on anybody's radar.
		Last week in the New York Times, there was an article about Medicare, original Medicare, that six states in January will start to have prior approvals necessary, which is really another sin committed by this administration.
		And I'm on original Medicare, and I do not want a Medicare Advantage-type insurance because private insurance screws people out of services that they need.
		So is this on anybody's radar in Congress right now?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Anybody?
unidentified		To be honest, I haven't.
		I have not heard it.
		I have not heard that debate come up.
		No, I am similarly.
		You have greater knowledge than I do of that one, Susan.
		I mean, if that is the case, as you have characterized it, I think that will become a more prominent issue, but I am not knowledgeable on that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So here is what Susan's talking about, New York Times.
		Medicare will require prior approval for certain procedures.
		It says a pilot program in six states will use a tactic employed by private insurers that have been heavily criticized for delaying and denying medical care.
		That is in the New York Times.
		And this is Colin Appleton, Wisconsin, Democrat.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		And as always, I would like to thank C-SPAN for taking my call.
		My question is, what is the Trump administration planning to do in the fall?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		About what, in specific?
unidentified		Like Department of Education.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Department of Education?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Niall.
unidentified		So the overall stance of the administration is pretty antagonistic, to say the least, to the Department of Education.
		There's a sort of hollowing out of that going on.
		That has been a Republican goal, more or less, throughout the existence of the Department of Education, which is one of the newer cabinet-level departments, by which I mean it goes back to, people can correct me if I'm wrong with this, either 1979 or 1981, I believe.
		It's around then.
		And so there is this antagonism toward the Department of Education from conservatives who believe that it's essentially unnecessary, that education should be devolved much more to the states and to local school districts, and that it amounts to the meddling of the federal government.
		Now, whether it will really be successful in just bringing the Department of Education down or vaporizing it, that's a different question.
		But it is one of many issues where the Trump administration have an antagonism toward what they see as big government and what its defenders would see as an important government authority.
		And I will add to that that Congress is actually going through the appropriations process right now.
		I'm not entirely sure, but we will soon know if both House Republicans and Senate Republicans agree to cut funds for the Department of Education.
		That's the legal way to do it.
		We've obviously seen Trump threaten trying to cut a number of funds unilaterally or ask Congress to do so.
		But this is a process for Congress to actually be able to reallocate funds.
		So we should have an answer to that at least by the end of the month as to whether, or at least how much the Department of Education will be affected.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Tammy in St. Petersburg, Florida.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Independent Line, you're next.
unidentified		Yes.
		One of the things that I'd like to opinion on, we've been talking a lot about budget, and every time we talk about the budget, we always talk about entitlement programs for average Americans.
		Things we never talk about is all the money going to corporate farms, all the money going to corporate businesses, all the money.
		So here in Florida, we have a proposal for basically our tax dollars to pay for other companies' servers for the energy for those servers, for the water for those servers.
		Why do we keep, if we're such a tight budget, we've blown through every dollar we have for defense and Homeland Security, misusing the military, and now we are hammering cash to the tune of $10 billion for farm subsidies and almost a billion dollars to Elon Musk.
		But we never talk about eliminating those programs, which are Republican pets.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Niall, what do you think?
unidentified		I think it's an excellent question, Tammy, and I think that there is a real problem there where the focus of a lot of media coverage and a lot of political debate about spending tends to be on programs that go to individual American citizens.
		And I agree with you that there tends to be much less focus on corporate welfare of one kind or another.
		Not to sound entirely cynical, but I think one of the reasons we hear less about that is that corporations have lobbyists and make big political donations and advertise in various media forums and so forth.
		And so there tends to be a timorousness sometimes on the part of politicians and the political culture generally in addressing those forms of spending, those forms of corporate welfare head on.
		So I think it's an excellent question.
		And as you can probably tell, I'm sympathetic to the sentiments behind it.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And Mariana, just real quick, Washington Post reporting, longtime Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler to retire from Congress.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Any impact from that and any other high-profile retirements?
unidentified		It definitely sets off quite a race in New York.
		It's like the heart of New York City.
		He's been in Congress for decades.
		So this is a trend actually that we're seeing.
		And I'm curious to know something I'll be asking some of these Democratic lawmakers who have announced their retirements.
		Nadler himself said it was a lesson learned from the whole Biden situation, pushing Biden aside, the questions that came about of whether he was fit enough to serve.
		Has he been in office for way too long?
		And Nadler said he took that to heart.
		He was, of course, the House Judiciary, the top Democrat on House Judiciary and was actually asked to step aside to allow Jamie Raskin, who is younger, is obviously a face of the Democratic Party, to step in in that role during this Trump administration.
		And, you know, I, again, am curious to see whether a number of Democrats are making that decision.
		Of course, it was August recess.
		That's a lot of time that members spend at home talking to their families, asking them whether they should run again.
		So I expect that this is the first of maybe a number of retirements, the announcements that are likely to come in the coming weeks.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And will Joni Ernst be leaving the Senate?
unidentified		Yeah, she is expected to announce this week that she is no longer seeking reelection.
		That's, of course, a huge announcement simply because we have already seen in Iowa, the state legislature, a Democrat flip a seat pretty dramatically, a really safe red seat in the state legislature now in Democratic hands.
		It's unclear, and I think it's way too early to say whether, you know, Democrats have momentum in the state, but of course that's encouragement for Senate Democrats.
		And Republicans, of course, have to recruit a pretty tough candidate there to be able to step into Ernst's shoes.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		That's Mariana Sotomayor, Congressional Reporter for The Washington Post.
		She's at theWashingtonPost.com.
		And Niall Stanage, White House columnist for The Hill.
		That's at thehill.com.
		Thank you both so much for joining us today.
unidentified		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Thanks.
		Later in the program, financial analyst Paul Auslander, president of Seabridge Private Wealth, discusses how markets and Wall Street are reacting to President Trump's economic agenda and actions to reshape the Federal Reserve.
		But first, it's open forum.
		You can start calling in now.
		202748-8000 for Democrats, 202748-8001 for Republicans, and 202748-8002 for Independents.
		We'll be right back.
unidentified		Have been watching C-SPAN Washington Journal for over 10 years now.
		This is a great format that C-SPAN offers.
		You're doing a great job.
		I enjoy hearing everybody's opinion.
		I'm a huge C-SPAN fan.
		I listen every morning on the way to work.
		I think C-SPAN should be required viewing for all three branches of government.
		First of all, if you say hello, C-SPAN, and how you covered the hearings.
		Thank you, everyone at C-SPAN, for allowing this interaction with everyday citizens.
		It's an amazing show to get real opinions from real people.
		Appreciate you guys' non-biased coverage.
		I love politics, and I love C-SPAN because I get to hear all the voices.
		You and C-SPAN show the truth.
		Back to the universe for C-SPAN.
		It's the one essential news network.
		America marks 250 years, and C-SPAN is there to commemorate every moment.
		From the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the voices shaping our nation's future, we bring you unprecedented all-platform coverage, exploring the stories, sights, and spirit that make up America.
		Join us for remarkable coast-to-coast coverage, celebrating our nation's journey like no other network can.
		America 250.
		Over a year of historic moments.
		Only on the C-SPAN networks.
		There are many ways to listen to C-SPAN radio anytime, anywhere.
		In the Washington, D.C. area, listen on 90.1 FM.
		Use our free C-SPAN Now app, or go online to c-SPAN.org/slash radio on SiriusXM Radio on channel 455, the TuneIn app, and on your smart speaker by simply saying play C-SPAN radio.
		Hear our live call-in program, Washington Journal, daily at 7 a.m. Eastern.
		Listen to House and Senate proceedings, committee hearings, news conferences, and other public affairs events live throughout the day.
		And for the best way to hear what's happening in Washington with fast-paced reports, live interviews, and analysis of the day, catch Washington today, weekdays at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern.
		Listen to C-SPAN programs on C-SPAN Radio anytime, anywhere.
		c-span democracy unfiltered c-span shop.org is c-span's online store Browse through our latest collection of C-SPAN products, apparel, books, home decor, and accessories.
		There's something for every C-SPAN fan, and every purchase helps support our non-profit operations.
		Shop now or anytime at cspanshop.org.
		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 an open forum.
		We'll start taking your calls very soon.
		Just real quick to let you know there has been a major earthquake in Afghanistan.
		This is the front page of the Wall Street Journal.
		It says that the earthquake kills more than 800 in Afghanistan.
		And it says here that it was a magnitude 6 earthquake and it struck eastern Afghanistan near the mountainous border with Pakistan.
		And going to the calls now to Joanne in North Dakota.
		Republican, good morning, Joanne.
unidentified		Yes, good morning, Mamimi.
		Just as an observation, I think that the Democrats are looking at a whole age factor with Nadler stepping aside because even though they had 215 House members elected this past November, three of them died.
		Three of them died real soon after that election.
		One's Arizona, got West Virginia, stuff like that.
		And those seats are not filled like they do in the Senate.
		So even though technically they got the 215, the loss of those three seats, and other people have been looking at this, those are three votes.
		They're always going to be a no.
		So no matter what the issue is that's being voted on, it's always going to be those three empty seats.
maggie in oklahoma ▲ ● ▼		And that's a key factor right now because all these other Democrats that are over the age of, say, 70, 75, 78, 80, they're all stepping aside because they know that they are not going to be able to keep in office there because they're going to die.
unidentified		That is reality.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Okay, Joanne, here's Joseph in Little River, South Carolina.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Democrat, you're on the air.
unidentified		Yeah, I think the Democrats got to stop talking and get more defensive and get on the offense and fight back against the Republicans or they're never going to get back in shape.
		I think they've got to start talking to the regular people, the younger people, and get their act together and figure out how they're going to do it.
		And they can't just keep talking about it.
		And if they don't, then we're going to lose our democracy.
		And the Republicans, I don't know what they're trying to do, and Trump lose our democracy.
		It don't make sense.
		But the Republicans got to save it and not just talk about and get the plan and start fighting back because the elections are coming up.
		And already in Texas, they're starting to lose five seats.
		And what are they going to do about all this?
		They've got to start gaining seats somewhere else.
		And they got to stop talking and take action.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Joseph.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		On the Independent Line in Middletown, New York, this is Allison.
unidentified		Hello.
		Hello.
		I'm inquiring about Doge and where is that money that they have acquired?
		And I understood when it first arrived on the scene that Doge was going to pay the deficit, part of it at least.
		I'm just inquiring, where is that money?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And this is Tim in Murphy'sborough, Illinois, Republican.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Tim.
unidentified		Hello.
		I think that they ought to put on the ballot in every state that if somebody commits a murder, they get a one-day trial and executed.
		It used to take 17 years to execute somebody in Illinois, but now, I don't know, it costs about a million per year per prisoner to keep somebody in prison.
		If they're executed, they can save a billion, a trillion dollars because they can build more schools and less prisons.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And here's Bob in Staten Island, New York, Democrat.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Bob.
unidentified		Come on, come on.
		I'm a little confused, you know, like what's wrong with this country?
		This country's going to lost their minds.
		You know what I mean?
		Everybody can see that Trump, Putin have Trump in his pocket.
		Everything he's doing is to destroy America.
		I don't understand what's going on.
		What are we blind?
		Are we living in some kind of fantasy world?
		Every day I get up in the morning, I feel like I'm in an episode of the Twilight Zone.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And speaking of Putin, this is on the front page of the Washington Post.
		At summit, she calls for economic integration.
		China's president urges 20 other leaders to help build a, quote, multipolar world.
		It says that the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, on Monday, called on the leaders of countries, including Russia, Iran, and India, to integrate their economies and build a, quote, orderly, multipolar world as he tried to unite them in their shared grievances with the U.S.-led global order and the policies of President Donald Trump.
		She used the platform of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit here, 90 miles southeast of Beijing, to implicitly criticize Trump's policies without naming him or mentioning the United States.
		It says that he urged the 20 foreign leaders in attendance to seek integration, not decoupling, and unequivocally oppose power politics.
		And this is a picture of him and Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, attending that Shanghai cooperation that happened on Monday.
		And here is John in Gardena, California, Republican.
		Good morning, John.
unidentified		Hello.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hello.
unidentified		Hi, Mimi.
		I'm calling.
		Just kind of confused this morning because usually when I watch your show, most of your guests refer to the president of the United States as president.
		But you don't correct people on that.
		I'm wondering why.
		You guys used to refer to Biden all the time as, oh, President Biden or Otis or anything like that.
		But you get on here and you want to talk about Trump.
		It's Trump.
		Everything's Trump.
		I'll tell you what, the Democrats need to get on board, man.
		They've gone way too far left.
		Everybody knows it.
		Everybody's sitting there watching, sitting there looking at their moves, acting like children, doing everything they can to block an agenda that needs to happen to help with this deficit we're at, to take a look at the insatiable appetite that the teachers have for these children in our schools.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, John, here's Frank Lindhurst, New York, Independent Line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You're on Open Forum.
unidentified		Thanks for taking my call.
		Yeah, I'm really sort of disappointed and confused about the country.
		I'm 67 years old and I've never seen us this divided before.
		I mean, it's like ball teams, like Yankees and the Mets, okay?
		You know, if you're a Yankee fan, you hate the Mets.
		If you're a Mets fan, you hate the Yankees.
		You know, what bothers me the most is supposedly we're supposed to be a Christian nation.
		Well, you know, I was raised Catholic.
		I don't practice it, but I do believe in these things.
		These characteristics are the things I do believe in.
		Kindness, compassion, love, empathy, understanding.
		Those were supposedly the things that Jesus preached, okay?
		And when I see the Republican Christians claiming to be students of this sort of teaching, and when I look at the leader that they chose, I see absolutely none of those characteristics in that man.
		I've been living in New York, you know, most of my life, and I've grew up with this guy.
		I never liked him.
		He was always the poster boy for greed.
		Now, you know, his agenda seems to be targeting laziness, you know, with all of his cuts and, you know, government workers and such and such like that.
		That's fine.
		That's fine.
		You know, laziness is a sin, supposedly, right?
		And that's okay to target that.
		But you know what else is a sin?
		Greed is also a sin.
		And I don't see any target on greed.
		He himself is a felon.
		He's a convicted felon.
		And he's, he's, like I said, back in the 80s, he was the poster boy for greed.
		They likened him to the character on that movie, Wall Street.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Dennis, Toledo, Iowa.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Democrat, good morning.
unidentified		Thank you.
		If Republicans want to talk about deficits and old age, don't be surprised in 2026, Iowa will be voting for two senators because Chuck Grassley will be 92 and 92 years old, so he's old and he could kick the bucket any day.
		And deposits, it was Trump who went bankrupt multiple times.
		It was President Clinton who took a huge Reagan Bush deficit.
		And when he left office, we had a surplus in our treasury.
		So Republicans, in my opinion, full of crap.
		And thank you very much.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Dennis.
		And today is the 80th anniversary of VJ Day.
		This is information from the World War II National Museum.
		And it is, just want to read you this.
		So on September 1st, 1945, this is what President Harry Truman said in an address to the nation by radio.
		It says, the thoughts and hopes of all America, indeed of all the civilized world, are centered tonight on the battleship Missouri.
		There on that small piece of American soil anchored in Tokyo Harbor, the Japanese have just officially laid down their arms.
		They have signed terms of unconditional surrender.
		The president went on to proclaim the following day, Sunday, September 2nd, to be VJ Day, the day of formal surrender by Japan.
		Now, today at 11 a.m., there will be a wreath-laying ceremony commemorating that 80th anniversary, that the Allied victory in the Pacific, marking the end of World War II.
		You can watch live coverage of that on C-SPAN.
		Again, that's from Washington, D.C., 11 a.m. Eastern here on C-SPAN, also on our app, C-SPANNOW and online at c-span.org.
		Back to the calls now to Daniel Daytona Beach, Florida.
		Republican, good morning.
unidentified		Yes, good morning.
		I just want to comment on the recent developments occurring in Alaska.
		When President Trump met with Putin in Alaska, a lot of attention was given.
		Of course, we all know that the United States bought Alaska from Russia many years ago.
		And it's ironic that what we're looking at currently is a situation of economic support for Russia from the purchasing of oil that India is supporting the war.
		And it's amazing to me that people cannot see that China and India and Iran are getting together in China and they're meeting on this issue of world dominance.
		And it's concerning that the American people do not realize how important oil is to the world economy.
		We have our allies, Japan, Taiwan, Korea.
		We have an opportunity to use the oil in Alaska to pay off the national debt, to support the American way of life.
		And I'm just real proud that President Trump has been working with Alaska to get that oil into production and turning things around.
		There's been big discoveries in Alaska with Bill Armstrong at PICA.
		Amazing how much oil is there.
		There's enough oil in Alaska to pay off our national debt.
		But we have to stop supporting countries that are buying their oil from Iran and countries such as India that are supporting Russia in this war.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		Well, Daniel, speaking of tariffs on India, Peter Navarro was on Fox News Sunday this past Sunday.
		He's the White House senior counselor, and he talked about that topic.
		Take a look.
peter navarro ▲ ● ▼		Well, let's be clear.
		We have 50% tariffs now on India, but we also have a little over 50% tariffs on China.
		So there's a question is how much higher do you want to go without actually hurting ourselves?
		But let's talk about the India issue, because the only thing you have to know is that before Putin invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, India didn't buy Russian oil, to speak of.
		Very, very small amounts.
		What happened?
		Well, the Russian refiners went in and got into bed with big oil in India.
		Putin gives Modi a discount on the crude.
		They refine it and they ship it to Europe, Africa, and Asia at a big premium.
		And they make a ton of money.
		Now, what's wrong with that picture?
		Well, it fuels the Russian war machine.
		India is nothing but a launder mat for the Kremlin.
		It kills Ukrainians.
		And what do we have to do as taxpayers?
		We've got to send them more money so Ukraine can defend themselves.
		And on top of that, by the way, the 25% of the 50% is because India is the Maharaja of tariffs.
		They have the highest tariffs in the world.
		So they export us a bunch of stuff.
		They won't let us sell to them.
		So who gets hurt?
		Workers in America, taxpayers in America, Ukrainians in cities getting killed by Russian drones.
		So, you know, look, Modi's a great leader.
		I don't understand why he's getting to bed with Putin and Xi Jinping when he's the biggest democracy in the world.
		So I would just simply say to the Indian people, please understand what's going on here.
		You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people.
unidentified		We need that to stop.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And back to the calls now to Joe, St. Petersburg, Florida, Independent Line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You're on Open Forum, Joe.
unidentified		Yes, hi.
		Both sides seem to talk about corruption, but one thing they both do is they're trying to cover up the illegal use of technology related to anomalous health incidents like Havana syndrome.
		And I believe what's going to happen is with artificial intelligence, there's going to be some proof that technologies with similar characteristics like the anomalous health incidents, Havana Sandrum, are going to be proven with an AI that they are being used within the United States by law enforcement, by FBI, and that's one of the reasons they're not admitting to it.
		And there's a journalist called Who Watches We.
		And they're discussing, and I believe what's not just who watches we, but I believe that in the coming years with artificial intelligence, there's going to be proof that there's intelligence agencies and law enforcement, again, using technology with similar characteristics as anomalous health incidents known as Havana syndrome being illegally used in the United States.
		And I fear that what government officials and intelligence officials in Washington, Virginia are going to do is try to destroy the ability of the public to use the science to do scientific research to prove that there's illegal use of these types of technologies.
		I understand that they use these technologies for very dangerous things and important things, but that does not give the excuse that the intelligence services and the law enforcement to use these technologies illegally in the United States because they want to cover up corruption.
		And both parties are guilty of ignoring people that want to use science.
		I believe that they are going to just avoid anything in any way that people have the right to scientifically research and get the help that they need to prove that there's some very illegal uses of unofficial or secret technology in the United States.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		We got that point, Joe.
		And this is Jim, Michigan Democrat.
		Good morning, Jim.
unidentified		Hi, this question is about Epstein.
		I'd like to know if there's any MAGAs out there that could call in and explain to me why Donald Trump, a good friend of Epstein, why he would turn her loose from maximum security prison and put her into a club bed, they call it.
		Basically, like just a little getaway camp for, why would Donald Trump do that?
		And don't say Pam Bondi was responsible for this because Pam Bondi does whatever Donald Trump wants her to do.
		So please, MAGA, call in.
		Let me know because I'm a little bit confused here.
		Why would Trump do that?
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And coming up next, financial analyst Paul Alslander on how markets and Wall Street are reacting to President Trump's economic agenda and actions to reshape the Federal Reserve that's coming up right after this break.
unidentified		have been watching C-SPAN Washington Journal for over 10 years now.
		This is a great format that C-SPAN offers.
		You're doing a great job.
		I enjoy hearing everybody's opinion.
		I'm a huge C-SPAN fan.
		I listen every morning on the way to work.
		I think C-SPAN should be required viewing for all three branches of government.
		First of all, if you say hello, C-SPAN, and how you covered the hearings.
		Thank you, everyone at C-SPAN, for allowing this interaction with everyday citizens.
		It's an amazing show to get real opinions from real people.
		Appreciate you guys' non-biased coverage.
		I love politics, and I love C-SPAN because I get to hear all the voices.
		You and C-SPAN show the truth.
		Back to the universe for C-SPAN.
		It's the one essential news network.
		There are many ways to listen to C-SPAN radio anytime, anywhere.
		In the Washington, D.C. area, listen on 90.1 FM.
		Use our free C-SPAN Now app or go online to c-span.org slash radio on SiriusXM radio on channel 455, the TuneIn app, and on your smart speaker by simply saying play C-SPAN radio.
		Hear our live call-in program, Washington Journal, daily at 7 a.m. Eastern.
		Listen to House and Senate proceedings, committee hearings, news conferences, and other public affairs events live throughout the day.
		And for the best way to hear what's happening in Washington with fast-paced reports, live interviews, and analysis of the day.
		Catch Washington today, weekdays of 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern.
		Listen to C-SPAN programs on C-SPAN radio anytime, anywhere.
		C-SPAN, democracy unfiltered.
		C-SPAN shop.org is C-SPAN's online store.
		Browse through our latest collection of C-SPAN products, apparel, books, home decor, and accessories.
		There's something for every C-SPAN fan, and every purchase helps support our nonprofit operations.
		Shop now or anytime at c-span shop.org.
		Washington Journal continues.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Welcome back.
		Joining us now to talk about the financial markets and President Trump's economic agenda is Paul Auslander.
		He is a financial analyst and the president of Seabridge Private Wealth.
		Paul, welcome to the program.
unidentified		Thanks, Mimi.
unidentified		Thanks for having me.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So I just want to start in general.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		What's your assessment of President Trump's economic agenda thus far?
unidentified		Well, things were pretty positive when President Trump was elected and the passing of the Tax Act, various aspects of the economy seemed to be confident in his abilities to run it.
		And I think March changed that a little bit with the tariffs.
		The market came down, then the market came back up.
		And then this past week, we had the ruling by the appeals court that said that the tariffs were illegal.
		So I think we're back to uncertainty.
		And I think more importantly for investors, I think we're back to a lot of volatility.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And so what are your clients telling you regarding their plans for the future?
		Is there a wait-and-see approach?
		Is there optimism?
		Is there, what are they telling you?
unidentified		Well, it's interesting.
		There's two different worlds out there right now.
		Up until February, for example, the real estate market here in Florida was moving along beautifully.
		March, everything slowed to a crawl.
		And I think that was because of the tariffs and the uncertainty.
		It's started to pick up now a little bit.
		But I think what's going to happen, and we'll see the futures are down today.
		I think that's a direct reaction to what happened with the appeals court decision this past week.
		I think you're going to see things slow down again until there's some certainty.
		Markets, investors, everybody does not like the uncertainty that this creates.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Well, so last week, the Commerce Department released GDP numbers, and it says that the gross domestic product rose 3.3% annualized.
		That's April through June, so second quarter.
		What do you make of that number?
		And wouldn't that indicate that the economy is still growing?
unidentified		There's no question.
		It's slowing, but it's definitely growing.
		I mean, that's the operative term right now.
		There's no question that those numbers were good.
		And interestingly, the tariffs helped that.
		We were bringing in $25 to $30 billion a month.
		I mean, if you, you know, one of the concerns that many of us have is some of the aspects of this tax act that was recently passed could increase the deficits rather dramatically.
		The tariffs have the ability to keep that from happening.
		25 to 30 billion a month is 300 plus billion a year over a 10-year period.
		That's a lot of revenue to come in.
		And that dampens that problem with creating more debt.
		We'll see what happens.
		Meanwhile, I think we're seeing a weakening in the economy a little bit.
		We're seeing unemployment inch up a little bit.
		I don't think it's devastating yet.
		There's no recession in sight, but markets are sensing that things aren't as good as they were a few months ago.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So, Paul, you know, you mentioned the money coming in from tariffs.
		The inflation numbers have so far been still in check.
		Would you consider that?
		Do you think that that's going to continue?
		Or are we going to see those companies that are paying the tariffs pass that on to consumers and thus the inflation rate go up?
unidentified		So I don't think the inflation rate's going to go up dramatically.
		And I think we've seen evidence of that now.
		I think companies, as long as tariffs are 20% or less, the number I've heard is 12 to 15%, is achievable by these companies eating some of that, having suppliers eat some of that, having manufacturers eat some of that, not pushing it on to the consumer.
		And if that continues, I think the inflation numbers will stay in check.
		I also think that the Fed and others are modifying what they believe is good inflation versus not good inflation, right?
		2% target seems to be inching up a little bit.
		I think if something stays under 3%, they're in pretty good shape.
		That's the tension right now with the Federal Reserve and interest rates in President Trump.
		The Fed is being very careful not to lower interest rates too soon and spark the economy in such a way that it'll create more inflation.
		President Trump is a real estate developer.
		He's never seen an interest rate.
		He doesn't like to see lower.
		So that tension continues to work, and we'll see what happens.
		I expect rates to come down this month a little bit.
		And again, before the end of the year, I think President Trump has to be careful not to look like he's interfering with the independence of the Fed.
		But assuming that works, I feel that we'll probably be looking at lower interest rates in the not too distant future.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And I'll just let our audience know that they can join the conversation with our guest, Paul Auslander.
		You can give us a call by party.
		So Democrats are on 2028-8000.
		Republicans 202-748-8001.
		And Independents, 202748-8002.
		If you have a question about the financial markets, the Trump economic agenda, you can go ahead and start calling in now.
		I just want to go back to the conversation about the Fed and President Trump's threatening to fire Jerome Powell, the chair.
		He has fired a Federal Reserve Board member, Lisa Cook.
		You've written in, or you've said in previous interviews, that that would be a bad idea for the president to try to fire the chairman.
		Why do you think that?
		And do you think it's also a bad idea to fire one of the governors?
unidentified		Well, I think they're two different issues, right?
		I mean, it's particularly acute that in this particular case, the governor is being accused of mortgage fraud is also on a committee that sets interest rates, which ultimately determine mortgage rates.
		So that whole thing has a bad scent around it, right?
		But we live in a country where you're innocent until proven guilty.
		So I'd love to see her defense of this.
		If there's none, then either the president or Chair Powell has a responsibility to fix that.
		But I think in the issue of Chairman Powell, I think that's where President Trump has to really tread carefully.
		You know, he's a businessman.
		He codified the phrase, you're fired in his television show.
		All of those things work well until you talk about independent branches of the government, right?
		And I think one of the issues is how independent is the Federal Reserve.
		One of the great parts of this country is we have a financial system that's the envy of the rest of the world.
		You wouldn't believe that what's coming out of China now with their meeting with Russia and India and others.
		But the fact of the matter is the way the dollar commands respect and the way the United States markets operate are the envy of the world.
		Part of that is because we have an independent Federal Reserve that can't be manipulated by various parts of the government, partisan parts of the government.
		That needs to continue for our markets to do well and for our economy to stay stable.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And why is that independence so important to you, Paul?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Is it because they have to make sometimes unpolitically popular decisions for the good of the economy or the long-term good of the economy?
unidentified		That's exactly right.
		That's exactly right.
		Politics has a tendency to put a finger on the economic scale.
		This is an area where that can be disastrous over the long term.
		And I think people think about when they look at their 401ks and they look at markets in general, they think of the stock market.
		What we really are concerned about with these types of matters is the bond market.
		People don't give enough, you know, the bond market essentially creates the liquidity for debt, creates businesses being able to borrow.
		All of the things that are important to the free way in which business runs on a frictionless basis goes to the bond market.
		And you saw this morning interest rates start to rise.
		The long-term interest rates start to rise as a result of this tariff ruling.
		That's an indicator to all of us that this uncertainty is not good for the dollar.
		It's not good for the bond market.
		President Clinton's political advisor, James Carble, once said, I used to think that if I believed in reincarnation, I'd want to come back as a 400 baseball hitter or the Pope or something like that.
		I'd rather come back as the bond market and intimidate everybody.
		And I laughed when I think about that because the financial world really worries about the instability of the bond market and types of things like this, where you have threats to the independence of the Fed, various aspects like that create that possibility of threats to the bond market.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And the one big beautiful bill, I want to talk about the tax cuts portion.
		You've said in other interviews that you have a concern about the growing national debt.
		Why is that a concern for you from the financial and the market perspective?
unidentified		Well, just, you know, everyone knows if you have a 2% mortgage, it's easier to make a payment than when you have a 6% mortgage, right?
		So the same thing applies to our national debt.
		It's much harder for the country.
		It takes up much more of our revenues to pay down higher interest rate debt that we have out there now.
		That's number one.
		Number two, I mean, this is a subject that's universal, whether you're Democrat or Republican.
		Everybody believes that the debt level in this country is too much.
		And if it continues to grow, will obviously be even more.
		And that's the issue, of course, Social Security, Medicare, all of those things are at risk when you start talking about this.
		So I think you're going to the concern that I have is the Tax Act, if the tariffs come through at the level that they're talking about, the Tax Act, and if you believe that the economy should grow as a result of the Tax Act, you should be able to keep the debt at least at the level that it's at now.
		I don't know if you pay it down that much, but it certainly doesn't increase as much.
		If it increases, and there's a variety of opinions as to why it might, then I think you have problems in the future financially.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, let's talk to callers.
		We'll start on the line for Democrats in Pacific Grove, California.
		Nathan, you're on with Paul Ouslander.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I would like to ask if these tariffs have ushered in an era of crony capitalism because there have been carve-outs for certain industries, and the lobbyists seem to be prospering greatly.
		And it's almost pay to play.
		If I can get a carve-out, what am I paying to get that carve-out?
		Does it require a contribution?
		Are all people asking for a carve-out treated equally?
		What do you see going on here?
		Well, so to your point, I mean, there's no question that the lobbyists are doing well during this period, but that would be happening whether there are tariffs or there are tax acts to be passed or not.
		That's just part of the business of politics in Washington, and I might add in all the state capitals in the country.
		I think part of this is, you know, President Trump's heart's in the right place when he's trying to make sure that he levels the international playing field, something that hasn't really occurred over the last some 50 years.
		There are markets that are closed to the U.S. where those very countries have open access to our markets.
		And I think that's the Scott Besant and President Trump are trying to close those loopholes.
		And I think what happens is when they change something, sure, it looks like Apple got a sweetheart deal or somebody else did, or maybe the hotels in California or the farm workers, whatever the case may be.
		I think a lot of that's just corrective strategy.
		I don't think it's as nefarious as you make it sound in that.
		I'm sure there's some payback going on, but I think more of it is just when the administration recognizes that they perhaps shot too far, that they added things that are going to be a problem.
		That this is the way they pull back on it.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And here's Gary in Meridian, Connecticut, Independent Line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Gary.
unidentified		Mimi.
		Good morning, Mr. Ouslander.
		Good morning.
		I'd like to ask, I have a question.
		When Donald Trump became president, the dollar, to purchase one Euro, it cost $1.01.
		Since he's become president, the Euro has risen, and it now costs today $1.16.
		It has been as high as $1.18.
		This, in my opinion, doesn't indicate that the dollar is getting stronger, but in fact, it's getting weaker.
		And it's against not a particularly robust European economy.
		How do you explain this when you say the dollar is doing so well and the economy is doing so well that the dollar is dropping in value and it's costing Americans more to buy European products on top of any tariffs?
		Well, you explained it better than I could, and it's absolutely true.
		The dollar has dropped in value, but it's still the most stable currency, the most trusted currency in the world.
		But to your point, it has, yeah, and the Euro has risen as a result.
		But I think part of that was, we talked about that earlier in this discussion, which is the worries and the impacts on the bond market, the worries and the impacts on the Federal Reserve and the independence of that.
		All of that impacts the dollar.
		And then, of course, there's the tariffs and the trade barriers that the tariffs are trying to fix, but inadvertently create other ones.
		I mean, I've heard some pretty strong arguments.
		We talked a little bit about it before with India.
		India was driven into the hands of the Chinese in this particular couple of months because of the hard negotiating position of the United States.
		Whether or not that's a true statement, you're seeing a lot of movement, and that's going to weaken the dollar to some degree.
		So I think you explained it well.
		It's not great, but it's better than the rest of the world.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Here's John, a Democrat in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
		Hi, John.
		John, are you there?
		In Grand Rapids?
		We got a post on X from MLB who says, how long before we see the results of long-term inflation harm the U.S. economy?
unidentified		Well, I think we saw the worst of that a couple of years ago.
		Inflation Shot up because of post-COVID activities, the amount of money that was spent, the amount of liquidity that flooded into the system, the supply chains being ground to a halt all because of post-COVID.
		And I think, you know, some of the policies that happened politically, which I think, well, I supported the idea, we didn't know what the result of COVID was going to be.
		And so the Fed took the position of flooding the markets with liquidity.
		And I think it saved off some potential economic recession.
		But the fact of the matter is inflation, whether it's 2% or 3%, is not a crazy number.
		And I think that's one of the things we're seeing now.
		I don't see we've had very low inflation over the last 20 years.
		It was this 18 to 24 month period that we saw it spike.
		It's back down to earth now, and I think that continues.
		And I don't think there are terrible long-term implications on that front.
		We've got other problems, but I don't think we have to worry about inflation as one of them.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		I want to ask you about President Trump's decision to own part of semiconductor manufacturer Intel.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		But before I get that, I'm going to play Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at last week's cabinet meeting talking about that, and then we'll get your response.
howard lutnick ▲ ● ▼		In one week, Intel came in, right?
		The Biden administration had given $11 billion to Intel, given it to them.
		Done.
		Corporate just gift.
		And you turned that into really, you know, it was like less than five minutes of conversation, and Intel agreed to give us 10% of their company, which of course was worth $11 billion.
		So it's not socialism.
		This is capitalism.
		If you give someone $11 billion who's just building in America, they're not doing something special.
		They're building in America.
		And their CEO told the president he didn't need the grant.
		And you said, well, then why don't we get something for it?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		What do you think of that, Paul?
unidentified		You know, I was surprised, frankly, that this happened because if you go back, I don't know how many years, but at least 30, 40, 50 years, the Republican Party of old would have never stood for something like this, investing into a company, in this case, a publicly traded company, is Intel.
		I understand what Secretary Lutnik is talking about.
		I'm not sure Intel has, if you believe in free markets, this is worrisome, right?
		When does something like this stop?
		Putting that kind of money, U.S. money.
		I mean, I remember when we invested, the United States invested in GM to effectively save it.
		And the backlash from that was incredible from both parties.
		Here it's looked at as a good thing.
		Intel has had its problems over the last few years.
		And a number of companies that are in Intel's business have lapped them in research and in development and sales and in profitability.
		And now you could make the argument that we're propping up a company that if the free markets had its way may not be here in a couple of years.
		So I'll use a phrase that I hear a lot of times on your show.
		I'm confused and I'm not sure I understand the benefit other than getting a dividend for their investment that they've put in the money.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And what do you think the harm might be of that if you sound like you're against it?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So why would that be a bad thing to invest in?
unidentified		I think it sets a precedent of anti-free markets.
		I think going back to one of the callers' comments, the idea that some people are favored over others, that concerns me from the standpoint of free markets.
		One of our hallmarks in the United States are free markets.
		And I think that that changes that equation to some degree.
		One or two doesn't bother me.
		If this becomes a pattern, I think it does.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Here's Ginger in Riverside, California, Independent Line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Ginger.
unidentified		Yes.
		This is my opinion is that I believe that he had no business, Trump, purchasing 10% of Intel.
		He had no business doing it.
		I think that anyone that has money in the stock market, pull it out now.
		This guy is doing nothing but destroying this country just piece by piece.
		He couldn't leave anything alone.
		That's my suggestion.
		Thank you.
		Well, I got a clear message as to where you stand on that.
		I think, you know, again, I have mixed feelings about this.
		I understand what they're trying to do in getting revenues into the United States coffers to help reduce the deficit.
		But the other part of that, particularly with tariffs, was level the playing field.
		In this particular case, that second part doesn't come into play with Intel.
		And so again, I'm trying to take a long view on this.
		Scott Besson and others are smarter than I'll ever be.
		So if they think that this is a good idea, I'm willing to wait and see and see how it plays out.
		But right now, I'm not sure.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And Paul, Congress is back in today after August recess.
		We're 28 days away from a possible government shutdown.
		What's your message to Congress?
unidentified		Feels like Groundhog Day, doesn't it?
		I mean, we keep going through this.
		And for people in my business, and I think consumers in general are just over it.
		But I think people in my business are getting to the point where we're tired of this constant every three months kicking the can down the road and not working out a solution.
		It's not good.
		There's no other way to spend it.
		It's not good.
		It's Congress not living up to its responsibilities and getting this done once and for all.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		We have this question for you on text from Rob in Huntington, West Virginia.
		Can we trust any of the data provided by the federal government that the federal government used for financial decisions with Trump in office?
		He fired the director of the BLS after a negative jobs report and is threatening the independence of the Fed.
		What about data provided concerning inflation or the national debt?
		What do you think?
unidentified		Well, I think there are too many.
		There's two questions there, right?
		Whether it's divided into two or not.
		I think you can trust the economic data that comes out of the government because it doesn't come from one source.
		It comes from multiple agencies and multiple analysts that put this together.
		And then there's a spokesperson.
		The spokesperson in this case was fired by President Trump because he didn't like what was being said.
		Arguably, you could interpret that as they were saying something different than President Trump wanted to hear.
		And so therefore, he fired the messenger.
		Going forward, I'm not sure how that gets changed much because you still have the way in which this is done by various committees in various parts of the country, by various analysts.
		I can't believe you can get everybody to lie about the same thing.
		So I still trust in the system.
		I think you have to watch it a little more carefully.
		I think the spokespeople that you have for these types of things, particularly to the press, could have a tendency to put their finger on the scale so that they please their boss.
		I think that's what you have to watch out for more than anything else.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And another question on text from Chris in New Mexico.
		Mass deportations are reducing our labor force, particularly in the agriculture, construction, and hospitality sectors.
		Will the resulting labor shortages not drive food and housing prices higher, driving inflation?
unidentified		I don't think there's any question about that.
		I also think the other thing that's going to occur is company businesses, small businesses particularly, are going to go out of business.
		I have a friend in my community that owns a number of restaurants.
		He's 80% of his staff is either gone in terms of deported, or they just won't come to work for fear of coming out and getting deported.
		So you see this on steroids in a number of states that have service industries like that.
		I think President Trump recognized that because you saw him pull back on some of that, particularly out west.
		So it remains to be seen how they dig into that area.
		But yeah, your caller has an absolute good question there, and that's a worry for the economy.
		You know, employment was fairly full.
		We were in a 3% to 4% range of employment.
		Now it's tripped over a little bit, over 4%.
		But that says to me virtually everybody that wants to work is working.
		If you take a whole class of employees and ship them out of here, I'm not getting into the immigration debate for a moment.
		I'm just talking about it from a pure economic sense.
		You're going to have impacts throughout the economy.
		And I think your caller highlighted one.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		On the independent line, Tim in Gasville, Arkansas.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Tim.
unidentified		Good morning, Mimi.
		Your unemployment numbers are based largely on Biden giving jobs to the foreigners, to the illegals.
		When the illegals are out, of course, the numbers are going to change.
		And when the illegals are out, of course, the housing is going to change too.
		It will get cheaper.
		But I want to get back to picking winners and losers, as you call it.
		To clarify, Biden gave Intel the money, but Trump got something for it.
		Were you as uncomfortable with Obama giving millions to Solyndra or picking winners and losers as far as electric EVs or picking winners and losers as far as wind energy, solar energy?
		We've been doing this for years, picking winners and losers as in paying student loans.
		This is something the Democrats and the Marxists have done for years and years and years.
		At least I may not say I like it because I'm a free market guy, but at least President Trump is getting something to go back into the coffers to help pay off that national debt instead of just giving it away like to the banks and getting nothing for it.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Tim.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Go ahead, Paul Alsander.
unidentified		Yeah, on balance, I couldn't agree more.
		I mean, you're right.
		Certainly on the Intel thing, he's getting something back for it.
		And it wasn't only Biden, Obama, Bush.
		I mean, you go right down the list of presidents.
		Various presidents, various Congresses have made deals with different companies.
		This is the first that I can recall where we made a direct investment into a publicly traded company of this magnitude.
		But you're right.
		I mean, this is not something new.
		And to his credit, President Trump is trying to get something back for it, some kind of dividend.
		So if it works and Intel doesn't fail, then it was a good idea.
		I worry about an artificial propping up of Intel.
		You know the argument as a free market person yourself.
		Companies should be allowed to fail if they haven't done a good enough job to stay in business.
		And that's one of the hallmarks of a free economy.
		But yeah, it's a complicated issue.
		I don't think I put student loans in the same breath in this.
		EVs, a whole different story.
		You're trying to start a new technology out there, so you gave tax credits for it.
		Whether you like EVs or you don't like EVs, the idea was to try to get a new side of the business going.
		But again, there's various definitions here, but I understand your point, and I agree with it.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		That's Paul Auslander, financial analyst and president of Seabridge Private Wealth.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Paul, thanks so much for joining us today.
unidentified		Thanks, Jamie.
unidentified		Thanks very much for having me.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Coming up next, more of your calls in Open Forum.
		You can start calling in now.
		It's 202748-8000 for Democrats, 202748-8001 for Republicans, and 202-748-8002 for Independents.
		We'll be right back.
unidentified		Past president, why are you doing this?
patty murray ▲ ● ▼		This is outrageous.
patty murray ▲ ● ▼		This is a kangaroo quarrel.
unidentified		This fall, C-SPAN presents a rare moment of unity, Ceasefire, where the shouting stops and the conversation begins.
		Join political playbook chief correspondent and White House Bureau Chief Dasha Burns as host of Ceasefire, bringing two leaders from opposite sides of the aisle into a dialogue to find common ground.
		ceasefire this fall on the network that doesn't take sides only on c-span so you interviewed the other night I watched it about two o'clock in the morning.
		There was a little thing called C-SPAN, which I don't know how many people were watching.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Don't worry, you were in prime time too, but they happen to have a little rerun.
patty murray ▲ ● ▼		Do you really think that we don't remember what just happened last week?
patty murray ▲ ● ▼		Thank goodness for C-SPAN, and we all should review the tape.
unidentified		Everyone wonders when they're watching C-SPAN what the conversations are on the floor.
al green ▲ ● ▼		I'm about to read to you something that was published by C-SPAN.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		There's a lot of things that Congress fights about that they disagree on.
unidentified		We can all watch that on C-SPAN.
		Millions of people across the country tuned into C-SPAN.
		That was a make-for-C-SPAN moment.
		If you watch on C-SPAN, you're going to see me physically across the aisle every day, just trying to build relationships and try to understand their perspective and find common ground.
		And welcome aboard to everybody watching at home.
patty murray ▲ ● ▼		We know C-SPAN covers this live as well.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		We appreciate that.
unidentified		And one can only hope that he's able to watch C-SPAN on a black and white television set in his prison cell.
		This is being carried live by C-SPAN.
		It's being watched not only in this country, but it's being watched around the world right now.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Mike said before, I happened to listen to him, he was on C-SPAN 1.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		That's a big upgrade, right?
unidentified		Washington Journal continues.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Welcome back to Washington Journal.
		We're in open forum until the end of the program, and we'll get right to your calls.
		Here's Jason, Perlin, Texas, Independent.
		Hi, Jason.
unidentified		Hi, good morning, and thank you for taking my call.
		This weekend, we saw a lot of pictures of Prime Minister Modi literally holding hands with Vladimir Putin and also meeting with Xi Jinping of China.
		Shouldn't we start bringing back American software engineering and our technical systems back to the U.S.?
		Companies are still sending a lot of jobs to India, and it's becoming a national security risk.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And how do you suggest that happen, Jason?
unidentified		Well, I mean, the companies need to start.
		There's plenty of software engineers.
		There's been many different stories about training their own replacements and things like that.
		This is we need to start investing in our own software engineer technical systems.
		And there's plenty of talented STEM employees here in the U.S. Let's tap into that versus sending them overseas.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		And here's Horace.
		Oops, we lost him.
		Here's Mary in Las Vegas, Democrat.
		Hi, Mary.
unidentified		Morning.
		I feel like our Treasury is being vandalized.
		And we can all go back to the Doge brothers and Elon Musk.
		The first thing he did was fire all the inspector generals.
		This is what's happening is anybody who can hold this administration accountable gets fired.
		People from unqualified people from right off of Fox News, the guy negotiating with Russia, a real estate guy.
		And, you know, so he failed at it, and they make an ambassador.
		And then we, we, you know, the guy he put in the IRS, unqualified, no degree to work in the IRS.
		It's just unbelievable.
		Intel, President Biden was working.
		He took he's taking back congressionally approved money.
		He's clawing it back.
		Okay.
		And Intel had regulations on that money.
		There were regulations attached to it.
		He was trying to work the investment side of the country to put money in to bring manufacturing back, to build roads and bridges.
		And he's put a lot of that money into red states.
		And so now everybody gets fired.
		This is the unitary executive.
		This guy does not want to leave office.
		This is Project 2025, brick by brick by brick, being implemented.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And we got that, Mary.
		Here's Bill in El Mirage, Arizona, Independent Line.
		Good morning, Bill.
unidentified		Hi, thank you for taking my call.
		My question is about the National Guard going into cities.
		Why doesn't the media cover why Trump isn't going into red cities?
		There'd be less pushback, and there's definitely crime in big red cities, just like blue cities.
		But why isn't the media asking him, why don't you just go into red cities and have no confrontations and have them control the red cities?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You're talking about like Memphis that has the highest crime rate in the country, which is the high crime rate crime rate.
unidentified		Why isn't he going into Memphis?
unidentified		Why don't their mayors ask for assistance?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So, Bill, regarding the National Guard, this is news from the San Diego Union Tribune that says Trump's use of National Guard during Los Angeles immigration protests is illegal, according to a judge.
		The judge in Washington did not require the remaining troops withdrawn, however.
		That's in the San Diego Union Tribune.
		And this is Kelly, Sussex, New Jersey, Independent Line.
		Hi, Kelly.
unidentified		Hi, yeah.
		I thank you for taking my call.
		And I just wanted to talk about the student loan issue because student loans are the only loans that have been uniquely stripped of bankruptcy rights.
		And that is the big contributing factor of why it's catastrophically failed.
		And we have two-thirds of borrowers that are not even able to pay their loans.
		No other system like this is functioning like this.
		And that's why we can see that it is failed system.
		Can you talk about why the issue of bankruptcy is not being brought up in these loans and how borrowers are being shamed for not being able to pay, but yet the whole system was set up for this to get out of hand and for the lenders to benefit from it.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And Kelly, do you have a personal experience with student loans?
unidentified		Yes, I do.
		Yeah, I've been paying for 10 years.
		My balance has only increased.
		And so I'm a physical therapist, work in the healthcare field, worked through the pandemic, watched multiple PPP loans get forgiven.
		And then I've been working and just see my balance just completely inflate in that time.
		And so it's very frustrating, the whole issue.
		And I know there's many people in my shoes.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		And this is Jeff, Kansas City, Missouri Democrat.
		Good morning, Jeff.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Just a couple of things real quick.
		There are political wars and there are religious wars.
		And Trump seems to be trying to start both.
		And Republicans that are sitting on the side thinking they're going to benefit from it, they never do.
		Nobody benefits from it.
		The other thing, the other caller was talking about Trump putting money in the coffers.
		No, he's putting money in his pocket and his family pocket.
		Yes, they'll put a little bit in the coffers maybe, but no, he's putting that in his pocket.
		And he's also building his group of oligarchs.
		So people need to understand what's going on.
		We are becoming Russia.
		And nobody's going to benefit.
		We're not going to benefit except the few.
		And if they don't understand that, then again, there's, I mean, they're going to learn the hard way.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Jeff.
		And Senator James Lankford, who is a Republican from Oklahoma, was on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday.
		He talked about the economic, who's going to bear the economic brunt of tariffs.
		Here he is.
kristen welker ▲ ● ▼		Senator, do you acknowledge that Americans ultimately pay the price of tariffs, as we just heard the vice president argue?
unidentified		Yeah, no question that tariffs are a tax.
		The question is who actually pays that?
		Part of it's going to be paid by the importer.
		Part of it's going to be paid by the exporter on that.
james lankford ▲ ● ▼		It just breaks down product to product.
unidentified		Some products are more the actual consumer going to pay.
unidentified		Some products are more the actual exporter is going to pay.
james lankford ▲ ● ▼		But what we're seeing right now is inflation is still stable at this point.
james lankford ▲ ● ▼		We've not seen a rise in inflation during this time period.
unidentified		As the White House has said over and over again, hey, they're watching that.
james lankford ▲ ● ▼		They're attentive to that to be able to make sure we don't see that.
unidentified		Now, I'm a free trader.
unidentified		I want to see us trade with every single country.
james lankford ▲ ● ▼		But that also means we've got to have a stable program that they've got to be able to receive our products, which they haven't in the past.
		Now many of these countries are opening up their markets to American sales.
		The ultimate thing, what I'm hearing, Kristen, more than anything else from all the companies that I talk to is they just want it to be set.
unidentified		They just want to know what the rules of the road are.
james lankford ▲ ● ▼		Every time there's a new court hearing, every time there's a new change, it's destabilizing for every one of our businesses.
unidentified		So let's get all these things resolved as quickly as we possibly can.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And also The Guardian has this as the headline.
		Trump's, quote, exciting announcement related to the Pentagon.
		The White House says it says that it's still unclear what the announcement will be, but White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt says it's related to the Department of Defense.
		We will be covering that this afternoon.
		That's expected at 2 p.m.
		We'll have live coverage of that here on C-SPAN.
		It'll also be on our app and online.
		Also, for your schedule later today at noon, healthcare experts talk about long-term services for aging Americans.
		They'll also consider how federal budget cuts could affect caregiving and aging support.
		That's the Alliance for Health Policies panel discussion.
		Again, live at noon Eastern time.
		That's over on C-SPAN 2.
		And then at 2 p.m., Missouri Republican Senator Eric Schmidt and West Virginia Republican Representative Riley Moore speak at the National Conservatism Conference.
		You can watch that live at 2 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN 3.
		Both of those, all that you can watch on our app, C-SPANNO and online at c-span.org.
		And we still have time for some calls.
		Tom is in Prince Frederick, Maryland, Republican.
		Good morning, Tom.
unidentified		Good morning.
		How are you this morning?
		Beautiful day out there.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Yes, it is.
unidentified		I would like to make a request.
		The next time you get a Democrat on there, especially a lawmaker, Senator or Congressman, would you ask them what their policies are for the future?
		In other words, but they have to be specific.
		They can't say, we're going to cut taxes, we're going to cut the deficit, we're going to make education better.
		Just add, and they can't, there's only one proviso.
		They cannot use the word Trump.
		They can't use Trump.
		Just tell us specifically what your plan is.
		Should you get elected in 26 or going further to 28?
		Just tell us specifically how are you going to lower taxes?
		How are you going to beat inflation?
		And item for nightem.
		And that's all I have.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Tom.
		And the House does return from its summer recess.
		This is starting today, and they will be facing a funding deadline.
		The members will also consider several foreign policy-related bills under suspension of the rules, including legislation to codify President Trump's April executive order to reform the foreign military sales process.
		The Senate is also in, so the House is in at noon here on C-SPAN.
		Senate comes in at 3 p.m. over on C-SPAN 2, and they will vote on whether to advance the 2026 defense programs and policy legislation.
		60 votes are needed for that.
		And ABC News has this headline: Congress returns from recess as government shutdown deadline looms.
		Epstein files dominate the House.
		Here's Harold, Memphis, Tennessee, Democrat.
		Harold, you are on open forum.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
unidentified		How are you?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		I'm doing great.
unidentified		How are things in Memphis?
unidentified		It's a little drizzling right now, but it's okay.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Go ahead with what you wanted to say.
unidentified		Yes, I would like to make a point, please, and that has to do with the elderly.
		And in regards to Medicaid, by the deductions that they're giving in regards to Medicaid for senior citizens, where are these people going to go?
		They're going to go home.
		Well, if they go home with their relatives, they work.
		So it's going to be pretty tough once Medicaid is eliminated.
		Thank you very much.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Here's Jim in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, Republican.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Jim.
unidentified		Hey.
		My comment was that young lady that talked about not being able to bankrupt student loans, they passed that law, I think, back in 97, where you couldn't bankrupt student loans or credit cards.
		And when I went to university, I went to the student union and all the introductions and meetings that everybody gives to the incoming students.
		And there were seven credit card companies there.
		And they're just about lying and waiting for innocent blood.
		It's pretty cold to subject these kids to this.
		And they're awful young.
		And I appreciate your time.
		I'm glad I got in.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And here is Ronald in Romulus, Michigan.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Democrat, good morning.
unidentified		Yeah, my name is Ron Shelton.
		And I would like to any of these journalists, when they hear somebody from Trump and them talk about make America great again or this or that, has somebody ever asked him what year are you talking about?
		What decade are you talking about?
		So we can know what happened during that time period that made America so great.
		That's all I have to say.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And here's the front page of the Washington Times.
		Putin embraces Modi Snubs West as deadline passes USU planned way forward.
		So here's what it says.
		A defiant Vladimir Putin thumbed his nose at the West on Monday by embracing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, leaving no sign of progress on Ukraine as President Trump's peace deadline came and went.
		It says the Russian president decried the Euro-Atlantic world order and Glad Handel handed Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi during a regional summit in China.
		Meanwhile, Mr. Trump enjoyed Labor Day golf outside Washington.
		Here is Desmond in Statesville, North Carolina, Republican.
		Hi, Desmond.
unidentified		And Glad Handle handed Mr. Xi.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You got to mute your TV, Desmond.
		Go ahead.
		You there?
unidentified		Here is Desmond.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, go ahead.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Desmond, you're on the air.
unidentified		What?
unidentified		I'm on the phone.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Call us back later, Desmond.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And this is Al in Vestor, Florida, Independent Line.
unidentified		Alvester in Florida, yes.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Al.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So your name is Al?
unidentified		Alvester.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Alvester.
		Okay, got it.
		Go right ahead.
unidentified		Okay.
		Yes, what I want to know is when is this government going to release their gag order on the media that I am here?
		I am the angel Gabriel here, and I am the messenger of the Creator.
		But they keep a gaggard on the news and on all the airways that they cannot mention me here.
		And I'm on GabrielMission.com.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		We are out of time for today's Washington Journal.
		The House does come in today at noon here on C-SPAN.
		Lots of other programs for you to watch.
		Thanks, everybody, for watching, and have a great day.
unidentified		Today, a wreath-laying ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, the Allied victory in the Pacific marking the end of World War II.
		Watch it live from Washington, D.C. at 11 a.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, and online at c-span.org.
		Congress returns later today from its summer recess facing a September 30th government funding deadline.
		Lawmakers in both chambers must pass legislation to extend funding before the end of the month to avert a government shutdown.
		The House is back for legislative business at 2 p.m. Eastern.
		Members are expected to consider several foreign policy-related bills, including legislation to codify President Trump's April executive order that would reform the foreign military sales process.
		Also, a bill to fast-track the review process for transfers and exports of advanced technologies between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
		The Senate returns at 3 p.m. Eastern.
		Lawmakers are expected to vote later in the day to advance 2026 defense programs and policy legislation, authorizing $925 billion for the Pentagon and the Energy Department's nuclear weapons programs.
		That vote is set for 5.30 p.m. Eastern.
		Watch live coverage of the House on C-SPAN.
		Of course, see the Senate on C-SPAN 2.
		And a quick reminder that all of our congressional coverage is available on our free video app, C-SPAN Now, and our website, c-span.org.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		I saw you interviewed the other night.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		I watched it about 2 o'clock in the morning.
unidentified		There was a little thing called C-SPAN, which I don't know how many people were watching.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Don't worry, you were in prime time too, but they happen to have a little rerun.
patty murray ▲ ● ▼		Do you really think that we don't remember what just happened last week?
patty murray ▲ ● ▼		Thank goodness for C-SPAN, and we all should review the tape.
unidentified		Everyone wonders when they're watching C-SPAN what the conversations are on the floor.
al green ▲ ● ▼		I'm about to read to you something that was published by C-SPAN.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		There's a lot of things that Congress fights about, that they disagree on.
unidentified		We can all watch that on C-SPAN.
		Millions of people across the country tuned into C-SPAN.
		That was a make-for-C-SPAN moment.
		If you watch on C-SPAN, you're going to see me physically across the aisle every day, just trying to build relationships and try to understand their perspective and find common ground.
		And welcome forward to everybody watching at home.
		We know C-SPAN covers this live as well.
		We appreciate that.
		And one can only hope that he's able to watch C-SPAN on a black and white television set in his prison cell.
		This is being carried live by C-SPAN.
		It's being watched not only in this country, but it's being watched around the world right now.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Mike said before I happened to listen to him, he was on C-SPAN 1.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		That's a big upgrade, right?
unidentified		C-SPAN, democracy unfiltered.
unidentified		We're funded by these television companies and more, including WOW.

▲