Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 05262020 20240713

And central time zones, 202 7488001 for mountain and pacific time zones. Appearses as a new poll on the pages of usa today this morning. A story about americans pulled and asked if they wear a face mask. Have worn a mask in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus according to a survey from the democracy fund. Were conducted in this poll. There is a small disparity among age groups. People are slightly less mask, 70 have worn a percent of those 18 from 29. Americans 65 and older say they have worn a mask. To the cdc, here is what they say about face coverings. Individuals with cannavirus symptoms transmit the virus before showing symptoms. This means the virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity. Evidence,f this new the cdc recommends wearing cloth faith cover cloth face coverings. Especially in areas of significant communitybased transmission. Those of the cdc recommendations. A couple days ago, it was dr. Deborah birx. She was asked about the importance of wearing a face mask are seeing growing confrontations in stores where customers say you have got to wear a mask and some customers say you are violating my rights. Member toking this put on a mask. Im not doing it. I woke up in a free country. I am asking you a Public Health question. Would you tell someone who says i have a right not to wear a mask in public. Collects we have said that there is Clear Scientific evidence by all the droplet experiments that have happened to show that i mask it does permit droplets from reaching others. Out of respect for each other, as americans that care for each other, we need to be Wearing Masks where we cannot social distance. We have the Scientific Evidence of how important mask wearing is to prevent those from reaching others. Rogers posting this morning about the face mask. I wear the mask for the benefit of my fellow americans. This person, i will not wear a mask. If people want to wear a mask, they should if they want to feel safe. But that is all that masks do. Their health is not my responsibility. It is theirs. At 202 ext us 7488003. If you want to call us, we had to divide the lines for eastern and central time zones and pacific time zones. Clarence starts off this morning. Good morning. Caller i think it should be a requirement if you want to go out somewhere. I wear them to protect myself and others. If you want to go to the grocery, that is how you protect yourself and others. I have not gone to work in a while. I am actually a male stripper. I work in a local gay bar to ronnie in go irving, texas. I believe they show where face masks. It is for the greater good. Our president and Vice President do not wear them. They are setting a bad example for the rest of the country. I think everybody should wear. Hem host when you go out and about and when you do so, what do you notice about people wearing face masks . Is it a common occurrence . How would you rate that in texas . Caller i live right outside of dallas. Host let me stop you there because you are breaking up. Maybe if you can improve the signal we will give another shot. Greg in michigan. Hello. Your next up. Good morning. Caller wearing a mask is very important. It shows that you honor your country and those leaders of the country. Did you go out this weekend for the holiday . Caller mostly at a cottage. Did not go out much in public. But i have noticed that when i am out in public, like at a Grocery Store, that most people honor the Wearing Masks. I think it is extremely important. Yourmes across as honoring country and honoring those scientists and doctors that say please wear a mask. I do not believe the president as honoring the problem we are going through properly. If i mayhis up bring this up, you had the president of the United States saluting the flag with his hand at his forehead. That is military veterans only. Your hand goes on your heart. The president yesterday was out for memorial day about. Ies, out and there were videos of him online and not wearing a face mask. We also saw joe biden out yesterday wearing a face mask. We are asking you about face mask coverings and what you think about them. Christian, arizona, hello. I want to point out that the National Institute of health have conducted two different studies. Conducted march 13, 20 20, and other 4, 2020. Was confirming medical masks versus n95 respirators for preventing covid19, and they found imprecision of available evidence. Repeat, indirectness and imprecision of available ,vidence that medical masks even n95 masks, what prevents you from contracting covid19. This also concludes whether it would be you or individuals around you. The other study they conducted was on the infected in this on n95 respirator conducted was on the effectiveness of this in they recommended it should not be recommended for the public. I want you to know that masks are only meant for professionals. If you are in a medical profession or a technical profession, that may be good for employment, but if you are in the general public you should not be Wearing Masks, and furthermore there is no talk ortsoever on immune health how to boost your immune system or how to build up a defense so that you did not contract the virus. Study, are from the you worried about transmission if you go out without a mask . Caller noah. I do not wear a mask. Singleas not been a person who has even had the fortitude to come next to me and tell me i need to wear a mask or kick me out of their store or their business because the general public knows people are not putting up with this nonsense. Ago, out here in scottsdale and phoenix, there were people shocked and stunned at the number of people who were out at nightclubs with hundreds of people because the general public knows that they were lied to about the coronavirus host we will leave it there. Valley, newing york, you are next up. Hello. Caller are you talking to me . Host yes. Caller ok. , vietnam vets,ld and i have copd. I wear a mask continuously when i do not have oxygen on. When i go out, everybody has a mask. It is an odd ball that does not have a mask on. I think masks are too expensive. I see the man, the bodegas, there are three dollars for a mask. Them . What do you pay for caller what . Host what did you pay . Caller all tell you what. I will tell you what. I was in the Grocery Store. This was in the beginning. A lady walks up to me and says, you dont have a mask. I said no. She gave me half a box. I still have them. I also bought a stack of hankies and i watch them continuously. Wash them continuously. I want to keep it that way. I have copd. James. In minneapolis, a new policy going into effect. In order to minimize the spread of coronavirus, it will be storesry torah mask and to wear a mask in stores, recreation centers, government buildings. Businesses will not be per death required to provide masks. Violations could be punished by fines. With more commercial activity is set to resume, it is important wearing a cloth mask is not a substitute for measures like physical distancing that have already asked us extend the curve. That applies to minneapolis. Maybe you can apply that to the situation where you live. Again, your thoughts on face coverings. If you wear one, or decide not to, you can give us your thoughts on that. Eastern and central time zones, that is 202 7488000. Mountain and pacific, 202 7488001. Bob is next. You are on. I practice physical distance. I dont like people. It looks like we are dealing with a bunch of sheep here. I would not worry mask at gunpoint. This is ridiculous. If you do not want to get sick, do not leave the house. Host is that what you have done . Caller i leave the house to go to the Grocery Store and they take care of elderly people and put gas in my car. Host you dont wear a mask for those situations . Dealing withi am elderly people i wear a mask and i only do it in deference to them. It is all for show. Host jeremy in california. Your next step. I wear this stuff in diet made about republican. I hear some of these callers that do not wear a mask. This pseudomacho this in air against against fellow pseudomachoness and arrogance against americans. You are thinking, where does this arrogance come from . Is it just pure arrogance . Or is it a lack of intelligence level . Host do you think not wearing a mask has risen to being a type of protest of some type . Caller i think it goes back to our great freedom, the tremendous freedom we have been yet it states we have in the United States. But we are going through a major world pandemic right now that came out of china. No matter where we are politically, just out of respect for our fellow americans. Mask,o not want to wear a right, you bite the bullet and wear the mask. Think it is extremely selfish and arrogant not to wear a mask in public in and i think it should be a federal decree and it should come down from the president and his cabinet that ,f you are out in public everybody will wear a mask. Host when you see the president out without a mask, what do you think . That is because reasons. Cal he does not want to look nerdy and meek in the wimpy and wimpy. He does not want to put the mask on and give media the opportunity. A lot of it is the fact that he is wise enough because he is running for reelection. I will not give him any ammunition where they will run some ad of me wearing some undersized mask or this and that. Jeremy in california next. I have a concern. Birx make adeborah comment in reference to we should, you know, wear masks because we care about americans, care about each other, and we love to sit around and sing kumbaya. To me, that is an emotional opinion about why we should do this. Fauci madesixth, dr. The statement that the general public Wearing Masks creates a shortage for healthcare workers. Ofthere is different points view in reference to these wearing of masks. Make individual decisions on what we are going to wear, do for our health. Toldren, of course, we need protect them. Petty. This debate is at the president is doing a good job. I think the president is doing a job. Host your personal practice of wearing a mask. What is it . Caller i keep one with me handy. Iht where the train might wear one on the train. We are creating this culture that people are being judged because they are not wearing a mask. Wholeoes against the concept of what dr. Birx was saying. Have some compassion. Some people cannot wear these masks for medical reasons. We need to look beyond this mask debate. Wearing a mask when i get america back to work. Host we will go to diane in iowa. I have been listening on the phone. I have my eyes closed so i do not see you. Nobody is talking about the loneliness. I have everything the virus againand i am on a day 13 just because my family tells me how when they go to the store, the kids are out and about with no masks. People are out and about all gathered together. Let alone, i live rural and have to go to the next town or city. When it gets down to it, if i have to break out the dry milk i will, but it is the loneliness. But i do go out and worry mask. If i do go into a walmart, i do wear gloves. People look at me strange, which is fine with me, but it is the loneliness. Host so being a sigh fell slated so being self isolated . Caller yes. I have a dollar store here in the Grocery Store. When the meat prices went up, it was like eugh. I did get a couple fresh vegetables. I am 62. All these views in opinions, my goodness. I praise you guys for having this show. So many opinions. Host stay tuned it, stay with us. Andcan hear from america reflect on their thoughts. Diana mentioned meets. Meat. A story in the New York Times concerning meatpacking facilities. Says there were nearly 5000 meatpacking workers infected with the virus as of the end of next month. Number estimated that had climbed to more than 17,000. The outbreaks may be more expensive. Officials received mixed signals about how much information to release. ,ccording to internal emails provided to the New York Times, the messages left many workers and communities in the dark about the extent of the spread parts of the brassica spread in parts of nebraska, iowa, colorado. Perduemer president of talks about masks and the Washington Post saying that 45,000 young people, the biggest student population we have ever want to be here this fall, tell them we are too competent incompetent or fearful to protect your elders so we will strip your education. To tell them that they combined with rigorous hygiene and prudent social, more protection, hvac improvements, other measures we take. Ach boilermaker will receive face mask and a thermometer. Again, there is more of that if you want to read that in the Washington Post. We will go to valerie in richmond virginia. Morning. Ood i believe we should all were met we should all wear face masks. We are dying at a higher rate. Some urban cities. The fact of the matter of not wearing a face mask is to me almost ridiculous. My sister immediately started making face masks for the family. I find out that mostly our people,the older black will wear masks. It unfortunately, most people do not see with the mask in my area. It is to protect other people, but as far as being africanamerican, it is a must. Whole society is being ravaged by this virus. My grandson worked at a taco bell. They are considered firstline workers. A mild version, contracted the virus. I was very upset about it. I am a retired vet. We are used to trying to follow the orders of our commanderinchief. When he walks around without a disrespectful is and almost mocking people that do. I think that is why we have such arrogance. For the black Community Come out did not have the arrogance we did not have the luxury of having the arrogance to not worry mask. Caller i talked to my sister about a month ago i lost my sister about a month ago. Host new rochelle was one of those areas that was hardest hit. Caller yes it was. Pertaining to a gentleman who called a few calls back regarding trump. At the ceremony yesterday. How he put his hand at his head and did not cross his heart. We cannot expect him to know any different. Host back to your sister. You are saying she lost her life because of covid19. Caller yes, about a month ago. Rochelle, have you seen a difference in people wearing face coverings . Caller a lot of people do their a lot of people do wear them. But when i go to the supermarket, i notice most people do wear them. Host and that is your practice as well . Caller definitely. I have a heart problem. I am 73. I am taking no chances. If you go to vote in november, remember trump lied. Morning. D caller good morning. I think that wearing the mask is an individual choice. To me it is another control thing. What is the purpose of wearing the mask . So you do not spread the virus if you are not sure you have it. If you do not have the mask and have to cough or sneeze, cough and sneeze into your elbow. If everyone would practice watching your hands, do not touch her face. If you want to wear a mask, wear a mask, but i think it is an individual choice. Host you called it a control thing. Why is that . Caller in virginia, the governor mandated people wear a mask. I think a policy when it comes to businesses is expected out this week. Caller he is in Virginia Beach taking selfies with people, not social distancing, not wearing his mask. Trump thehand, reason we do not spread the mask is because we do not wear the we do not spread the virus. He is getting tested every day. He knows he does not have the virus. Stories aboutre beaches in alabama, how they were pretty full. People, many without masks. What do you think about that . And i wenthusband out to dinner friday night. The restaurants were packed. People were not Wearing Masks. It is their choice. Know, you have ways to protect yourself if you do not have a mask on. Host ok. Sharon in alabama it giving us perspective. We have been doing this for about half an hour. We will continue until 8 00. If you want to give your perspective in the eastern and central time zones, it is 202 7488000. Mountain and pacific, 202 7488000. The New York Times talks about another form of protection besides the face mask. It is the face shield that is the subject of a story this morning saying that a doctor who in an opinion article published last week and colleagues of his say that a simple plastic face shield could prevent the transmission of infections when added to other Public Health measures. The story goes on to say that face shields may be easier to wear than masks, comparing them to wearing glasses and a hat. They wrap around a small portion of a persons forehead rather than covering half of the face with material. Many people also wear masks incorrectly. To readjusttend face masks frequently or remove them to talk. While cloth masks can prevent people from spreading germs to others, they do not usually protect the wearer from infection. Hello. It think you for taking my call. Call. Nk you for taking my i live in california in an area that is low in terms of how many cases there has been. Regardless, i am nearing 74 years old. My son lives on the property that i rent. Conscientiousy when it comes to protecting me and protecting others. Is a leather worker but he made his own mask after looking at the internet as to what was necessary. He goes to the store for me. I have not been out at all. He goes to the store for me and does whatever needs to be done. He is very careful. He will wear gloves and his mask. He works for a gentleman up the mountain that has an airbnb. He works one day a week and he tol not let the gentleman be near him when he is working. Careful. I appreciate it. I think a lot of the nonwearing mask people are fooling themselves. I think it is ignorant to not want to care for others. There is also host ok. This is paul in pennsylvania texting us this morning saying, i do not like that i have to wear one, but as a courtesy i will continue. Another i do wear the mask. When you do not wear one, you are saying you only matter. Jacksonville, florida. Caller i wear a mask. I generally wear a mask because the Scientists Say that that will help protect us and others. It would help keep the virus from spreading. Is it so much an inconvenience for people to put on a mask . That is the problem with us. It is this convenience thing that has gotten us into trouble. We want to go back into normal, but we want to make we should make door we should make normal different than it was before. The president and the mask wearing thing. He should wear a mask just to for people. Ge as we know, that president is not a good example for anyone. Ody should be patenting patterning after him. Host the topic of masks is themselves. A new sense of normal. Will behink face masks a longterm thing with us . Caller i am saying if we get pandemic, we should not go back to normal as in saving the environment. We should stop doing some of the things we were doing in the past. We should look at this is a new beginning. Host ok. Hilary swift in the New York Times this morning. This photograph taken at Rockaway Beach in new york. As we show you that photo, we will hear from florida, from mary. Go ahead. Caller good morning. Hello. I wear a mask. Elderly people. I live in a retirement home. About for my and apartment, i wear a mask. I meet a lot of people who do learned it is almost a hopeless situation to try to help anyone understand why they should. I amin concern is wondering if you have more information besides the shields that there are different types of masks. The medical people know we should not be wearing their masks because of the shortage in , but face coverings can be made at home. There are all kinds, but i am not an expert on that. If you have any articles or information from one of your guests about the types of masks, instead of lumping it all into one word, could you help us out and get us educated about that . Do inthe best thing i can the short term, and i just punched it in while you are talking. Web md has a story there. Md. Com. Ofbreaks it down into a lot different categories. How face masks work, comparisons, and so on. If you want to type it into your Search Engine and find that self find that for yourself. Richard in maryland. Hello. You should go fu yourselfc. Also for maryland, a from maryland, a vaccine. Being tested. Its initial results are promising. The Company Plans a second phase of the study to be conducted in multiple countries. They will also test to whether the vaccine reduces the risk of covid19. That is the wall street journal. No shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service. I will make my two week a pilgrimage into town for my allergy shots and grocery shopping. I will be wearing a mask. In oregon, bob, hello. You. R good morning to this is my view. Havesaddened that too many been incapable of resisting the opportunity to convert your good discussion here into a political one. I will refrain from doing that. Helpful ifwould be we had more information, epidemiological information, or simply medical, whether andsmission of the virus usage of the face masks and receipt of the virus using the if we had more salient information, in other words, if somebody does not have their mask on, what is the incidence of them transmitting the virus of a habit to somebody transmitting the virus if they have bits to somebody who is not wearing the mask . My own personal experience has been that i have gone into a number of stores where some people have their face masks on here in oregon. Mindful,are very largely, of keeping social distance. The people that i have had a passing observation of have not had any obvious symptoms of troubling symptoms of somebody that might be at risk for the disease or otherwise transmitting the disease in those circumstances. So there has been courtesy. There is one story that i love going into that requires everybody. Masks right there to provide, but they require everybody that goes into the store to put one on. So people stand in line, put it allow if they do not anybody to go into the store unless they have one of their face masks. They are courteous about it. They stand in line, put one on and do their shopping. Host that is bob in oregon. Carlos in new orleans. Good morning. I have come around to wearing a mask over the past few weeks because ive been going back to work and catching public transportation. I also buy food and provisions. Myself, eatof healthy, try to get real food as much as possible. Now i am going out to wearing a mask to keep me covered. Just for my safety. They will call cops on people with attitudes that work in service stores. Where the mask. Where ski the mask. The mask. When somebody out here in the world is honest about wheres this going. Can you hear me . Host what do you mean . Caller it may not be name of mandatory may not be on the books, but you are endangering the lives of people. Inyou put peoples lives danger, what will come from that . Eventually you will have people being arrested. I have seen people passed up for not having a mask on at the bus stop. This witchhunt thing being cooked up. Brenda in georgia. Go ahead. Caller good morning. I am going to say it is political. Floridaaveling to because i go from florida to georgia. I went before memorial weekend. The people in florida, i promise you, are not Wearing Masks like they should. Fathoms me is you get in the, you have the signs on floor for six feet apart. These people come up on you and you turn around and they do not have a mask peered i can understand not wearing a mask because i cannot hardly breathe, but when you have the president well listen to the doctors. And that is why the people are so confused. There with memorial day looking silly with no mask, talking. That is why the people are so confused, so defiant. You have the commanderinchief over the u. S. And he is not wearing a mask, not listening to the doctor. Dr. Fauci or dr. Birx, intimidated by him. It is just a hot mess. Host thats brenda in georgia. The president himself retweeting a tweet from fox fox newsshume brett hume. Saying, thistweet might explain my trumpet might not want to wear a mask in public. From mary in lake geneva, wisconsin. Caller hello. Thank you for having this show. I worry mask. I would like to say that one of the reasons i do is a phrase that i have not heard in a long time, but i would like to get emblazoned on a tshirt, saying for the common good. That just about says it all. How old, who you are, political affiliation, health status. I think it is something we have forgotten about. Host there was that pole we showed you at the beginning. Thoset were pulled olled, thep majority aware mask dishware a mask. Caller the rules were relaxed. I see maybe 40 to 50 of the people wearing a mask. Grocery store as necessary or home depot or whatever. Sporadic. From ge inll hear aorgia saying i were at senior residence in atlanta and worry mask in deference to our local population, but when i go out to fish or hike, i do not t. If you want to text your thoughts can. Story looking at sectors of the economy that seemed to benefit during this time, saying that providers of security guards, senior care, are among the employers that maintain or expanded hiring in recent week, joining industries such as defense that have continued working normally through the pandemic while the unemployment 14. 7 in april. A study by the Federal Reserve bank in atlanta found that almost three positions were created by pandemic related factors. Even in the worst of times, a fair amount of hiring, says steve davis, a professor. Kevin, good morning from hudson falls, new york. I feel like ignorance is more of what is making people not want to wear this. They are stating that droplets is what is going to help transfer this. You are protecting one another by actually wearing the mask for the simple fact that they did the study and they showed that the ppe is actually helping with the front line not spreading the disease. Their infection rate seems to be lower than the general population. I feel like it is not nice to onego out and not where because you are stating other people just do not matter to you. Dakota. Rth your next up. Hello. The most interesting thing is the way that women were very resilient and cope very well. They make this almost a fashion thing. I see masks matching dresses. Some of them have lacey i will not have i will not say ones,y they have pink polkadots. I find it funny that some people alone in a car or wearing a mask when they are driving alone in the car. You can see people in the middle of an open field walking with a mask on with the wind blowing 50 miles an hour. And i see people riding bicycles with one. Pedro, i am in my 50s, but if i young kid and some old baby boomer was telling me that i needed to practice social distancing, which is a creepy, orwellian term, i would say you ruined my country. Ballotsot win a war or balance a budget were secure the border and you want me to protect you . I would be very rebellious if i was a 20yearold guy. I would just say, the hell with you. Host this is a texter. We wear face mask for others. The president does not really need to wear one. The most tested man in the United States. [video clip] debates, it seems the president is the one debating. Your deputy is a big proponent of Wearing Masks. Are you concerned that example is not being set by the president . This is my mask i wear every day at the office i am not here, but ire it will put it on when we leave. When the president is out speaking to the American People and if we meet with him in the oval office, our seats are always moved six feet away from the resolute desk. There are times where you do not need to wear the mask. Governor dewine was spot on when he talked about Office Workers wearing the mask and mask usage is going to help this economy reopen. We cannot get left behind by china. I am a proponent of masks. Many people in the white house are wearing them. We hope that as an example for other folks. Int this is from mike clayton, new mexico texting this morning. I am 60 years old. I wear the mask. I do not expected to be vaccinated for three years. I donot wear masks, but not care for seatbelts either. But it ist my fault, my problem and yours. From new york. Caller hello. Talk. You for letting me i enjoy listening to your program. Some people coming on not by listening to the news and have not been listening to why we informing us of should wear a mask. Two of the reasons why we should wear a mask is that fumes come from our nose if we are closed by someone going out into the air and from our mouths as we talk. We know that when liquid comes out of our mouths, it can spatter. It seems like some people are not aware of that or do not listen to the news. For these people, that is one of the reasons why we should be wearing the mask. It has been explained it several times. I do not know why people want you to explain it again. It must be going through one year and coming out the other. To protect each other is important. I think people do not realize that what is good for you should be good for me. If you are so selfish that we do not want to save lives, only want to save lives when we went to save lives, or go inside a war taking lives over there, does not make any sense. Host that is a caller from new york. Thank you for calling us. Announcedthat the who on monday that it is pausing Clinical Trials using the controversial malaria drugs hydroxychloroquine to treat patients with covid19. It has been the subject of intense scrutiny after being the likes but by of elon musk and donald trump. Data is going to be reviewed by the data safety monitoring board. Is the whos global investigation of four experimental treatments for covid19. They included a host of medicines. The Inspector General confirmed that investigations into the other treatment are continuing. Hydroxychloroquine is accepted patientslly safe in with autoimmune diseases and malaria. Mechanicsburg, pennsylvania. Caller i am an attorney. Ave said for a long time everybody is an attorney since oj. Sinceverybody is a doctor probably 10 years ago. For youit is important to ask what media sources are you listening to. I watch all media sources. Cnn, fox news. There are medical professionals out there, a man from stanford university, dead set against these restrictions. Yet i have not seen cspan cover him at all. My opinion, and are listening to fear mongering. This is the last best attempt the Mainstream Media has to defeat donald j. Trump to be reelected. That is why the drumbeat to do all of this stuff now. That is my opinion. I want to know why cspan has not covered this dr. Flynn lately . I think those are much bigger issues than the mask issues. Host we provide a host of people to talk about issues, including masks. If you go to our website, cspan. Org, almost weekly epidemiological people and epidemiologists in the lake and the like giving varied opinions. So check out everything we have done at the website. Oregon is next. We hear from russ. Caller how are you today . Host im well. I walked down i see this mask thing. I have seen a guy walking through with a jockey strap on his face to protect himself. That is what i am going to say. Thats it. Host we will go to deborah. West chester, ohio. Caller it was hard to follow that last comment. Retiredi am a scientist, microbiology. There is another principle of virology that is important with wearing a mask. It has to do with starving the virus of a host. Cellss live within the and they must live within the host. One thing that is protective of you and what helps the virus change and adapt to a less vera virulent is to have less host. That is one of the principles of why we should wear a mask in public. Not want the virus to adapt, to be such of a killer. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. People,ea, like those 50 or Wearing Masks in the Grocery Store. Im in a senior community. All outside it is condominiums. It is not a nursing home. The maskle are wearing in my community, and we are not seeing our grandchildren. We realized we are the more vulnerable population, and it is our responsibility to follow the guidelines. Weis so important that starve that virus. Let me ask, your governor was on the sunday shows talking about masks. What do you think about the governors handling of face masks in ohio . Caller i think dewine has done a great job overall. If you look back at the pandemics of the past, conventional wisdom was wrong. That was not to blame anyone. I dont think anyone should be blamed for this crisis. This fire is is novel, and much of it is unknown. Just now we are getting a better understanding. I really think he has done a good job. I dont think politics should enter into anything. Your white blood cells are your soldiers. In this case, we should not have smoking and drinking because that depresses both. That depresses those white blood cells. That is deborah. Last call on this topic. Intoouse is supposed to go pro forma session at 9 30. After that, we will take up this topic again. Two guests joining us for the remainder of the program. We will hear from the american conservatives Kelley Vlahos. She will discuss the use of technology in tracing covid19. Later on, George Washington universities kathryn newcomer on the role of inspectors general. Those conversations coming up on washington journal. 6, 5 r 10, 9, 8, 7, [jet roars to life] america will continue the drain. On wednesday, nasa will launch to u. S. Astronauts into space for the First Time Since the retirement of the spatial program in 2011. The astronauts will join the current team on board the International Space station. Tonight, we will explore the history of Space Exploration as we tour the country to hear the and peoplethe places where it was developed. It changes you. It changed me. It made me have a cognitive shift in the way that i think about humanity. Flight to study the curvature of the earth. We will take you to nasa training sites. We are at the laboratory for the Cognitive Communications testbed. We still talk about the role that we play on the front lines of the cold war. The space race was a Major Initiative within the cold war. Astronauts came here for celestial Navigation Training. They needed to know the night sky better than anyone. An observatory in operation since 1984 and the personal stories of two women. I have made nine wonderful friends over the last two weeks. When that shuttle goes, it might be one body, but there will be 10 souls i am taking with me. When the movie Hidden Figures came out, it showed everyone who Katherine Johnson was, what she in, and how profound she was the pages of american history. The history of Space Exploration as the cspan cities tour explores space expiration. Our first guest of the morning is Kelley Vlahos. She is the executive editor of the american conservative. Good morning to you. Guest good morning. Conservative,ican talk about the magazine, the point of view it takes. The point of view it takes is we are for if we are looking at foreign policy, we are looking at realism and restraint, getting out of foreign wars, bringing troops home, getting back to the constitutional guidelines of over americanse exceptionalism that projects American Power overseas. Familieswe are for flourishing. Mainstream conservatism that is dedicated to workers, families, freedom, and constitutional values. It is a mouthful. Viewers to check us out online. Host a recent piece by one of your contributors talks about covid19 and painted into the Civil Liberties privacy issue. Immunityence of passports what extend indefinitely. Papers please would not be experienced only because one is crossing a border but because one is outside. Wait until stop and frisk becomes the norm across the United States at any time. Apply that to the topic of covid19. Across the globe, we are seeing a patchwork of Contact Tracing solutions. Of of them is the idea. Mmunity passports in other countries, they are looking at certificates. Antibodies and have been tested for covid and ideally, youe it, would be given this certificate or license, and you would be eligible to work or travel across borders. The problem is the idea that antibodies are easily detectable with covid is not clear yet. This is not medically conclusive. That we dont know. The fact that there is not widespread testing in every country is also an issue. The idea that if you get these immunity passports, what form would they take . Would they take the form of a barcode or some electronic act that would declare you immune . Could it be counterfeited. We have an issue with passports being stolen every year. At what point would there be a black market for creating passports . A lot of these ideas are in the air. A lot of countries are grappling solution to getting people back to work, traveling, and moving about. Germany is just one of them. They are doing a Massive Survey of citizens in terms of whether they have had the virus, whether they have recovered, and they hope to get enough people in the database that they can work with. There is an amount of skepticism as to how that would roll out in reality. Host i will just show the viewers the recent story by the guardian about those Community Passports. If you want to find that online. Americans would accept Something Like that . I dont think so. We have our ideals. We have pride in our privacy and respect for the Fourth Amendment and the first amendment. I feel like there is always a tension in america with reserving those liberties and the privacy of americans with Public Health and National Security and other concerns. What you are seeing in the u. S. Right now is the Contact Tracing privacyes all of those concerns into account, which probably means we will not have a very effective system. Papers orf immunity licenses or certificates has not risen yet. What they are talking about is Contact Tracing, and google and apple have come out with an application that they are not calling Contact Tracing. Exposurecalling it notification. Withs can use it along their Public Health department on alow them to track voluntary basis people who have covid or are experiencing symptoms. This relies on bluetooth technology, which means it cannot identify people exactly where they are or by name. Each person that downloads this app voluntarily would be given a bluetooth code. See what friends are you would see people that have also decided to download the app and have downloaded information about themselves and whether they have been tested or tested positive and whether they have recovered from the virus. You could see if there are other people around you in that pipeline. Is completely voluntary, and it does not share your information with the public googledepartment, which and apple have done deliberately. Some of these programs that other countries are working with and bringing online actually share the information that you download with your local Public Health department, the government. They have a database. They do all the matching and send the information out. Partners in this whole program and project. Begle and apple wanting to havective of their users offt an app that walls government so there is no central database. It makes it less effective because you dont have the Public Health department and those players involved in putting in more information, doing some matching, being able to add to the database of information. It is effective if you and other people in your area are proactive and downloading and sharing information, you will be able to see if there is a cluster in your neighborhood. Saying it needs to cover 60 of the population to actually engage in this before it could actually work or have a substantial impact on the population as a whole in terms of this Contact Tracing. Host we will invite our viewers to ask questions of our guest. For those of you in the eastern or central time zones. 202 7488001 for those of you in the mountain or pacific time zones. This is still off of twitter, saying tracing and tracking is no more than datagathering. Laws . Appened to hippa that is a good point. If this were to be a mandatory project, like they have in china. I dont think it could pass muster. We cannot have the government sharing Public Health records of on paper, digitally or whatnot. You are going to immediately run into trouble if the government tries to mandate some sort of Contact Tracing. There have been a few states like utah using gps, and they hewed the apple and google platforms and going with another platform that uses gpsllite tracing, satellite to track people. But ittill voluntary, pinpoints where people are and where they have been, and it is a lot more intrusive. Countries like israel are using this kind of technology for their own Contact Tracing. It is not voluntary. There has been a lot written concerns ofivacy countries using that kind of Intrusive Technology to track individuals involuntarily. There are so many different levels. Utah from back to what i have been reading, it. Till is online right now, i think it is called Healthy Together. Notously, people are downloading it in droves. They are having fits and starts getting the technology going. With any new technology, you are going to have a learning curve to begin with. Then you are dealing with a virus we are still trying to get our arms around in terms of epidemiological he how we can trace it with antibodies and the testing has not been 100 percent. It is all good in theory to be able to have everybody pp or gettingn a immunity papers, but until we know more about the virus and take into account that it is not easy to put a new Technology Like this online and have it running smoothly, a lot of this is high in the sky. Is the health forance ability and protection act. I was thinking about when it comes down to the tracing of people, i think it is kind of like something that is really not necessary. How can i say it . We have got enough laws that are running people down and categorizing us. In terms of the universal health care, it is probably to have the purpose that we all got some Recovery Time as well as good medicine management when it comes down to situations like that may these viruses come up. Just actually sit down and categorize people and stop them from going on with their lives or saying we dont want this person at the job. They could have this and that. It is something we are already doing enough of. We are already making life complicated by putting too many categories on the american public. We should all be thinking about how to better ourselves around , Getting Better health and information out, a little faster that we cannot control but do it to the point where he gets to these communities. Host thank you. Guest i completely agree with the caller. I think you have touched upon the main reason why apple and google or so careful to create an app that did not rub against those concerns. Nothing is going to be full proof, but some of the other applications out there create a government by an where they are collecting information. They are collecting the information that you download, and they are putting it in a central server. There are going to be concerns about how long that information is retained and when the , hownment cleans it out else it will be used, and my magazine has been very skeptical of centralized power. Reason, you give an inch, they take the yard. You look at what is happening in isna, the caller, what he vocalizing is the nightmare happening in china right now. They dont have a voluntary system. What they have is a system that has been set up for social control. They have a social Credit System that im sure you have talked about before on the show. Basically, you pay for everything with applications. They dont pay with paper money. They pay with their phones. All of that information on their phone is all shared with government and the police, central servers, local governments. They already have all of this information on everybody. Now they are forcing people to app that will give them a barcode on whether they are safe to go to work. It is basically a traffic light. You download some information. They share it with the data they already have on you, and then they give you a color. There are people who have had read for months and cannot go to work. They do not know how to change it even though they are not sick. It is based on where they have been and where they have traveled and who they know. There is gps tracking that tells you how close in proximity you were to a cluster two months ago. It is all arbitrary. There are people that are suffering. This is the extreme. Like it is a cautionary tale for americans and why americans are so resistant to download a voluntary program because they see what is happening in countries where they dont have a bill of rights and privacy controls, and they dont have democracy. They go that is too orwellian for me. Julie is next from maryland. Caller im from germantown, maryland. I wanted to give my opinion about the coronavirus. I take it very seriously. I am a chronic asthmatic. Regularly three or four times a week. Nothing can keep you from getting a virus even if you are healthy by exercising if people are not going to be cautious and where masks and gloves in public. , bute might not seem sick if they cough, you can breathe it in, and it can land on you or some other object you have touched, and then you get yourself sick. I have worked in Public Places ofe the financial Institutes Health for much of my federal career. Im very cautious about working in a medical setting like that. By have to be careful wearing a mask and gloves so you get germs from other people. I think it is very serious for people to wear those masks and gloves out in public if you are in close proximity with people in a Shopping Mall or Grocery Store or anywhere else. You might not have to wear it out in the open as much unless you are crowded around other people having a picnic. Host got you. Guest i think that she highlights all of the laundry that employerss will have to take into account when they start opening up if and when because that is why you are seeing these attempts at Contact Tracing. Bring people back to work and how they will be toe to make people feel safe keep their workplaces safe. I dont have an issue with government trying new things were thinking creatively of how they are going to get people back to work. I just dont know how it will happen without widespread howing and without knowing the virus works and whether antibodies can be identified. Two callers back had mentioned Community Passports rather than the app. The passports can be abused. They can issue false positives. Cannot get a passport or license because of a test, there was a false positive on some antibody tests, now you are out of work. I would not blame people for looking around ways around the system because people are desperate. Having a passport brings in other issues, and if you dont have one, are you stigmatized . We have to think about all of these things when we are possible ways around this and getting people back to work. Connecticut,en, frederick. Caller my name is frederick. That we aree a lot the most powerful country supposedly in the world, and our leadership have not taken charge. This was an opportune time for this president to pull the world together on this virus. If it was president obama, president bush, any other president , they would have done that. They are leaders. We dont have a leader. We are being misled. We have a troublemaker. He does not know how to make peace. People need to look at this at the next election. Host thanks. Guest i think this highlights the tension between the federal government and the state and county responsibilities for covid19. If we are going to keep talking about Contact Tracing and being able to give people a clear themre of clusters around or possible hotspots, i think that is probably better achieved at the local level. I cannot speak for other countries. In anticipation of being here and look at what other countries are doing with Contact Tracing. In europe, a lot of these solutions are coming from the top down. They are on a country level. Singapore has a program much app the apple and google that has bluetoothbased Contact Tracing. Australia is doing the same thing. Think localtry, i is better. Maybe at a state or county level. If the government wants to roll out Something Like this. Founder places, i have more intrusive programs tracking people who do have covid19. And taiwan poland have mandatory programs for people who have been diagnosed with covid and are in quarantine. It is almost like wearing an ankle bracelet where you and in thee app, case of poland, you have to do so many selfies. I dont know if it is every hour or 20 minutes. It is mandatory selfie. Selfie, the do the police are going to come to your house. In taiwan, they have something they Call Electric fences. Tracking you buy gps, and you wander off the property, the cops are coming to your house. That is another example of Intrusive Technology in the wake that you will hopefully never see in this country. It also emphasizes that each andtry deals with privacy Civil Liberties issues differently in the middle of a crisis. To the idea of Government Intervention you were talking about earlier. Did you think stayathome orders and the like, do you think that went too far . Guest i dont think it went too far. I feel like many of your callers do. We all are in this together. If you are living with older theireople who are immunity system is compromised, or you have neighbors, friends, people in your life who fall people wholass of are at risk, i feel as a citizen, as a human being that it is not too much skin off my back to stay home and wear a mask when i go to the store. I live in virginia. I feel personally that my in termshas been fair of the imposed the stayathome orders. Part, bike paths have been open, Grocery Stores have been open. People have been able to move around. They are not stay inside orders. He has lifted those orders for the rest of virginia, but not Northern Virginia where i live. Half the cases in virginia or more have been in Northern Virginia, and most of them have been in fairfax county. Reasons to keep the shutdown for a few more weeks. Struggling,e are and it breaks my heart that 40 Million People are out of work. I want to see them get back to work. No doubt about that. I also feel that i dont know because im not a Public Health official. I dont know what it would have been like if we had not been kidsfor two weeks and the have been home from school. Elderly citizens were cut off from personal contact. Pools were closed and whatnot. Nearlyd be facing 200,000 deaths in the country instead of 94,000. Im not an expert, just a human being. Host thank you for joining us. You are on with Kelley Vlahos. Think when most doctors and experts say we risks,be careful about we should not hesitate. Do we can expect people to the right thing like their president who is not going to use masks, used to make everything some wars. Iran is going to do anything it wants. Host thanks. Shifting away from the masks for a second, i know a big issue has been testing. I think we cannot get to the point where we could actually map out where the virus is in our lives, in our neighborhoods, in our cities and counties until we have the testing. Any of these Contact Tracing mechanisms are not going to work if people are not tested. I feel like that is an issue that we need to look at because if we are going to move forward and try to be proactive and get a sense of where the cases are and whether or not it is safe to go back to work, there has to be some mechanisms for testing. I could have had the virus and not even know it. I cannot go to the doctor right now and just ask for a test. That is a conversation we probably should have aside from the mask issue, which is obviously important to people. It is part of a passionate debate that is happening everywhere. Happening at the magazine. It is happening on tv every day. It is on the radio. I get that. Ament that it has been politicized. I wish we could shift the conversation to more constructive things we could be doing to get us back to work. Host to the larger conversation about privacy, is congress doing enough . Are they doing enough to protect privacy, and do we need more laws or some type of changes to accommodate for that . Im not sure we need any changes to privacy laws. There are enough watchdogs out there keeping an eye on what is happening on the state level. Involvedhas not gotten in the Contact Tracing issue because it is the purview of the states. Three states are engaging this app. Thisshows you how nascent is. Andh carolina, alabama, georgia are bringing on this app. Utah is bringing this Healthy Together app online. There are concerns about privacy because they are using gps to identify people. Me. S not clear to if i download the app and im hanging out with my coworkers, and they have not downloaded the app, it is not clear to me how much identifying is going on. Amongst been an issue civil libertarians for some tim e. Our police using cell phone to triangulate the exact location of people . Then they swoop up other people you have been with while they are investigating you and can identify those people. Whether orlear to me not, and you will have to bring in a tech guy or gal. Therech intrusion would be into people who are not voluntarily on that app . There are questions about the utah plan. They are not fully online either. I think this will be statebystate. Effective not that is or there should be more federal things, you would have a lot of privacy advocates on fire if the federal government started getting involved in Contact Tracing. Host we will hear from jeff. For taking myyou call. I have been listening to the conversation about the electronic Contact Tracing methods. Apparently it is a fraught issue of concern, at least in this society. I think what is being lost is the purpose. Tocan accomplish the goal test and Contact Tracing if we invested enough money and put resources to work to do the oldfashioned epidemiology that has always been done. The goal is to bring the transmission rate down. Testing and Contact Tracing is not always the way to do that. Methodology is less important. We should be asking why arent we investing in the type of resources that have huge return on investment to save lives in the economy . Other investments we make in the thetary and terrorism where consequences today to date have not been nearly as dramatic as what we are experiencing from this pandemic. Manyfold morest resources than we have in terms of protection. Host thanks. Guest you are speaking my language. Thepe you go online to american conservative is what we talk about every day. We have launched so many opportunities in this country, Public Health, infrastructure, bybasic welfare for society pouring billions of dollars into inflatedwars and pentagon budgets every year. It is all coming home to roost. We are even having a conversation about testing and why we cannot rule out some massive widespread testing. We hear things about it being too expensive. Spend tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of soldiers overseas over the last 18 years to fight endless wars in the middle east, and yet we cannot do basic testing to find out who has not had this virus so we can get 40 Million People back to work. Tracingthat the contact , not as much as the testing, is so important. In germany, they have someone to go into records at Public Hospitals and finding out who can reportus so they to schools and local governments any clusters or hotspots. They are doing oldfashioned gumshoe work. They are investigating other ways to contact trace. I think what the caller is getting at is it is key to find out who has the virus and where the hotspots are and where the problem areas are. How we do it is important because when you do it over an app, we know from our own experience with google and facebook and the federal government, they dont always get rid of all of the data they collect on us. They save it and use it for other purposes. What i fear is that if we get app where we are downloading our Health Information and let some thirdparty track us, any other information that they can identify along with that, where does it go . Apple and google say they are getting rid of the information skeptic ofbut as a , so iother, we never know feel like i would love to be able to do this in a way where we are not setting ourselves up for a new normal where we are going the way of china and our entire lives are an open book to big brother and big business as well. There is a gentleman named associatione app who testified and said, apple and googles recently announced partnership is an example of a system that minimizes data without sacrificing its usefulness. Proposed cartography specifications. What do you think of what he is saying . Guest fundamentally, he is accurate. One of the biggest complaints app is that it is not going to be effective because it puts up those fences and does ,ot allow centralized database and everything is anonymous, and they are changing codes. It is bluetoothbased, so you dont have the exact location of where people are, or where they have been. I think it depends on the glass half full. If you are looking at this from the perspective that you want to know everything and build a tool like israel where they are tracking people where they have been and where they are, this is not going to be the app for you. Apple and google have been three years of litigation over privacy controls. This is one case where i felt like they were proactively smart about not creating a tool that is going to leave them vulnerable to lawsuits and attacks that they are not protecting their users. The Kelley Vlahos is executive editor of the american conservative. Thank you for your time this morning. Guest thank you so much. Host we will take on another topic, the role of Inspector General. Is joining user to talk about the reassignment of several of those positions. That conversation coming up on washington journal. 6. Tminus 10, 9, 8, 7, engines up and burning. 2, 1, 0. And lift off. Atlantis. Lift off of on wednesday, nasa will launch two u. S. Asked not into space for the First Time Since the retirement of the spatial programming 2011. The International Space station. Tonight, we will explore the history of Space Exploration as the country to hear the story of the people and places key to its development. You see the sun, and it is incredible. It changes you. Fundamentally, it made me have a cognitive shift in the way that i think about humanity. An early flight to study the curvature of the earth. We will take you to nasa training sites. We are in the laboratory for the Cognitive Communications testbed. We still talk about the role we played on the front lines of the cold war because the space race was a Major Initiative within the cold war. Astronauts that came near fort celestial Navigation Training needed to know the night sky better than anyone. To the personal stories of two women who leave their mark on the nation. I have made nine wonderful friends over the last two weeks. When that shuttle goes, they might be one body. There are going to be 10 souls that i am taking with me. When the movie Hidden Figures came out, it showed everyone who Katherine Johnson was, what she did, and how profound she was in the pages of american history. The history of Space Exploration. Watch cspans daily unfiltered coverage of the governments response to the coronavirus pandemic with rethinks from the white house, congress, and governors across the country. Join in the conversation on washington journal. If you miss any of our live coverage, watch ondemand at cspan. Org coronavirus. The house returns on wednesday and thursday for legislative business and to vote on the fisa reauthorization bill. It extends fisa authority through 2023. With new house rules in place to allow for proxy voting, house members beginning on wednesday can vote for other members who are not present during floor votes. Atch ondemand any time cspan. Org or listen on the go with the free cspan radio app. Washington journal continues. Our next segment, a couple of stories to read you concerning the response of the administration to coronavirus. Testing strategy released on sunday to congress, holds individual states responsible for planning and carrying out all coronavirus testing. The proposal also says existing Testing Capacity is sufficient to contain the outbreak, but epidemiologists say the amount of testing is orders of magnitude lower than needed. This follows the announcement last month that the federal government should be considered a supplier of last resort. That blurb in the New York Times this morning. If you go to the washington by thethe Story Associated press, when it comes nearly twohomes, weeks ago, the white house urged governors to ensure that every nursing home resident and staff member be tested for the coronavirus within 14 days. A review found that at least half of the states are not going to meet white house deadlines. Some are not bothering to try. A handful of states have said they have already tested every nursing home resident, and many said the logistics and manpower costs are two great to test in a two week window. Some say they need another week or so. Berry has a piece in the New York Times sorry, the Washington Post. He is the author of the great influenza, the story of the deadliest pandemic in history. He was a professor at tulane university. He gives some historical background. In 1918, a study of Army Training camps flu over weeks, the study found no difference in sickness, deaths. The very few camps that maintained rigid controls saw benefits. Also teaches a lesson about how best practices work. Health care workers accounted for 21 of sars cases worldwide. The george w. Bush administrations first meeting to mitigate a pandemic. Same procedures for other hospitals. This, using masks, washing hands and taking other preventative actions and staying ho when sick are not magic bullets, but they all impact the spread. Compliance matters. There is more to that piece in the Washington Post this morning. You can read it in full. We will change topics and talk about the role of the Inspector General. Joining us for that conversation is kathryn newcomer. Thank you for joining us this morning. Thank you. Im delighted to be here. Host lets start off with the role of the Inspector General. One of the best parts of what is going on now is most people have no idea what the Inspector General is. They are a unique role that was established during the 1970s in andonse to Financial Issues perceptions of financial mismanagement in executive agencies by congress. A series of laws were passed that dealt with ways to reduce waste. Established the first 12 Inspector Generals. Of clearing fraud, waste, and abuse was one aspect. They were to look at the economy and efficiency of federal agencies. There are now 75 inspectors general. They look at three different functions they fulfill in agencies. One that has been getting all the press is investigation. That is not looking at wrongdoing. Refer cases to the department of justice. The second is financial auditing. A big part of the actual motivations for the act in the beginning. Finding better use of funds and ways to improve internal controls and improve Financial Management. The third is looking at Program Improvements for economy efficiency. There are separate units within each Inspector General. The investigators are the ones that look for the potential and follow up on whistleblowers that come in two hotlines. Hotlines bring up hundreds of issues. Needs to be a vetting process to find out which are the most serious to look at. The other unique thing about the Inspector General is that it is nested in the shared powers of theconstitution in that congress and president share the the three appoint dozen or so that are senate confirmed. To ensure that they have adequate resources, and to ensure that the agency follow up on recommendations. Thousands of recommendations are made to improve agencies each year by inspectors general. Somebody needs to implement them. General should have the Institutional Knowledge to work with the other people in the agencies that it needs to in order to implement the recommendations to make improvements. The role itself, is that a partisan role . Guest absolutely not. That was a key aspect of this unusual shared powers. The inspectors general are responsible to the agency had and congress concurrently. Their reports go up from their website to both. They have two masters. Thats why people talk about the fact that they walk the fence between two masters. They cannot be too close to one or the other. The act specifically says that the person to be appointed needs to have specific skills and experience in Financial Management, law, and Public Administration. Everything that has been in the law and that has been written about them is very clear that it is a nonpartisan and nonpolitically motivated situation. Power and Inspector General has his the perception that they are objective and not objectiveat that the is to improve the efficacy of our government. They are not to be involved in policy deliberations. I have had many inspectors aneral say when they are at leadership meeting, if a policy issue comes up, they leave the room because they may have to a particular audit policy or program later. The intent was clear from the beginning that Inspector Generals are nonpartisan. If you want to ask kathryn newcomer about inspectors general, you can do so. Democrats 202 7488000. Republicans 202 7488001. Independents 202 7488002. On our text us and post cspan twitter feed. You talked about it a little bit, but in the last couple of weeks, inspectors general have with the of the news firings of my quagga sin of the Intelligence Community and Christie Graham at health and human services. Is this a common occurrence . No, and particularly not like this. A lot of the conversation that is going on now is actually part ofe investigative the Inspector General function. Inspector general function and the whistleblowers and so on area i sense that is only a portion of that is only a portion of what they do. In our book, Charles Johnson and i, charles is a scholar from texas a and m, we looked throughout history through the end of the obama administration. Firings are rather unusual. What happens is congress, more will be unhappy with an Inspector General. It could be either way. It could be they are too aggressive or perceived to be to inline with their agency head. There is a pressure for them to step down. Similarly it was very rare that you would find the inspector outright fired though the pressure led to the Inspector General resigning. Beforee of the instances a lack ofally due to understanding of the role of the Inspector General and the fact that they are not political appointees. When Ronald Reagan came in and fired them, it was more the fact that they were unclear. There was a lack of clarity over whether they were supposed to appoint their own. In both cases with reagan and trump they then backed off. Many wente of reagan ahead and resigned but many stayed. The presumption of firing is rare, it is more the presser the pressure. The thing that is more worrisome to me is that we want to make sure that we have this Inspector General appointed who are in line with the qualities that were clarified in the act and have been perpetuated. That is nonpartisan, absolutely background,th legal Public Administration background, and so on. Most of the Inspector Generals have had government background. Up incessarily moving their own Inspector General offices, sometimes that happened , but they have had experience many times in other Inspector General offices and they will move to the top in another office. A perception of objectivity and integrity. Host we have a call lined up. Kathleen from elizabeth, pennsylvania. Line for democrats. You are on. Go ahead. Caller thank you for taking my call. Have checks and balances here and we have inspectors general that are supposed to oversee certain things, how is it that they get fired when they do their job . An example is this pompeo situation where he is having people walk his dogs and do his personal business. He did not deny it so i am assuming that is true. The arms sales to saudi arabia. All of a sudden it is a disagreeable situation so the guy doing his job gets fired. My question is, where are the checks and balances . With having these guys if you dont disagree with them and you can have them fired . The president does have the right to replace appointees. The checks and balances comes in ig act, her the 2008 or she must give the rationale for pushing the person out to congress. The notion is that congress would deliberate and could push back. This is where the balance of power comes. Explanationd 30 day is critical. Expect thatt gress would ask questions the notion of independence is that the Inspector General should have the ability to deeme whatever issues they within the responsibility of the Inspector General. This is really key. We do not want to have a Chilling Effect that other Inspector Generals are going to be afraid that they will get fired or worse have their reputation sullied. It is a dilemma. We need congress to step up. Host from florida on the independent line, stephen. Caller thank you for taking my call. My viewpoint has been that the media is influencing the listener in such a way that the Inspector General has an opinion that is skewed in such away or criticized such a way by the left and right that those opinions dont seem to be clear, factual, and not described in an unbiased way. For, if io and to is say to and to good before, no whoever is in charge of the conversation is changing our citizens viewpoints or trying to. That not purely the fact we are not seeing everything behind the scenes. There are always innuendos. I am not sure how the Inspector General would be considered nonbiased by both sides. That is a great comment, a great question. Generals have power simply because of the power of the evidence they provide. There are government auditing standards that are set by the Government Accountability office and they set clear standards in terms of how the Inspector General does their work. Their integrity and the credibility of the evidence they provide to support their findings and recommendations is absolutely critical. I advised the caller to go to any federalof Inspector General agency and download a report. You will see that the actual reports, the findings are supported by evidence and they are very clear to read. They cannot control how the media or pundits on websites make of the findings or how they spend the findings. Spin the findings but if you look at the work undertaken by Inspector Generals you will see that the evidence is very clearly aligned to support findings. The Inspector General and their office newcomer,erine somewhere off of that with he asked the question, what did president obama do with george bushs Inspector Generals. Can you apply that to how incoming administrations treat those in the position from the Previous Administration . Guest in general Inspector Generals last across the administrations and many have. As i mentioned, the reagan misstep is the exception rather than the rule. That hadpector general been appointed by a republican or democrat started acting partisan and inline with any kind of partisan or skewed kind of perspective, they would definitely lose their credibility. They would not be able to be effective. , whoever generals assumes these roles they figured this out very quickly. If they are going to have an impact, and our research every Inspector General we interviewed we asked what success looks like. Every single one said that they would improve the agency and make longterm sustainable rudiments in the ways the organization operates. The investigations are only one part of the full scope of the work of Inspector Generals. Thate that is them is them getting the press and what has gotten the attention of the current president. Host from massachusetts, joe, good morning. Caller she seems to be skirting around all of the questions about the firing of Inspector Generals. Obamad like to know why fired 93 Inspector Generals in his first three years and that seems to be ok and she seems to be going around the question that everybody is asking, why is it ok for certain president s to fire Inspector Generals. Thank you very much. Guest thank you for your question. Only one Inspector General that was asked to resign by obama. Theas the head of incorporation for National Community service. There have not been that many firings by president s. Flurry why this current of firings of Inspector Generals or acting Inspector Generals or deputy Inspector Generals is getting so much press attention. It is not at all the case that president s fire. There was only one that obama fired. Hard to sayck it is whether somebody was actually fired or asked to resign, but there were not 93. There arent even 93 Inspector Generals, there are only 75. Host from missouri, richard is next. Guest i was wondering about this Inspector General business. Under a dictatorship like we are living under now they are useless. You have the head dictator then you have his flunkies in the and what everybody else wants to do they cannot do because you cannot get through the senate. The rest of the senators are not doing anything. Always thought we had a great government with honest people, not hiring their relations. It is a different world i am living in now. Host ok, caller. 2 there is guest i encourage you to look at reports that are open to the public on every Inspector General offices website. In the last fiscal year they save the government 50 billion in savings. They sent over 4000 investigations to the Justice Departments to pursue. They made hundreds of recommendations, most of which were actually implemented to improve the operations of government. Work are many people that and are going to work every day in Inspector Generals offices making great efforts to improve our programs and policies. Despite the fact that our media pays attention to the politics at the top, in fact, there are literally 14,000 people that are going to work every day in Inspector General offices and doing great work. Putting their heads down and working despite the flurry of news. Host what is the process of removing and Inspector General . Guest as you know there are two different kinds of appointments of Inspector General. Some are the president ially appointed and need Senate Confirmation, about three dozen. Appointed bye their agencies, or in the case where there is a board like the smithsonian they will be appointed and they are Civil Servants. They are definitely not at all political. If anybody ish applying for a Senior Executive job in government they would apply. , clearly inding either case, whether or not they are hired by their agency or there is a Senate Confirmation. Clearly Senate Confirmation is grueling and can have a very Chilling Effect to scare off people. It is tough, for either side. The appointment process is are thisd there is something we point out in the book. Anre is no one that gives annual performance appraisal to an Inspector General. They dont have a boss other than the two main masters, congress and the agency head. They are not the answer. They are only under nominal supervision by the agency head. Concerning to me is not that you would have if you have an Inspector General and something is unethical and out of bounds of what is expected by someone who should be the purest of the pure if we are going to criticize others they will get caught out and they do. They they may not be fired are have been Inspector Generals that have been asked to resign or did not make the vetting process because of a problem. Agency in the smaller agencies without president ial appointment, they certainly could ask for the resignations of the ig. It is rare if the vetting process works you dont need there arent as many at the other end. Host from indianapolis, indiana a federal employee. We hear from paul. Good morning, thanks for taking my call. I am retired but i spent 25 years as a government auditor, first with the Army Auditing Agency and with the department of defense Inspector General. During that time i found that the Inspector General, him or herself, was a person of relative unimportance. The important persons were the three principal deputies for auditing, inspecting, and investigations. The inspectors general tended to come and go, i remember during the bush period there might have been five or six different inspectors general it was two or three, it was the Previous Administration where there were more. They had little role to play. They were basically a flashing shield and they said no policy, they directed no audits or investigations. They signed no reports and reported on no reports. They are figureheads that had little influence. That the inspectors general personnel stationed in a strongeroften have view of their own role and they saw themselves as setting policy for the governors with the state department. Often attended classes with my counterparts in state department. For example they were convinced in 1991 that the United States was going to have a hard time beating saddam hussein. The people in the state department seemed to think it was their job and the other Civil Servants to set state Department Policy and the politicians got in the way. Host thank you. Guest you bring up a wonderful point and i am glad you called in. True, as iutely mentioned, there are 14,000 people going to work every day and the work is by and large assistant the if they are audited by the assistant ig for auditing. Thatre absolutely right those assistant igs are the ones that are going to be doing those reports and there will be questions about recommendations or findings and actually getting into the nittygritty of the work, you are correct. I dont know who you talked to at the state department, but for a long time up until the most recent ig you had Foreign Service officers who were rotating through to the Inspector General. There was a lot of criticism of reasons a variety of and that ended. Starting with the most recent ig he was not a Foreign Service officer and had not been appointed from the state Department Area i cant speak to your experience. You are absolutely correct in that one could argue that the byl work is going to be done this extremely Important Institution that plays a unique but Important Role in the accountability for the use of federal money in our government. Assistant igs tended to stay. The Inspector General, the person that gets the most face time with the press, may come and go. The assistant igs tend to stay for a much longer tenure. That is where you have the institutional memory. The institutional memory about where the elements of risk are in systems within agencies. That are the weaknesses could come back to weaken the execution of policies and so on. Its an institutional memory and you are right that it is maintained by those Civil Servants in those leadership roles. Host what is the scope of investigative power given to an ig . Guest they can collect evidence. The investigators are one unit to carrye ig, they get guns and act like lawenforcement. They do not prosecute. All of the cases are most of the time sent to the department of justice. You can find situations where it could be that something is in a Regional Office and they are coordinating with a state prosecutor. In general they do not actually prosecute the cases. Like any good investigators they need to make a Strong Enough case to ensure that the Justice Department will go again and prosecute. Chantilly,john and virginia on the democrats line. Caller i want to make sure the bottom line is the president is looking for loyalty. It doesnt matter whether you are an Inspector General or not, if you are not loyal to him he is telling everybody i am looking for loyalty. Is a president in the wrong country. If he was a president in africa he could fire everybody wants. The bottom line is we need accountability and Inspector General, the job itself, if they dont get protected by the congress it is useless to have this job. Job yourleave this credibility will be challenged and you might not even have another job again. You can answer that, but can you also talk about the oversight of Inspector Generals, who does that . Guest as i mentioned, the two primary powers over Inspector Generals are the president or agency head as well as the congress. Is s why the perception that they are independent is that they cannot be perceived to be beholden or linked to one or the other side. Been more often one of the two masters to push the Inspector Generals out. Literally making it difficult for them to do their work. Much because of investigations but perhaps because they were not paying enough attention to certain issues that a Congressional Committee has been interested in. Other issues, not so much the loyalty or not pursuing investigations. New is what is really during this period. This is really unprecedented. This morning of Iowa Republican senator Chuck Grassley who has taken it upon himself to talk about and uphold the role of Inspector General. Talk about the influence he has in congress about this role and the concern about recent firings and removals and the like. Hill two yearshe after the Inspector General past. He came in 80. Longesteen there the and was persistent in insuring that Inspector Generals had the ability to fulfill their Important Role in accountability. Thereen very active was another Inspector General act that expanded the number of Inspector Generals and in 2008 there was a strengthening of the ig community with the establishment of the council of Inspector Generals of integrity and efficiency. One to have his staff have their ears ready to listen to complaints that Inspector Generals may have had. He has been right in there. Issued letterss to say we did not get the rationale for the 30 days. During the last couple of years, i have been thinking of other Inspector Generals, he has been also asking for information about this has been an area of butrest, not just firings making sure that they continue to operate and exercise this Important Role of accountability. People have been critical of him not as quick to part ofthis time and the response was role layed a lead the ability to independently do their job. Host lets go to fairfax, virginia. Caller thank you for taking my call. I have to admit this stinks. Countryke a third world where somebody gets bad news and they fire the person because they dont hear what they want to hear. Understand i understand what is currently going on, but i think it stinks. I will take Everything Else offline. Guest what has been the case for many president s is they dont understand or appreciate the role of Inspector Generals. You even have secretaries that dont understand the role of Inspector General, and a huge impact for the good they can make. President that this sees this as a political appointee. They are not simply a political and pointy. Are a different category of Public Servant that have been put into a very demanding and treacherous role. They have to speak truth to power. Its not just to an agency head but two people who are running very expensive programs in government agencies. They have to deliver bad news about Financial Management issues, i. T. Issues, a full variety of issues. Oke that at a if anyone works for the federal government they will go, we hate you guys, we are scared of you guys, you are the fault finders. They are, they are the fault finders. Thats why they are not popular but necessary and very valuable. From tennessee on the independent line. Beler i think you need to more honest with your analysis. There was nos Inspector General at the state department. That represented the entire duration of Hillary Clintons 10 year and that why there was never an ig report into her private email server. This president is breaking norms but it is certainly not new. The president has political influence over the ig office. That sit there and tell us firing an ig here and there is something terrible when obama did not even have an ig in the state department. He did that for a reason. Igs there. E were there were a couple of acting and they did issue reports on the emails. Speak to your personal experience. There have been Inspector Generals and as i mentioned they had been Foreign Service officers with short tenures. I worked with a couple who had short tenures. One i worked with got to be the ambassador to the u. N. She left the Inspector General. Thats why there was concern up until this last Inspector General that there had been too high a turnover. Fear and i share this with acting Inspector Generals, there is a fear that they may not be as aggressive and proactive as a confirmed Inspector General would be. There were a lot time between the appointment of Inspector Generals in democratic and Republican Administration during the obama administration. If you will recall we had a democratic president and a Republican Congress and sometimes there are political conflicts in terms of getting. Enate confirmation host what do you think of the future of the ig office and the scope and power it will hold. Guest i am an optimist. I think all the publicity we have gotten has actually pushed congress to say, we need to do something. Right now that have been introduced in congress that have set terms with only firing by cause. I am an optimist. Aware of there Important Roles the Inspector Generals play and i think we will see action. Host she is with George Washington university, the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration talking about u. S. Inspectors general. Thank you for your time. Its thank you very much, been my pleasure. The we will finish up halfhour about face coverings and whether you wear them in public. Eastern and even as congress is the house is expected to pick up business this week, there are a series of pro forma sessions that they place during these times. We are about to take you to one and when that is done, we will resume with our question what we now take it to the house of representatives. Signed, nope, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. Chaplain conroy let us pray. God, father of us all, thank you for giving us another day. Inspire the men and women of congress during this time of social distancing to find ways of serving their constituents and our nation as best they can