Things are really tight. Traditionally families get together for thanksgiving. It certainly changes. Host what has been the all canonical . What job what has been the economic toll . What jobs have been lost, the industrys, what has it been like . Guest a live across from onntown philadelphia, and any day, the traffic is backed up. T is down to almost nothing people are now seeing the longterm effects of the pandemic. As you know, unemployment ran out some time ago. Eerily, allr not, over the district, Food Insecurity is a big deal. There was Food Distribution several times a week. There. Ough out host who is in those full food lines that you did not think would be in food lines before this . Guest people used to be on the other side of the equation. The ones who would donate to the food banks and help out. Now we have seen that those are the ones on unemployment. Egg they did have, which for most people is very little, and ran out a long time ago. Unemployment made such a difference, in the fact that we cannot is just unbelievable. This comment by any measure, is the worst Economic Times for anybody who has been a live on this earth. It is bad and we need to add. Host do you think the speaker it is bad, and we need to act. Host do you think the speaker should compromise with republicans and go below the 2 trillion she has been advocating for, to get something done and some money sent out . Guest sure. Something generally is good. But the fact of the matter is if you lower your standards just to begin, there are other items we talk about, state and local aid. Talk about the funding of police, you dont fund state and local, police, firefighters, theres teachers, they are starting to get laid off because it is taking place at the statehouse. In local towns. We have to act. The idea of just throwing a little bit at them is the wrong way to start the conversation. Host what have you been told from your leadership about prospects for getting this done before you adjourn middecember . We were in conversations with leadership last night until about 8 00. Those conversations are happening. Obviously, they are not happening at the rate we would like. Remember, we passed the h. E. R. O. E. S. Act months ago. There was a real discussion taking place, and each time we would get closer and closer, trump threw the towel in and said it was not a priority before the election. What we heard is that after the Election Congress would do their job. Well, we didnt do our job. The white house took a pass on this. Obviously hes not feeling the way the American People are. Host we want you to join in on the conversation. If you are a democrat, dial in at 2027488000. Republicans, your line will be 2027488001. 2027488002. Jersey, mike in new democratic caller. You are a first. Mike, i am ame is construction worker from new jersey. I know it is extremely rare for somebody with your background to become an elected official, so i was just curious, how did you go from a construction site to make it to congress . Guest thank you. It is rather rare. As i like to say, there are 214 lawyers in congress, but only one electrician. I went to the other for your school, to an apprenticeship i went to the other 4year school. Apprenticeship. I enjoyed working with my hands, so i had an opportunity to go to a registered apprenticeship program. My parents were openminded with any of their kids. So when that opportunity was raised, did i want to go to college or . Our country needs each of those. There is value in each of those. I was a single dad and it was tough, dropping off my son at 7 00 in the morning and rushing to the job site. But i loved every minute of it. I enjoyed it. I look back with great fondness. The most difficult thing i had to do was leave that part of my life behind. But the idea of having somebody represent you that has not experienced much of the things youre talking about really is an important issue. Of the diversity of employment and educational values we talk about unemployment, i remember what that was like. I was hurt and i was on disability. These were a part of my life. I loved being an electrician. I still am, in fact. My wife usually has a list for me when i go home. Now my older son has become an electrician, and we are to me proud of what he does also. Host john is in new jersey as well, democratic caller. Go ahead. Caller thank you for taking my call. Good morning, congressman. In the Biden Administration, it is critical that we support workers. Especially seeing covid19 numbers surge and the pandemic going nowhere soon, what are some of the things you would like to work on to support workers . Guest thank you for the call. Certainly for those who are coming off month of listening to both candidates, there is a stark difference in what the reality is. He was always one of those who would take up the cause for working families. He has been there, he is somebody who has always been a part of that. About Building Back better, that speaks volumes in my area. When we talk about what people do, sometimes you hear that if you want to make it in america, you have to go to a fouryear college. That might be true and certainly there is value in that, but for 70 of americans who dont have , being anr degree electrician or a carpenter, the idea of dignity. We have to remember that. That part of our lives is so important that whether you go to work in a refinery and work with your hands, or you are a phd. Rom harvard, we are all the same we want to put food on the table or make sure our kids are well taken care of so they can pursue what they want in life, and we all in this together. Plan,ou look at the biden it is talking about a true infrastructure plan. We heard four years of this great infrastructure plan that was going to come out of the administration, nothing came out. You would hear about energy infrastructure. It has been quite a few years. If you think back to new york, during the great blackout, that infrastructure needs to be upgraded. But the most important thing is covid. And i just want to take a moment to say thank you to the essential workers, because for those who put on the uniform, whether it is a badge on their r scrubs,you wea to the teachers, the transit workers and bus drivers who did not sign up to put their life to the li did not sign up to put their life on the line. Each day they put their life on the line so our lives can continue. They are going to work. That is so important. Imagine going to work at a supermarket, you are a bagger or a cashier, which was my first job. Making minimum wage, in some cases a little bit that are if you have a union a little bit better if you have a union. We want to say thank you because we really appreciate it. Whether it is the infrastructure, which is so important, covid, bringing back , particularly in the armed services, making sure National Security includes our thoserial base, so that important tools which were used to keep our country safe are made here in america. Host lets go to georgia, a democratic caller. Caller hello. Nice to talk to you, sir. Very pleased to talk to a man who has been through an apprenticeship and understands how much that means. Years as an apprentice, as a machinist and then as a tool maker. It has worked well for me all my life. I wanted to ask a specific question. People are beating up on nancy pelosi because of the amount of dollars. The amount of dollars isnt what she is after, what she is after is accountability. If the republicans are written it is the republicans who number one, they dont want accountability and they dont want oversight on the bill. By other thing they dont want forhat they do want is corporations to get off as far as liability is concerned if they cause harm to an employee. I would like you to comment on that. I appreciate very much your being where you are. Thank you so much. Host thanks, harry. Guest thank you. Across georgia come that you are in the middle of a firestorm. A couple of elections coming up in the senate that could really help change the direction of the country. A machinist, those are skill sets that in many cases we are using. Our industrial base, because we had so many things that have been offshoring we are losing the next generation of worker. We have a lot of smart people, but we need people like electricians to put those things back together. So thank you for all you have done. Lets talk about the standards. Right now we are following guidelines in this country. The cdc has been at the forefront of that, about what you should do on the job site. We have had a set of standards over atss covid sitting the department of labor where they are going nowhere. The idea that each employee decides what they should do, we have some of the greatest science in the world. We have the standards. The idea of having a standard is i believe the Biden Administration will do extremely well. It was part of the h. E. R. O. E. S. Act and the first set of bills that we put through that are still sitting there. You have to have a set of standards, a, that are enforceable, and b so were all playing to the same tune of music,. It is wrong with the department of labor has not been doing. Lets talk about what they can do, put the set of standards in. The idea that some employers are giving out nothing for ppe . My god, it is a pandemic. I think it is incredibly important. We also took a lot of heat for enhanced unemployment. God, every dollar of unemployment going out is going right into your community. Not into offshore accounts. 1. 3 trillion is what we gave away is what tax breaks they give away. This is a pandemic. We are at war. We need to take care of the people that need it most. I think what you brought up is incredibly important. Get this done. They are hurting out there. The restaurants are hurting. Business is hurting. It is so important for the economy, yes, to put food on the table, but it also helps supermarket, those who are trying to get to work and put gas in their car. That is one of the reasons why my colleague and myself put together the new labor caucus. We saw the inequities going on out there and we said, what do we do . Mark came out of a union. The principles of the labor. Nt that we wanted to host roger is calling from hawaii, an independent on the line with the congressman. Caller good morning, congressman. I wanted to ask you about the campaigning. Everybody is campaigning and paying lots of money to campaign. When President Trump was on the campaign rallies, who was paying for his expenses such as air force one . That is public property, which is us. Are we paying for his gas on that airplane . All his rallies . Is the taxpayer paying that . Roger. K, congressman . Guest they are a couple of rules to go with this. For air force one, it is about 200,000 an hour, and that is a couple of years old. There are rules in place that that if he goes to rallies, he has to reimburse. There is a formula. But the matter who the president is, we want to make sure they are safe. But you cant use the assets of the american government, taxpayers, for political use. There is a line that has been drawn that you have to follow, there is no question about that. Host tallahassee, florida, joseph a republican. Caller thank you. First i would like to say, everybody, have a happy thanksgiving. I am 72s old years old. There is aing if solution that could help our thetry, midi Something Like reenacting the Selective Service draft. Just a simple plan in my own mind, all men and all young women, 1921 serve two years with no deferments. Everybody serves. Number one, he would have to have a place where they can serve and be trained. The military bases could be reopened. Construction crews could go back to work. After that, the people in the communities could actually go ahead and work on the base and the people at the bases could go ahead and put the money into the community. Thats the way it was. There was a war going on in vietnam. So what i am just saying is that, could this possibly be a solution to a big problem, if we build up a defense our defense, it would give young people a general idea of which way to go with their lives. If they dont have an idea, they may gain one. And each community would feel proud again. Host congressman, your thoughts. Guest thank you. If you had an opportunity to go to some of our national parks, my family in tennessee, right of the smoky mountains, you see all the work that the organization did back then. It was an incredible time. It was the depression and that was one of the programs. You bring up a point, Public Service, and how important that is. It gives us an opportunity to say thank you to all those who are serving in our military around the world and keeping us safe. They made the decision i talked earlier about whether to go to college, build a college or defend a college. Those who put their life on hold to defend our country, it is an incredible moment and we say thank you for what they do. Many did the ultimate and they never come home. For those who have a loved one my son served, and certainly there were nights when you stay awake thinking, are they safe . But is there a way of having Public Service . There are some that are talking about that opportunity for , oric service retiring some of the debt for student loans. That has been talked about quite a bit. But the idea that we all pitch in together, i think the concept is one that has to be revisited. You look at other countries around the world that have different ways of looking at this. Israel, they all serve in the military, with few exceptions. It makes you look at things differently. When you think where so many of our soldiers and airmen have been. We are all in this together. The idea of giving back i think is incredibly important, and i hope we continue to have that conversation. Thoseou just cant responsibilities to a few. We are all in this together. Host representative Donald Washington journal continues. Host here to give us an update on covid19 relief talks is the majority whip in the house, mr. Clyburn. Thank you for your time. Lets begin with where negotiations stand right now. Guest as you know, the senate has left town. I and we cant get this done without cooperation from him, and he has a ready said he will not put anything on the floor unless it has got support from the white house. And i dont know if anybody can expect much from the white house these days, so i dont see much happening. We will come back after thanksgiving. I talked with the speaker yesterday. I am in sync with her as to what she would like to see done and hopefully we can get something going at that time. But there will not see anything done in the next couple of weeks. Host is the speaker open to lowering the number from 2. 2 trillion to a lower number that republicans in the senate would like to see . Guest people keep talking about the number. I keep talking about the need. The American People are hurting, they are in need. Lets do what the public needs done, and then apply a price tag to it. I dont operate as looking at the price tag and then dealing out the programs. Lets lay out what needs to be done and then we let the price ag the care of itself. Host you are the chair of the select committee on coronavirus. I am wondering what role you might play in oversight of the vaccine distribution. Guest i will play a Critical Role with that. As you know, there will be a problem as to how many we have an when then we have to worry about where it goes. I tell people all the time, i was around for the polio vaccine, and it looks like we will have two this time. We had two polio vaccines, but there is a marked difference between the two. The polio vaccine was a shot in the arm. Guess which community got the shot in the arm . I still have the scar. And which community got the lump of sugar. We are looking for not just efficiency and effectiveness in the distribution of this vaccine, we are also looking for equity. So we are going to be looking to make sure that everybody is treated fairly. Host what have you been told about the role government will play in the distribution the f. D. A. And what is the best way to make it equitable . Guest it is to have the cientists make the decision. Let the medical Community Set down with the Drug Companies and make that decision. Keep the politicians out of it. I am a big believer in the independence but science should take in determining where the vaccine should go and when. We know what the needs are. We have a lot of frontline people that need to be taken care of. People who we call essential workers, they ought to be first to be taken care of. Those of us who are not essential should wait our turn. Host what do you say to people who are not trusting the overnment on the safety of this vaccine . Guest i would say keep the government out of it. Let the scientists and the medical community make that decision. I understand why people dont trust the government, all you have to do is look at the shenanigans that are going on right now around this election we just had, and you understand why people dont understand the government. So keep the government out of it. Let the scientists make the decision. Host what about distrust of corporations, though the corporations who have created the vaccine . Guest i have not detected any distrust of the creation of the vaccine. If the experts say it is safe, we will treat this vaccine like we treat everything else. None of us are experts in this. If you have an ailment and you go to a professional and the professional says this is what it will take to take care of the ailment, i am doing exactly hat the doctor says. So i dont think that people will distrust the scientists, they distrust the lies that eep coming out of government these days. Host congressman clyburn, there is also another deadline congress faces, december 11, to eep the government running. That could obviously impact the response to the pandemic. Where do those negotiations stand . Guest that is a little bit above my pay grade. I have no idea where they stand. I do know that there is some concerns that have been expressed about that. Nce again, whatever we do come you have to have cooperation from the senate, and we have to have a buyin from the white house. In the white house seems to be missing in action. Host message to looking nancy pelosi hinted last week that this could possibly be her ast term as speaker. Do you have interest in that ffice . Guest i heard what was said, i was standing there when she said it. I have no idea what her timeframe is, but i dont really want to get into what my interest will be until i decide what the avenues i might travel on. Host could you share with our viewers your thought process in endorsing president elect joe biden in the South Carolina primary . So many people have given you credit for his election, and that pivotal moment. When and how did you decide . Guest well, my wife passed away in september 19 of last ear. She was very active politically and philanthropically. She was a professional librarian. She spent a lot of time in the halls of the v. A. Hospital. She loved joe biden. We talked about joe biden, and she thought he was the best for us. Well, she had passed away by he time we got around to the primary. Then just before the debate in harleston, i went to a funeral ervice ms. Jones, a woman i had never met before, called me over to her and she told me, i need to know who you are going o vote for, and if you dont want anybody to know, leaned down and whisper your answer into my ear. And i did what she asked me to do. But then when she snapped her head back, there was a look at her face that i had never been able to explain. She said to me, i needed to hear that, in this Community Needs to hear from you and this Community Needs to hear rom you. That is what made me do what i did when i did it. Those two women made me do what i did. Host congressman james clyburn, thank you for your time this morning. We appreciate the update. Guest thank you very much. Host joining us now is congressman Warren Davidson of ohio, republican representative of the eighth district, here to talk about how the covid19 pandemic is impacting his area. Congressman, what is it ike . [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its