CSPAN - Washington Journal Open Phones
Aired: 2026-03-13
Duration: 21:59


=== Ukraine Veterans vs NATO (04:37) ===

[00:00:00]  To your question, in fact, Ukraine considers veterans as those who have been in active combat.
[00:00:07]  And that's a very important distinction between Ukraine and some of the other NATO countries, for example, where pure service would lead to the status of the veteran.
[00:00:18]  So we have over a million of those who have been in active combat.
[00:00:23]  We're having a technical problem with the video coming to us, but we hope to bring it to you later in our program schedule.
[00:00:35]  Morning, everyone.
[00:00:36]  We'll begin with the Washington Post.
[00:00:38]  This news happening late last night, late yesterday, I should say.
[00:00:42]  The Trump administration is now allowing for Russian oil sales as energy prices soar.
[00:00:49]  From the Treasury Secretary Scott Besson, on X, he posted, to increase the global reach of existing supply, the U.S. Treasury is providing a temporary authorization to permit countries to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea.
[00:01:05]  This narrowly tailored, short-term measure applies only to oil already in transit.
[00:01:10]  It will not provide significant and will not provide significant benefit to the Russian government, which derives the majority of its energy revenue from taxes assessed at the point of extraction.
[00:01:24]  That's the Treasury Secretary with that announcement.
[00:01:27]  The price of gasoline is going up at the pump.
[00:01:30]  We've seen a barrel of oil going over $100.
[00:01:35]  Again, according to the average gas price, it's around $3.60 across the country.
[00:01:44]  And so this morning, we want to know from you which party do you trust on the economy?
[00:01:49]  There it is on your screen from AAA, the latest on fuel prices.
[00:01:55]  Also, I want to share with you this morning from the New York Times that the Iranian leader yesterday, the newly appointed Ayatollah, made his first public statement.
[00:02:08]  And in that, he vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz blocked as oil shock grips the globe.
[00:02:15]  That's the New York Times this morning.
[00:02:17]  And in that, they report this: on the 13th day of a war that has put on display the overwhelming military power of the United States and Israel, Mr. Khamenei's address appeared to underline that the Iranian leadership believes it has found an effective pressure point, choking off oil and gas to the rest of the world.
[00:02:39]  Iran's military has warned that no ships can transit the Strait of Hormuz, the portal to the Gulf through which one-fifth of the world's oil supply passes without Iran's permission.
[00:02:54]  From the New York Times this morning on that.
[00:02:57]  The Washington Post also reporting this morning on oil prices and what the U.S. is considering.
[00:03:05]  They're looking at the Jones Act this morning, which is a restriction on what type of ships can take U.S. imports, exports.
[00:03:18]  Here's the Washington Post this morning.
[00:03:21]  White House considers lifting shipping law in an effort to ease energy prices.
[00:03:26]  And this is what they report.
[00:03:27]  The White House is now considering waiving the Jones Act, a 1920 law that requires goods transported between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-owned ships.
[00:03:39]  So that is also what the White House is considering in order to help ease prices.
[00:03:46]  I also want to show you one other headline related to Iran and the economy.
[00:03:53]  USA Today front page, war costs topped at $11 billion in six days of this fighting.
[00:04:05]  The first six days is what they report.
[00:04:09]  The USA Today says that at least $11.3 billion in munitions alone, according to the Pentagon's estimates.
[00:04:17]  That total does not include the cost of operating and maintaining the military force engaged in war or the battle damage sustained from Iran's attacks.
[00:04:27]  The military used about $5.6 billion in munitions in the first two days of this conflict.
[00:04:35]  So that is from USA Today.

=== War Costs and Housing Needs (12:43) ===

[00:04:38]  This morning we're asking you, when it comes to the economy and how it's impacting your wallet, which party do you trust to steer this economy?
[00:04:48]  We are just 200-some days away from the midterm election, so we're checking in to see how you plan to vote when it comes to the economy.
[00:04:57]  And there are the lines on your screen.
[00:04:59]  Take a look at this NBC poll that was recently done.
[00:05:02]  Which party do you prefer control of Congress?
[00:05:06]  When they asked those that they polled on this question, 50% said Democrats, 44% said Republicans, and 6% said that they were not sure.
[00:05:18]  Republicans gathered for their annual retreat this week.
[00:05:23]  They were not in session in the House, House Republicans, that is.
[00:05:26]  Here's Majority Leader Steve Scalise talking to reporters at this week's retreat in Florida on the GOP's midterm strategy on affordability.
[00:05:37]  We had a lot of mess to mop up from four years of Joe Biden.
[00:05:40]  Let's not forget the record high inflation, record high interest rates, costs through the roof.
[00:05:46]  Democrats never wanted to talk about affordability when they were jacking up costs on all families, making housing unaffordable for families, opening up our border and letting violent criminals come into this country.
[00:06:00]  And President Trump ran to fix that, and we as House Republicans ran to work with him to fix those problems for working families, and we've been delivering.
[00:06:10]  And make no mistake, this work is far from finished.
[00:06:14]  We're just getting started, and we're delivering real results for families.
[00:06:18]  They're finally starting to see costs start coming down.
[00:06:21]  Not to the level they were before Joe Biden started racking up those costs, but they're finally coming down.
[00:06:27]  When people file their tax returns this year, four in ten American families are getting real money back, over $1,000 back for most working families.
[00:06:37]  And every Democrat voted against that money being put back in the pockets of working families.
[00:06:43]  Think about this for senior citizens.
[00:06:45]  Senior citizens are seeing a $6,000 tax credit, which for 85% of seniors means they're not going to pay any taxes on Social Security.
[00:06:55]  That was Steve Scalise, the House Republican Majority Leader, talking about their party's strategy for the midterm elections and how they plan to address affordability.
[00:07:06]  Before we get to your calls on this question, which party do you trust in the economy, listen to the Democratic leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries.
[00:07:14]  This is what he had to say Democrats will do to try to win back the majority in November.
[00:07:20]  Well, our top line focus clearly has to be to drive down the high cost of living.
[00:07:24]  One, with respect to housing, I think we need to build more housing in order to make sure that we can drop costs so that everyday Americans can afford to both pay their rent, we can bring down the cost of rent by increasing the supply dramatically.
[00:07:39]  We also need to make home ownership, particularly for first-time homebuyers, more affordable.
[00:07:45]  So we want to focus on that.
[00:07:46]  We certainly need to bring down the high cost of health care, and one of the ways in which we can do it is to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.
[00:07:54]  Now, we've managed to do that in the House, but right now, John Thune and Senate Republicans are playing games and have refused to do what the American people are demanding, which will bring down housing, excuse me, health care costs and make it more affordable for more than 20 million Americans instantaneously and also have a positive impact on others.
[00:08:16]  Third thing that I would mention, of course, is that we've got to ensure that we stop the Trump tariffs.
[00:08:22]  They are increasing costs by thousands of dollars per year on everyday Americans.
[00:08:28]  And Congress needs to reclaim that power as opposed to what Republicans have done in the House, which is to continue to bury their heads in the sand and be a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump's extreme agenda.
[00:08:40]  The Democratic leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, on Tuesday.
[00:08:43]  Now, the Senate yesterday did take action on housing.
[00:08:47]  This is the headline from the New York Times in a rare, bipartisan move as the Senate passes a housing reform bill.
[00:08:55]  And this is what they report, that the Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed the largest piece of housing legislation in 36 years as Republicans and Democrats banded together to tackle a major cost of living issue.
[00:09:09]  But the bill still faces major hurdles as Republicans feud over what should be included.
[00:09:14]  And President Trump, who backs the measure, signals that is not a priority.
[00:09:19]  The package, which passed by a vote of 89 to 10, aims to boost the supply of new housing, a critical step toward bringing down housing costs by removing regulatory barriers, providing incentives, and preserving the existing supply.
[00:09:34]  And it would also set new limits on the role institutional investors play in the single-family housing market, a top goal of the president when signed, who signed an executive order on the issue in January.
[00:09:47]  So the Senate taking action yesterday on passing a housing bill.
[00:09:52]  However, look at the Washington Times headline.
[00:09:55]  Senate passes bipartisan housing package, but the House wants changes.
[00:10:02]  Now, from Punch Bull's reporting, they scooped earlier this week.
[00:10:07]  Speaker Mike Johnson informed House GOP leaders this week that the president told him no one gives a bleep about housing.
[00:10:16]  A message intended to convey that President Trump made the Safe America Act his top legislative priority.
[00:10:25]  This is on voter ID instead of housing from Punch Bull News.
[00:10:30]  They go on to write that that is a top priority instead.
[00:10:35]  And of all of this, and all of this is far in the background of the Iran war, which is dominating everything in Washington.
[00:10:43]  Without clear marching orders from Trump, Republicans are descending into a pitched bicameral standoff.
[00:10:49]  Rank-and-file House Republicans and their leaders are threatening to force a formal negotiation, potentially unraveling the carefully crafted Senate package.
[00:10:59]  And Senator John Kennedy, a Republican of Louisiana, told Punch Bull he'd spoken to the House colleagues on Wednesday about potential tweaks to their Senate housing bill.
[00:11:08]  But the Louisiana Republican also warned that if the House rips the bill apart, Congress's chance to pass a housing bill this year will fail.
[00:11:19]  So this morning, with all of that on the table, which party do you trust on the economy?
[00:11:25]  David's in New York, an independent.
[00:11:28]  Good morning to you, David.
[00:11:30]  Hi, yes.
[00:11:31]  Good morning, America.
[00:11:32]  Good morning, Grave.
[00:11:33]  This is my first time calling your program.
[00:11:36]  Normally, I vote on issues instead of party.
[00:11:40]  But I'm sorry to say this.
[00:11:42]  I want to ask one question.
[00:11:43]  Why you said that?
[00:11:45]  All the wars that have started in the last 10 years or 15 years have all been started by Republican administrations.
[00:11:52]  I do not trust the Republican Party when it comes to the economy.
[00:11:56]  They only offer the big friends and big multi-corporations and the big welfare corporate giants who are called to be corporate welfare sponsors.
[00:12:07]  And this economy is going to go down the dream with this war going on.
[00:12:11]  We're now spending $11 billion a day.
[00:12:14]  That's just for equipment alone.
[00:12:17]  That's not even included for costs and for other things.
[00:12:20]  As a result, the economy is going down the tube.
[00:12:23]  And one last thing I'll say: the Democrats are going to take over the House of Representatives and the Senate come September.
[00:12:30]  And this man is going to stop dead in his tracks.
[00:12:33]  And then the rest of these Republicans are going to see who are they going to cartel behind or where is that tail going to fall off?
[00:12:40]  Thank you very much.
[00:12:41]  America, watch out and listen and see which party takes you into war and which party does not take you into war.
[00:12:47]  Thank you very much.
[00:12:48]  America, have a pleasant day.
[00:12:50]  All right.
[00:12:51]  David, an independent in New York, predicting Democrats take back the majority in the House and the Senate.
[00:12:58]  Howard in New London, Ohio, Republican.
[00:13:00]  Howard, which party do you trust on the economy and why?
[00:13:05]  Republicans, as far as the gas prices, oil going up and everything, this has been going on for what, 20, 30, 40 years.
[00:13:17]  Every time Iran wants to get mad or something and they shut down the strait, the prices all go up or the shipping's got to go all the way around and they charge you more there too.
[00:13:31]  So this has happened, I don't know how many times.
[00:13:36]  It needs to be done.
[00:13:37]  It needs to be fixed.
[00:13:39]  And it needs to be done all the way, not like it usually does go.
[00:13:46]  Yeah, Howard, what needs to be done specifically?
[00:13:49]  You can't do that.
[00:13:51]  Howard, what specifically needs to be done and all the way?
[00:13:56]  Well, people don't need laws.
[00:14:00]  They need morals.
[00:14:01]  And most of the people in this world don't have morals.
[00:14:06]  So you got to have rules and laws.
[00:14:08]  Iran does not go by any, they hate all of our rules and laws.
[00:14:14]  They think we're the Satan.
[00:14:16]  You can't fix that.
[00:14:19]  I heard, as far as the economy goes, on C-SPAN, I heard yesterday or the day before about how America one time put in a law to where all American oil can only be sold in America.
[00:14:33]  I understand oil companies own the oil because they get the oil rights when they buy the property.
[00:14:40]  I assume that's how that works.
[00:14:42]  So they have the rights to sell it to whoever they want, you know, and make whatever money they want.
[00:14:47]  But when it comes to the world economy, not just a person making a buck, making a living, when it comes to the whole world, no, that needs to be taken away.
[00:14:58]  It needs to be stopped.
[00:14:59]  They need to, if that's true, that they had a law to where oil, American oil, could only be sold in America.
[00:15:07]  They need to go back to that.
[00:15:09]  Okay.
[00:15:09]  And let us hash it on ourselves.
[00:15:12]  Why is our oil and the oil that he's going to release?
[00:15:15]  Now, is that oil just staying here?
[00:15:18]  You're talking about the oil reserves.
[00:15:21]  Yeah.
[00:15:22]  Or is it going to get shipped everywhere else for everybody else when it was ours and we paid for it?
[00:15:29]  And it's crazy.
[00:15:31]  All right, Howard, let me read from the New York Times this morning on the oil reserves.
[00:15:36]  Why oil costs aren't falling despite the release of the reserves?
[00:15:40]  Oil futures have again topped $100 a barrel.
[00:15:44]  The latest surge after days of wild price swings in the market since the United States and Israel first struck Iran.
[00:15:50]  But this uptick came after the International Energy Agency, that's in the U.S., on Wednesday announced that more than 30 countries would release a record amount of oil from their emergency reserves.
[00:16:05]  So it's not just the U.S., but other countries as well.
[00:16:08]  Instead of reassuring jittery markets, the news seemed to further spook traders by underscoring how far the world is from reopening trade in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway and vital trading route that separates Middle Eastern oil producers from their customers.
[00:16:24]  This concern was further reinforced when three ships were attacked in the channel on Wednesday.
[00:16:30]  Before the war, the strait carried more than 20 million barrels a day, roughly one-fifth of the world's supply.
[00:16:37]  That traffic is virtually halted.
[00:16:40]  While world leaders agreed to release a record 400 million barrels of oil from the strategic reserves, that is only about 20 days' worth of oil that would normally flow through the strait.
[00:16:53]  So that's from the New York Times reporting this morning to answer your question about who's releasing the reserves.
[00:17:01]  It's not just the United States, 30 other countries, and why you're not seeing the price go down quite yet.
[00:17:07]  We're asking all of you this morning ahead of campaign 2026, which party do you trust on the economy?
[00:17:15]  Roberts in Arkansas, Democratic caller, good morning.
[00:17:18]  Let's hear from you.
[00:17:20]  Good morning.

=== Finding Consensus for Reconciliation (04:37) ===

[00:17:22]  I said the Democrats do a better job with the economy.
[00:17:25]  Now, I hear them always bashing Joe Biden, but they got to remember when Joe Biden came into office, it was behind President Trump, and it was a pandemic, and everything was going downhill.
[00:17:37]  And Biden fought and tried his best to bring everything back to normal.
[00:17:41]  He was succeeding.
[00:17:43]  Now we got President Trump in there.
[00:17:45]  Everything now started off, he was bragging how good it was because he came in.
[00:17:49]  But now things are going down and he's going to still start blaming everything on Joe Biden.
[00:17:54]  And it's one more thing: Donald Trump has got the Republican Party like trained seals, Scalise, Johnson, and Thunder.
[00:18:02]  He got them all acting like trained SEALs.
[00:18:04]  They have no backbone.
[00:18:06]  They scared of the man.
[00:18:07]  They don't want to think about their jobs and their jobs on it.
[00:18:09]  And I listened to him yesterday on TV.
[00:18:12]  He said that we're going to make a whole lot of money behind these oil prices going up.
[00:18:16]  So that tells you right there that he's not even seeing what America happened to the American people.
[00:18:21]  And on top of that, you finna hang up.
[00:18:25]  No, we're listening.
[00:18:26]  On top of that, what?
[00:18:28]  Okay, on top of that, him and his family is making all kinds of money behind these different things.
[00:18:32]  Everything he does.
[00:18:33]  And this war, I heard that this feminist opened up a drone factory.
[00:18:38]  So that means that they're going to be making money from now on and get a contract with a contract with them drones that they're going to be making.
[00:18:45]  So now that's what it's in money.
[00:18:48]  Okay.
[00:18:48]  Robert, I'm going to leave it there and pick up on what you said about House Republican leaders because they held a retreat in Florida this year with this week with rank and file Republicans.
[00:18:59]  And joining us this morning is Katie Santalis, Kate Santalese, who's a congressional reporter with Axios.
[00:19:06]  And why were Republicans meeting in Florida?
[00:19:11]  What were they doing there?
[00:19:13]  Thank you for having me.
[00:19:14]  Yeah, so House Republicans met earlier this week in Dural, Florida, for their annual policy retreat.
[00:19:20]  And the goal here was really to map out their legislative agenda for the rest of the year.
[00:19:25]  Now, we did learn that there was some of that happening.
[00:19:27]  There were definitely discussions around that, but the path forward for doing another mega bill, which some members would like to see, turns out to be a little bit more complicated than they had previously thought.
[00:19:37]  House Speaker Mike Johnson would really like to see another Reconciliation 2.0.
[00:19:41]  He told reporters that it may not be as big, but it'll be just as beautiful.
[00:19:46]  But the issue here is going to be finding consensus around what will actually go into that bill for Republicans.
[00:19:52]  What we've learned is that there seems to be the most consensus around cutting fraud and abuse and waste in social safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP.
[00:20:01]  And then there are also some smaller items around health care and housing.
[00:20:05]  But you need to find 200 plus members to get on board with all the same topics.
[00:20:10]  And with Ross Johnson's razor-thin majorities, he's going to need nearly everyone.
[00:20:15]  So that's why there are a lot of members who were open about being skeptical about getting this done, including House Ways Immune Chair Jason Smith.
[00:20:23]  He was central to the last round of reconciliation.
[00:20:26]  And then there are really two more major hurdles here, and that's timing and the president.
[00:20:30]  Timing-wise, they really only have the spring to get this done with a real deadline of probably Labor Day before campaign season really goes into full swing.
[00:20:38]  The last reconciliation that we saw, that took several months, lots of late nights, and a lot of work.
[00:20:44]  So some members are skeptical that they have the time and the energy to get that done.
[00:20:48]  And then the second hurdle is President Trump.
[00:20:50]  He had addressed House Republicans on Monday night of their retreat, and notably, he did not urge them to pass another reconciliation bill.
[00:20:58]  Instead, he made clear that his number one legislative priority for this Congress for the rest of the year is passing the Save America Act, that voter ID legislation that has not been able to get through the Senate.
[00:21:09]  So yes, there were lots of discussions about the legislative path forward for the rest of the year, but they don't have the consensus that they need right now.
[00:21:17]  Are they torn the Republican Party and the House of Republicans specifically on addressing affordability versus the president's priority of this voter ID law?
[00:21:28]  Yes.
[00:21:29]  Something that you hear from House Republicans is that we need to be talking about affordability.
[00:21:33]  We need to do something on housing, on health care, on more tax cuts.
[00:21:38]  But the president, as we've heard him say, has called affordability a hoax.
[00:21:41]  But Republicans need to be able to do that.
[00:21:43]  We're going to leave this to take you live now to the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University, where retired Army General Stanley McChrystal is sitting down for a discussion on leadership and integrity, which he writes about in his book On Character, Choices That Define a Life.
[00:21:58]  You're watching live coverage on