CSPAN - Washington Journal Open Forum
Aired: 2025-12-19
Duration: 25:59


=== Media Focus on Average Americans (08:28) ===

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[00:00:44]  Welcome back to the Washington Journal.
[00:00:46]  We are in open forum here until 10 a.m. Eastern Time.
[00:00:48]  We'll begin with the Epstein files.
[00:00:50]  The Department of Justice faces a deadline of today to release thousands of documents.
[00:00:56]  Here's what the Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York had to say about this yesterday at the Capitol.
[00:01:02]  Speaker Jeffries.
[00:01:03]  Tomorrow is the deadline for the Epstein files to be released legally.
[00:01:07]  Is it your expectation that the DOJ is going to cooperate?
[00:01:12]  And if not, what is your expectation for what we will see tomorrow?
[00:01:15]  Based on my conversations with some of the top Democrats who've been working on this matter related to full and complete disclosure of the Epstein files, we do expect compliance.
[00:01:26]  But if the Department of Justice does not comply with what is federal law at this point, there will be strong bipartisan pushback.
[00:01:37]  The Democratic leader on the release of Epstein files today.
[00:01:41]  Also at 1 p.m. Eastern Time, Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary, posting on X that we will hear from President Trump.
[00:01:48]  He'll be announcing, she says, quote, more incredible deals that will lower prices of drugs and pharmaceuticals.
[00:01:55]  You can watch our coverage of the president 1 p.m. Eastern Time right here on C-SPAN.
[00:02:00]  Download our free video mobile app, C-SPANNOW or online at c-SPAN.org.
[00:02:05]  Also covering here on C-SPAN at 1130 a.m. Eastern Time, a year-end news conference with the Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
[00:02:14]  Reporters will be asking him questions about the president's diplomatic foreign policy and military strategy around the world.
[00:02:21]  Tune in to C-SPAN, C-SPANNOW, and C-SPAN.org.
[00:02:25]  The President will be traveling to North Carolina, giving an economic speech tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.
[00:02:32]  And you can watch that again here on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, online on demand at c-SPAN.org.
[00:02:38]  Also tonight, a new edition of Ceasefire, 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
[00:02:43]  Host Dasha Burns is joined by Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, and Senator Katie Britt, Republican of Alabama.
[00:02:51]  Plus conversations with Republican and Democratic strategists.
[00:02:55]  7 p.m. Eastern, right here on C-SPAN, C-SPANNOW, and C-SPAN.org.
[00:03:02]  We'll talk to Mark next, who's in Pennsylvania.
[00:03:04]  Democratic caller.
[00:03:05]  Mark, we're an open forum.
[00:03:06]  What's on your mind?
[00:03:08]  Thank you, Greta.
[00:03:09]  Good morning.
[00:03:10]  My first comment is to thank C-SPAN for Representative Adam Smith's appearance today.
[00:03:14]  He spoke forthrightly and logically and with great common sense and with honesty about the lawlessness of the president.
[00:03:24]  And that lawlessness needs to be pointed out more and more and should be unacceptable.
[00:03:29]  It's also unacceptable, as Adam Smith pointed out, that the Secretary of Defense is illegally withholding information from Congress.
[00:03:39]  That's intolerable as well.
[00:03:41]  We have a lawless government executive branch and that's just not acceptable.
[00:03:46]  A quick comment about C-SPAN.
[00:03:49]  I'm disappointed that C-SPAN will show pictures of Trump and his rallies in a split screen when a speaker is speaking.
[00:03:57]  Find it distracting and impolite to the speaker.
[00:03:59]  I wish C-SPAN wouldn't do that.
[00:04:01]  I don't know the purpose of showing those pictures while the speaker is speaking.
[00:04:05]  And a final point, quickly, because I know you're busy today, but I'm not expecting much from the Epstein files because of the opportunity that Trump and his team had for many, many months to redact everything that would implicate him in a criminal activity with Epstein.
[00:04:23]  But just the character of this man is abysmal.
[00:04:26]  I mean, he's an immoral man, and we should be much better at choosing leaders who have decency and integrity.
[00:04:36]  And Trump showed his indecency in his response to the murder of Rob Reiner and Rob Reiner's wife, in which you all know that Trump made it about himself.
[00:04:47]  All right, Mark.
[00:04:49]  Mark a Democrat there in Pennsylvania.
[00:04:50]  Dan, Kent Washington, Independent.
[00:04:53]  Dan, what's on your mind?
[00:04:55]  Good morning.
[00:04:55]  Happy holidays, Greta.
[00:04:57]  Morning.
[00:04:58]  Yeah, so I'm Colin Stable.
[00:04:59]  First of all, thank you for having me.
[00:05:01]  It's an honor to be on here.
[00:05:03]  I just want to say, hi, Mom.
[00:05:04]  I'm on TV.
[00:05:05]  But anyways, my topic for today actually is somewhat, I guess, about you.
[00:05:12]  Not personally, but about what you guys do.
[00:05:14]  So you probably know that the New York Times had their annual deal book summit just at the beginning of this month.
[00:05:20]  And well, first off, did you watch any of it at all?
[00:05:23]  I saw some coverage of it.
[00:05:25]  Yeah, so there was, I hadn't watched, yeah, I saw some coverage of it as well.
[00:05:29]  Sorry, a little tired here.
[00:05:31]  But I watched one panel in specifically or form.
[00:05:34]  It was talk about media and the public trust in the media.
[00:05:38]  I can't, I don't remember all the names off the top of my head, but it had Dave Grummick from editor of The New Yorker, Stephanie Ruhl from MSNBC, Charlemagne DeGaude, Andrew Schultz, and I forgot who was hosting it, but obviously someone from the New York Times.
[00:05:56]  And it was just about how, I guess, media going forward in America and also about public trust.
[00:06:03]  And there was one thing I found interesting in general, which was they talked about the Russia, I guess, case and the Russia, well, it's called the Russia case for now.
[00:06:16]  Like I said, a little tired.
[00:06:18]  And they were pressing Schultz, the comedian, about it, because he had Trump on his podcast.
[00:06:24]  And when Trump, he made some comments about how, oh, it was a hoax and this is why it was a hoax.
[00:06:30]  They never convicted me.
[00:06:31]  And Schultz said, yeah, I guess that makes sense.
[00:06:33]  And they were pressing him on it because they were trying to tell him, well, no, here's all the evidence.
[00:06:38]  But as an average American, his defense was, as an average American, like there's not, I guess, we didn't see really anything come from it.
[00:06:47]  We just saw like in terms of substance-wise, like we saw, like there was a lot of hearings in Congress.
[00:06:53]  Understood.
[00:06:54]  So, Dan, your point?
[00:06:55]  Sorry, my point is basically, well, how do you think, I guess, we can gain back?
[00:07:02]  Well, I guess my, I guess it's got to be a point here.
[00:07:04]  Sorry.
[00:07:05]  Basically, I think the media focus on, we need to focus on the average American and basically what the average American is going to understand, as well as the truth.
[00:07:15]  But they need to put that in a way that I guess the average American understands.
[00:07:19]  Sorry, it might sound a bit to the.
[00:07:21]  All right.
[00:07:22]  We got other callers waiting.
[00:07:23]  So I'm going to go to Rita, who's in Florida, Democratic caller.
[00:07:25]  Hi, Rita.
[00:07:27]  Hi, Greta.
[00:07:28]  Nice talking with you.
[00:07:30]  I just want to say that, you know, I've been living in this country for over 48 years.
[00:07:38]  And I cannot, I've never had a problem with my grocery shopping.
[00:07:45]  The prices that I pay now is so high.
[00:07:50]  And when I compare the last four years with The Democratic president never had a price that's double.
[00:08:02]  You know, the grocery beds are doubled.
[00:08:05]  And why?
[00:08:06]  You know, it might happen only now.
[00:08:10]  This is my problem.
[00:08:12]  I don't know why, you know, why they're saying that, you know, it was there since years ago.

=== New Policies on Gender-Affirming Care (04:54) ===

[00:08:19]  It was not.
[00:08:20]  Okay, Rita, with grocery prices this morning and the president will be talking about the economy tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, and you can watch it right here on C-SPAN.
[00:08:29]  Yesterday in Washington, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. announced new policies to prevent gender-affirming care to minors.
[00:08:38]  Here's part of that announcement yesterday.
[00:08:42]  We're done with junk science driven by ideological pursuits, not the well-being of children.
[00:08:49]  A peer-reviewed report published by the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health last month confirms that sex-rejecting procedures impose medical dangers and lasting harm on children who receive these interventions.
[00:09:06]  So today we are taking six decisive actions, guided by gold standard science and the week one executive order from President Trump to protect children from chemical and surgical mutilation.
[00:09:21]  this morning i signed a declaration sex rejecting procedures are neither safe nor effective treatment for children with gender dysphoria these procedures failed to meet professionally recognized standards of care Medical professionals or entities providing sex-rejecting procedures to children are out of compliance with these standards of health care.
[00:09:51]  This declaration is a clear directive to providers to follow the science and the overwhelming body of evidence that these procedures hurt, not help children.
[00:10:02]  Additionally, CMS is proposing two new rules.
[00:10:06]  The first rule will bar hospitals that participate in Medicare and Medicaid, which is almost every hospital, from performing these dangerous and harmful procedures.
[00:10:18]  The second rule prohibits the federal Medicaid dollars from funding the sex-rejecting procedures on minors.
[00:10:26]  The HHS Secretary, yesterday on announcing a new rule, the Washington Post headline, HHS to revoke funding from hospitals offering youth gender transition care.
[00:10:37]  The proposed regulations would bar medical providers who offer gender transition care to transgender youth from receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds.
[00:10:48]  Back to Calls.
[00:10:49]  We're an open forum on public policy and politics.
[00:10:52]  We'll go to London, Kentucky.
[00:10:54]  Judith is a Republican.
[00:10:55]  Good morning.
[00:10:57]  Good morning.
[00:10:59]  I have one question I'd like to ask.
[00:11:01]  It's concerning the Epstein files.
[00:11:04]  Okay.
[00:11:05]  All these young girls, you know, being mistreated and all this illegal stuff being done, where were their parents at?
[00:11:14]  All right, Judith.
[00:11:15]  Catherine in New Jersey, Democratic caller.
[00:11:19]  Good morning, Greta.
[00:11:20]  This is Catherine from Burlington.
[00:11:22]  Morning.
[00:11:22]  My top story of the week, Greta, is I can't believe that we are ending the year talking about the ACA, and Congress has not got together with each other to come up a plan to continue the subsidies that's needed or anything else.
[00:11:38]  So my wish for the new year is that they will come up with something so the people who need this insurance can have it.
[00:11:46]  Greta, have a good holiday.
[00:11:49]  Thanks, Catherine.
[00:11:50]  Same to you.
[00:11:50]  Front page of the New York Times this morning on the Epstein files is a very lengthy piece, a two-page full story, full-length story inside the paper that begins on the front page.
[00:12:04]  Don's Best Friend, How Epstein and Trump Bonded Over the Pursuit of Women.
[00:12:10]  The New York Times conducting a lengthy investigation into their friendship this morning, if you're interested in that, they do note the New York Times has found no evidence implicating Mr. Trump in Mr. Epstein's abuse and trafficking of minors.
[00:12:27]  Douglas in Alpermarboro, Maryland, an independent.
[00:12:30]  Good morning to you, Douglas.
[00:12:33]  Good morning.
[00:12:34]  My call is in the vein of this is America and an indictment on America for the fact that ASPA, an association or a society for protection of cruelty against animals.
[00:12:52]  And this organization was started in 1866.

=== Call for Resolving Health Care (13:05) ===

[00:12:58]  And fast forward to where we are now, 2025, and America has not resolved health care issues for its citizens.
[00:13:08]  Although we tout we're the most fortunate country in the world, most educated, but we have not resolved this.
[00:13:20]  And Douglas, what should be the solution?
[00:13:22]  Are you for extending the ACA tax subsidies?
[00:13:29]  No, I am for Congress sitting in and resolving the problem and no one going home until it's resolved.
[00:13:39]  They spend less time than a normal school year in Congress.
[00:13:47]  This is paramount.
[00:13:50]  We have to have health care, both physically as well as mentally.
[00:13:56]  All right.
[00:13:56]  If we want this country to form.
[00:13:59]  All right.
[00:13:59]  And the House and the Senate are out.
[00:14:01]  They are starting their recess for the holidays.
[00:14:05]  The president was asked yesterday about approving, extending those enhanced tax subsidies for Obamacare at the White House.
[00:14:14]  This is what he had to say.
[00:14:15]  These Obamacare subsidies are expiring now in a matter of just a few days.
[00:14:20]  More than 20 million Americans are now bracing for their premiums to skyrocket.
[00:14:24]  Are you going to let this happen or will you intervene?
[00:14:27]  They will skyrocket because it was never any good.
[00:14:29]  I'd like to see the money that is going to the insurance companies by the hundreds of billions of dollars.
[00:14:36]  You know, their stocks are up 1,400%, 1,800%, and 1,624%.
[00:14:43]  Their stocks are up through the roof over a fairly short period of time because they're getting vast amounts of money.
[00:14:49]  I want that money to go to the people directly and let the people buy their own health care.
[00:14:55]  And they'll get much better health care than they get with the Unaffordable Care Act, as it's known by a lot of people.
[00:15:03]  It is virtually unaffordable for people.
[00:15:05]  It's a bad thing.
[00:15:06]  We can have a great thing.
[00:15:08]  Let the money go directly to the people and let them buy their own health care.
[00:15:12]  But this is an urgent problem, Mr. President.
[00:15:13]  Is there anything you can do now, Mr. President?
[00:15:15]  Can I ask you, Mr. President?
[00:15:17]  This is going to be right now, as far as I'm concerned.
[00:15:20]  Go ahead.
[00:15:20]  We just got data today.
[00:15:22]  We have federal exchanges where people come shopping for the ACA.
[00:15:25]  And the president hasn't heard this yet, but we've talked to the team.
[00:15:28]  The percentage change from last year was down 2.7 to 2.8%.
[00:15:35]  Not the massive numbers that have been predicted.
[00:15:37]  And there's many possible reasons for this, but right now Americans are signing up for these programs despite all the things that have been going on.
[00:15:44]  2.8% is a tiny fraction of what many had claimed would happen.
[00:15:49]  And I think it speaks to the fact the American people appreciate these ACA plans are already subsidized over 80%.
[00:15:56]  So it's a good deal, even if you don't get the extra 15, 20%.
[00:16:02]  It's a great solution to much better health care at a much lower cost.
[00:16:08]  But do you want Congress to extend these ACA subsidies?
[00:16:11]  Well, I'd like not to be able to do it.
[00:16:12]  I'd like to get right into this and ask Oz this question in particular, but I'd like to see us get right into this.
[00:16:19]  I don't know why we have to extend.
[00:16:20]  This could be done rapidly if the Democrats would come along.
[00:16:25]  President Trump at the Oval Office in the Oval Office yesterday when he was asked about health care, will he talk about it tonight when he addresses the economy and the rising cost of health care?
[00:16:35]  He'll speak at 9 p.m. Eastern Time in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina.
[00:16:39]  Our coverage is on C-SPAN 2 this evening, C-SPAN 2, 9 p.m. Eastern Time, also online at c-SPAN.org and our free video mobile app at C-SPANNOW.
[00:16:53]  Sticking with health care, the Democratic leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, gathered Democrats on the Capitol steps yesterday to tout his party's ability to secure a vote on the extension of the expiring ACA enhanced subsidies in January when Congress returns.
[00:17:11]  Now those subsidies expire at the end of December.
[00:17:15]  Here's what he had to say.
[00:17:16]  Thank you, House Democrats, for always showing up, standing up, and speaking up for the American people.
[00:17:27]  And because of the leadership of House Democrats, of this House Democratic caucus, we've successfully secured a vote with a successful discharge petition to protect the health care of the American people and extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.
[00:17:49]  We're here gathered on the house steps with one last thing remaining.
[00:17:58]  We want to make clear to Mike Johnson that the American people deserve a vote on the Affordable Care Act tax credit legislation and deserve that vote today.
[00:18:16]  No more excuses, no more delay, no more burying your head in the sand.
[00:18:22]  Under no circumstances should the House of Representatives adjourn until we successfully extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits for tens of millions of Americans.
[00:18:36]  American people deserve a vote today, not tomorrow, not next week, not next year, today.
[00:18:48]  House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries yesterday calling for a vote on extending those enhanced subsidies for ACA.
[00:18:56]  Recent polls from KFF show that when asked if you support extending enhanced ACA tax credits, 92% of Democrats said yes, 82% of Independents and 59% of Republicans.
[00:19:10]  Total, 78% of those polled said yes to extending that.
[00:19:14]  When they broke it down among the Republican Party, 57% of MAGA supporters like the idea of extending enhanced ACA tax credits and 70% of non-MAGA supporters as well.
[00:19:27]  We're an open forum.
[00:19:28]  You can dial in and call in about health care and that debate this morning as well as any other public policy issue.
[00:19:34]  Bill in Spring Hill, Florida, Republican, we'll go to you next.
[00:19:39]  Good morning.
[00:19:40]  Good morning.
[00:19:42]  I'd like to say a couple things.
[00:19:44]  First of all, I like the idea that President Trump wants to give the people the money directly so they can buy their own health care.
[00:19:53]  It will be a lot cheaper and a lot better health care.
[00:19:56]  As far as what's going on in Venezuela, I think we ought to take the Air Force down there and napalm all the poppy fields and Mexico, napalm all the marijuana fields, just burn it all up, and that will stop the flow of drugs from coming in.
[00:20:14]  We don't need an all-out-now war, but we need to go down there and take out the cartels.
[00:20:20]  What does that do to demand?
[00:20:22]  I'm sorry?
[00:20:23]  What does that do to demand?
[00:20:24]  You've killed the supply.
[00:20:26]  Well, what does that do to demand?
[00:20:28]  Well, demand, people are Americans want drugs.
[00:20:32]  Unfortunately, that's the way a lot of people are in this country.
[00:20:35]  They want drugs.
[00:20:37]  We just got to take those drugs away, and they won't be able to get drugs.
[00:20:41]  If there's nothing available, how are they going to get drugs?
[00:20:44]  It's demoralizing our whole country by people being on drugs.
[00:20:49]  This needs to be straightened out.
[00:20:51]  I really would like them to go down and firebomb everything down there, just wipe it all out.
[00:20:56]  You don't have to go into the cities.
[00:20:58]  Just go into the jungles and wipe out all that stuff.
[00:21:01]  All right, Bill.
[00:21:02]  Anthony's a Democrat in Hyattsville, Maryland.
[00:21:05]  You are next, Anthony.
[00:21:07]  Yes.
[00:21:08]  I think Mr. Lawler yesterday was on, and he was contradicting himself.
[00:21:14]  He said that the Obamacare was doomed to fail and everything, but it was because the Republicans voted out the mandate.
[00:21:23]  And then with the double tongue, he said that it ought to be at least his plan, at least $5 per person, you know, to be on the exchange.
[00:21:33]  Well, that's a mandate.
[00:21:35]  That's what they were all against.
[00:21:36]  And had Obamacare, the mandate went through, it would have worked.
[00:21:41]  It would be no problem.
[00:21:42]  Now, just like the Republican Party and all those, I hope you fact check me on this.
[00:21:50]  But Florida got called earlier in the earlier session from Florida.
[00:21:54]  He doesn't want to pay everybody's welfare.
[00:21:56]  What's in the Constitution to provide for the welfare of the nation?
[00:22:00]  Anyway, Florida is the biggest state that collects SNAP benefits, Medicare, Medicaid.
[00:22:07]  Florida gets all this welfare.
[00:22:10]  In fact, all red states get welfare from the blue states.
[00:22:14]  You can fact check me on that.
[00:22:17]  This is, you know, and when they killed the in the first administration, the abortion, a lot of the doctors left and retired because they were being demonized.
[00:22:29]  Their colleagues left or moved to bluer pastures, blue states, where they're not being demonized.
[00:22:35]  Now they don't have any doctors, and I'm pretty sure the rates, you know, supply and demand.
[00:22:39]  If you don't have any doctors in the South, what little doctors there are are going to cost even more because you don't have.
[00:22:46]  And I'm sure that the chart will show that right after the Supreme Court reversed abortion and demonized all the doctors, the rates went up.
[00:22:56]  All right.
[00:22:56]  Anthony, with his thoughts in Maryland, we did have Mike Lawler, the congressman from New York, on the Washington Journal yesterday.
[00:23:03]  He's one of the four Republicans who signed a discharge petition with all the Democrats to force a vote on extending those enhanced tax subsidies for the Affordable Care Act.
[00:23:15]  Mike Lawler, a Republican of New York, joining Robert Bresnahan, a Republican of Pennsylvania, Ryan McKinsey, also Pennsylvania, and Brian Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania, again.
[00:23:26]  Those four Republicans joining with Democrats.
[00:23:29]  When Mike Lawler spoke with us yesterday here on the Washington Journal, it was a day after signing that discharge petition.
[00:23:36]  Here's what he had to say about both parties and their handling of health care.
[00:23:40]  The truth is, they don't actually want to extend this.
[00:23:43]  They want the issue.
[00:23:45]  That's the fundamental problem here that we're dealing with.
[00:23:48]  The Republicans don't want to put the bill on the floor because they want the tax credit to expire.
[00:23:53]  The Democrats, led by Leader Jeffries, have put a three-year extension forward because they don't actually want it to pass.
[00:24:02]  They want the issue.
[00:24:03]  And that's why a bipartisan group of us have actually worked together to come up with compromise legislation.
[00:24:09]  So, what's going to happen here is come January, when the bill is forced for a vote, it will pass in the House, it'll go to the Senate, and the Senate is going to have to come back with a bipartisan compromise.
[00:24:22]  As we saw just last week, when Chuck Schumer tried to force this straight three-year extension, it failed in the Senate.
[00:24:28]  It did not reach the requisite number of 60 votes to end debate and move the bill forward.
[00:24:34]  So, there's going to have to be a compromise, which has been my point from the start.
[00:24:39]  If you missed our conversation with Mike Lawler, you can find it online at c-span.org.
[00:24:45]  Thomas, Humble Texas Independent.
[00:24:47]  What's on your mind, Thomas?
[00:24:49]  Man, good marriage.
[00:24:51]  Merry Christmas, everybody.
[00:24:52]  How are you guys doing?
[00:24:53]  Good morning.
[00:24:54]  Hey, listen, who's decorating the East Wing?
[00:24:58]  Looks like the South Side of Jersey, sure, all the gilded stuff and all that.
[00:25:03]  But back to reality, I love Trump's prescription for drugs.
[00:25:09]  So he's going to pay me 200% on my drugs, right?
[00:25:14]  So if my things cost $100, I get $100 back.
[00:25:18]  And he did $300.
[00:25:21]  Great.
[00:25:21]  Hey, send me the check in the mail.
[00:25:23]  But listen, and another thing about that: who's going to bail out the farmers?
[00:25:29]  I mean, am I going to bail out the farmers?
[00:25:31]  Why should they be bailed out?
[00:25:34]  Are the tails really real?
[00:25:36]  And listen, I don't care if you're magging all this, but I know you guys are into Cash Catel and Candace Owens.
[00:25:43]  So between those two folks right there, man, you guys work it out.
[00:25:48]  In the meantime, don't buy your kids, only one Barbie Dalton and one G.I. Joe, and we'll be okay.
[00:25:54]  All right, Thomas.
[00:25:56]  Jerry is in Long Beach, Washington State, a Republican.