| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
Congressman Jim Costa, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Agriculture Committees. | |
| Then with Nebraska Republican Congressman Don Bacon, a member of the Armed Services Committee, and former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Tom Friedan, on the Trump administration's health and vaccine policies and related news of the day. | ||
| Washington Journal starts now. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| It's Thursday, September 18th. | ||
| The Federal Reserve voted yesterday to lower interest rates by a quarter percentage point. | ||
| The chairman, Jerome Powell, cited a weakening labor market in the decision. | ||
| Only Stephen Myron, who was just sworn in Tuesday, dissented in favor of a larger half percentage point. | ||
| This first half hour of the program, we'll talk about the economy. | ||
| Are you feeling optimistic or pessimistic? | ||
| Are housing, groceries, and health care costs affordable for you? | ||
| Here are the phone lines to share your opinion. | ||
| Democrats, 202-748-8000. | ||
| Republicans, 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents, 202-748-8002. | ||
| You can send a text to 202-748-8003. | ||
| Include your first name in your city-state. | ||
| And you can 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 Fed Chair Jerome Powell. | ||
| He made these comments about the job market yesterday. | ||
| It's an interesting labor market, and obviously we think it's appropriate that we reduce our rates so that we become more neutral, which presumably will be better for the labor market. | ||
| You see people who are sort of more at the margins, so kids coming out of college and younger people, minorities are having a hard time finding jobs. | ||
| The overall job finding rate is very, very low. | ||
| However, the layoff rate is also very low. | ||
| So you've got a low-firing, low-hiring environment. | ||
| And the concern is that if you start to see layoffs, the people who are laid off, there won't be a lot of hiring going on. | ||
| So that could very quickly flow into higher unemployment. | ||
| In a healthier economy, healthier labor market, there would be jobs for those people. | ||
| But now the hiring rate is very, very low. | ||
| So that's been a growing concern over the last few months. | ||
| And it's one of the reasons why we think it's appropriate that we begin to shift our policy focus toward a more balanced one. | ||
| So Fed Chair, yesterday, he said we are in a low firing, low hiring time. | ||
| Wonder if you're looking for a job if you're in the job market. | ||
| And you can share your comments with us. | ||
| We'll start with Andy in Sterling, Virginia. | ||
| Democrat, good morning, Andy. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, Mimi. | |
| Hey, for all these Americans who decided they were going to cast their vote for this clown, you see what you've got now. | ||
| You've got an economy that's tanking. | ||
| You've got health care costs that are going to be rising. | ||
| When you decided to cast your vote for Trump, you voted because the price of eggs and milk had gone up. | ||
| Now you've got everything across the board going up in price. | ||
| Everything looks like it's headed in the direction of a recession, if not a depression, because you foolishly believe that this con man, who's always been a con man and who has always cheated people, has always lied, was going to bring us back to make America great again. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We were in the process of making America great again under Joe Biden. | |
| You can say anything you want about his mental faculties, his dementia. | ||
| I would have voted for Joe Biden if he was on a respirator. | ||
| He did a great job of bringing us out of this recession, out of COVID, and now we've got this clown. | ||
| Let me tell you where I live. | ||
| I live in Sterling, Virginia, less than a mile from Donald Trump's golf course. | ||
| When he's not visiting England on a royal trip, he's golfing every freaking weekend with a convoy of Secret Service cars that drive him to the golf course. | ||
| I can only imagine what that costs. | ||
| And all that talk about he's going to get rid of waste fraud and abuse, that $300 million luxury ballroom that he's installing at the White House. | ||
| What a waste of money. | ||
| All right, Andy, got your point. | ||
| And here's Representative Marlon Stutzman of Illinois, who was just on this program yesterday, a Republican who put this on X. All caps, about time. | ||
| Excited to see our economy boom. | ||
| And let's take a look. | ||
| On the floor of the House earlier this week, Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern criticized economic policy under the Trump administration. | ||
| The consequences of his economic policy are being felt in communities across this country, and Republicans know they can't defend it. | ||
| That's why they're not doing town halls. | ||
| Moms and dads are coming home with pink slips because their employers don't know if they can keep the doors open. | ||
| Small businesses are shuddering. | ||
| Farmers are struggling under higher input costs and shrinking markets. | ||
| Food, gas, electricity, basic goods and services. | ||
| Prices are all up, and they're likely to climb even higher as Trump's tariffs ripple through the supply chain. | ||
| It is clear that the Trump economy is not working for average Americans. | ||
| President Trump and Republicans promised to reduce inflation. | ||
| Instead, last month we saw the largest monthly increase in inflation since January. | ||
| They promised to reduce grocery prices. | ||
| Instead, last month, grocery prices spiked at the fastest pace in three years, driven in part by tariff-fueled costs. | ||
| They promised to cut electricity prices in half. | ||
| Instead, August electricity prices were 6% higher than they were a year ago. | ||
| And Americans are having to navigate a weakening job market and rising costs. | ||
| Fruits and vegetables are up nearly 2%. | ||
| Dairy products are up 1.3%. | ||
| Cereal and bread are up 1.1%. | ||
| And meat, poultry, fish, and eggs are all up a whopping 5.6%. | ||
| Give me a break. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, let's be frank. | ||
| The only winners in Trump's economy are millionaires and billionaires. | ||
| He packed his cabinet with the rich and well-connected. | ||
| Republicans' reconciliation bill hands out nearly $100,000 and tax cuts for those making over $1 million a year in 2027 alone. | ||
| And just last week, the Trump administration started rolling back efforts to crack down on offshore tax shelters that billionaires and giant corporations use to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. | ||
| Who does that? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, Trump promised an economy for the American people, but time and time again, his tariffs and his policies have only delivered for the ultra-rich, while families and farmers or small businesses pay the price. | ||
| That was on Tuesday, and wonder what you think about that. | ||
| Here is what Representative Juan Vargas, a Democrat, posted on X. | ||
| He said, the end goal here is clear. | ||
| President Trump is attempting to take over the Fed. | ||
| He wants control of the Fed in order to bail out his failing economic agenda. | ||
| President Trump needs a scapegoat because Americans simply aren't feeling the economic relief he promised. | ||
| And this is Representative Sylvia Garcia, also a Democrat. | ||
| The Fed's decision to cut rates is a welcome relief for working families struggling with the cost of living. | ||
| Lower rates mean more affordable mortgages, car loans, and small business credit. | ||
| Make no mistake, without an independent Federal Reserve, she goes on. | ||
| Here's Congresswoman Kat Kamack, a Republican. | ||
| President Trump pushed back and he delivered. | ||
| The Fed's rate cut marks a pivotal victory for working families and small businesses, offering long overdue relief from high borrowing costs. | ||
| This move helps lower interest rates on mortgages and car loans. | ||
| And Representative Brendan Boyle, the Federal Reserve, just had to cut rates because Donald Trump is sabotaging our economy. | ||
| Costs are rising and the job market is shrinking. | ||
| But Donald Trump is too busy giving tax breaks to his billionaire friends to care about inflation. | ||
| And here is Representative Tim Wahlberg. | ||
| Today's decision by the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates by a quarter point is long overdue. | ||
| Lowering rates will make home ownership more affordable for working Americans, empower Main Street America, and stimulate economic growth. | ||
| And Mitchell's calling us from New Jersey. | ||
| Democrat, good morning, Mitchell. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I would characterize my own personal view as being pessimistic on the economy. | ||
| You know, we're talking about the rate cuts. | ||
| I mean, the Fed's job is to cool down the economy when it's getting too hot, and that's why our inflation rate was so high. | ||
| Now, Donald Trump threw an X factor in there with the tariffs, which is also going to raise inflation. | ||
| It's also raising income for the U.S. through taxes on U.S. citizens, which could have been done more equally and fairly, you know, through a bill through Congress. | ||
| And it could have been done less haphazardly as the rollout has been where they're constantly adjusting the rates. | ||
| I mean, I have to say, for me personally, I'm in a comfortable situation, but I'm 68 years old. | ||
| I'm still working. | ||
| I'm at the end of my work life for the next couple of years. | ||
| And it's taken us a long, long time to reach this point. | ||
| But I've been in a position when I was younger where I've had to roll up my pennies and worried about health care costs and everything else. | ||
| And for me, I would be comfortable paying more taxes to live in a society where there is a floor to the social safety net. | ||
| And I also think that we are going to have to cut costs too. | ||
| I mean, people on my side of the aisle of Democrats are going to have to realize that we do have a huge debt and we're going to have to cut our spending carefully. | ||
| And we're going to have to decide, you know, what are our priorities as a country and what do we want to pay for? | ||
| And I just don't see that happening. | ||
| Now, we're just kind of like we're playing this game that isn't even based in reality. | ||
| And we're not all looking at facts and we're just trying to give credit to this one and bash the other one rather than dealing with the problem that is. | ||
| So I'm definitely pessimistic on the economy. | ||
| Thank you for hearing me out. | ||
| All right, Mitchell. | ||
| Let's talk to Annie, a Republican in San Rafael, California. | ||
| Good morning, Annie. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello. | |
| Hi. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You're on the hi. | |
| I'm calling in from California. | ||
| I'm a Republican in name only, you might say, but I respect what they do. | ||
| But in terms of the economy, I actually am a registered Republican, though, actually. | ||
| But in terms of the economy, I've been unable to pay taxes for many, many years since like 1982 because I'm disabled, supposedly, and receiving a Times SSI and special housing, like, you know, Section 8, housing and such like that. | ||
| And so to me, the economy would revolve around things like grocery prices. | ||
| Is that correct, Miss Mimi? | ||
| Yeah, I mean, grocery prices. | ||
| Is your health care covered, Annie? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, I have Medicare and Medi-Cal, and I'm fixing to get a little health care around high blood pressure. | |
| And how are you feeling about grocery prices? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I found a Mexican market that I'm shopping at and going non-organic because I've always been doing organic, which is quite pricey, but that was my priority with any money that I do have. | |
| And I have worked during the time, so I qualify for some Social Security also, you know, golden age social security, as an indigenous people say. | ||
| All right. | ||
| We appreciate you sharing that with us. | ||
| Here's Vincent, a Democrat in New Rochelle, New York. | ||
| Good morning, Vincent. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, hi. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| I always enjoy your shows. | ||
| I'm in my 70s. | ||
| I've worked my whole life. | ||
| I've been a union man and everything else. | ||
| But, you know, unfortunately for us, my view on the economy is bifurcated. | ||
| On the short term, although I'm a Democrat, I'm very pleased that President Trump, unlike many other presidents, has decided to take on the world's assault on the American economy. | ||
| No other president has had the courage to actually face the unfair trade balances and practices. | ||
| Yes, there's disruption, but I'm willing to pay more for goods at the store and elsewhere if it helps our country. | ||
| This is a all-hands-on-deck, let's save America kind of mentality. | ||
| It's like World War II. | ||
| We all pitch in, but we have naysayers and angry people who want to score political points and many from my own party, unfortunately. | ||
| I'm not happy about having to pay a few dollars more, but it's my choice, as opposed to those favoring increased taxation. | ||
| Here in New York, I'm dying from taxes. | ||
| I'm a retired teacher. | ||
| I get a pension. | ||
| I work my life to get. | ||
| I'm on Social Security. | ||
| My taxes in New York are killing me. | ||
| Other parts of the country are doing better. | ||
| I'm just suggesting to my Democratic friends, the sky is not falling. | ||
| I do hope that we understand that there is a macroeconomic conflict taking place. | ||
| Who will be the dominant country in society going forward? | ||
| Will it be the controlled economy of the dictatorships of ZZPing and Putin? | ||
| Or will it be the more troubled and economies of the West and America where we have to face elections every few years and economic policies can be in turmoil? | ||
| It's a troubling event. | ||
| I've watched my entire life, but we have $37 trillion in debt, and nobody really seems to be addressing it. | ||
| You know, at least Trump got, you know, the demand that does aggravate people, but he's actually trying to address the larger world questions. | ||
| Let's see what happens. | ||
| I wish him good luck. | ||
| All right, Vincent. | ||
| Here's Paul calling us from the UK and England. | ||
| Republican line. | ||
| Good morning, Paul. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello, Mimi. | |
| How are you today? | ||
| Good. | ||
| Yeah, great. | ||
| Well, we're going to this. | ||
| I'm optimistic. | ||
| I think what Donald Trump should do to make sure the stabilized economy in America and also help people and different talents to help the community of the world and also helping his own people in America, I reckon, just to make sure the taxes are low and all that kind of thing. | ||
| And just look after everybody in America. | ||
| That's the more important part of it, I think. | ||
| Paul, how are people reacting to President Trump's visit there where you are? | ||
|
unidentified
|
All right. | |
| I think I've got a protest about Donald Trump's visit, but a lot of people I know, the Kravakin Kumi really is an asset, so fingers crossed. | ||
| He'll make deals with Britain, tech deals and things, whatever, deal with Britain, and it's good to have him around in Britain. | ||
| I'm proud that British King Charles looked after him yesterday at the bank and very good. | ||
| Very good to see him here. | ||
| All right. | ||
| And we've got some clips of that. | ||
| How do you watch C-SPAN? | ||
| Are you watching online? | ||
|
unidentified
|
On the phone, on the mobile phone, watch him on the mobile phone. | |
| I can get click cameras and link to it. | ||
| That's how I come from. | ||
| And are you an avid watcher of American politics then? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Of course, yes. | |
| I've always been there. | ||
| Years before, before, many years, I've a part of American politics and over the last five years been on your show and been talked to you many times before. | ||
| Yep, I do. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I remember. | |
| All right. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Thanks, Paul. | ||
| Let's take another look at Chairman Powell from yesterday's press conference. | ||
| Here he has an exchange with a reporter who asked him a question. | ||
| Take a look. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The latest inflation report shows that prices are still going up across key categories for many households, including groceries. | |
| What will the Fed do if prices pick up more? | ||
| So our expectation, and you can see this consistently through the year, has been that inflation will move up this year, but that basically because of the effects on goods prices from tariffs, but that those will turn out to be a one-time price increase as opposed to creating an inflationary process. | ||
| That's been our forecast. | ||
| Pretty much every forecast, all the individual forecasts say that. | ||
| We can't just assume that, though, right? | ||
| We have to, our job is literally to make sure that that is what happens, and we will do that job. | ||
| Right now, the situation we're in is that we see inflation, we continue to expect it to move up, maybe not as high as we would have expected it to move up a few months ago. | ||
| The pass-through of the tariffs into inflation has been slower and smaller. | ||
| The labor market has softened. | ||
| So the case for there being a persistent inflation outbreak is less. | ||
| And so that's why we think it's time for us really to acknowledge that the risks to the other mandate have grown and that we should move in the direction of neutral. | ||
| So what will we do? | ||
| We'll do what we need to do, but we have two mandates and we try to balance them. | ||
| For a long time, our framework says that when our two goals are in tension, this is quite an unusual situation. | ||
| How do we decide what to do? | ||
| Because our tools can't do two things at once. | ||
| What we do is we ask which is farther from how far is each from the goal and how long is it expected to get to the goal. | ||
| So, and then that's we think about those things and we see, as I mentioned, we have been, our policy had been really skewed toward inflation for a long time, really. | ||
| Now we see that there's downside risk clearly in the labor market, and so we're moving in the direction of a more neutral policy. | ||
| We're talking about the economy for another 10 minutes, and then we will switch over to open forum. | ||
| If there's other topics you'd like to add in, we're taking your calls, those numbers are on your screen. | ||
| If you'd like to share your thoughts about how you're feeling about the economy, do you feel optimistic? | ||
| Do you feel pessimistic? | ||
| Are you looking for a job? | ||
| How do you feel about the price and the cost of things? | ||
| Fred says on Facebook, he says, the economy is doing great. | ||
| Trump's doing a great job. | ||
| I like low gas prices. | ||
| Now let's get food prices lower. | ||
| This is all Joe Biden's fault. | ||
| He caused this mess. | ||
| And Tony says this, Powell is no hero. | ||
| He harms Americans for political purposes. | ||
| And Brad says, if the Fed chairman would get with the program and stop playing from behind this economy, stop playing from behind, this economy would be flourishing. | ||
| Optimistic, 401k is best it has ever been. | ||
| And Diane says, probably healthier not to worry about the economy each day. | ||
| Get along the best you can until things get better. | ||
| In the future, the most successful politicians will offer solutions, not rhetoric or grudge matches. | ||
| And finally, Randy says the middle class is under pressure for decades, is buckling under this economy. | ||
| Trump really doesn't care. | ||
| He is giddy over a ride in a horse-drawn carriage and tails like a child. | ||
| This is Sharon in Gwyn Oak, Maryland. | ||
| Democrat, good morning, Sharon. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh, good morning. | |
| How are you doing this morning? | ||
| Good. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, I was calling. | |
| Well, I'm going to say I'm going to feel optimistic because, you know, it's so much that's going on with our country and everything. | ||
| And this president we have is doing everything he can to rip this country apart. | ||
| But you know what? | ||
| The American people got to stand up and fight and pray to a God that's going to look out for our country because God blessed America. | ||
| And we're the greatest country in the world. | ||
| And I stay in prayer with me and my adult children. | ||
| We pray. | ||
| We pray together. | ||
| And we ask God to give us a good day every day if he can. | ||
| And we look out for each other. | ||
| If one don't have, we all share. | ||
| We help each other. | ||
| We love each other. | ||
| It don't even have to be a family member. | ||
| It could be a neighbor. | ||
| And we look out for each other and, you know, build people confidence up. | ||
| And I feel so good and happy because I keep my prayers in with God. | ||
| My grandkids are doing good in school. | ||
| My adult children are doing very well. | ||
| I'm so happy and I thank God. | ||
| And our American people need to tell our Heavenly Father we love him. | ||
| I love God. | ||
| You know, I go through bad times. | ||
| We all have our ups and downs and our problems. | ||
| But we got to stay optimistic and look towards the Father. | ||
| He loves us all. | ||
| He don't care what complexion we are, what skin tone, because where he at when we pass away, he's not going by because you white, black, yellow, whatever. | ||
| He goes by your heart and spirit, and that's what he judges you on. | ||
| Nothing but that. | ||
| All right, Sharon. | ||
| And the Vice President and the Labor Secretary, Laurie Chavez-DeReamer, were in Michigan yesterday to talk about the One Big Beautiful bill. | ||
| Here is the Labor Secretary. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Nine months into this administration, America First policies have created hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs, and job growth has been entirely among native-born Americans. | |
| Working class wages are up, and GDP growth has smashed expectations. | ||
| We've also seen nearly $8 trillion in private investment since Inauguration Day, which will bring mortgage-paying jobs back to the United States. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Turns out, all we needed to kick off the golden age was a new president. | |
| A negotiator in the Oval Office who is putting American interests first again. | ||
| President Trump has been striking new trade deals to restore our nation as the world's manufacturing superpower. | ||
| Time and again, this administration has proven its commitment to putting American workers first. | ||
| A prime example is the working family tax cut that President Trump and Vice President Vance spearheaded. | ||
|
unidentified
|
This big, beautiful bill delivered no tax on overtime, no tax on tips, and no tax on Social Security. | |
| I was a labor secretary yesterday, and this is William in Wilson, North Carolina, Democrat. | ||
| Hi, William. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, good morning. | |
| Evidently, these people don't live in the same world I live in. | ||
| I buy my groceries every first of the month to last for a whole month. | ||
| And this year, I've seen my grocery bill go up expensively than it was last year. | ||
| And I buy basically the same things every year. | ||
| So, you know, I don't know what kind of economy other people are in here, but that's going on here. | ||
| Thanks for letting me share my little piece. | ||
| All right, William. | ||
| And this is CNBC that says, as U.S. jobs disappear, the Federal Reserve returns to rate cuts. | ||
| The article says it's getting harder to find work in the United States. | ||
| U.S. businesses added just 22,000 jobs from July to August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. | ||
| Massive revisions to federal jobs data show that the pace of hiring was notably low in 2025. | ||
| This is a chief economist at EY who says this, gone are the days of 200,000 jobs every month. | ||
| We're likely to be in an environment where job growth is hovering around zero, essentially. | ||
| It says experts said the slowdown in hiring is most potent for younger workers. | ||
| Here is Rosetta, St. Albans, New York, Democrat. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Rosetta, are you there? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, I'm here. | |
| Hi, go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I watch NBC every day. | |
| I watch CNN every day. | ||
| I watch Fox Network every day. | ||
| And so I try to get a perspective of both sides. | ||
| But that's my problem. | ||
| All I see on each one of these channels is we, we. | ||
| We are this way and they are this way. | ||
| Not we, but they are this way and they are this way. | ||
| And I'm on this side and they are on the wrong side and they are on and they're doing the wrong thing. | ||
| We used to be a weak country. | ||
| We used to stand together and we no longer stand together. | ||
| We say that we are a Christian country, but we don't follow Christian rules. | ||
| Our churches is playing against one side because they believe in having abortions and they stand for gay. | ||
| And so we can't like those people because they're different than us. | ||
| We're not different. | ||
| We are American and we are human. | ||
| And we keep talking about. | ||
| We keep talking about they and they and they do this wrong and they do this wrong and they after us and they're going to kill us. | ||
| That's what's causing the hatred and more people are going to die. | ||
| So Rosetta, we were just talking about the economy. | ||
| How are you feeling about the economy? | ||
| How are things going with you financially? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm on a fixed income. | |
| I have a little pension every month and I see that some prices are going down, but I basically get free meals from my church or from my city because I can't afford to eat like I normally want to eat. | ||
| I just can't afford to do it. | ||
| So I get free meals every day because of my circumstances. | ||
| And how old are you, Rosetta? | ||
|
unidentified
|
77 years old. | |
| All right. | ||
| And we got some from social media. | ||
| This is John on Facebook. | ||
| I'm just trying to hold on. | ||
| Close to retirement, and I'm worried. | ||
| I may have to keep working. | ||
| There is just no stability these days. | ||
| Everything is up in the air. | ||
| And here is Mike in Santa Fe on text. | ||
| So Trump bullied Powell into juicing Wall Street by devaluing the dollar. | ||
| The dollar has been worthless for years and now the oligarchs will make trillions while Main Street gets screwed. | ||
| Trickle down. | ||
| Here's Tim on Facebook. | ||
| Interest rates needed to drop more to make houses more affordable. | ||
| And Charles also on Facebook says, the long-term outlook for the economy is strong. | ||
| Currently, we are in the final month of the Biden budget. | ||
| Look for a mild slowdown as we transition to the Trump economic agenda and greater growth next year. | ||
| MAGA. | ||
| And up next in the program, we'll talk with, sorry, later in the program, we'll talk with Nebraska Republican Don Bacon about today's vote on the continuing resolution and other news. | ||
| But first, it's open forum. | ||
| Whatever you want to talk about, as long as it's related to politics, it's Democrats are on 202-748-8000. | ||
| Republicans, 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents, 202-748-8002. | ||
| 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, Sundays at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on C-SPAN. | ||
| And past president, why are you doing this? | ||
| This is outrageous. | ||
|
unidentified
|
This is a kangaroo clause. | |
| 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. | ||
| Washington Journal continues. | ||
| Welcome back. | ||
| It is Open Forum. | ||
| Just a quick update for you on what's happening on the Hill from Politico House Eyes Friday vote. | ||
| That's tomorrow on funding bill. | ||
| It says that Republican leaders vowed Wednesday to barrel forward with a stopgap funding bill in the coming days as Democrats threaten to oppose it in favor of their own alternative, raising the chances of an October 1st government shutdown. | ||
| We'll talk more with lawmakers later today on the program about that. | ||
| And this is Michelle, Upper Marlboro, Maryland, Independent Line. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, Michelle. | |
| Good morning, Mimi. | ||
| I want to talk about good morning. | ||
| I want to talk about this issue with Jimmy Kimmel and the cancellation. | ||
| This is very, very scary, particularly because once you go down a road, it's hard to change course. | ||
| So Michelle, let me get everybody up to speed and then I'll let you continue with your opinion, just so everybody knows what you're talking about. | ||
| So this is the New York Times. | ||
| The headline is ABC pulls Jimmy Kimmel off the air for Charlie Kirk comments after FCC pressure. | ||
| It says Mr. Kimmel faced criticism from the chairman of the FCC for remarks about the politics of the man who is accused of killing Mr. Kirk, the conservative activist. | ||
| And then it says, here's Fox News that says FCC Chair Brendan Carr defends ABC affiliates pulling Jimmy Kimmel's show after monologue mocking Charlie Kirk. | ||
| It says that Carr argues late night shows alienated audiences by prioritizing politics over comedy. | ||
| Okay, go ahead, Michelle. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you for that background. | |
| So, you know, this wasn't a market decision. | ||
| People will say, oh, NBC made a business decision, but they made a business decision from the government. | ||
| And I think MAGA's being very short-sighted. | ||
| What happens when there's a Democrat, Democratic president and the church ministers? | ||
| Michelle? | ||
| The left doesn't like, you know, will be sued. | ||
| You said church ministers that would be sued about freedom of speech. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, it's very short-sighted to do this because what happens when the tide turns and the Democrats are in office? | |
| And then freedom of speech for ministers are, you know, ministers are in churches are, you know, their tax-exempt status is taken away or they're controlled by the government as to what they can say and preach. | ||
| This is dangerous. | ||
| All right, and this is Robert Cortland, New York, Republican. | ||
| Hi, Robert. | ||
| Robert, you there? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I'm here. | |
| Okay. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, my question is: what would be affected if we had a government shutdown? | |
| Because I have Medicare and Medicaid. | ||
| So my understanding is that those, like for instance, Social Security checks would still go out. | ||
| There's certain things that would continue, but those employees would not be getting paid until the government reopens. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, because do you think, I just hope it does not shut down because I have Medicare as well. | |
| That's Medicaid. | ||
| Yeah, I think you would still be able to access those things, Robert. | ||
| It's just that the people processing all of that would not be paid. | ||
| They would get their back pay, but only after the government reopens. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay. | |
| I hope. | ||
| Do you think they'll pass the bill by the 1st October? | ||
| So we'll ask our guests that later today. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We've got to. | |
| Sorry? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I was just giving you my prediction. | |
| I think they will pass it. | ||
| Oh, you think they'll pass it? | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Very good. | ||
| Andrew, Perland, Texas, Democrat. | ||
| Good morning, Andrew. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, good morning. | |
| Thank you for taking my call. | ||
| The issue that I'm calling to talk about is a state bill 10, Senate Bill 10 here in Texas. | ||
| I'm a public school teacher. | ||
| Senate Bill 10, for those of you that don't know, requires schools to put up the Ten Commandments if Ten Commandment posters are donated by an outside third party to that school. | ||
| Last Friday, I received an email. | ||
| I work at a very large district here in the Houston area. | ||
| And last Friday, I received an email from our principal saying that posters had been donated and that they were to be put up by the end of the day. | ||
| I am not happy about this and was not happy about this because it's clearly unconstitutional, even though Senate Built 10 here in Texas has not been found to be unconstitutional. | ||
| There is an injunction that several other districts joined. | ||
| My district did not. | ||
| And I want everybody who supports the Ten Commandments and is a Christian to understand that even here in Texas, not everybody is a Christian. | ||
| I have students at my school who are Buddhist, who are Hindu, who are Muslim. | ||
| And freedom of religion is freedom from religion. | ||
| We've got to get this figured out. | ||
| I'm really scared at the way that this might go. | ||
| And finally, I'll just say I would hate for the next step to be having to have a picture of white Jesus and Donald Trump in every single classroom in our state. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| So, Andrew, what are you going to do? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I did not put the poster up. | |
| My co-teacher did. | ||
| I refused to put the poster up myself. | ||
| So I did not touch it. | ||
| But it is up in your classroom, right? | ||
|
unidentified
|
It is up in the classroom. | |
| Yes. | ||
| We were told that it had to be put up because we were going to be complying with the Texas law. | ||
| I did let the administrators know that they asked us to do an unconstitutional act, that this is clearly unconstitutional under the federal constitution. | ||
| And I was told that because it is a state bill, we have to follow it. | ||
| And did you say anything to your students? | ||
| Did they ask you anything about the poster? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Nobody has brought it up. | |
| No students have brought it up to me. | ||
| So I was told by administrator on my campus that if students ask me what it is, that I'm to tell them that they can ask their parents. | ||
| And then if a student tells me that they feel uncomfortable with it being up in the classroom, that I can tell them, ask them if they would like to speak to an administrator. | ||
| But I personally, I'm not going to engage with them on this issue. | ||
| I'm not going to bring it up. | ||
| I'm not going to use it as a teaching aid. | ||
| Religion does not belong in our classrooms as curriculum, unless, you know, perhaps maybe at the high school level, there may be being a religious studies course. | ||
| But I teach seventh and eighth grade. | ||
| So I think that this is all an experiment in white Christian nationalism, that they want to push the envelope as far as they can. | ||
| And I also think that it's to try to rid the Texas public school system of anyone who opposes their ideas. | ||
| Anyone who gets angry enough to say, well, I don't want to do this anymore. | ||
| So it's basically to rid progressives from the school system. | ||
| All right, Andrew. | ||
| And for your awareness, President Trump will be meeting with the UK's Prime Minister at Checkers to discuss trade and foreign policy. | ||
| That is happening at about 9:20 a.m. this morning Eastern Time. | ||
| We will bring that to you over on C-SPAN 3 if you'd like to see that whole thing. | ||
| It's set to start at about 9:20 Eastern Time. | ||
| Stephen, Lexington, Kentucky, Independent Line, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Thank you for letting me speak my opinion. | ||
| Just real quick, you need to show that clip of Trump yesterday at his speech while he was with the Prince and the kid. | ||
| He just noticed. | ||
| But the main reason I wanted to call Mimi was because I wanted to talk about a topic that's been stigmatized for decades. | ||
| And unfortunately, our listeners and viewers, whenever they talk about this topic, they get shunned or dismissed. | ||
| I'm talking about the UAP hearing that happened last week. | ||
| UAP, aka UFO, it's a real thing. | ||
| We've had three congressional hearings. | ||
| This is not the first one. | ||
| This is the third one with whistleblowers, military personnel, individuals from the government and from the media were there to testify in a bipartisan issue. | ||
| Both parties think this is a big deal. | ||
| And unfortunately, our viewers, whenever they talk about UFOs, UAPs, they get dismissed like they're crazy, but they're not. | ||
| We have data. | ||
| We have videos. | ||
| We have testimony from very competent people that UFOs and UAPs are a real issue above our skies. | ||
| And the U.S. and other governments have no way to deal with them. | ||
| So please talk about it more. | ||
| Last week, I tried to call in so much because it was actually relevant at the time. | ||
| But UAP hearing happened last week. | ||
| It was a big deal. | ||
| And I hope that the intelligent community starts leaking out more information. | ||
| That Hellfire video last week where that missile got disassembled by an orb, it's crazy. | ||
| So thank you, Mimi, for letting me speak on the UFO and UAP hearings. | ||
| And just for everybody to know, you can go to our website, cspan.org, and look through our video library. | ||
| You can put UAP into the search and you will have the hearings that we've covered on that. | ||
| Here's Amy in Leesburg, Florida, Republican. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, Amy. | |
| Hi. | ||
| Hi. | ||
| I just want to say that during the Biden administration, and especially during COVID, anybody that disagreed with Fauci, they wouldn't put anything up on Facebook or all of those other sites. | ||
| And then when Trump gets elected, excuse me, Zuckenberg all of a sudden tries to cozy up to Trump. | ||
| And Trump shouldn't even have bothered to be with him, meet him or anything, or Joe or Micah, because Joe and Micah go have this meeting with him, and then they're back on TV trashing him every day. | ||
| And as far as the election in 2020, and they said it was the most fair and pre-election ever, how can you say that when 15 to 18 percent of people said they wouldn't even have voted for Biden if they would have known the laptop was real? | ||
| The CIA and the FBI both said that it was disinformation and they knew it was true. | ||
| So you've got CIA people lying, FBI people lying, Zuckenberg saying, oh, they were mean to me. | ||
| They said I couldn't put this stuff up. | ||
| So what do you really call all this? | ||
| You know, now all of a sudden the Democrats are saying, oh, they won't let us do free speech. | ||
| Well, you didn't let the Republicans and scientists do free speech during COVID. | ||
| All right, Amy. | ||
| This is President Trump in England. | ||
| He was attending an official state dinner hosted by the King and Queen of England, and he made these remarks. | ||
| It's a singular privilege to be the first American president welcomed here. | ||
| And if you think about it, they said it's a lot of presidents, and this was the second state visit, and that's the first. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And maybe that's going to be the last time. | |
| I hope it is actually. | ||
| But this is truly one of the highest honors of my life. | ||
| Such respect for you and such respect for your country. | ||
| And that was yesterday, and we'll have more coverage of President Trump's visit to England and the UK on the C-SPAN networks. | ||
| This is James in Norfolk, Virginia, Democrat. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Go ahead, James. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, Annie. | |
| I want to talk about. | ||
| I saw the Republicans yesterday in D.C. pass a law to 14 to 15-year-old teenagers to be prosecuted as adults. | ||
| Now, the Supreme Court passed a law years ago that said you can't prosecute a teenager 14 or 15 as an adult. | ||
| But now they've done unconstitutional pass, the Republicans did on TV and C-SPAN yesterday. | ||
| They passed a law to prosecute 93% of the teenagers in D.C. are black. | ||
| So the unconstitutional thing they're doing, it's going to catch up with this country. | ||
| It's a shame you put a 14 to 15-year-old kid in prison with a brand, a man that's 25 or 23, 30 years old. | ||
| It's against the law. | ||
| But they did it anyway. | ||
| So I hope the Supreme Court will do something about it. | ||
| Basically, they're back every time he does something wrong. | ||
| But I hope they do something about that when it goes into the Supreme Court. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| And here's the headline from the Washington Post on that. | ||
| House votes to charge D.C. 14-year-olds as adults. | ||
| It says Republicans in Congress are pursuing a wave of new laws aimed at D.C.'s criminal justice system. | ||
| And this is Ray in Zephyrillas, Florida, Independent. | ||
| Hi, Ray. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you for taking my call. | |
| Longtime listener, first time caller. | ||
| I don't know. | ||
| This may not be topical. | ||
| It doesn't seem to be connecting with any of the prior calls. | ||
| But I was watching an opposing channel and just saw Ken Burns being interviewed for documentary he has produced. about the American Revolution. | ||
| And I don't know if this will strike a chord with anyone, but I read a biography of Thomas Paine. | ||
| And in it, I wish I could cite the source. | ||
| It was claimed that he had an agreement with the publisher of Common Sense or with a publisher. | ||
| The first publication, the first printing was nowhere near sufficient to cover the interest, right? | ||
| It was mostly being read in public houses to groups of people because there was very few copies available. | ||
| And Thomas Paine had no money to pay for a second printing. | ||
| So he found a printer that would put up the money in advance if Thomas Paine promised that his share of the publication rights would go to the Continental Army. | ||
| And one of the purposes that General Washington decided for use of those funds was the inoculation of troops for smallpox. | ||
| That's my comment. | ||
| All right. | ||
| And this is Damien Laurel, Maryland, Republican. | ||
| Good morning, Damien. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, nice to speak to you. | |
| I am responding to the Texas teacher who is. | ||
| It was the Ten Commandments he didn't want to put up on the wall, I think. | ||
| But I respect his opinion and his beliefs. | ||
| I respect it. | ||
| But my thing is, how bad is it really? | ||
| What does the Ten Commandments say? | ||
| Do not murder, do not steal, do not covet your neighbor's wife, do not, you know, do bad things. | ||
| That's not a bad thing to have in school so kids can get accustomed to that and maybe it will help our society be become better if we, like you know, you know, think about that. | ||
| Do not steal, do not. | ||
| What's so bad about that? | ||
| That's my opinion. | ||
| So my thing is, yep, did you want to say something else? | ||
| Arnold Dunlap, Tennessee Independent LINE. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, Arnold. | |
| Are you there? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I was hello. | |
| Nope oh, Arnold Ken In Tampa, Florida, Democrat, good morning, Ken. | ||
| Good morning, Mimi. | ||
| How are you? | ||
| Good. | ||
| You know, Mimi, I mean, as a black man in America, you know, I'm just torn at some of the things that are being said and some of the things that Trump says, some of the things that this Charlie Kurt has said. | ||
| But at the end of the day, like when Trump was leaving for Britain, he chastised this one reporter, going to tell this reporter that he has hate in his heart, like he knows what's in someone's heart. | ||
| So when it comes to that, I'm wondering with Pam Bondi talking about they're going after people for hate speech. | ||
| The Democrats are just so weak. | ||
| Why don't they play the video when Trump says he hates Democrat? | ||
| Would that be considered hate speech with the big word hating it? | ||
| I mean, it comes to the, you know, America, people, I mean, it's just that America would not face up to its history. | ||
| This country was bone on violence, bone on violence. | ||
| They killed almost all the Indians. | ||
| They enslave people, and they act like we're supposed to just forget how that went. | ||
| Yesterday, five police officers got shot, three got killed. | ||
| Is the flag at half mass for these people that serve? | ||
| But the flag goes to half mass for an individual who hasn't done nothing for this country other than divide it. | ||
| Now, when it comes to Charlie Kirk, now, one thing black people need to understand: Charlie Kirk, because I'm an individual, I'm retired military, I'm almost 65 years old. | ||
| Charlie Kirk saw that people my age who are white are dying out. | ||
| So he wanted to infringe the younger white folks to start looking at white supremacy in a way. | ||
| Where is that black person that's a Charlie Kirk to inspire young black people that nothing is wrong with putting the Ten Commandments in a classroom because, like the gentleman said, what's wrong with do not kill, do not steal? | ||
| Black people have given up on their young people at age 10 and 12. | ||
| That's why you see they're putting 14 years old in prison with grown people because I went to D.C. | ||
| And it's like you give this racist president a reason to do what he do. | ||
| All right, Ken, I got to move on. | ||
| We're going to pause our calls on Open Forum and come back to them. | ||
| But first, we're going to talk to Representative Jim Costa. | ||
| He's a Democrat of California, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Agriculture Committee. | ||
| Representative Costa, welcome to the program. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Sir, can you hear us? | |
| Congressman? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, Mimi? | |
| Oh, there you are. | ||
| Very good. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Welcome. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| So yesterday, Democratic leaders in the House unveiled their counteroffer to the Republican seven-week government funding bill. | ||
| What is it that Democrats are asking for? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I think that we want to make sure that we protect America's health care to begin with. | |
| The impacts that Americans are facing with the cuts that are in Medicare and Medicaid are going to have significant impacts across the country. | ||
| And we have in my area rural hospitals that are in really significant financial challenges. | ||
| And we need to let the American people know that this continuing resolution that the Republicans are proposing is just more of the same, which is hitting into the pocketbooks of middle-class Americans across the country. | ||
| And will there still be a vote on the Republican plan on Friday tomorrow? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, that's up to the Speaker. | |
| If they have the votes for it, I suspect they will bring it up. | ||
| That's the plan. | ||
| But they've really made no serious attempt to have a bipartisan effort to sit down at the table and to try to have a compromise. | ||
| And we have a budget process, as you know, that's broken, and it has been for a while. | ||
| And the enhanced premium tax credits for the ACA, the Obamacare, they're set to expire at the end of this year. | ||
| What impact do you think that that would have if that's not addressed now as opposed to, as Republicans are saying, to address it later in the year? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Average premiums could spike more than 75% if we don't extend that. | |
| And rural regions of the country, and I represent significant rural regions, could go as high as 90%. | ||
| So that would be an average increased cost of $700 per individual. | ||
| And, you know, the Affordable Health Care Act has now been law for 15 years. | ||
| I voted for it in 2010. | ||
| And the portions of my district had 24% people without any insurance, a significant number with underinsured, and that number dropped to 10%. | ||
| That is a significant change. | ||
| And, you know, I think that, frankly, we can't leave Americans without health care. | ||
| And all of this, as you know, adds to the debt. | ||
| Is this a deal breaker for you, Congressman? | ||
| If those extensions are not put into this bill, would you risk a shutdown over this? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I don't think it's ever acceptable to have a shutdown. | |
| But in the past, Democrats have provided the majority of votes to avoid a shutdown. | ||
| And we've been a part of the conversation. | ||
| This time, they've decided to go it alone in the House. | ||
| And therefore, I think until the Republicans are willing to support the Affordable Health Care Act and other impacts that my constituents will feel, if this is the budget that they're proposing that they want to go and extend for this continuing resolution, then they're going to have to pass it on their own. | ||
| And we had a caller earlier that was worried about his Medicare and Medicaid if there was a shutdown. | ||
| What can you say about that? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, the Medicare and Medicaid have been impacted as a result of the passage of earlier this year the big, I didn't use the adjective beautiful because it wasn't beautiful. | |
| The impacts to my constituents are devastating with the amount of Medicare and Medicaid health care impacts that would be cut. | ||
| And so my constituents are wondering what's going to happen not only to the health care that they receive, but to the health care clinics that are so important in our rural areas. | ||
| We had a workshop with our hospitals and with our clinics last month, and they are very much wondering how they're going to be able to continue to provide affordable, accessible health care for the people in my district. | ||
| Now, Attorney General Pam Bondi has faced criticism, even from people on the right, about remarks that she made about hate speech being prosecuted. | ||
| She has since walked back those comments. | ||
| Your views on the Charlie Kirk assassination and also how you're feeling about your own personal safety. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I think the Attorney General's comments were wrong in terms of defining hate speech. | |
| It was horrific what happened to this assassination of an American that had support from so many people. | ||
| And I think all Americans, you know, mourn the loss for him and for his family. | ||
| And it sadly reflects a level of violence that we see too often occurring in the political debate and dialogue that we have that Charlie always opposed. | ||
| He supported free speech. | ||
| And so I think that when you look at the amount of threats that have occurred to members of Congress over the last several years, they've increased 300%. | ||
| We've been advised by security and capital police to try to avoid events that have large gatherings. | ||
| That's not how I represent my constituents. | ||
| I want to be able to be out there, and I'm my people person, and I always am accessible. | ||
| And I go home every Thursday looking forward to being with my constituents in the San Joaquin Valley and Fresno. | ||
| The fact that there is so much fear and so much hate-mongering and finger-pointing, I think, is something that we should all be concerned about. | ||
| It really goes to the heart of our participatory democracy in allowing the people to have access to their elected officials. | ||
| You're the co-chair of the Congressional Crime Survivors and Justice Caucus. | ||
| That spearheads efforts related to victims' rights and services. | ||
| This week, you joined other members and wrote a letter to the Attorney General and talking about the Justice Department's decision to withhold federal funding from states if they don't cooperate with immigration efforts, those funding specifically for the victims. | ||
| Can you first explain what those funds have been used for, those federal funds for victims? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, the Volca funding for victims of crimes and their families was passed in the early 1980s and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. | |
| These are not taxpayers' dollars. | ||
| Are fines and remittances from ill-gotten gains by criminal activities, whether they be white-collar crime or whether they be running of drugs or using of airplanes and other things that when we convict these criminals, we confiscate whatever they have, and it really adds up into the billions of dollars each year. | ||
| So, these are not taxpayer dollars, and these monies are distributed to organizations throughout the country, centers for women and children to protect them who've been engaged in domestic violence. | ||
| The funds go to help out organizations that try to provide counseling for victims of crime and to assist their families. | ||
| And in some cases, when sadly there are deaths that result of this, it goes to help with family services. | ||
| So, you know, the bipartisan victims of crime caucus has been in effect since Congressman Ted Pohl and I created it back in 2007. | ||
| And we've tried to, one, protect those funds, two, recognize and support legislation on behalf of crime victims, and three, every year recognize organizations and individuals who every day are there to help people who are victims of crime and their families. | ||
| And finally, there was a Senate hearing yesterday with Susan Menares. | ||
| She's the fired head of the CDC, and she testified about Secretary Kennedy's demands that she pre-approve vaccine recommendations for the public. | ||
| Do you, first, I mean, do you believe that, that that is actually what happened? | ||
| What was your reaction to that? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I believe her. | |
| She's completely credible. | ||
| And ironically, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, when he appointed her, stated that she was imminently qualified, one of the best people in the country, to hold this position. | ||
| And then when he decided unilaterally that he was going to change the protocol and ignore the science in terms of vaccine efficacy, all of a sudden she was no longer acceptable. | ||
| We don't want people that are making decisions on the efficacy of vaccines for our children, for ourselves, and to protect us against smallpox, polio, COVID, based upon political decisions or a political agenda. | ||
| That's just wrong. | ||
| And it goes to the heart of the credibility of the Center for Disease Control, the CDC, that has had respect throughout the world. | ||
| And I am very dismayed and frustrated, I think, as many of my colleagues are, to see the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary Kennedy, go as a lone cowboy promoting his own political agendas that are well known. | ||
| He's an anti-vaxxer. | ||
| He always has been. | ||
| All right. | ||
| That is Democratic Representative from California, Jim Costa. | ||
| He sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Agriculture Committee. | ||
| Thanks so much for joining us today, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Good to be with you. | ||
| And we go right back to Open Forum to hear from you. | ||
| Here's Charles in Charlotte, North Carolina. | ||
| Republican, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Morning, Mamie. | |
| I've seen, you know, I've been following the political theme for most of my life. | ||
| I worked on Capitol Hill for a short time early in my career. | ||
| And there's a dark, twisted, and evil strain going through politics today that I've never seen. | ||
| And that is when you have a cold-blooded, premeditated assassination of a guy who is an unabashedly Christian guy, has a Christian message and a political message, and you have people on the internet celebrating the fact that he got shot down in front of 3,000 people. | ||
| I feel that that's an evil screen. | ||
| That's a brand new thing. | ||
| I mean, you can say Trump, they tried to assassinate him twice, they killed the United Healthcare guy in cold blood going to a conference. | ||
| You see that as well. | ||
| But the Hill newspaper, and I think you can agree the Hill newspaper is fairly unbiased, had a poll the other day. | ||
| I'd like you to put the article from September 15th up on the screen that says liberals are much more likely to say that violence is justified. | ||
| I'm going to give you a very short summary and get off. | ||
| It said a September 11th snap poll asked respondents about whether it's acceptable for a person to be happy about the death of a public figure that they oppose. | ||
| Liberals were, again, much more likely to say it's usually or always acceptable to be happy about a public figure's death, with 16% holding that position, including 24% or a quarter of the very liberal respondents and 10% who said they identify as liberal but not very liberal. | ||
| Only 4% of conservatives and 7% of moderates held this view. | ||
| I would call on every Democratic legislator on Capitol Hill to quit justifying the killing of Charlie Kirk, stand up, and bring down the temperature. | ||
| This is unhealthy, it's evil, it's twisted, and it's dark. | ||
| All right, Charles, and that is up. | ||
| We'll put that right on our screen. | ||
| That's the headline there that you were talking about. | ||
| It says, liberals more likely to say political violence sometimes justified according to a poll. | ||
| I will try to get that article and take a look at the actual poll results for you. | ||
| But first, take a look at former President Barack Obama. | ||
| He was in Pennsylvania at an event and he did address this political violence. | ||
| The central premise of our Democratic system is that we have to be able to disagree and have sometimes really contentious debates without resort to violence. | ||
| And when it happens to some, buddy, even if you think they're quote unquote on the other side of the argument, that's a threat to all of us. | ||
| And we have to be clear and forthright in condemning. | ||
| Now, that doesn't mean that we can't have a debate about the ideas that people who were victims of political violence were promoting. | ||
| And so I've noticed that there's been some confusion, I think, around this lately. | ||
| And frankly, coming from the White House and some of the other positions of authority that suggest even before we had determined who the perpetrator of this evil act was, that somehow we're going to identify an enemy. | ||
| We're going to suggest that somehow That enemy was at fault, and we are then going to use that as a rationale for trying to silence discussion around who we are as a country and what direction we should go. | ||
| And that's a mistake as well. | ||
| Former President Barack Obama at an event yesterday, and a little bit more information for you on that. | ||
| The Hill article says this. | ||
| Americans largely agree political violence is never justified, but a new poll shows liberals are more likely than conservatives to say violence can be warranted in order to achieve political goals. | ||
| It says in a YouGov survey conducted in the immediate aftermath of the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Cook, 72% of Americans said violence is never justified, while 11% said it can sometimes be justified. | ||
| And 12% said they're not sure. | ||
| 6% preferred not to say. | ||
| We will also look at the YouGov. | ||
| So this is, if you go to today.ugov.com, you'll be able to find this, and you'll be able to see the breakdown of the numbers. | ||
| Here is Democrats, Independents, Republicans on the question, how big of a problem do you think political violence is in the U.S. today? | ||
| It says Republicans are at 67% saying it's a very big problem, Democrats at 58% saying it's a very big problem, and Independents at 54%. | ||
| You can go through that and see a little bit more of those numbers. | ||
| Here's David in Independence, Louisiana, Independent Line. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, Ms. Gurgis. | |
| You know, I almost forgot why I called, but the guy in Texas, the teacher, who took such offense to the Ten Commandments, and it made me start thinking, you know, why let them believe in that? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Like the next call said, we have high hopes, man. | |
| We have flying saucers that it'd be better for them to search and find that little flying saucer guy than to have the word of God in their brain. | ||
| But look, one time, we have a hayfield right here. | ||
| And one time at night, a little green spaceship landed, and out walked a little green man. | ||
| He had a little green book under his arm. | ||
| It was a little green Bible. | ||
| And he wanted to know if we believed in Jesus. | ||
| I said, well, yeah, what's the problem? | ||
| He said, what color is your Jesus? | ||
| I said, kind of on the brown side, we knew what color his was, right? | ||
| Okay. | ||
| God bless all you. | ||
| Lewis in Highland Park, Illinois, Democrat. | ||
| Good morning, Lewis. | ||
| You're on the air. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you very much. | |
| I'm very concerned about our country as far as science. | ||
| Science has kept us healthy for a long time. | ||
| Right now, we have an anti-science bias, not only in the Department of Health Human Services, but also from the president. | ||
| We need vaccines. | ||
| I watched C-SPAN yesterday and those scientists being interviewed in Washington, D.C. | ||
| And I am terrified that we could get another pandemic or another epidemic and not be prepared. | ||
| And this is the unbelievable thing that's happening. | ||
| Imagine getting into an elevator with people who have not been vaccinated and the flu is going around or measles is going around or we have another COVID outbreak. | ||
| We have to believe in science and we leave science at the top. | ||
| That's what I want to say today. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| All right. | ||
| And Lewis, we will have a former CDC director on the program later today to talk about that specifically and a focus on vaccines. | ||
| There was a Senate hearing yesterday with the fired head of the CDC, Susan Menares, and this is an exchange that she got into with Senator Rand Paul over COVID and childhood immunizations. | ||
| Take a look. | ||
| So you resisted firing people who have this idea that the COVID vaccine should be at six months. | ||
| That's what this is about. | ||
| You didn't resist firing the beautiful, the perfect, beautiful scientists that are career people and unobjective and unbiased. | ||
| You wouldn't fire the people who are saying that we have to vaccinate our kids at six months of age. | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's who you refused to fire. | |
| So that assertion is not commensurate with the experience that I had with the individuals who are identified to be fired. | ||
| Did any of the people you refused to fire, did any of the people you answer the question, did any of the people you refused to fire believe that we should change the vaccine schedule and no longer force six-month-old kids to take it? | ||
| Every one of them was adamant we should keep it at six months. | ||
| Everybody's alarmed we're going to change the childhood routine. | ||
| Well, we should. | ||
| There is no medical reason. | ||
| What is the medical reason to give a hepatitis B vaccine to a newborn whose mom has no hepatitis? | ||
| So none of the discussion points that you just brought up were ever that's changing the childhood schedule. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The change of your answer regular order, regular order. | |
| You have your time. | ||
| Bernie, I got mine. | ||
| Look, this is the debate over changing the childhood schedule. | ||
| The hepatitis B vaccine on the schedule is given to newborns. | ||
| What is the medical scientific reason and proof for giving a newborn a hepatitis B vaccine if the mom is hep B negative? | ||
| I want to go back to the assertion associated. | ||
| What is the medical reason for giving a hepatitis B vaccine to a newborn? | ||
| See, everybody's like blithely going along, we can't change the childhood. | ||
| You're somehow terrible if you want to change the childhood. | ||
| We should be discussing what is the childhood vaccine schedule, and you should be, the burden should be on you. | ||
| You want to make all the kids take this? | ||
| The burden is upon you and the people you wouldn't fire to prove to us that we need to give our six-month-old a COVID vaccine and that we need to give our one-day old a hepatitis B vaccine. | ||
| That's what the debate ought to be about, not whether all vaccines are good or whether we live in Alice in the Wonderland. | ||
| I actually agree with you. | ||
| And I was open to the science. | ||
| I just would not pre-commit to approving all the ACIP recommendations without the science. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Untrue. | |
| And that full hearing is on our website. | ||
| By the way, as you know, President Trump is in the UK right now. | ||
| And what's going on as we speak is a business meeting, and we'll take a look at that. | ||
| In the United States, American companies like Microsoft, Citigroup, Boeing, Amazon, and Blackstone do the same here. | ||
| Together, we support over 2.5 million jobs across both economies. | ||
| So this relationship is embodied in each and every one of you here today. | ||
| We have, if you like, the great and the good of British and American business sitting with us. | ||
| Leading lights in tech like Jensen, Ruth, Demis, and Satya. | ||
| Finance, Jane, Larry, and Steve. | ||
| And of course, in pharma, in defense, energy, and manufacturing. | ||
| It is really great to see you all, to see you all again, I should say, because of course we were together yesterday and we know each other very, very well, which is exactly as it should be. | ||
| And just look at what we're achieving today together. | ||
| The deals and investment that you're announcing today break all records. | ||
| What a day. | ||
| £250 billion flowing both ways across the Atlantic. | ||
| It is the biggest investment package of its kind in British history by a country mile. | ||
| So thank you so much for your contribution on your part in that as the embodiment of that special relationship. | ||
| And let me spell out what that means. | ||
| It means life-changing investments across the United Kingdom. | ||
| It's expected to create 15,000 jobs in Belfast, in Birmingham, Hartlepool, the Humber, and well beyond. | ||
| It means thousands of working people will feel and will be better off. | ||
| And it shows the potency of this partnership. | ||
| U.S. capital and entrepreneurial spirit combined with British ideas and ingenuity. | ||
| The UK is one of the world's largest economies. | ||
| Maybe not quite on the scale of the United States, I concede, but my word, we punch above our weight. | ||
| And we lead the world in expertise on quantum, on AI, life sciences, financial services, and more. | ||
| We have the only trillion-dollar tech sector in the West outside of the US. | ||
| Again, I caveat. | ||
| We have the best investment, the best universities, the most Nobel Prizes, and we have Demis here outside the US. | ||
| That's what we bring to the table. | ||
| And we are proud of that. | ||
| That's the UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer at a business meeting with President Trump and other business leaders. | ||
| You can continue to watch that if you're interested over on C-SPAN 2. | ||
| We have live coverage of that. | ||
| But we're an open forum here. | ||
| And we'll go back to the calls to Randy in Kentucky, Republican. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I didn't appreciate having to go through all those interviews and things and all those shows that you did. | ||
| It's been on hold for like 25 minutes. | ||
| But the lady from that chart in about the 501c3 churches and government owns all churches and all Christians from freedom of speech. | ||
| They tell you what you can say and can't say inside and outside of church. | ||
| There's about 30 different things that goes on like she was exactly right. | ||
| People don't realize there's no separation of church and state. | ||
| The state owns all churches. | ||
| You cannot be a church unless the state says you can be. | ||
| And that fellow from Texas, I do not want that fella at all to force him through government and through the tax code and through communism to pay for my religion. | ||
| I am a Christian. | ||
| I totally believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior. | ||
| Just like Charlie Kirk was a disciple of Christ. | ||
| I feel like I want to be a disciple of Christ. | ||
| Everybody's a preacher. | ||
| So please, that fellow that doesn't want those Ten Commandments in there, just don't let him pay for my religion. | ||
| Let's all pay for our own stuff, our own things. | ||
| Those Ten Commandments are not a bad thing at all. | ||
| And if he feels different from that, then let him cover them up. | ||
| Know, but they're good for society, that's for sure. | ||
| So, Randy, Randy, sorry, I just wanted to go back to what you said in the beginning. | ||
| What did you mean about there is no separation of church and state and that the government has to approve all, you can't be a church unless the government approves it. | ||
| Are you talking about tax-exempt status so that donations to that church would be claimed as tax-exempt? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Exactly. | |
| And look it up. | ||
| I mean, they tell you, in order to get that tax-exempt status, there's about 30 things you've got to do in order to continue with that. | ||
| But they're not enforcing it real big right now at this time in history. | ||
| But they tell you, look it up. | ||
| I mean, they tell you what you can and can't say inside. | ||
| You can't talk about political and social issues. | ||
| Just say two of the things. | ||
| God is political. | ||
| God is social. | ||
| Everybody's a preacher. | ||
| You preach the word of God to have a good, godly nation, the way the founders said. | ||
| As long as we can hold it, a godly nation can hold it. | ||
| This tax code is just total communism and people don't realize it. | ||
| But I'm forcing you, Mimi, to pay for other people, which I'm not in these churches that are institutional churches that have, just like your program. | ||
| And I'm sorry, I called it about this many times. | ||
| You guys are tax exempt. | ||
| Somebody else is paying for my religion because the government, well, they don't pay for mine, but there's other institutional church religions because they force to write, they can write these tax breaks off to tithes and offerings and things like that, their property taxes, everything that goes along with having a church, a government church. | ||
| You can write all that off. | ||
| And that fellow from Texas is paying for all that in certain percentages, just like the whole America does. | ||
| All right, Randy. | ||
| Got it. | ||
| Gordon, Lesbian, Maryland, Independent Line. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello, Gordon. | |
| Hi, Mimi. | ||
| How are you doing? | ||
| Good. | ||
| Great. | ||
| Mimi, my concern is, you know, that the country definitely needs to come together. | ||
| I mean, there are so many people say they're Christian. | ||
| You know, I see it in Congress and everything, but it's something that you have to do. | ||
| You can't just talk about it. | ||
| You know, I know according to the scripture, it said that we should follow peace with all men. | ||
| Then there's another scripture that says that we should follow half of those things which make for peace. | ||
| So just because I'd say I'm a Christian or a saint, it's what you do determine who you are. | ||
| And there's another scripture that says love work is no ill to his neighbor. | ||
| So if you're a Christian, if you're working ill, or if you're not following after peace with all men, then you're not following Christ. | ||
| Because that's what Christ said. | ||
| Even Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. | ||
| So we have to do these things. | ||
| We can't just talk about them. | ||
| We have to do them. | ||
| And, you know, I feel that if every Christian or saint would be doing what they know they're supposed to be doing, this world would be a better place. | ||
| It would be all this division. | ||
| And, you know, we would love one another like the Bible said. | ||
| You know, so it's something that we have to do. | ||
| And it starts with the leader. | ||
| Because there's another scripture that says the leader of the people caused them to err. | ||
| And those that are led of them are destroyed. | ||
| So it starts with the leader. | ||
| I know you can put the Ten Commandments in the school, which is God's force as believers. | ||
| We can't force any religion on anyone. | ||
| It's a choice. | ||
| Even God gave us a choice. | ||
| All right, Gordon. | ||
| And this is in Vesalia, California, line for Republicans. | ||
| John, you're on the air. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I didn't mind being on hold, by the way, Mimi. | ||
| I listened to all this and I hear the theme daily from C-SPAN and a lot of other places: we've got to come together, we've got to come together. | ||
| And I agree with that. | ||
| We certainly have to try to do away with the violence for a person's political beliefs. | ||
| I heard a day after Charlie Hurt was assassinated, Carler said, well, he was a racist. | ||
| Well, there's no evidence of that at all. | ||
| He wasn't a racist. | ||
| What they construe as being racist is he said that, what, 60, 60 or 70% of black children in this country grow up with no father in the home. | ||
| That's 100% true. | ||
| It's one of the reasons that the crimes in places like Chicago and New York City and like that are so high, why these young people are killing each other. | ||
| There is no male influence in 60% of black children's homes in this country. | ||
| So I take your point, John, but I just wanted to bring up what the caller had brought up, the example that she had brought up, which was that, you know, he had said that when he gets on an airplane and he sees a black pilot, he wonders if that pilot is actually qualified. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And that's because of DEI. | |
| Exactly. | ||
| And that was discrimination that was outlawed by the 64 civil rights movement. | ||
| That to pick someone because they're black over anyone else or any other color. | ||
| I don't mean to just single out black. | ||
| To pick someone because of the color of their skin is inherently racist. | ||
| And it is. | ||
| Got your point? | ||
| And later in the program, we will talk to former CDC head Dr. Tom Friedan to discuss the Trump administration's approach to health and vaccine policies. | ||
| But first, we have Nebraska Republican Don Bacon on efforts to keep the government funded and other news. | ||
| We'll be right back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Book TV, every Sunday on C-SPAN 2, features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. | |
| Here's a look at what's coming up this weekend. | ||
| At 3:45 p.m. Eastern, investigative reporter Shoshana Walter examines the for-profit drug rehabilitation treatment industry and argues that it fails to help people suffering from opioid addiction. | ||
| Then at 9 p.m. Eastern, author Misty Haginess talks about her concept of Swiftenomics, a case study of famous women, including Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Madonna, who she claims have managed to thrive in a society largely built for men. | ||
| And at 10:15 p.m. Eastern, Washington Times legal affairs reporter Alex Sawyer argues the justice system has been politicized and the criminal trials Donald Trump faced during the 2024 presidential campaign were biased. | ||
| Watch Book TV every Sunday on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule in your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv.org. | ||
| American History TV, Saturdays on C-SPAN 2, exploring the people and events that tell the American story. | ||
| This weekend, as America celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2026, join American History TV for its new series, America 250, and discover the ideas and defining moments of our founding. | ||
| This week at 8 a.m. Eastern on Lectures and History, William and Mary Bray School Lab Director Maureen Elgersman Lee discusses the history of the 18th century Williamsburg Bray School for Black Children and the legacies of the 300 to 400 scholars it enrolled. | ||
| Then at 11 p.m. Eastern, hear how archaeologists in western Pennsylvania uncovered artifacts at the site of a 1758 friendly fire mishap where a Virginia regiment led by Colonel George Washington mistakenly clashed with fellow British troops during the French and Indian War. | ||
| Also at 2.45 p.m. Eastern, watch the Harlem Hellfighters Gold Medal Ceremony honoring a majority African-American infantry regiment known for their service in World War I. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries were among the attendees. | ||
| And at 5.30 p.m. Eastern, this year marks the 80th anniversary of the United Nations. | ||
| American History TV features speeches by presidents, world leaders, and activists from the United Nations, beginning with President Dwight Eisenhower's 1953 speech on the dangers of atomic weapons through Volodymyr Zelensky's address in 2023 asking for aid in their fight with Russia. | ||
| Exploring the American story, watch American History TV Saturdays on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org slash history. | ||
| I was initially very skeptical about embarking on a full-life biography of anyone, let alone a figure as big as Zbig. | ||
| Edward Luce is talking about President Carter's former National Security Advisor, Zbignud Brzezinski. | ||
| Mr. Luce is the Financial Times chief commentator and columnist. | ||
| Luce is a native of Sussex, England, and has spent close to 20 years in the United States since the mid-90s. | ||
| He is an Oxford grad. | ||
| Zbignud Brzezinski was born in Warsaw, Poland, got his PhD at Harvard, spent time in Canada during the time his father was posted as Polish Council General in Montreal. | ||
| Brzezinski was National Security Advisor from 1977 to 1981. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Author Edward Luce with his book, Zabig, The Life of Zbignud Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet, on this episode of Book Notes Plus with our host Brian Lamb. | |
| BookNotes Plus is available wherever you get your podcasts and on the C-SPAN Now app. | ||
| Washington Journal continues. | ||
| Welcome back to Washington Journal. | ||
| We're joined now by Representative Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska, and he sits on the Armed Services Committee. | ||
| Congressman, welcome to the program. | ||
| It's great to be back on. | ||
| How will you vote on that seven-week CR that the Republicans are proposing? | ||
| And it looks like there is a vote tomorrow. | ||
| That's what it's scheduled for. | ||
| That's the schedule. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| How are you going to vote? | ||
| I'll vote yes. | ||
| I don't want a government shutdown. | ||
| I don't like continuing spending. | ||
| We're still working really off of Biden's budget from last year with these CRs, but it's better than a shutdown. | ||
| And I think it gives us time through November to work on an actual budget. | ||
| And we should modify the current spending with current priorities that we have. | ||
| But in the meantime, we need a little more time to do that. | ||
| And we've passed a lot of appropriations bills at the House and the Senate. | ||
| We've got to put them together and reconcile them. | ||
| So that's the next task. | ||
| But I don't want a government shutdown. | ||
| And I think a clean CR that puts a little more money into security is a good bill to vote for. | ||
| What happens if there is a government shutdown? | ||
| Why do you think it's not a good idea? | ||
| Well, government shutdowns are, I just think it's poor governance. | ||
| Andy's sending all these people home. | ||
| Some people aren't getting paid, right? | ||
| And for example, the military, unless we do a fix to it, they won't get paid. | ||
| So it's just not smart. | ||
| I don't think continuing resolutions are smart either. | ||
| But if you look at the lesser of the two evils, I'd rather do a CR through November than have a shutdown. | ||
| And by the way, I've been a part of the party that has done shutdowns in the past, like in 2020. | ||
| whatever party shuts down government loses on this. | ||
| And so I think our Democrat colleagues should say that they will be blamed for a shutdown if 99% of the Republicans vote yes and 100% of them vote no. | ||
| You do think that the Democrats would be blamed for this? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| If they overwhelmingly vote to not fund the government, yes. | ||
| I don't know if we'll get 100% of Republicans, but we'll see. | ||
| Now, Democrats are asking for an extension to the ACA enhanced premium tax credits. | ||
| They are saying that people will, if we lose that, which expires at the end of the year, then health care will become too expensive and people will lose their health care. | ||
| I think there's a compromise position in here on this. | ||
| So let's go backwards. | ||
| These tax credits weren't there when Obamacare was first passed. | ||
| These tax credits were added during COVID and they cost a lot of money. | ||
| But just to take them out, just pull the plug on them, folks will see their premiums go up. | ||
| So I suggest that maybe stir-step them down. | ||
| If you earn over $150,000, the credits go down at $300,000 or $200,000. | ||
| They go down further and stagger them down. | ||
| But I don't think you can just pull the plug either. | ||
| And so I think there's grounds for us to compromise with the Democrats on this and find a middle ground. | ||
| We could do this for the November bill, though, by the way. | ||
| It doesn't have to be done right now. | ||
| President Trump has said that he will investigate and he's promising retribution to critics of Charlie Kirk and left-wing groups. | ||
| And Attorney General Pam Bondi has said, had made remarks about hate speech being prosecuted. | ||
| She has since walked that back. | ||
| What are your thoughts on retribution investigations of groups that have speech that, and I understand crossing the line into inciting violence and calling for violence is something different. | ||
| But what are your thoughts on all this? | ||
| Well, some of the speech has been shameful. | ||
| I don't think government should be in the business of retribution on hate speech or shameful speech. | ||
| I do think you and I, though, have the right to say shame on you. | ||
| I'm not going to listen to you anymore. | ||
| We can call them out. | ||
| But it's different, though, when government's promising retribution on free speech. | ||
| I don't think it's right. | ||
| We have a First Amendment, and I think Pam Bondi did walk back her comments. | ||
| Her comments were wrong. | ||
| Hate speech is not a crime. | ||
| It should be shameful. | ||
| And we should say, hey, it's not, we don't accept it. | ||
| We reject it as a society. | ||
| But we don't have laws that go against that. | ||
| We don't fine people. | ||
| We don't prosecute based on that. | ||
| And I think the president should know, too, that he should be higher than that and better and bigger. | ||
| I wish he spoke to our better angels in these situations. | ||
| As I mentioned, he's a populist, so he generates anger, motivates him, and what he talks about. | ||
| But I wish we had a more unifying message here. | ||
| What do you think the message should have been? | ||
| What would you have wanted to hear President Trump say right after that assassination? | ||
| Well, we should realize there have been Democrats murdered in Minneapolis. | ||
| We had the governor from Pennsylvania, a Democrat was a victim of arson from an anti-Semitic person. | ||
| And then we've had Republicans murdered. | ||
| This is a problem that affects all of us. | ||
| And it's an evil in our society right now. | ||
| And instead of pointing the finger at different political spectrums, I think we'd be better saying, hey, this is all wrong. | ||
| And we're all victims of this. | ||
| I have a restraining order on someone back home. | ||
| Most everybody I know in Congress has had threats where they've had to have police protection. | ||
| Including yourself. | ||
| Including myself. | ||
| And so this is not a Republican or Democrat issue. | ||
| This is an American issue that we should be unified on. | ||
| And well, it's real easy to try to point fingers and say, okay, this is all the Democrats' fault or this is all the Republicans' fault. | ||
| And you see it. | ||
| And I think some of the speech is over the top. | ||
| When the Democrats are calling us Nazis and fascists, I think most people see through that and say, okay, that's just political talk. | ||
| But there's like that one fraction of our society that incites them to and gets them radicalized. | ||
| Now, ultimately, I blame the person who does the murders. | ||
| I don't want to blame, you know, the, I don't blame Nancy Pelosi for, you know, for what this guy did to Charlie Kirk. | ||
| I mean, in the end, it was the murderer's fault. | ||
| We should blame, ultimately, hold that person accountable. | ||
| He will be held accountable. | ||
| He'll be open to the death penalty potentially here. | ||
| But I think we could be more unifying and quit blaming each other. | ||
| And then you heard what happened with Kimmel. | ||
| I think it would have been better just to shame him because he was trying to say he was a MAGA guy this color. | ||
| Well, you know, he had Republican parents, but he was actually radicalized on the left. | ||
| So what he said was not true. | ||
| But just to cancel a whole show over that, I don't know. | ||
| People have a right to listen to what they want. | ||
| If they don't like it, don't listen to them, right? | ||
| But I get a little worried about the cancel culture that we have. | ||
| It used to be on the right, now we're seeing it, the right doing to the left. | ||
| We've been on the receiving end of this a lot in the past. | ||
| So what do you think about social media companies? | ||
| And is there something that can be done without infringing on free speech? | ||
| Well, I think these algorithms that push certain things in your screen, I get a lot of stuff from people that I don't even want to read, right? | ||
| I mean, I have follow 500 people on Twitter roughly. | ||
| I get thousands of other stuff that I don't want, don't ask for. | ||
| And I wish I would just get the 500 that, or whatever they post, right? | ||
| And see, these algorithms are intended to push the discussion to more clicks. | ||
| And they don't store what I like, so you see more things that I like, but it also pushes people farther in their corner. | ||
| So I don't, why can't we just have social media? | ||
| I just want to read what the people that I'm friends with. | ||
| I don't want to read. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Is there a role for a conference in trying to get that? | |
| There could be, but I would rather push the social media companies just to modify their behavior more than just legislate it. | ||
| So we could maybe get them at the table. | ||
| You can make more money if you push people to the edges. | ||
| Yeah, and that's right. | ||
| They're driving up, they're trying to drive up advertising and things like that. | ||
| But it's actually very toxic. | ||
| I mean, I find myself last night when I got back from a dinner I was at, an interview I did. | ||
| I'm reading on there, and it's just ugly stuff that's on there. | ||
| And it's people pointing their fingers at, okay, all the Democrats are bad, and all the Republicans are bad. | ||
| And, you know, it's said, and people are. | ||
| It's not just bad. | ||
| We're hearing the word evil a lot on this. | ||
| Like on our side, it's, you know, we're being called Nazis, fascists, and it's, and that's over-the-top talk too. | ||
| But I'm not one to say it's just them doing it. | ||
| I see both sides pandering to the most angry people in our parties. | ||
| And a lot of cable TV is based on this, too. | ||
| Just having that segment over here, angry as all. | ||
| And that's who's tuned in, and they're just throwing gas on the fire. | ||
| And I choose not to watch that stuff. | ||
| Just stick with C-SPAN. | ||
| You're very good. | ||
| We will take your calls for Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska. | ||
| He's a Republican. | ||
| You can give us a call on our lines by party. | ||
| So Democrats are on 202-748-8000. | ||
| Republicans 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| Switching topics, a politico headline, first House Republican signs on to effort to force Russia sanctions vote. | ||
| That's you. | ||
| Tell us about that. | ||
| I think independent, free Ukraine is our national security interest. | ||
| It's very clear that Russia is the invader. | ||
| They're trying to make Ukraine a vassal state or a slave state, and the Ukrainian people don't want it. | ||
| They've lived for centuries under Russian dominance, and millions were murdered by the Russians. | ||
| And so they want their independence. | ||
| And it's clear to me that if Ukraine falls, Moldova will be next, probably Georgia. | ||
| Trump Petraeus recently said that Putin will invade the Baltics, even though they're NATO countries, and he's going to test our resolve. | ||
| This is what we're looking at. | ||
| And it's very important that we stand by Ukraine with the weapons they need and sanctions against Russia to maintain their independence. | ||
| And we've got to remember, they're a democracy. | ||
| They want free markets. | ||
| They want rule of law. | ||
| They want to be part of the EU. | ||
| They would love to be part of NATO. | ||
| And so I find the president's antics on this wrong. | ||
| He has failed in this area. | ||
| I support him on Iran. | ||
| There's all the things I think he's done well. | ||
| When it comes to Ukraine, he's been a failure thus far. | ||
| And my job is to push him to do the right thing. | ||
| And so I want him to do sanctions on secondary sanctions on Russia. | ||
| And we should be sending high-end weapons to Ukraine. | ||
| And right now we're putting rules of engagement on them, just like Joe Biden did, making it very hard for them to use our weapons to target Russian military targets in Russia that are being used to attack Ukraine. | ||
| We criticize Biden for doing it. | ||
| And actually, President Trump criticized Biden for doing this. | ||
| Now his own administration is doing it. | ||
| And so I'm pushing him to do the right thing. | ||
| Now, Russia has been under sanctions since 2022 when they invaded. | ||
| Three-week sanctions, I would say. | ||
| But go ahead. | ||
| I was just going to say, Putin's actions have not changed. | ||
| His behavior has not changed. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's not. | |
| But what's not being sanctioned is China and India that's propping up their economy. | ||
| So I just had a briefing yesterday. | ||
| China economically is propping up Putin in a significant way and also giving him a lot of the military technology that he's using to bomb Ukraine with. | ||
| And so China should pay for that. | ||
| And also, India is a huge middleman in their oil and gas industry, sending Russian gas and hoping further prop up the Russia's war economy. | ||
| So what we're looking at here is secondary sanctions on people who are doing business with Russia. | ||
| You said that you believe that President Trump has failed in his failing. | ||
| He's failing it. | ||
| Sorry, failing. | ||
| That is a distinction. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| In dealing with Russia. | ||
| How would you rate his defense team, the people around the president? | ||
| Not good. | ||
| He has an Undersecretary for Policy that has a 1930s worldview. | ||
| And it failed us then. | ||
| It will fail us now. | ||
| Steve Elbridge Colby. | ||
| Okay, since you mentioned his name, yes. | ||
| But no, he has a view that we should withdraw out of NATO or at least really minimize our involvement in NATO. | ||
| So pulling out of Europe. | ||
| He's communicated to the Baltics that he would like to pull our financial support, our training, our presence in the Baltics, which is a no-go in Congress. | ||
| We just voted on it, was 100% support of the Baltics. | ||
| So he is way out of step with Congress on this. | ||
| He's also talking about minimizing our involvement in Asia with China and Taiwan. | ||
| And so he's talking about his whole goal is homeland security, defending the homeland. | ||
| It's a 1930s foreign policy. | ||
| It failed us in 1938, 39, and 40, and will fail us now. | ||
| And so I am not a fan of the Undersecretary of Policy. | ||
| It should be out. | ||
| Let's talk to callers. | ||
| We'll start with Gina in Decatur, Alabama, Republican. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello, Gina. | |
| Hi, Congressman Bacon. | ||
| I'd like to thank you from the 5th District of Alabama on behalf of Dale Strong, I guess, for giving us Space Command. | ||
| But I have two questions for you. | ||
| Number one, the NDAA is being held up and going to conference or something. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The Senate hasn't voted on it yet, nor the Veterans Affairs bills. | |
| And I'm just wondering if y'all are going to get on it to make sure that the soldiers get paid and that VA doesn't get behind on claims. | ||
| And thank you and have a blessed day. | ||
| So by the way, Dale Strong's a great representative for you. | ||
| He's a great gentleman. | ||
| So I love serving with him. | ||
| We've passed the NDA out of the House and the appropriations bill. | ||
| So on the House side, we've moved along real well. | ||
| It appears to me the Senate will not pass their NDAA. | ||
| They're going to take our bill and maybe modify it. | ||
| But I believe that the Senate and the House are very serious about getting a final bill out of Congress to the President for our defense and our veterans. | ||
| And I don't mind if the Senate wants to take our bill and modify it. | ||
| That's maybe better than them doing their own bill and be way apart. | ||
| So if we're working from our bill and they're tweaking it, they'll have to vote on it again with the changes. | ||
| That's all right. | ||
| But I believe we'll get this defense bill done. | ||
| We've done it. | ||
| We've never missed a year. | ||
| It is the most bipartisan thing we do in Congress. | ||
| When it passed out of committee, we only had two Democrats vote against it. | ||
| The other, roughly 25 or so, voted for it. | ||
| And so it's a very bipartisan process. | ||
| I believe the Senate will get this done out of the Senate as well. | ||
| And the second most bipartisan thing is our veterans here. | ||
| So defensive veterans are what unifies Democrats, Republicans, and the Congress. | ||
| And I know that we'll have a good veterans bill as well. | ||
| Mike Boss is the chairman of the Veterans Committee. | ||
| He's outstanding on this. | ||
| He's a Marine veteran in his own right. | ||
| And he's a great leader. | ||
| We'll get this done. | ||
| She mentioned the moving of Space Command to Alabama from Colorado. | ||
| Were you in support of that move? | ||
| Well, I was opposed when President Biden moved it from Alabama to Colorado. | ||
| We had a process. | ||
| By the way, Omaha came in second in front of Colorado in the initial study of where to move Space Command. | ||
| And we worked hard in Omaha to bring that to our city. | ||
| And we would have loved to have had them. | ||
| But the outside group, you know, the people who studied it and they rank ordered all the, you know, the, you know, do you have the right hospitals? | ||
| Do you have the right people that could fill these jobs? | ||
| What's the schools like? | ||
| And they look at all these things. | ||
| Alabama came in first. | ||
| Omaha came in second. | ||
| Colorado came in third. | ||
| And so that was the plan was to put Alabama along. | ||
| Then President Biden, for political reasons, moved it to Colorado. | ||
| I don't think that was right. | ||
| And I hate that we're jerking our people back and forth. | ||
| I don't like moving from Colorado to Alabama, but frankly, Alabama won this competition, and it's the right thing. | ||
| Here's Ronald in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Democrat, good morning, Ronald. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| Mr. Bacon, I'm a Democrat long line. | ||
| And once again, I see that you're doing a good job of talking. | ||
| You know, both sides have evil is evil and, you know, whatever. | ||
| But I want to know how you vote with Mr. Trump. | ||
| You vote 100% on all his bills that he puts forward. | ||
| But then you say there's some things you don't like about it. | ||
| You shouldn't do this, shouldn't do that. | ||
| But you don't put no restrictions on him by voting no. | ||
| He should do the same thing you do with Russia. | ||
| Put sanctions on him if he's not meeting your needs. | ||
| The problem is he doesn't have the right facts. | ||
| I have not voted 100% with him. | ||
| So there's, in fact, because I have voted differently. | ||
| He tried to primarily in 2022, came out to Nebraska, campaigned against me. | ||
| And so what the caller said is just not the case. | ||
| Now I'm a Republican. | ||
| I'm a conservative. | ||
| I'm a Ronald Reagan conservative. | ||
| I'm not, I'm not a Democrat guy on most policies. | ||
| I believe in federalism. | ||
| I believe in the old Republican views of free trade, peace through strength, strong alliances. | ||
| I'm pro-life, pro-family, pro-faith. | ||
| So I'm a traditional Republican in that regard. | ||
| So the collars think I should be voting with the Democrats. | ||
| I'm just not there, but I'm not with President Trump on some of these things. | ||
| I think he's wrong on Ukraine. | ||
| And I think we're making some push now on tariffs to regain this authority back to the House. | ||
| So I've been pushing, you know, I'm working with our leadership. | ||
| They're trying to stop the Democrats from intervening on the tariffs. | ||
| And I say, okay, but what are you doing? | ||
| We have a subcommittee that's supposed to be in charge of trade. | ||
| We should be putting out policy on the House side. | ||
| So we're going to do that. | ||
| I think I pushed our guys to go the right way without being dictated on the Democrats side what we're doing. | ||
| I get it. | ||
| They don't want to have the Democrats tell them what to do. | ||
| But we should have a position. | ||
| And I'll give you one that's common sense. | ||
| Why are we doing tariffs on coffee? | ||
| We don't grow any coffee, but we've got like 20% tariffs, depending on the country, Brazil, even more. | ||
| We don't make any coffee, so coffee prices are up 21% right now in two months. | ||
| I think it's a dumb policy. | ||
| This is something that maybe we could fix right out of the House. | ||
| So I'm pushing our guys, let us do our thing on tariffs, what we think's right, and let's get in the mix. | ||
| Let's just not take the president's dictates on this. | ||
| On that subject, Martin from Louisville, Kentucky says, asked Don Bacon about the impact of tariffs on Nebraska farmers and ranchers. | ||
| Well, we've gone from being an export state for agriculture five years ago. | ||
| And right now we have a record deficit in agriculture when it comes to our imports versus exports. | ||
| And not all of this is on President Trump. | ||
| Some of this is also on President Biden, who had zero trade deals in his presidency, the only president since Jimmy Carter to have zero agreements on trade. | ||
| But tariffs hurt us. | ||
| You know, China just recently bought a lot of soybeans. | ||
| They didn't buy them from us. | ||
| They bought it from Brazil, right? | ||
| And so we're losing our export markets in agriculture. | ||
| Tariffs are part of it. | ||
| They're not helping. | ||
| Now, beyond that, I just heard yesterday that we have a combine manufacturer making combines. | ||
| And all the combines that we would sell to Canada, they're going to move that whole manufacturing line to Europe because of tariffs. | ||
| Because for us to sell combines to Canada right now, the tariffs make them non-competitive. | ||
| So they're going to move all this manufacturing to Europe to make combines to sell to Canada. | ||
| That's hundreds of jobs. | ||
| We heard yesterday, John Deere is laying off hundreds of people in Iowa. | ||
| So this, I'm a free market guy. | ||
| You want fair trade. | ||
| I get that. | ||
| But free trade is our ultimate goal. | ||
| And the president's been on record since the 1980s of supporting tariffs. | ||
| I think most Republicans know they don't work. | ||
| We learned in the 1930s when it made our depression worse by doing tariffs that, you know. | ||
| What about the use of tariffs as a negotiating tool and even as a foreign policy tool? | ||
| I think there's a place for that, but the Constitution gives that to Congress. | ||
| So how this should have worked is the president should come to us and say, hey, I want to do tariffs on China for these three reasons. | ||
| Draft a bill, then we debate it, and we pass it out of Congress. | ||
| That's how it's supposed to work. | ||
| It was never intended for the president just to do, okay, today we're doing tariffs on you. | ||
| We're putting tariffs on you, and the next, okay, we're going to lower yours down. | ||
| The founding fathers never intended the president to have this power. | ||
| But what we've also learned from economic sake, I'm a Milton Friedman fan, tariffs are not good on American consumers. | ||
| And as I mentioned, we're paying 21% more for coffee right now in two months. | ||
| And I don't think that's helpful. | ||
| I don't think that's what that's not a Republican conservative position. | ||
| I find it interesting. | ||
| This is more of a Democrat policy position in the 70s and 80s that the president is extolling. | ||
| It's a 1930s position of the Republicans. | ||
| But since World War II, we were a free trade party, and I haven't changed. | ||
| But I want us to work proactively in the House for our own trade policy. | ||
| And that's what I was debating with the leadership this week on the floor. | ||
| And I got a commitment. | ||
| We're going to generate policy out of our subcommittee. | ||
| Adrian Smith's the chairman. | ||
| I trust him. | ||
| He's a good, great friend. | ||
| I know he has a good heart on this. | ||
| Let's come up with smart policies out of the House on tariffs, pass them, and be our own force. | ||
| All right, in Arlington, Virginia, on the independent line, John, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Thank you, Representative. | ||
| In recent days, I've been happy to hear clear statements on CNN from political leaders against political violence. | ||
| I believe we all have the duty to discourage political violence, and our elected leaders are especially responsible for that. | ||
| And quite frankly, I believe it comes before their duty to make political points. | ||
| You know, that goes left, right, Republican, Democrat, House, Senate. | ||
| I'm upset to hear about proposals for additional congressional security using our tax money. | ||
| Really seems like it would just encourage more of the bad behavior that foments political violence. | ||
| So I'm curious what the representatives think. | ||
| I appreciate the money that's been provided already for our home security. | ||
| So I was able to, I still had to pay some out of my own pocket, don't get me wrong, but some of the help they gave me allowed me to have a pretty good security system for my home. | ||
| And I think a lot of us took advantage of that. | ||
| So there's some areas that make sense. | ||
| I think you can't, you wouldn't be able to spend enough to give us strong security. | ||
| I mean, it's just we're vulnerable, and we're going to remain vulnerable to a degree. | ||
| Now, most of the money that we're talking about spending on the CR is going to go to the judges. | ||
| Our judges are being threatened all the time right now. | ||
| So we're trying to improve a little more emphasis on supporting our judiciary branch with some of the same security that we have for our homes and things like that. | ||
| So that's the $30 million that we're suggesting, that's not a whole lot, by the way, in the big scheme of things, but that money is going to be, a lot of it's going to be directed towards judges and the judiciary. | ||
| Do you think that political climate and that fear that lawmakers are feeling could have a chilling effect on who's willing to run for office, who's willing to, once they're in office, what they're willing to say in public, or how they're willing to vote even? | ||
| Yeah, I've talked to some members and like their spouses are done. | ||
| They don't want to have a part of this because they don't want to live in fear. | ||
| They don't want their kids being threatened. | ||
| They're worried about their kids walking to school and potentially being targeted. | ||
| So there is a bad effect on this. | ||
| Now, I'm a Christian. | ||
| I'm a man of faith. | ||
| I just know I'm in God's hands. | ||
| And there's a great verse in the Bible that I have a friend. | ||
| I remember in Iraq every day when I served in the Air Force with General Petraeus: don't fear a man who can take your life, not your soul. | ||
| So I sort of cover myself with faith in this, but we've done some appropriate security things too. | ||
| And I appreciate some of the tools the House has given all the members for their home security and some cybersecurity that they've also done. | ||
| They were also, but I don't think there's enough money to give us security guards or security people. | ||
| We do with the top five members of the House, but we can't do that for 435 people. | ||
| And then you got to do shifts. | ||
| It would be on the Republican line in Vail, Arizona. | ||
| RJ, you're on the air. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Good morning, C-SPAN. | ||
| Thank you for taking my call. | ||
| Hello, Congressman. | ||
| I just want to give you kudos for being a staunch supporter of the Leosa reform bill. | ||
| And I know you've pushed it and had it passed in the Congress, I think, in the last four sessions or three sessions. | ||
| But I understand it's passed again in May, H.R. 2243. | ||
| And now it's languishing in the Senate with Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think it's Senate Bill 679. | |
| Any inside track on what's going on over there with the Senate and getting that Leosa reform passed? | ||
| Well, thank you very much for bringing this up. | ||
| So when I went to my county sheriffs and our local police go, what is your top priority? | ||
| How can I help you? | ||
| They all said Leosa, which is the Law Enforcement Safety Officers Act or something like that. | ||
| But what it does, it says if you're an off-duty policeman, that you can continue carrying your gun. | ||
| If you're a retired policeman and you maintain your gun qualifications that are the qualifications required by wherever you came out of, and you maintain those qualifications, that you can carry your gun as a retiree. | ||
| And why is this important? | ||
| Well, if you're at a theater, just hypothetically, and somebody, a shooter starts making himself known, who do you want near you? | ||
| I would like to have a retired cop or an off-duty cop that knows how to take action and knows how to respond. | ||
| And so I think it's a safety tool that we could have. | ||
| And I don't have any problem with retired policemen or off-duty cops carrying a weapon in this environment that we're in. | ||
| Now, the problem is many of the Democrats don't want the off-duty cops to be able to carry. | ||
| And I think this is an area where I think they've gone too far on the gun debate, where like any gun rule, and I'm not saying all of them, but too many of them. | ||
| So I don't know that we have seven Democrats in the Senate right now to get us to 60 that will support off-duty cops carrying a weapon. | ||
| And that's what's grinding this to a halt in the Senate. | ||
| In Seattle, Washington, Trish, align for Democrats. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Hi, Mimi. | ||
| Don. | ||
| Hey, listen, three points here. | ||
| I'm only making a half a pot of coffee a day now that the coffee prices have gone up. | ||
| So thanks for that. | ||
| Not. | ||
| We got some free coffee here in C-SPAN. | ||
| Only for our guests. | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's not funny. | |
| So I'd like to ask you about on September 3rd, you released, you said you voted today to release the Epstein files. | ||
| Well, actually, sir, that is not an effective tool. | ||
| For just a little background, your tweet apparently referred to the House passage of H.R. Resolution 589, a simple resolution urging the DOJ to publicly release Epstein-related records. | ||
| Important context. | ||
| House resolutions do not create binding law. | ||
| They express the chamber's opinion and don't go to the president. | ||
| So HR 589 does not, in itself, enforce any disclosure. | ||
| If you really want to make a difference, why aren't you supporting the Macy Khanna discharge petition to bring up the Epstein Files Transparency Act? | ||
| The petition number nine seeks to pull H.R. 581 to the floor. | ||
| Its text would attach a substitute bill mandating release on a timetable with limited redactions. | ||
| A discharge petition. | ||
| Okay, Trish, I think we got your point on the Epstein files, your response. | ||
| I find it interesting. | ||
| A lot of the Democrats who are focused on this, I bet you not a single one ever asked Joe Biden to release all these records who had them beforehand. | ||
| So this has really become just a political theater for a lot of these folks. | ||
| What we did, we told our oversight committee and judiciary committee, use your subpoena power and get all the documents from not just the executive branch, where we can get them even in the judiciary and beyond. | ||
| And we're getting them already. | ||
| We're already getting, we found the birthday card. | ||
| This was not because of the discharge petition. | ||
| This is because our Republican-led committees are subpoenaing this material. | ||
| And the Wall Street Journal had already made that public. | ||
| But they didn't have the card. | ||
| We got the card. | ||
| And who published it? | ||
| It was members of Congress who put the actual card out. | ||
| We read the story about it. | ||
| You're right. | ||
| And so I think we're doing an effective, we're letting Jim Comer, Jamie Comer, excuse me, he's the chairman. | ||
| He is dedicated and getting all this material. | ||
| He's the chairman of it. | ||
| He has a subpoena power. | ||
| Let's do it. | ||
| Now, what the caller is recommending, she wants us to pass this discharge petition. | ||
| Okay, so now we pass it out of the House. | ||
| What's next? | ||
| Okay, you've got to get the Senate to also pass it, and the president's going to sign it. | ||
| This will take months, probably, for it to be done. | ||
| What we're doing is we're taking action now. | ||
| And I do find it ironic. | ||
| A lot of these folks who were calling our office said, hey, can you show us where you asked Joe Biden to do this? | ||
| It's a political theater for a lot of these folks. | ||
| The victims deserve to have this done. | ||
| Chairman Comer is doing it. | ||
| I want to get one more call in. | ||
| I know you need to leave, but this is Ryan in Tavernier, Florida, Independent Line. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, good morning to you both. | |
| First of all, I'd just like to thank you, Representative Bacon. | ||
| I've appreciated your support for Ukraine, where a lot of the Republicans have seemed to falter on this. | ||
| So for background on my question, I grew up in a Republican household, and I currently identify as independent. | ||
| I feel like the Republican Party has sort of abandoned the values that I grew up with. | ||
| And you've been talking about this during this interview. | ||
| And I was just wondering, do you see the Republican Party going back to the party of Reagan that you're talking about? | ||
| Or is it just going to be stuck in this form of self-ism? | ||
| It's a great question. | ||
| I'm going to not run again. | ||
| I have 10 years in, and every two-year election cycle, it's time to do something new. | ||
| But I'm going to be dedicated to advocating for what I consider Reagan Republicanism values in our party. | ||
| I'm going to support candidates for president that I like. | ||
| We have them out there. | ||
| Brian Kemp. | ||
| I think he reflects the values of the traditional conservatism that I embrace. | ||
| Glan Yonkin from Virginia, a great guy that extols the old Republican values that I have embraced since I was 13. | ||
| Nikki Haley. | ||
| So I plan on getting involved for the next presidential race, and we're going to have a debate. | ||
| It's going to be post-Trump. | ||
| There will be a debate. | ||
| Where do we want to take the party? | ||
| I have a hard time taking serious any Republican who is not supportive of Ukraine or is somewhat sympathetic to the Russian efforts here that doesn't see clearly that what Russia is doing is wrong and immoral. | ||
| And there's some Republicans out there that have a hard time saying that. | ||
| Well, I don't want you in the White House if you can't do that, right? | ||
| And I believe we should go back to a free trade mindset. | ||
| It provides the best value at the best price, in the most efficient manner possible, and it's great for American consumers. | ||
| And so I look forward to we're going to have this debate in the post-Trump or going into the next presidential race. | ||
| I don't know how it's going to turn out, but I know I'm going to be in the fight. | ||
| All right. | ||
| That's Representative Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska, member of the Armed Services Committee. | ||
| Thanks so much for joining us. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Coming up next, joining us to discuss the Trump administration's approach to health and vaccine policies is the former head of the CDC, Dr. Tom Friedan. | ||
| We'll be right back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
High school students join C-SPAN as we celebrate America's 250th anniversary during our 2026 C-SPAN Student Cam Video Documentary Competition. | |
| This year's theme is Exploring the American Story through the Declaration of Independence. | ||
| We're asking students to create a five to six minute documentary that answers one of two questions. | ||
| What's the Declaration's influence on a key moment from America's 250-year history? | ||
| Or how have its values touched on a contemporary issue that's impacting you or your community? | ||
| We encourage all students to participate, regardless of prior filmmaking experience. | ||
| Consider interviewing topical experts and explore a variety of viewpoints around your chosen issue. | ||
| Students should also include clips of related C-SPAN footage, which are easy to download on our website, studentcam.org. | ||
| C-SPAN's Student Cam competition awards $100,000 in total cash prizes to students and teachers and $5,000 for the grand prize winner. | ||
| Entries must be received before January 20th, 2026. | ||
| For competition rules, tips, or just how to get started, visit our website at studentcam.org. | ||
| If you ever miss any of C-SPAN's coverage, you can find it anytime online at cspan.org. | ||
| Videos of key hearings, debates, and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights. | ||
| These points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on select videos. | ||
| This timeline tool makes it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in Washington. | ||
| Scroll through and spend a few minutes on C-SPAN's points of interest. | ||
| Washington Journal continues. | ||
| Welcome back. | ||
| Joining us now to talk about the Trump administration health policies is Dr. Tom Friedan. | ||
| He is the former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director under the Obama administration. | ||
| He's also president and CEO of the organization called Resolve to Save Lives. | ||
| Dr. Friedan, welcome to the program. | ||
| Great to be here. | ||
| As you know, yesterday the former CDC Director Susan Menares was testifying in front of the Senate Health Committee about HHS Secretary RFK Jr. | ||
| What were your initial thoughts and takeaways from that hearing? | ||
| I don't think there is a single public health doctor who could agree to what Dr. Menarez said she was asked to do, which is to approve the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices or ACIP recommendations without review. | ||
| A fundamental role of CDC director is to assess those recommendations and determine whether or not to accept them. | ||
| So being told that you have to, if that's what she was told, that you have to just accept them whatever they are is basically being told that you cannot apply your professional judgment, that you cannot be a professional in that role. | ||
| Well, we have a portion of that, of an exchange between Dr. Menares and Senator Rand Paul, a Republican of Kentucky, asking her about the reason for her firing. | ||
| I want to play it and then we'll discuss it. | ||
| So you resisted firing people who have this idea that the COVID vaccine should be at six months. | ||
| That's what this is about. | ||
| You didn't resist firing the beautiful, the perfect, beautiful scientists that are career people and unobjective and unbiased. | ||
| You wouldn't fire the people who are saying that we have to vaccinate our kids at six months of age. | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's who you refused to fire. | |
| So that assertion is not commensurate with the experience that I had with the individuals who are identified to be fired. | ||
| Did any of the people you refused to fire, did any of the people you refused? | ||
| Did any of the people you refused to fire believe that we should change the vaccine schedule and no longer force six-month-old kids to take it? | ||
| Every one of them was adamant we should keep it at six months. | ||
| Everybody's alarmed we're going to change the childhood routine. | ||
| Well, we should. | ||
| There is no medical reason. | ||
| What is the medical reason to give a hepatitis B vaccine to a newborn whose mom has no hepatitis? | ||
| So none of the discussion points that you just brought up were ever that's changing the childhood schedule. | ||
| You have your time, Bernie. | ||
| I got mine. | ||
| Look, this is the debate over changing the childhood schedule. | ||
| The hepatitis B vaccine on the schedule is given to newborns. | ||
| What is the medical scientific reason and proof for giving a newborn a hepatitis B vaccine if the mom is hep B negative? | ||
| I want to go back to the assertion associated. | ||
| What is the medical reason for giving a hepatitis B vaccine to a newborn? | ||
| See, everybody's like blithely going along, we can't change the childhood. | ||
| You're somehow terrible if you want to change the childhood. | ||
| We should be discussing what is the childhood vaccine schedule, and you should be, the burden should be on you. | ||
| You want to make all the kids take this? | ||
| The burden is upon you and the people you wouldn't fire to prove to us that we need to give our six-month-old a COVID vaccine and that we need to give our one-day old a hepatitis B vaccine. | ||
| That's what the debate ought to be about, not whether all vaccines are good or whether we live in Allison Wonderland. | ||
| And Dr. Frieden, they were talking about the vaccine schedule and the childhood vaccine schedule. | ||
| Can you remind us what that is, how it came to be, and how often it would be reviewed and updated? | ||
| Absolutely. | ||
| And I really, I think it's important that we distinguish two types of issues here. | ||
| There are issues about which there is a totally reasonable grounds for discussion, debate, differences of opinion. | ||
| And there are areas like that. | ||
| There are other areas where really what we're seeing is not about Democratic versus Republican. | ||
| It's about fact versus fiction. | ||
| It's about a simple truth or a simplistic falsehood. | ||
| And we're seeing a lot of those simplistic falsehoods in this discussion. | ||
| A lot of dangerous, debunked, and deadly disinformation, frankly. | ||
| But let's get to the question that you are asking. | ||
| The child vaccine schedule is regularly updated. | ||
| That's why today it protects our kids against twice as many diseases as it did a generation or two ago. | ||
| The child vaccine schedule for more than 60 years has been set by the ACIP, this Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which just started meeting 10 minutes ago. | ||
| The ACIP has been an absolute beacon of how to do evidence-based policies. | ||
| When I was CDC director, I oversaw it for eight years. | ||
| And we had people coming from Korea, from all over the world, to as advisors to it because it was the model of a transparent process. | ||
| All of the deliberations were open to the public. | ||
| All of them were live streamed. | ||
| All of the presentations were put up on the web. | ||
| All of the members went through a very rigorous training period, a very rigorous period of vetting of conflicts of interest. | ||
| And what we've seen about that committee is a series of untrue statements by Secretary Kennedy and a packing of that committee with people who have very little experience with vaccines and many of whom have expressed ideas about vaccines that are quite unscientific. | ||
| So what we have seen at CDC more generally is the dismissal or resignation of basically most or all of the leaders of the organization. | ||
| These are not partisan people. | ||
| These are people who have spent decades working on public health, people who have worked through Democratic and Republican administrations. | ||
| What we're seeing is the hijacking, the hijacking of the CDC website, the hijacking of this advisory committee. | ||
| Now, I don't know what it's going to advise today. | ||
| We can get to that in a minute. | ||
| But just to say what has happened so far, if there's one thing I want your viewers to get out of our conversation, watch what the current administration does, not what it says. | ||
| The current administration has said it wants to rebuild confidence. | ||
| What it has done is to so destroy confidence in the CDC and the ACIP that this advisory committee, that the major medical societies, the insurers of America, the standard organizations, or doctors and nurses can no longer trust what it will say today. | ||
| Even if it comes to the right decisions, they'll no longer trust it. | ||
| I want to tell you something. | ||
| At CDC, there is a pledge to the American people. | ||
| In that pledge to the American people, one of the components is to base all decisions on the best available data, openly and objectively derived. | ||
| That's enshrined in a core value of the CDC. | ||
| Now, what happened about COVID vaccination policy? | ||
| It was changed in a social media post. | ||
| That's absurd. | ||
| Now, maybe that change was right. | ||
| Maybe it was wrong. | ||
| That's something you can discuss. | ||
| But this isn't radical transparency. | ||
| This is a complete upending of the transparency that has existed for so long. | ||
| And if you've got a question and would like to ask Dr. Tom Frieden a question about health policy or vaccines, you can give us a call starting now. | ||
| Democrats are on 202-748-8000. | ||
| Republicans are on 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| You can also text us and post to social media. | ||
| KFF Health News, Dr. Frieden has this headline: RFK Jr.'s vaccine panel expected to recommend delaying hepatitis B shot for children. | ||
| And that was included in that clip with Senator Rand Paul about HEP B for newborns. | ||
| What are your thoughts on that? | ||
| And I guess more importantly, what does the science say? | ||
| Okay, here's the big picture. | ||
| Hepatitis B is a virus. | ||
| It's a virus that causes cancer. | ||
| It also causes severe liver disease and it kills Americans. | ||
| Every year, there are about 3.7 million births in this country. | ||
| Nearly all of those kids get vaccinated. | ||
| Now, what we know is an estimated 20,000, 30,000, the number may vary, women who give birth have chronic hepatitis B infection or acute hepatitis B infection and don't know it. | ||
| And those women are extremely likely to pass the virus on to their kids. | ||
| Hepatitis B, unlike some other viruses, is actually very easy to catch. | ||
| In many communities around the world, it's even spread from kid to kid just from playing together. | ||
| It can be around on a toothbrush. | ||
| So even if you test every woman in America who's pregnant, and we failed to test about 12% of women for whatever reason, but even if you were to test everyone, they might become infected after. | ||
| Now, we tried various ways to increase hepatitis B vaccination. | ||
| We said, oh, can we find the high-risk people and get them vaccinated? | ||
| Because that would be more efficient. | ||
| Well, it just doesn't work. | ||
| Yogi Berra is reputed to have said, in theory, theory and practice are the same. | ||
| In practice, they're different. | ||
| And in practice, to protect the 3.7 million American kids who get born every year, we will be much more effective if we give a birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. | ||
| What has that done? | ||
| That has decreased hepatitis B infections in kids by about 90%. | ||
| That prevents, by the estimate, somewhere between 10 and 20,000 hepatitis B infections per year. | ||
| There are still 1,000 or two infections because some kids slip through. | ||
| But hepatitis B infection in an infant is a really serious problem. | ||
| If it isn't found and treated soon, that child will grow up with a high risk of serious illness or death from liver cancer or cirrhosis. | ||
| So the approach is to have an approach that works for everyone best. | ||
| Now, if you say, well, if I get tested every week and I'm negative, why does my kid need a vaccine? | ||
| They don't. | ||
| But the fact is that with 3.7 million births, if we take that approach, thousands more kids are going to have this expensive, deadly infection. | ||
| Switching to COVID-19, last month the FDA did approve an updated vaccine, but limited who's eligible. | ||
| They also said that people should consult with their doctors first instead of going straight to a pharmacy. | ||
| I want to ask you about the impact of that change. | ||
| And I want to just add, Mark, who sent us this on X, someone wants to take the COVID vaccine. | ||
| We should allow them to do so, and they can pay for it, and there should be no mandates. | ||
| So talk about what you see as the impact of that policy change. | ||
| Lots to unpack there. | ||
| First, the way it was made is very unusual, if not unprecedented. | ||
| The general way things work is that the FDA makes one determination and one determination only. | ||
| Is a product safe and effective? | ||
| The CDC then recommends who should receive it. | ||
| So this was an end run around the usual process. | ||
| This was not radical transparency. | ||
| This was really upending the traditional way that there is a transparent way of making decisions. | ||
| Remember that commitment to make the decisions on the best available data openly and objectively derived? | ||
| We got a social media message about this. | ||
| What are doctors supposed to do with that? | ||
| It may be that that's the right decision. | ||
| It may not be the case. | ||
| I think when you get into the details of it, young children are at high risk of severe illness from COVID. | ||
| This is the case with flu. | ||
| Last year, 270 American kids died of influenza. | ||
| 90% of them hadn't had a flu vaccine. | ||
| And many of them were completely healthy before they got flu. | ||
| The same is the case for COVID. | ||
| So most pediatricians want to get their kids, especially their young kids, vaccinated so that they will protect them from serious illness. | ||
| Now, it's not dissimilar to this hepatitis B question, where there are lots of people who wouldn't get COVID, or if they got COVID, it would be mild. | ||
| And for them, there's limited benefit of getting the vaccine. | ||
| But if you look at us as a community, it keeps many people healthier. | ||
| The issue of should, first off, pregnant women should absolutely be encouraged to get the COVID vaccine. | ||
| They shouldn't be forced to. | ||
| They should be given all of the evidence by their obstetrician, but it really does protect their child. | ||
| It protects them. | ||
| Pregnancy is a time of relative immunosuppression. | ||
| The body is very smart and figures out that we don't want to cause a problem with this new life that is within us, this fetus, and so it down-regulates the immune system. | ||
| So pregnant women are more susceptible to severe infections. | ||
| For healthy young adults, should they get a COVID vaccine? | ||
| That's a toss-up in my view as a doctor. | ||
| My kids, who are healthy young adults, I encourage them to get a COVID vaccine and they do. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Not because they might die from COVID, but because it is well documented to reduce the risk that they will have a serious illness. | ||
| It'll shorten the duration of COVID if they get COVID, and it may make it less likely that they get long COVID if they do get COVID. | ||
| But what was done by the FDA was taking that decision away from Americans. | ||
| It wasn't about, oh, we're not going to force you to get a vaccine. | ||
| It's we're going to force you to go through a whole lot more loops before, hoops, before you have to, before you're able to get a vaccine. | ||
| And that's really a problem. | ||
| In terms of what your correspondent said, the person on X, I agree there should not be mandates for the general public to get a COVID vaccination. | ||
| I agree people should be able to get such a vaccine, but the issue of paying for it is a problem. | ||
| Right now, we say, you know, whether or not you get a vaccine shouldn't depend on your pocketbook. | ||
| It shouldn't depend on whether you make a lot of money or not. | ||
| We have a core value with vaccines, which is that when you decide to get a vaccine, the cost of that vaccine should not be a factor. | ||
| In fact, Democrats and Republicans got together in 1993 and created the Vaccines for Children program. | ||
| This is a huge success story. | ||
| It's driven down rates of meningitis, pneumonia, liver disease, and many other illnesses, and it has made sure that there is no cost barrier to vaccination. | ||
| In fact, one of the really concerning things about this new ACIP is that if it doesn't recommend certain vaccines, half of American kids and half of kids benefit from the Vaccines for Children program may have less access to vaccination. | ||
| And we know that any cost barrier reduces access. | ||
| That's why the strong recommendation, the scientifically based recommendation, is that medical measures that protect individuals should be free of co-payments. | ||
| In fact, that's one of the characteristics of the current law, which is that you can't charge patients for preventive services that are recommended. | ||
| Let's go to calls now. | ||
| We'll start with John in Brooklyn, New York, Democrat. | ||
| Good morning, John. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Cancer research was canceled this week. | ||
| Whiskey tango foxtrot. | ||
| Is that all there is to the presidency? | ||
| Cancel the war on cancer? | ||
| Dr. Friedan, cancer research. | ||
| Yeah, what we're seeing is really dangerous. | ||
| The cutting of mRNA research on cancer and on the next pandemic makes Americans less safe. | ||
| mRNA is just one, and what your listener is referring to is the cancellation of more than a billion dollars of projects that aim to develop new cures, new treatments, new vaccines with this breakthrough technology of mRNA. | ||
| Let's put mRNA technology into context. | ||
| There have been a series of improvements in vaccine science over the last 20, 30 years. | ||
| Some of them use something called conjugation, where they link sugars and proteins. | ||
| It's a really interesting technique. | ||
| It's not so easy, but it's done well. | ||
| And what it does is it gives us vaccines that are massively more effective and have fewer side effects. | ||
| There are other approaches to vaccines that use subunits or different types of things that increase the response, adjuvants, that are safer, that cause fewer side effects, that are more effective, that are longer lasting. | ||
| mRNA is one such breakthrough technology worked on for many years in the wilderness by Dr. Carico and others who won the Nobel Prize for this. | ||
| And the U.S. is turning its back on this. | ||
| And this is really unfortunate because it might mean that we don't develop a cure for cancer that could have been developed or a vaccine for the next pandemic. | ||
| And it is inevitable that the next pandemic will be coming. | ||
| You know, I want to go back to the ACIP because the meeting is today and a lot rides on it. | ||
| And there's really an unprecedented series of things that have happened, which is that the medical societies, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstruction Gynecology, the Infectious Disease Society of America, the American Academy of Family Physicians, all of them have diverged from government recommendations. | ||
| And the health insurance group has also said that it's not going to follow what the ACIP says today and tomorrow. | ||
| It's going to follow what was in place now. | ||
| This is really breaking a trust. | ||
| This is breaking a commitment to open discussion. | ||
| I don't know what the ACIP will decide today. | ||
| You know, usually that wouldn't be determined in advance. | ||
| That would be openly debated and discussed. | ||
| And then the reasons decided on. | ||
| Here's Bruce in Kingston, New York, Independent Line. | ||
| Good morning, Bruce. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, good morning. | |
| Thank you for getting this call. | ||
| And thank you, Dr. Frieden. | ||
| It's a pleasure to talk to you. | ||
| I had years of experiencing the great work of the CDC through the MMWR as an anthropologist. | ||
| And I'm kind of ashamed at what the government is doing to privatize the CDC, break down, dismantle it, and take it away from the public health status that it has globally. | ||
| My understanding over the years, over the decades, is only the French came a little close to our status, and that's all going by the wayside now. | ||
| I wanted, aside from these comments of support, I wanted to mention from my point of view that what is happening here is a kind of radical public, radical instigation of fears in the public that have no really understanding of what the institutions of medicine do. | ||
| And unfortunately, the institutions of medicine are not in the practice of explaining the political side of what's going on. | ||
| I see that there is a shift over to a business model away from the physicians, away from the science. | ||
| And at the same time, the radical particularizing, I would call it, of issues creates almost a nuisance kind of noise out of trying to explain to the public what's going to happen in the future once the CDC goes along the wayside of the other institutions that have been dismantled. | ||
| In any case, I guess I want to summarize this as asking you, what is the medical community going to do when it attempts to explain the medical side of it when it is at such a disadvantage trying to explain the political side of it, which it tends to take the upper road and avoid the ambiguity and equivocations that politics plays havoc with. | ||
| All right, Bruce. | ||
| I think that it's really important to make clear that this really isn't a partisan issue. | ||
| There are plenty of Democrats and Republicans who are in favor of things that keep people healthy. | ||
| And this isn't about being pro-vax or anti-vax. | ||
| This is about being pro-health. | ||
| As medical professionals, we interpret for our patients and for the public what the data shows. | ||
| And right now, you have some groups that are using social media and other platforms to sell things that don't work, to confuse people, to undermine trust. | ||
| I think we need to be really clear at communicating. | ||
| We need to be transparent. | ||
| I would say one thing that the ACIP, this advisory committee, should have been better at is explaining its decisions. | ||
| They were done very transparently, but there was no summary for the lay public of what they were deciding and why. | ||
| And I think this led to additional vulnerability. | ||
| But ultimately, you really have to look at what this administration is doing rather than what they're saying. | ||
| And you have to assume, especially with Secretary Kennedy, that what he is accusing others of is generally what he himself is doing. | ||
| He is saying they were conflicts of interest in this committee. | ||
| They were not. | ||
| He has implemented or instituted a committee that has conflicts of interest. | ||
| This is why it's so very important that we stick with the facts, because facts are powerful things. | ||
| People want to be healthier. | ||
| People do have questions. | ||
| They're valid questions. | ||
| They should be addressed. | ||
| But we also have a lot of groups out there that are making a lot of money by confusing people and selling stuff that doesn't work. | ||
| Here's Steve in Tampa, Florida, Republican. | ||
| Hi, Steve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Certainly, I respect Dr. Friedan's expertise, and I am not anti-vaccine. | ||
| My concern is that I think what the administration is trying to do is redetermine the efficacy of not only vaccines, but drugs as well. | ||
| There have been so many drugs that have been taken off the market that have been considered 100% safe, like Zantac, Viox, Vacertain, Ranitadine, and going back to thalenamide. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So why is it wrong to reevaluate these drugs and these vaccines? | |
| All right, Dr. Friedman. | ||
| It's never wrong to reevaluate. | ||
| In fact, when a drug or vaccine gets approved, it generally has a much smaller data set of people it's been tried on. | ||
| Thalidomide is a good example. | ||
| You know, there were small studies that didn't identify the terrible tragedy of severe birth defects from thalidomide until more people used it. | ||
| And it was a courageous scientist at the FDA who insisted that it not get approved in the U.S. or not get used here widely. | ||
| Now, I think that's different from what we sometimes hear from Secretary Kennedy, which is that all drugs are bad. | ||
| I do think, and I outline this in my new book, The Formula for Better Health, How to Save Millions of Lives, Including Your Own. | ||
| I do think that there are some drugs that are overused. | ||
| I agree with Secretary Kennedy on that. | ||
| Drugs for Attention Deficit Disorder, for example. | ||
| But we underuse some other drugs that are really important that could save your life. | ||
| And I don't get any money from the pharmaceutical industry, nor does my organization, Resolve to Save Lives, never have, don't now, and never will. | ||
| And all of the proceeds from the book that I'm publishing will go to programs that support health around the world. | ||
| But the bottom line here is that we can walk and chew gum at the same time. | ||
| We can prevent disease and we can also treat people for high blood pressure, for unhealthy lipids, for diabetes and other problems to reduce their risk of a heart attack, stroke, dementia, and early death. | ||
| So drugs and vaccines need to be assessed carefully. | ||
| But when they work, we need to provide them without barriers to people who want to get them so that we can live longer and healthier lives. | ||
| Many of the expensive, disabling diseases that happen today in America don't have to happen. | ||
| Many of the illnesses, the injuries, the disabilities, and the deaths that happen to young Americans are preventable, and they're preventable with the tools that we have today. | ||
| We can do that by implementing a straightforward formula to see the threats that may harm us, to believe that we can make progress. | ||
| We've made it before, we can make more progress now, and to work together to create a healthier future with clear, simple programs that overcome the barriers that stand in the way of our living a long, healthy life. | ||
| And Dr. Frieden, you mentioned your organization, Resolve to Save Lives. | ||
| Can you tell us about the mission and who you work with? | ||
| Resolve to Save Lives works with more than 60 countries around the world. | ||
| And we identify and partner with countries to address the deadliest threats. | ||
| And we address them with scalable solutions, things that work. | ||
| For example, we have worked with more than 50 countries to ban a toxic chemical that's in the food supply called artificial trans fat. | ||
| We got it out in the United States, and now more than 50 countries have taken action to eliminate artificial trans fat. | ||
| That means one less toxin than the food, and the models suggest that will prevent at least 9 million deaths in the future. | ||
| We also work with as many as 50 countries to have faster finding and stopping of outbreaks so that when an outbreak emerges, it's found faster and stopped sooner, right where it emerges. | ||
| So it's less likely to spread. | ||
| That's better for everybody. | ||
| We work with communities and countries around the world to scale up effective solutions, practical solutions to the world's deadliest problems. | ||
| That's Dr. Tom Friedan. | ||
| He's got a book coming out at the end of the month called The Formula for Better Health, How to Save Millions of Lives, Including Your Own. | ||
| Also, a former CDC director under the Obama administration and president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives. | ||
| That's also their website.org. | ||
| Dr. Frieden, thanks so much for joining us. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| It's been a pleasure speaking with you and your viewers. | ||
| Coming up, we will end the show with open forum so you can start calling in now. | ||
| Democrats are on 202-748-8000. | ||
| It's 202-748-8001 for Republicans and 202-748-8002 for Independents. | ||
| Stay with us. | ||
|
unidentified
|
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 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. | ||
| Don't worry, you were in prime time too, but they happen to have a little re-run. | ||
| Do you really think that we don't remember what just happened last week? | ||
| 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. | |
| I'm about to read to you something that was published by C-SPAN. | ||
| 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 made-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. | ||
| We know C-SPAN covers this live as well. | ||
|
unidentified
|
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. | ||
| Mike said before, I happened to listen to him, he was on C-SPAN 1. | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's a big upgrade, right? | |
| Washington Journal continues. | ||
| Welcome back to Washington Journal. | ||
| We're in open forum until the end of the program at 10 o'clock when the House is expected to gavel in. | ||
| This is Eric, an independent, in Durham, North Carolina. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| How are you? | ||
| Good. | ||
| I was listening to your last segment with the doctor on, and I appreciate everything he said. | ||
| And I see I can see his concern and his sincerity. | ||
| However, we have a president who is not serious about the health of America. | ||
| And it's obvious from the people he put in the CDC, the decisions that are being made and how he is aloft when he's asked about it as if he don't know what's going on. | ||
| We are in A terrible situation when we have our leaders and the people who are employed to do exactly what needs to be done for the health of America doing the opposite. | ||
| That's all I have to say. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| And here's Tina Democrat in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. | ||
| Good morning, Tina. | ||
| Tina, are you there? | ||
| In Winston-Salem? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, I'm here. | |
| Yes, I'm here. | ||
| Go right ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I want to reflect back on the news. | |
| Okay, Trump don't want us to listen to the news that we listen to. | ||
| A good example. | ||
| He took Joe Reed off of MSNBC. | ||
| We listen to that kind of news. | ||
| Now he wants us to listen to the wrong thing that his news does. | ||
| So he's taking all the news off the TV so we can just listen to his news. | ||
| That's one thing that's causing violence. | ||
| Let us listen to our own news. | ||
| Let us decide if we want to listen to his. | ||
| And another thing I want to say to our black people, please, y'all, we need to stick. | ||
| We're the only organization that do not stick together. | ||
| We need to stick together and get this back, get this country back on the right track. | ||
| Because if we don't, we're going to stay on this opposite side like we is. | ||
| And this is not good. | ||
| And we need to keep our democracy. | ||
| We have to look close at what's going on because the democracy is trying to sneakily be taken away from us. | ||
| Too many people have died for us to be able to vote and keep our democracy going. | ||
| And it's not Republican. | ||
| It's not Democrat. | ||
| It's the right thing. | ||
| And if anytime you can get a villain in the house and say he's doing right, come on, black people, something ain't right with this picture. | ||
| We got to stick together. | ||
| Primary voting coming up. | ||
| We got to stick together. | ||
| With regular voting coming up for the president, we got to stick together. | ||
| Please, regardless of they sticking together with a villain, y'all stick together for our people. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| All right. | ||
| And here's Kathy in Kansas, Independent Line. | ||
| Good morning, Kathy. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I just want to say it was so horrible because it just has made the temperature worse in America about the killing of Charlie Kirk. | ||
| It should never have happened. | ||
| I myself have listened to him. | ||
| I think he leaned very white supremacist. | ||
| I didn't agree with him. | ||
| But everybody, let's not forget the freedom of speech. | ||
| Now, speaking of that, you want to tell me why Stephen Colbert was canceled? | ||
| Why Jimmy Kimmel was canceled? | ||
| I watched his show, Jimmy Kimmel's monologue that night. | ||
| They all came out. | ||
| All the Nate Night Talk show hosts and all the Democrats I've ever heard have come out and condemned this horrible murder. | ||
| But where, where were all these people, you know, these Republicans that are so outraged, you never heard him say anything about the horrible shootings that happen all the time of young children in schools, the riddling of their little bodies by these automatic weapons. | ||
| You know, you never heard anyone say, oh, let's fly the flag at half-staff for that. | ||
| You know, my sympathy is with these young kids, and it's going to happen again because Republicans don't want to do anything about gun control. | ||
| And everything President Trump has done, I mean, the man, check, check the facts. | ||
| He lies all the time. | ||
| What about I'm bringing inflation down on day one? | ||
| I'm going to end the war in Ukraine on day one. | ||
| I'm going to do this on day one. | ||
| It won't happen. | ||
| Tariffs are going to be wonderful. | ||
| I can't get out of Walmart without spending $300 some dollars on about four bags of groceries. | ||
| So it's just everything he said he's going to do, and now he's gerrymandering. | ||
| And I believe that he wants to stay in office again for a third term. | ||
| And I think he's rallying and he's doing stuff behind the scenes where he's going to make that happen. | ||
| We're turning into a fascist government. | ||
| We won't have freedom of speech anymore. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Well, Kathy, going back to what you said about Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off the air by ABC, Newsweek has the full transcript of his monologue. | ||
| And I'll just read some of it. | ||
| It says, so this is the show's opening monologue. | ||
| Kimmel says this, quote, we hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it. | ||
| In between the finger pointing criticism, there was grieving. | ||
| On Friday, the White House flew the flags at Half Staff, which got some criticism. | ||
| But on a human level, you could see how hard the president is taking this. | ||
| The late night host then played a clip of President Trump being asked how he was holding up since the killing, to which Trump responds, quote, I think very good, and begins to talk about plans for the new White House ballroom. | ||
| The show then cuts back to Kimmel, who continues, quote, yes, he's at the fourth stage of grief construction. | ||
| So that's some information for you about that show being canceled. | ||
| Jimmy Kimmel, this is Tasha in Buffalo, New York. | ||
| Democrat, good morning, Tasha. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, good morning. | |
| I'm just calling in to make a rebuttal to the man that called in to the first open forum, speaking on 60% of black children who have a two-parent household, and of course, defaulting back to Chicago. | ||
| So I would like to ask him, the man that killed Charlie Kirk, hmm, he came from a two-parent household. | ||
| What about your Dylan Roofs that go shoot up black churches? | ||
| What about them young men that came to Buffalo and shoot up supermarkets? | ||
| What about the young people, young white people that go shoot up little kindergartners and preschoolers? | ||
| So your point is, I would like to know what exactly your point is. | ||
| I just gave you an example of the same things that happened from two-parent households. | ||
| So, okay, miss me with the black on black crime because you have white-on-white crime. | ||
| And to the black woman from North Carolina that called in, we do stick together. | ||
| But what we're not doing anymore, we're not doing a heavy lifting anymore to save America. | ||
| It's time for the people that caused all this in the first place. | ||
| It's time for them to do the heavy lifting. | ||
| We're done doing it. | ||
| It's time for other people to get out here and make America great. | ||
| Thank you and have a good day. | ||
| Here's George, a Democrat in Oak Harbor, Washington. | ||
| Good morning, George. | ||
| You're on the air. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you very much for letting me bow a little bit about COVID. | |
| COVID started about five years ago, and we killed over a million people, of which 75%, 750,000 were over 65. | ||
| I am over 65, well over 65. | ||
| There's a silver lining to that cloud that we killed so many people. | ||
| 750,000 people averaging $2,000 a month in Social Security comes to $1,500,000 a month in 50 months. | ||
| That's $75 billion. | ||
| You're suggesting it's a good thing that all those Americans died from disease so that they wouldn't cost Social Security so much? | ||
| No, I'm just saying for the Republicans that want to cut government, they just saved $75 billion they wouldn't have to pay to people who had died. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks. | |
| Craig, Frenchlick, Indiana Republican line, good morning. | ||
| You're on the air. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I won't take much of your time. | ||
| There's a lot more serious things going on than I'm going to mention today. | ||
| Regarding the ballroom President Trump has decided to build, a lot of people have asked that question, and it's not coming from the federal government. | ||
| It's so simple. | ||
| All you got to do is look it up. | ||
| It's private donations, and President Trump said he was going to contribute X amount. | ||
| So it's not being on the federal government bill. | ||
| So maybe take a look at it and see if you could clarify that, because last few days you've allowed other people to say without saying a word. | ||
| But I appreciate you guys. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| Linda, Ottawa, Ohio, Democrat. | ||
| Good morning, Linda. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| It's been so good this morning to hear some of the people commenting on the situation right now that's happening. | ||
| Some of them are just right on track. | ||
| And I'm very proud of them for opening their eyes and seeing how things are happening under this administration. | ||
| It's really sad. | ||
| And Jimmy Kimmel was cut off the air only because it hit a nerve with Trump about what he said. | ||
| And every time somebody hits a nerve with Trump, Trump goes after them. | ||
| It's really sad. | ||
| But the most sad that I am for this morning, other than our country being under this administration, is this poor little children that were left fatherless when Charlie Kirk died. | ||
| But in my opinion, if this young man, who was very talented, if he had bowed only to Christ, instead of trying to bow also to Trump, he would have been more successful. | ||
| He would have touched a lot of people. | ||
| He would have probably changed a lot of people for the better. | ||
| So it's so sad that instead of just using Christ as his leader, he also used Trump as his leader, which, in my opinion, got him to this point where his children and his wife were left fatherless and a widow. | ||
| So please, Christ, just be with us. | ||
| Bless us, and bless everybody. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| And the BBC has this White House unveils plans for a new $200 million ballroom. | ||
| And regarding who's paying for it, it says the money will be donated directly by Trump and other so-far-anonymous donors with work beginning in September. | ||
| We know that that work has already started, but this is according to Press Secretary Caroline Levitt. | ||
| It says that Trump has repeatedly promised to build a beautiful ballroom at the White House. | ||
| And in 2016, he offered to pay $100 million during Barack Obama's administration, which the then president rejected. | ||
| So we don't have any more details for you on that as far as what President Trump plans to donate from his personal funds or who these anonymous donors are as of yet, but we will continue to look at that. | ||
| Greg, Washington, D.C., Democrat, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I want to respond to an earlier caller who said D.C. residents by having crime have justified federal control over the city with respect. | ||
| That's naive that this president and his administration don't need crime as an excuse. | ||
| They would have imposed themselves on D.C. citizens regardless. | ||
| And pointing to the crime, whether it would have been murder or carjacking or jaywalking, they were going to do the same thing. | ||
| And then he also mentioned that the Ten Commandments should be put in schools. | ||
| And I think a lot of people just don't understand. | ||
| We want the same thing, but there are different ways of going about it, and we can't do it in a way that violates the Constitution, that we want to do these things, but if they contradict what we need to have for democracy, we'd rather not trade that permanently for the vision of a great leader. | ||
| And here's Ben in Bunkey, Louisiana, Republican. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| Hi, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| How are you doing? | ||
| Good. | ||
| I just had a thought on my head. | ||
| And it's just coming through social media lately since Charlie Kirk was assassinated, you know, like on YouTube, any of the comment section, or, you know, with Jimmy Kimmel being fired for, you know, free speech or anybody else in that matter. | ||
| If you're reading the comments, it's like he was fired. | ||
| They fired him for free speech or this person was fired for free speech. | ||
| Well, they soon forget, and I'm not saying it's, you know, a left or right side, but Charlie Kirk was shot for exercising his First Amendment. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, they soon forget that when they go to rescue Jimmy Kimmel or all these other people for exercising, well, they were just exercising their First Amendment right. | |
| So was Charlie Kirk. | ||
| You know, and that kind of bothers me, you know, when they make comments like that, you know. | ||
| All right, Ben. | ||
| Sharon Dade City, Florida, Democrat. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Sharon, you're on Open Forum. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| I just wanted some of your viewers to be aware of a situation that happened during yesterday's CDC hearing regarding the ousted CDC director. | ||
| Republican Senator Mark Lane Mullen was literally caught lying in his attempt to bully the doctor into saying something that she didn't say. | ||
| And he didn't retract his statement until Senator Cassidy called him out on it and asked for the tapes that didn't exist, that he claimed there were these tapes that existed, that she said something which she didn't say. | ||
| And he didn't retract his statement that he misspoke until after they asked Bernie Sanders and Republican Chairman Cassidy asked for those tapes and any documents that weren't released to the committee members. | ||
| So I just wanted to make that clear. | ||
| And for this last caller that just said that Charlie Kirk was shot for practicing free speech, he wasn't shot by the government. | ||
| He wasn't shot by his boss. | ||
| Jimmy Kimmel was fired with pressure going down onto the station to get rid of him. | ||
| So I just wanted to make that clear. | ||
| So thank you for taking my call. | ||
| All right, Sharon. | ||
| Let's go to Rob next. | ||
| Independent Line, Richmond, Virginia. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I just wanted to, if you could let the viewers know, you know, a guy from Fox, Brian Kilmery, made, you know, comments that were way worse that I would say than what Jimmy Kimmel. | ||
| I don't think what he really said was just, you know, I think it hurt Trump's feelings. | ||
| But if you could play what he played about involuntary lethal injection, just killed him, his comments. | ||
| And this guy, the Justice Department, FCC, they aren't calling for him, you know, to be fired or anything like that. | ||
| So I think it's kind of a double standard. | ||
| So if you could enlighten your viewers and kind of pull that up, I think, you know, I'd like to get some of the people that are pro for Kimmel getting fired. | ||
| You know, their thoughts on that, if they think that it's fair that he gets to get up there. | ||
| Kim Reed, thank you. | ||
| Here's Sonia in Lady Lake, Florida, Republican Line. | ||
| Good morning, Sonia. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, response to the caller that was just on, and the woman who called earlier who said that Trump is who got Jimmy Kimmel fired, I was wanting to say that the FCC is the one who came down on Jimmy Kimmel. | |
| He was on Hannity last night, the head of the FCC, and he was talking about that the broadcast media, ABC, CBS, NBC, | ||
| they all have a higher standard now that they have to be held to, not other stations like CNN, MSNBC, Fox, et cetera. | ||
| So that the Starlight and Nexstar, they were pulling out of carrying Jimmy Kimmel's show. | ||
| And so DC and Disney said, look, we're not going to carry it anymore. | ||
| And the FCC is the one who decided that Kimmel was going to be suspended. | ||
| All right, Sonia. | ||
| And as you know, President Trump is in the UK. | ||
| There's a news conference about to get underway there with Prime Minister Kier Starmer of the UK. | ||
| You can see the room right there. | ||
| The reporters are getting ready. | ||
| The podiums are set up with the flags behind them. | ||
| We will have live coverage of that as soon as that gets underway over on C-SPAN 3. | ||
| So you can watch that if you'd like. | ||
| Here on C-SPAN 1, we will go to the House once they gavel in very shortly in about two minutes. | ||
| But we'll continue to take your calls as we watch that. | ||
| Here's Adriana in Detroit, Michigan, Independent Line. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I just wanted to say that with everything that's going on with free speech and people getting canceled and the cancel culture person to influence anyone to get canceled off the air. | ||
| And at the end of the day, we need to make sure that free speech is protected. | ||
| A lot of things that this administration has been declining. |