You can text us, 202 7488003. Include your name, tell us where you are texting from. On twitter, we are cspanwj. We will look for your posts as well on our facebook page. We start this morning on the modernage of usa today, applied monday for an emergency use authorization from the u. S. Food and Drug Administration after receiving more good news about the safety and effectiveness of its covid19 vaccine. They are the second vaccine maker to request authorization from the federal government after similarly positive results from pfizer host we will start by asking you, when the back in comes out, will you get back native . Tell us your thoughts on that. F you will, 202 7488000 if you wont, 202 7488001. What are some of the next steps . We have a look at that and what you need to know about astrazeneca, moderna, and Pfizer Vaccines, in the third such announcement in as many weeks. Pfizer, moderna, astrazeneca, the headline from last week, the chart onated what happens next. Resultss reporting applying to the fda for emergency use authorization. Moderna applied yesterday, seeking authorization to provide the vaccines more broadly. Astrazeneca reporting 90 effectiveness. The next steps on that, fda regulators will review effectiveness, safety, and manufacturing of each vaccine. An Fda Advisory Committee will vote on whether to recommend a green light for each vaccine and in mid to late december the fda may authorize one or more vaccines a few days later. The center for Disease Control will discuss prioritizing vaccines for highrisk troops and by the end of the year the government projects pfizer and 20 millionl offer doses by the end of the year. Ofwill hear a bit from one the coleaders of operation warp from, some audio from him a meeting last week. Lets get to your calls here. If you are going to get vaccinated, 202 7488000. If not, 202 7488001. If you are undecided, 202 7488002. Dan and Rochester Hills michigan , good morning. You will get vaccinated . So far, based on the information presented in the news, i have a lot of confidence in either of the two vaccines getting both rounds. I expect more information will come out. Im 68 in the vaccine will become available to me. Another dan go to who says no, he wont get vaccinated. Hello there. Im going to be willing to take a totally new experimental vaccine for a virus that has a 99. 7 survival rate from the ages of zero to 70. Ive been listening to this for the better part of a year now, just like everybody else. This is a real virus. It gets the old people, it gets the people with preexisting problems. Think about it. This new vaccine, from what i have heard, the two of the three that they have right now, what they want to do is they want to turn on your immune system to attack the virus. Its never been done before. They are going to do that at the genetic level. What happens if your immune system doesnt shut off . Do you know what that does to a person . You need to go to the cdc website and look at whats there. This is not a dangerous virus to most people. And i will leave you with this, we have 327 Million People in this country. Its been about a year now. We dont have 10 of the population affected with this. With did you come down covid this year . Caller i didnt. You know what . I have been out there and im an essential worker. Some people do get hit pretty hard with this. But the majority of the population have. Remember mardi gras was going to be the end of the world . Break . The trump rallies . We are still here, folks. We are still functioning. Dont let them mess with your dna. Host john, maryland. Good morning. Tell us your thoughts. Caller yeah, im getting vaccinated. From what my research tells me, they have got some pretty new technology from when they developed the polio vaccine. I mean, they didnt have recombatant dna techniques then. I think the technology has come a long way. Im going to take it. Host are you in one of those groups that potentially would be first in line to get it . Im 67. I have some underlying conditions. Im also considered an essential worker. Host sounds like you are heading to work this morning, too. Caller im heading home from work. I work in water treatment. Host oh boy. Appreciate you calling in this morning. 202 7488000 if you are going to get the vaccine when its approved, 202 7488001 if not. This is from stat news this morning in their headlines, divisions emerge among u. S. Officials among when the first covid19 doses will be available and for who. Divisions are emerging over top from top u. S. Officials over when the vaccine will be authorized and who should be at the front of the line to get vaccinated. Has suggestedd that vaccinations of americans could begin by the end of next week. In their scenario they will authorize emergency use of a vaccine developed by pfizer and biontech almost immediately after a december 10 meeting of an Advisory Committee expected to recommend authorization host virginia, larry, undecided on a vaccine. Morning, larry. Name right,got the thank you very much. Im undecided. Im hearing all the good news about this. I have to be skeptical about all the good news. But im waiting for the v. A. To come through with an approved vaccine that they approve of that they are going to start giving to us. Then i will be as close to the front of the line is i can get. Mid 70s, diabetic, overweight. I have to assume the covid bug has got me in its crosshairs. Host has the v. A. Kept you posted on their progress, how the vaccine will work at your local hospital or center . Caller yeah, va hospital. They havent said anything yet. Im waiting for them to say it. When that happens, i will be, i will try to get as close to the front of the line as i can. Newsskeptical about the because its just healthy skepticism where they say oh, we got this and that and isnt that great, but maybe not so much. That, you talked about your healthy skepticism on the fence, but also said that you would be lined up if they offered the vaccine. What do you need to hear about the vaccine . What will assure you more . It fromi need to hear my personal care provider at the v. A. Saying we got a vaccine, its here for you, and i say doc, let me in. Host all right. Ben, baltimore city, hi there. Caller thank you for cspan. I know, unfortunately five have died from the covid19. Four share my medical profile. Im absolutely going to look at getting this vaccine when it comes out. Host thanks, ben. Heres a snapshot of where we are with covid19. Wall street journal headline, Record Number hospitalized as experts fear a spike in cases after a busy Holiday Travel p eriod. They have showed this shot several times, the parking lot at dodgers stadium, the lineup for testing in los angeles. Wont getgan, bruce tested. Tell us why. Caller i worked most of my life as a medical systems analyst. I would not get this vaccine for the world. I just wrote an essay the other was basically what i said forced to is medical rape. I dont care if you want to get the vaccine. I would recommend against it. I have never had one in 50 years. Im 66. But the main thing is this, vaccines on any human being, to force them violates First Amendment rights and its a violation of the nuremberg code. They have been trying for the last eight months to walk down this thing. Any restrictions against this. Host what about private businesses Like Airlines . You mentioned travel. United, delta, southwest says you can fly with us but you have to show you are vaccinated. Should they be able to do that . My wife just retired, she worked at henry ford hospital. They went from saying you can wear a mask or get the vaccine and lose your job. That is wrong. That is a violation of our rights and its going to rip this country apart. Mark my words. Bruceking. Com. Thats my website. Ive been fence censored by facebook. Host sandy, baltimore, says she will get vaccinated. Caller im on my way to work. It was interesting to hear what ben had to say. I too have worked in research. Im a nurse. I also have to comply with policy at the hospital. I had to get the annual flu vaccine, whether i want it or not if i want to be able to still come to work. Which i think is wrong. I also have autoimmune disease, to start with. Personally, im on the fence about it. Been so busy, i pretty much keep up with things, but to hear that i think it was the Moderna Vaccine that you read at the beginning had a large number of subjects that had the placebo but only 11 that got the actual vaccine. Me. s concerning to thats a big concern to me and its making me feel i want to take some time off, which is hard to do. I work 12 hour shifts and its very difficult. And yeah, thats a concern. Is it a concern because you think its a small sample . Caller its a microscopic sample. With most Clinical Trials, having worked in research, not as long as been, but having worked at more at the application level, the populations they do the study on is quite large, but most of the time that it takes to process, you hear it takes anywhere from four years to 10 years, you know, just like anything in the government, look at congress, they are stuck. Everything works at a snails pace. A lot of that was stripped because of the necessity to quickly move forward. , i trust thatst process. Not that i dont trust the vaccine, i just havent seen enough to where im comfortable. But again, i may not have much choice if i want to work. Host you mentioned two things. Your work requires you now to get a flu vaccine and you also mentioned having an autoimmune disease. Have you had issues in the past where you have gotten the flu vaccine and it has caused problems with your health . Sometimeske anybody, its ineffective, they only pick out the most predominant three or four strains. Its kind of a guesswork. Whatever rises to the top, they pick those three or four and a couple of years ago it was so ineffective. I havent gotten a problem, but again, this vaccine again, 11 subjects, thats not much information to go on. Its really like, im shocked. I really am. Call,appreciate the sandy, in baltimore. Dr. Fauci was with us last weekend on this program talked about the vaccine and immunity as well. Lets hear what he had to say. [video clip] there are at least three vaccines that have been shown to be highly efficacious. 90 to 95 . One of them over 90 . Thats the good news. What we dont know is how long the immunity lasts. Will we be able to get a shot and then we are good . Its not likely its going to be lifetime immunity. We want to take one step at a time. The first step is to get a highly efficacious and safe vaccine, which we do have now and we will have more. They are beginning to be administered to the higher priority people towards the middle and end of december and integrated way, much more after that. It is conceivable that the immunity will not last long years to go for 5, 10, 15. We will see in the future if we need to get a booster shot a year or two later. That remains to be seen, if thats the case. That would be fine. As long as we get this pandemic now out of, crushed, so that we dont have the situation that we have now. Calls coming your up shortly here on vaccinations. In what may be their final appearance before congress, we will get to that in just a moment. Florida. To judy in judy, you say yes, you wont get vaccinated. Liker i will, but i would to speak to the lady that called earlier about them a dharna vaccine. Didnt did get the coronavirus after taking the vaccine. The study was built on a much larger population. Theanyway, i will take vaccine, though i dont normally take vaccines. And i think old that people in my age group could be very good subjects to how well the vaccine is going to work. All right, more of your calls ahead here. In what may be one of their final testimonies on capitol hill, Steven Mnuchin and Jerome Powell testified today before the senate inking committee. We are joined next by chris , their of newburgh news Federal Reserve reporter. Good morning, welcome. Whats the focus of todays hearing . Guest as usual, the official purpose of the hearing is to talk about what the fed and the treasury have done with the money appropriated by congress under the cares act past back in march to help use the economy through the whole pandemic. Be, but are going to more broadly both of them will be asked about the state of the economy and how they think the economy is holding up. I expect we are going to hear both of them, in somewhat different ways, both of them talk about the need for additional congressional action. Even though we are hearing about the approach of vaccines, kind of a light at the end of the tunnel for the economy here. Both of them have emphasized that there is still quite a big challenge left for the economy. For congressional action. Host last week the treasury secretary announced the end of emergency fund. Did it catch members of the committee by surprise . Guest it somewhat caught some people by surprise. Made veryd clearly clear that they wanted to extend the life of all of their emergency lending facilities. , not becausehere they are needed for action right now, most of them have gone pretty much idle. But they wanted them there as a sort of just in case. In Case Financial markets in particular tightened up again. If there was a new surprise or shock to the economy that could send the Financial Markets into a new panic. The fed felt that the economy is still very vulnerable and that this was still a risk. So, to be safe it would be better to continue. The secretary of the treasury disagreed and discontinued. I think the ones that caused the most angst were the ones that would support the Corporate Bond market. And another one that would support the Municipal Bond market, in the event that things took another very bad turn for the worst. Know, lawmakers today are going to ask both of them about that situation. If that was a mistake or not. Mnuchin will of course defend his decision saying that they are not really needed and the backstop money that was there to support those programs could be put to other uses. I think powell will tread very carefully here. He wont want to step on mnuchins toes publicly too much and he knows he will have a new treasury secretary in just a few weeks and so maybe he can have a reversal there and stand up a couple of these programs again. Though when the fed chair speaks in testimony like this, it makes news. His overnight statement said something to the effect of he believes the economy is still vulnerable. Guest absolutely. Powell made very clear and that prepared text that they released last night that number one, the economy has made a big amount of progress since the spring and bouncing back from a huge hit that it took. But it has come nowhere near the levels, if you are talking about growth, or talking about employment especially, we are nowhere near back to the level that we were in february of 2020. Theres a lot of work left to do. He said the vaccines look like they are very positive, but there is a lot of uncertainty hanging around the vaccines and the economy in general. The tone of his testimony is going to be very cautious and cautionary towards lawmakers to not think that we are out of the woods yet. And that a lot of challenges remain. There are about 10 Million People who lost their job in the workg who remain out of and theres a lot that congress could perhaps still do to help those households and Small Businesses as well to get through the remaining months of this pandemic. Yellen, now named by joe biden as the next treasury secretary. Give us a quick snapshot of her responsibility or preparedness, i guess, for that role, based on what she did as fed chair. Guest well, certainly shes going to be very well prepared for dealing with the problems we are having from this camp pandemic. She knows well the challenges the economy faces. And of course the prospects for collaboration will be very high. Powell and yellen have a good working relationship, they worked together for many years at the fed. So, i think that things will run pretty smoothly between the fed and the treasury. So, i think she will probably hit the ground running with a lot of ideas about what else could be done by congress, by the incoming Biden Administration, that could help again to bridge the economy through the remaining months of this pandemic. The bruce condon covers fed for bloomberg. You can read his reporting at bloomberg. Com. Thank you for the update. Guest my pleasure. Host we continue with comments and questions from you, but just a reminder that we will cover fromhearing at 10 00 Steven Mnuchin and Jerome Powell. That is coming up at 10 a. M. Eastern here on cspan, cspan. Org and online, available at the free cspan radio app. Is the line to call if youre planning to get vaccinated when available, 202 7488001 if not. And if youre undecided, and number of folks have called and said that, 202 7488002. Heres what people are saying on text and social media. The vaccine will be unable to do the vaccination that the virus did to me. Please do Everything Possible to avoid getting this disease. I will get it asap but im leery considering that the Trump Administration was in place during its development and i dont completely trust the pharmaceutical industry and im concerned about the momentum behind getting a vaccine approved. They are already talking about who will get it and when, even though a vaccine hasnt been approved yet. Yet. Bob anne is with us in silver spring, maryland, undecided. Good morning. Caller good morning, thank you for taking my call. Im an 85yearold africanamerican senior. I live in a senior housing. Not imm concerned, because i cant really hear from the people who ought to know the real statistics at all. Not any have been offered about how africanamericans in the trials have reacted to the medicine. Or the trial medicine. So, we are being asked to do this without any information. Im wondering why that is or why , really, not mentioned i havent heard how seniors are , i mean to the medicine the trials. And im not hearing any numbers or anything and im very worried about that. That is why i i have underlying conditions. Host we are going to talk about that a little bit with our next guest. Heres the headline from the Washington Post, Coronavirus Vaccine faced trust gap in africanamerican and latino communities. Our next guest wrote about that. Lets hear from dave in cincinnati. Dave says yes, he will get vaccinated. Caller the more information i confident i am. Im going to my family physician next week. Hopefully i will be online for getting the vaccine early. Host heres where people stand on twitter this morning with people watching. The results, will you be getting vaccinated, the results of the pole, wire why not, so far the results, 56 percent . 59 . Got to get my glasses checked, thats what i need to do. 59 saying yes on our poll. Cedar creek, we hear from sherry. Go ahead. Go at you are on the line, go ahead. Definitely am going to have the vaccination. Im 80 years old. I like what i hear. 94 , thats good for me. Anna, philadelphia, tell us why you are not planning to get vaccinated. Caller the latest headline from last wednesday on fox, its 84 cure rate in the early stages of the disease. And its inexpensive. Furthermore, it takes two years for side effects to come into their own and they are giving this almost immediately. Some airlines are already , they will be for forced into it. Also, this is a larger subject. They want to reduce the World Population and call the herd. I think this is a very real form of pneumonia. It can be dealt with on that basis and i think we will have more hearings. Host we have mentioned this before in a little bit more detail, the panel that will decide who will get the vaccine from the New York Times, cdc Advisory Panel will decide on recommendations tuesday afternoon. They write that after months of deliberation and debate a panel of independent experts advising the centers for independent prevention set to decide on tuesday which americans will recommend it will recommend to get the vaccine first while supply is short host thats from the New York Times co. Will you get a Covid Vaccine . 202 7488000 if you say yes. If its no, 202 7488001. If you are undecided, 202 7488002. Tell us why or why not. What are some of your concerns or hopes on how soon you might be able to get the vaccine . Paul, florida, go ahead. Caller how you doing . Yeah. I would get this vaccine yesterday. I mean these people calling up about a vaccine, its ignorant about science. Did you hang up on me . Host no, you are still on the air, go ahead. Caller this vaccine, ive seen it a couple of times. It cant hurt you. Its a piece of the messenger rna. It just creates antibodies in your body. It cant, no one has died from the trials that ive heard of. People have gotten sore arms and stuff like that. It cant hurt you, this vaccine. Because the cdc and fda are dragging their feet, they should just read the data and get the vaccine out tomorrow. 2000 People Per Day are dying and they are worried about if its effective, if its safe. 100,000 people in the hospital and they are worried about the vaccine . They should give it to people that wanted. If you want the vaccine, they should say come and get it right now. Theres nothing to drag their feet about. They know it works. I think its politics, why they are delaying it. They want to show people that they are taking their time and it is safe and all this. I mean every vaccine that there is. Host shouldnt we do that with every vaccine . Take their time and make sure its safe . Obviously they want to speed this up, but dont you think that will reassure people . A crisishis is like emergency. I mean theres not time for this, you know, these things. People are, 2000 people died one day last week and they are worried about safety people . I would take it right now. Host all right, larry in eugene, oregon, says no. Caller yes, good morning. In my case, i have been around a long time. I have had a lot of doctors, taken plenty of medicines. I have studied this at some length and i do not trust the american medical people. I dont trust the medical profession here. I dont trust the pharmaceutical companies. Medicine is for money alone in this country. Theres no way i would put myself at risk. Thank you. North carolina, larry is next, undecided. Caller this is mark. Host mark, im sorry, go ahead. Caller im 71 years old, basically in pretty good health. I dont really have any problem taking the vaccine except that im hearing of the possibility them including a barcode tracking device that will be a of the vaccination and they say the reason for that, if its true, would be to better withffective results respect to the virus and the vaccination. My concern is if they can track it from that standpoint, cant the same barcoded tracking device host you said they said this, where are you reading this is off ofller this newsmax. Website . And like i say, the reason behind it is what they are saying, they can better track the effectiveness of the vaccine. If they can track from that standpoint, whats to prevent them from tracking and seeing where im going, and what have you. No problem whatsoever taking the vaccine. Why would anybody authorize a vaccine unless they were pretty dad gum sure the that it was going to work. No one wants to be subject to lawsuits. If they can dispel the tracking device rumor, im all for it. Race, theidential last of two of six states where trump contested loss certified their vote. Wisconsin and arizona on monday became the last two of six states where President Trump has contested his defeat to finalize vote counts, dealing a fresh blow to overturning joe bidens victory. They write that trump and his allies vowed to continue pressing legal claims challenging the results in several states, but such efforts have met with resounding failures in courts across the country and mondays certification brought to a close eriod in which they said a fourstar general overseeing operation warp speed, the development and distribution of the vaccine, when its available, he spoke at the white house last week and talked about some of their plans. [video clip] a couple of things that we decided upfront. One, we would be able to deliver the vaccine within 24 hours after eua, distribution to the entire United States of america, including territories and metropolitan cities. Two, we started with a foundation of expertise. The cdc is the very best at planning and executing distribution of vaccines. We took their core competency and we aligned it with the capability of planners, project managers and those who could run campaigns. Together this organization has come up with a strategy for distribution. Third, we took the capacity of the industry, commercial industry, bringing them into the fold. And we brought them into the fold. We wanted to utilize the capacity already established in a proven trackas record and knows how to distribute vaccines and understands the nuances of ultracold chain were airmans. We knew that if we brought pfizer, moderna, mckesson, ups, fedex, cvs, walgreens, and hundreds of others together, that we would come up with the best solutions. Innovation towards the end state was the only care. It wasnt about egos or credit. It was about how to solve a complex problem. General gust perna last week at the white house on operation warp speed. 202 7488000 if you plan to get the vaccine. You say no. 01 if if you are undecided, 202 7488002. A couple of tweets, this one from reuters, moderna, they filed for european authorization of covid19 vaccine. The afp tweets this this morning , and update, biotech intech and pfizer fired filed for approval for their vaccine. Lets hear from michigan, lee says yes, he will get vaccinated. Go ahead. Lee, can youis hear me . Host yes, we can. Caller i spoke to one of the nurses here who was on the fence, i said do it for your children, forget about yourself. Worry about the children who will die if you dont get the vaccine, the adults who die. You could kill them because you dont get the vaccine. Getting the vaccine, its harmless. Failed. Ation system has people are ignorant. People go to school to become nurses and doctors. They dont trust vaccinations. We need to do it for our children, our friends, our brothers and sisters. People say they will die for their kids . Prove it. Host jerry, texas, also says yes. Jerry, texas, go ahead. I am a yes with some concerns. I have gaon barre syndrome. I have lost the lower left lobe of my lung. Answers, can i take the vaccine because i have had young barre syndrome and can never get a flu shot or pneumonia shot because of the syndrome. Trying to find that answer is not easy. Host so, you havent heard yet. Do you think that will, do you think it will depend on which vaccine is available . Caller first of all for my area i would have to find out which vaccine it is and then i would have to rely on one local doctor to get the answer, and that concerns me a little bit. Thanks for the comment, jerry. We will look into that to see if we can find an answer for you. Tony says yes, he will get vaccinated. Caller yes, i will. I was military for 20 years. Took all the vaccines that they prescribed. I trust our government. I believe that they are trying to help us. The more people that get the vaccination, the better it will be for everybody, even those who dont take it, because we build up what they call a heard resistance. Resistance. Im looking forward to it. Host when you were in the military, you lined up for vaccines. Could you opt out of that or did they say you had to step up regardless . Was volunteer army, but when you stepped in that line, you had to take that vaccination. It doesnt hurt, it only takes a minute. And theyve all been tested. They are not going to put something on the market that is. Oing to give them lawsuits so, i trust of the people that motivatedit are well and want to help people. Doctor, hesr there to help you, hes not there to just make money. Host if you want to text, you can do that at 202 7488003. Dan and michigan says this, received the polio vaccine in 1955, it took two and a half years to develop by much fewer people and i will be getting the Covid Vaccine when its available. This one says im a vietnam vet, i will take it as soon as its available so i can be with my family, friends, and socialize in public. Anginia, since i have underlying medical condition i will get vaccinated asap, on the moderna website it states 30 thousand participate in the 25,000 654dy, participants have received their second vaccination. And remember, per news media, covid is a national emergency, pfizer asked for Emergency Action and in a month we will look at the requests, where is the urgency, this is all politics. Chesterfield, missouri, norm, good morning. I am concerned that the people that can be a carrier with no symptoms, that that is one of the reasons i am going to get vaccinated because i am not selfish that i would carry the. Irus to somebody else that wouldnt be fair to them. Thank you. Is next up. Hes in bloomington, indiana. Go ahead, daniel. Caller im undecided because theres not enough information about how the vaccine will stand in for two, there are other, more prioritized folks, you know, in nursing homes, older folk. The younger folk with the weaker immune systems than what i might have. Im almost 30 years old. I havent gotten a flu shot in more than 10 years and ive not come down with the flu. Im currently laid up in quarantine and i was told i had the virus on thursday, thanksgiving of all days. Long do you have to be in quarantine for . I have not been symptomatically and surly saturday. Youve got the 10 days of grace where you dont have symptoms using fever fighting medication. So, i went and quarantined last monday. I would say early next week i will be good to go. Mentioned you are 30, pretty healthy. Do you feel like you could also be somewhat immune now that you have had it . Someone immune so it is not as urgent for you to get vaccinated . Grandma was 71 and doctors told her shes pretty much immune. You know, at 71 she came down with the virus earlier in the year. She has brain aneurysms. She had pneumonia a few weeks prior and the doctors said she is pretty much immune. I have not had the same situation as her where the doctors have told me that, but then again im in between jobs and dont have insurance, so im not seeing the doctors as frequently as she might. Host how is your grandma by the way, doing all right . Goter shes doing well, out and drove herself around a little over a week ago. Host good news. Thanks for calling in. Steve, russell springs, kentucky. No, he wont get vaccinated. Good morning. Caller yeah, i was, the reason i wont get vaccinated is because i heard that the would have the baby parts of abortions in them. Host where did you hear that from, steve question mark caller i heard it on the steve . Caller i heard it on the radio, crosstalk. You are talking about stem cells . Caller yes, i am. Host so, its more of a moral or religious issue with you in terms of that . Caller yes, it is. And another thing is if it was a life or death thing, i think that would be another issue and i would have it, but other than that, i think you stand with the are, you know, planned parenthood, abortion and that thing, if you go ahead and get vaccinated with this. Laurel, maryland, mike, undecided about getting the vaccination. Mike, good morning. Mike in maryland. Hey, doing fine. About im conflicted this vaccination. I feel like a lot of people are using the College Frat Party approach to this, where whatever you put in the cup, you know, ill drink. They dont really know much about it. Historically as a country we typically try everything out on black people. When you look at percentage of first responders, the large majority of them are black people. So. And for the first caller that was apprehensive about the stem cells, he should know that even the treatment that the President Donald Trump has taken remdesivir, is actually stem cells. So a lot of this stuff is just put together haphazardly to respond to a virus and we dont know, you know, what the outcome will be. Its more just lets find out and see as it goes. I dont think that as a country, as a forerunner, that thats the right approach, how thats any better than what russia did. Russia tried all their vaccinations on the soldiers and said we have a cure, lets do it. How is that different . We tried 30,000 people. We have millions of people with a positive rate and over 270,000 deaths in this country. How can you justify taking such harsh actions without being absolutely sure that in the next six months the virus wont cause damage for your heart, your liver, your brain, anything. Host you said one of your concerns was that we often, in your words, test things out on africanamericans. Africanamericans, among other groups, are among the hardest hit by covid19. Are you concerned at all that if other africanamericans have a similar point of view they will be reluctant to get vaccinated and yet still be in the group that is at highest risk . A firstwell, see, im responder myself and the thing is, africanamericans, we dont think with one unified mind, you know . We way things based on whats beneficial to our family, our life, and everything else. But historically when you look at Johns Hopkins and the lead paint trials, asbestos, anything this country has tried out is typically on the backs of africanAmerican People in we have not only bear the brunt of this virus, but why are we bearing the brunt of this virus . Even medical research caters you know, going into africanamerican issues in this virus, the vaccination is not just a typical vaccination. Its a new approach to vaccines and you are turning your body into a weapon where they only introduce a part of the virus to your system and your body in turn replicates and finishes the process. Your mike, appreciate comments. One of a number of members of congress to get covid19 was Chuck Grassley of iowa. He returned to the senate floor after being free of covid after his quarantine and talked about, didnt mention that in his speech, but talked about other Unsung Heroes in the u. S. [video clip] like many ohioans, for the first time in my life, i wasnt able to share a meal with my family this thanksgiving. That doesnt keep me from being thankful for the essential workers of our country, who have also missed many thanksgiving meals. Still, these essential workers provide and continue to provide for and keep our country safe. An essential job that often gets overlooked is that of the 86,000 iowa farm families that produce the food that we consume on thanksgiving and 300 and 64 days out of the rest of the year. This firstg you in hour if you will get a covid19 vaccine. 202 7488000, yes. 202 7488001, no. On twitter, heres where the poll stands, those tweeting saying they will get vaccinated, 50 6 , 34 no. Undecided in carrollton, georgia, good morning to sheila. Yes, good morning. Host morning. When, see, undecided our childrens minister at the church, her whole family has the covid. And they are quarantined. And of their doctor told them to and vitamin d. Well, my doctor has had me on vitamin c and vitamin d for over two years now. I take it daily. I have been tested two times r coronas in foir both times it came up negative and i think that both times what protected me is the fact that i have so much vitamin c and vitamin d. Now, taking the vaccination, when [indiscernible] takes the vaccination, and i think he will get it from pfizer , because they are an american , then i will consider getting it. Spring,l right, silver maryland, will get the vaccination. Go ahead, you are on the air. Caller can you hear me . Host yes, we can. Go ahead. Caller yeah, im going to take the vaccine. , i know, since it is new have a lot of questions i need answered, right . The,mes, you know, through the data will be available to more people taking the vaccine. I just want to do my part, even if i put in the vaccine order medication, at least i want to do my part. Worker, i seeare a lot of people out there, you know . See mask, not being able to your loved one because of this covid. It has to be stopped somewhere. I think the vaccine is the key. I would like to take it, you know . Even if i have a concern. On the others, indianapolis, loretto, wont get the vaccine. Picked im so elated, i up my phone and got right through to you. I just really want to tell you that you look so good this morning, you got on all my favorite colors. But no, im not getting the vaccine ever. Ive never had one. I dont think i need to start now. Host ok, lorraine, indiana, this is a column from the Washington Times about warnings of potential scams and vaccines. Beware potential scams, desperately anticipated by weary americans longing for a path back to normal life, but criminals are also waiting, ready to use the desperation to their advantage host a couple of comments from folks who texted us. Kathy says they are giving it to healthy people, most americans are not healthy or have autoimmune conditions. I am a young man in good health who wears a mask and follows social distancing requests. Me getting the vaccine would be taking it from someone who really needs it. Its for people who are in danger of dying of the virus. I dont trust the vaccine, gave my dose to someone else. I will take it, after it has been distributed for a while. My farfetched fear is unknown side effect causing catastrophic calamity. Caller good morning. I have been listening to your show for quite a while. Everybody haste their own rights to take it or not take it. I have a question. Fears. One of my biggest everybody, no matter what their , hasrence is and politics continued to say when the outine is ready to be given the nursingart with homes and the elderly and things of that nature. What i have is a legal question. We all know that all of trumps etc. Willandchildren, to take the vaccine. Host what is your question about that . I want to know if that does happen, i do expect it to ifpen, isnt that illegal they say these are the guidelines . Agree andarties everybody on capitol hill, even the president has said. Host pamela in florida. More ahead here on washington journal. We will discuss the news about the vaccine and its progress and whats may be ahead. Iver dr. Chris beyrer will be with us. Also nancy altman, the president of Social Security works. Casesh coronavirus increasing across the country, use our website, cspan. Org rotavirus to check the trends. Cspan. Org coronavirus to check the trends and use interactive maps. Cspan, youring unfiltered view of government. Cabled by americas Television Company as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Washington journal continues. Dr. Chriselcome beyrer. , we talk about the road ahead with vaccine. Coming this morning on the news of another successful application of moderna to the fda on approval of their vaccine. Beyrer, what are your thoughts at this stage where we have two vaccines in the pipelines . In the pipelines . Guest this is extraordinary. Both the Pfizer Vaccine candidate and the motor in a and the Moderna Vaccine candidate are based on rna technology. These trials have gone very well. They have been very large. The data from both are remarkably similar around over 90 efficacy in protecting people from serious complications and serious diseases with covid. These are not vaccines that prevent primary infection. What they do is reduce the likelihood if you do have an exposure and you do have covid. With the Moderna Vaccine, there were no serious cases in people who were immunized, only in people who got the placebo. What they have done is they have filed with the fda for emergency use authorization. That is not the same as approval. Triala is reviewing that both for efficacy and for safety. Host we talked about the cdc meeting today, their panel looking at the groups that will be the first to get the vaccine. In those studies, the Pharmaceutical Company did on the vaccine, did they set up the populations to reflect the primary populations they thought would get the vaccine first . Guest absolutely. Recruitmentoals of was that at least 40 of the beple in the trials would over 65. That was achieved. Demographics as you may know there are Health Disparities with covid. There have been higher rates of hospitalization, sickness, and africanamericans, latino americans, and native americans. There was an effort to make sure the demography of the trials affected the demography of the u. S. With the madera vaccine, they did achieve that goal with Moderna Vaccine, they did achieve that goal. Host we spent the first hour asking folks if they would get vaccinated. Concerns, one of which came up a couple of times was the speed of development of the vaccine. Should people be concerned about that . Guest this has been an unprecedented effort. I started working on hiv vaccine in 1992. We were supposed to have one in two years and we still dont have one. This has been amazingly fast. I think what people need to understand is that what the government did with operation warp speed was cut the corner of the time between a Clinical Trial and having vaccine available. Basically investing in all of the vaccines the u. S. Is supporting trials for to start manufacturing. With 100 million doses prepurchase of each vaccine. Saved an anomic amount of time. An enormous amount of time. That means people that means we will probably have in the tens of millions of doses available in both the pfizer and moderna if both pfizer and getr not get and moderna authorization. We have not cut corners on safety, testing, or the actual effectiveness of the vaccine trials. Dr. Stevenuest, beyrer. Former president of the world aids society. Worlds a day is december 1, today. You mentioned in your opening comments this was a different type of vaccine. It worked with a messenger rna. People asked about that in the first hour. Islain that to us and how it different than current Vaccine Technology. Guest this is a new technology. It does not lead to a licensed vaccine for the u. S. It is based on advances that have happened in the last few years including how to deliver messenger rna which is a piece of Genetic Information based on the protein of the coronavirus. , andis packaged in a lipid a fat nano particle in a fat nano particle. You inject that piece of information, the human body then response by making its protein. The response sees that this is a form protein a foreign protein and that is the target for protection against the coronavirus. Your body manufactures it and then you make the immune response. This is a technology that has an around for a number of years. There has been a lot of optimism, but this is the first time it really looks like people got it right. Dr. Beyrer, with us. We expect your we kept your calls. We accept your calls. 2027488000 for the eastern and central time zones. 2027488001 for mountain and pacific time zones. Ablehad anticipated being to deliver 40 million doses of a vaccine perhaps by the end of this year. Beyrer, how many doses have to be administered for it to become an effective vaccine . Guest this is an important point to understand. Is a goodk that estimate, it probably will be 40 million doses by the end of the year. Vaccinesber, these being tested right now prevent serious disease but adult prevent infection but they dont prevent infection. We dont know how they will play out in terms of word immunity in terms of heard herd immunity. We dont know that yet. That is an investigative question. Been anainly, there has effort to figure out what would be the right allocation or pop maximum impact and protection of the most vulnerable and those like healthcare workers and frontline responders. That is where we will start protecting people who either have the highest likelihood of exposure or the highest likelihood of having serious disease. Host the effectiveness of , todayl flu vaccines they give us any clue on how a Covid Vaccine might work in a population . Guest flu vaccines very depending on how close the vaccine is developed each year fits with what is circulating in the population. This is a different virus. It is more stable than the flu which is good news. It has a very wide range of clinical outcomes from no symptoms at all to fatal outcomes. Are trying to do with these vaccines is prevent serious clinical disease and prevent publications like pneumonia, hospitalization, and death prevent complications like ammonia, hospitalization, and death. Vaccines like modernas appeared to be over 90 effective of preventing covid19 complications. Host we had a caller from earlier who said he was reluctant to get the vaccine. Bari he has a andral he has a syndrome cannot get information on whether the coming vaccines might prohibit him from getting vaccinated. Far there are many populations you have concerns about with vaccines. Women who wegnant have not studied these vaccines on and children. Nearly all of these trials are in adults. We dontw folks know about folks who are immune compromised, we dont know about pregnant women, we dont know about tilden. There will be additional trials after we know the vaccine is generally safe. The fda has the data and that has to be evaluated before we go into understanding the use of these vaccine candidates in folks with other conditions. Was an issue about whether or not People Living with hiv could participate in these trials. We thought that was very ifortant to understand People Living with hiv could amount an immune response. People with hiv were available for the trials. Host we were president of the International Aids Society and you said the vaccine is still in development. Why has it taken so long to find a vaccine for aids . Guest hiv is a different virus. It targets specifically the immune system and that this how its got its name. Immuno deficiency virus. Your turn to get an immune response and the virus itself is targeting the immune cells, the white blood cells. Enormouslyoven challenging. Host we will hear from sean first. You are on the air. Caller i dont mean to sound crazy but as i listened to this all year, i swear it sounds like a vaccine from resident evil. Nobody even knows the longterm effects of the coronavirus itself. Know the anybody longterm effects of this virus of the vaccine that you have only been testing for four months or five months. What is the effect from this five years from now . Worst Case Scenario is you could see resident evil, are people going to become zombies . Host we will hear from dr. Beyrer. Guest it is an important question and you are right to be concerned. The fda said they wanted two months of safety data because we are in a Global Pandemic in the u. S. Is the most effective country effected country. Data is af safety minimum of two months. We are following the people who have been immunized for a full two years. More safety data is going to accumulate over time. We want to know Going Forward until we get there how this looks for the longer term. So far, what we have seen is that the side effects and peoples reactions appear to be similar to flu vaccines or the shingles vaccine. , sometimes ass lowgrade fever, one or two days of feeling malaise and that it resolves. They appear to be safe, but you are right, we will need vigilance Going Forward and we will have to a candidate safety data over time. As to your question about what is called longterm covid, it is true that about 5 of people who survive covid seem to have a lingering response to the virus. That can be a heart issue, brain issues with what is called brain fog, memory issues. We are following those people closely at Johns Hopkins and other institutions to try to understand this and figure out how to treat them and help them. The fact is that this is a new disease. It crossed over probably from bats into humans are learning as we try and response to this emergency. Host you think people who have serious covid and have been a symptomatically should get who have been asymptomatic should get vaccinated . We are not necessarily screening for covid as people are enrolled because we want to know how the vaccine works in people who have had an exposure. Had covid and have seen that they appear to be safe. We need to see that data. There have been cases of people getting covid a second time with a second. Second variant a of the virus. But it is rare. Host on the line for health care professionals, 2027488002 , this is peter. Caller i am on the way to the clinic and i am an oncologist so i am familiar with treatments. I have an interesting anecdote. I developed two weeks ago a viral illness and severe cough in the middle of the night. I knew it was sars. A the next morning. I am 63 now but quite healthy. I had fever when i was nine years old so was at a high risk. Ofualified for the use andy and receive that received that on the 19th on onember 19 by November November 19. By the evening, my symptoms were fading. By friday the syndrome was almost resolved. I think this says a lot about where we are headed with the havece that we now illnesses. For i would expect over time antibiotics are going to fade and be replaced by therapeutic antibodies. And the synthetic vaccines are quite remarkable when we have tos Dna Technology able vaccines. Ssenger rna wherek that says a lot Vaccine Technology will go. Hopefully, not only will they be effective and longerlasting but will have a more broad range of vaccines for diseases that havent been preventable. I think it is going to be interesting where things are headed in a positive direction. Host we appreciate that. Chris beyrer . Guest im delighted to hear you had a good response and recovered quickly. Im sure your patients are glad to have you with them as well. Monoclonal antibodies and they have been studied this year and are looking very promising. Opening anns is Infusion Center for these infusions at the Baltimore Convention center. We are very enthusiastic about these. Your case is exactly what they are indicated for. It is important it gets to people early. The antibodies look good. After are acutely ill and by the time people are hospitalized, it is hard for them to have the same level of impact. I think for listeners out there, the Important Message is if you do have a sudden onset of covid19, particularly if you have a fever and shortness of wrath and a cough if you have of wrathnd shortness and a cough, you should inquire about if you can receive these antibodies. Host what has been approved what has been approved for therapeutics of the treatments . Antibodies are under emergency use authorization. Drug,e one antiviral desivir which was approved not approved but had emergency use authorization. That drug reduced hospital stays for people with covid on average by about three to five days. If that clinical improvement in the shortness of the hospital stay. It did not have any impact on overall county overall mortality. For that reason, the who has decided to not approve it for who guidelines internationally. People are still using it here because of how important it is to get people out of the hospital sooner. Host lets hear from jim in pennsylvania. Caller i am skeptical about taking anything this government says is good. They approved of estes, they said it wouldnt hurt us they os,roved of estes asbest they said it wouldnt hurt us. Even baby powder is proved to cause cancer. They harm people in the long run. I would like to suggest mr. Joe biden since he loves the chinese opened the door for trading with chinese should be the first want to take that. All the politicians that love the chinese and approved trading with the chinese that brought this into our country should be the first ones to take them. Beyrer, what does the public message have to do to fight skepticism . Guest people are skeptical and they are right to be skeptical. We need to see the safety data, that needs to be made public. Have beenal trials done with independent oversight by what is called the data safety and monitoring board. Those are independent experts, not government people. The trials have been done in the u. S. Largely through the Academic Research institutions. It is not happening through ratherent clinics, but the moderna trial used sites that were developed for hiv research at top universities across the country. There scientific independence and integrity with these studies. They have been done very rigorously. Their doubleblind placebocontrolled trials. Neither the person getting the vaccine nor the person giving it knows what is in the vial. Because weortant really need to have that kind of rigorous assessment of these candidates. Will skepticism go away . I dont think it will go away entirely. I think there is a lot of mistrust out there. I think also there are so many people who desperately need to get back to seeing their loved ones, seeing their grandkids, healthcare workers that are dealing with this in normas ofe this enormous wave covid infections in the u. S. They are all going to play Important Roles. What we have heard from people is that they want to see medical people get the vaccine. They want to see physicians and nurses get it. They dont want to be first, that is understandable. Full access to vaccines for anyone in this country mother best estimate is that will julybly be sometime in through august of 2021. People have six to eight months if theyre not in one of the primary groups for unitization to learn more about this for immunization to learn more about this. Will political leaders play a role . I think so. And likely many other folks who can influence. Faith leaders are going to play an Important Role in some communities. Host africanamericans are among the hardest hit populations by covid. Pretty tells about a piece you , its headline why diversity andhy inclusion matter in covid19 vaccine trials. Guest we were all somewhat surprised at how quickly the Health Disparities we have seen with other conditions were replicated with covid. Highrates of exposure and rates of illness and high rates in africanamericans, latino americans, and native americans. When you look at that and try to understand it, it turns out that so many of these folks are in the category we would think of as working poor or workingclass telecommute and are unable to work from home. Only one in five africanamericans have a job can telecommute, only one in six latinos. They have been taking care of folks in nursing homes, they are overrepresented in health care, and they are people who dont have Good Health Insurance through their jobs. The Health Disparities happened quickly. The reasons this is so important for the vaccine trials is if we dont have data on efficacy and safety in these communities, we dont know if the vaccines work, that is a problem. It is also likely to increase skepticism and concerns. And this is issue what we are writing about, it is different but an important one. Because these folks have high level of exposure, using public transportation, living in multi households, they have higher exposure. We need to see if these vaccines can work in context of the vaccine exposure. That is known as force of infection. It is higher in these communities so we need to know if the vaccines work in these populations. Well inbeen doing quite latino communities which has been hard which have been hardhit in this country. Of participation africanamericans has been increasing in trials. It was too low to start, but it is an ongoing effort. Host lets hear from rick give me, susan in georgia. Caller thank you for taking my call. Please give me the opportunity to say something. These vaccines are very dangerous, they should not be given to the blick. To the public. Who is behind all this is anthony fauci. This is a moneymaking deal. These vaccines are going to change peoples dna. They will make your immune system hypersensitive. They can attack your immune system. Once these injections are in you , youre not going to be able to get this new type of vaccine out of your system. They will change your dna. Moneymakings a process for the vaccine factorys, for anthony for anthony factory who has a patent on the. Host will Drug Companies make money off the vaccines and will our dna be changed . Andt there is no evidence there is no data that suggest these have any impact on the human genome. They do cause the body to amount an immune response to the protein of the coronavirus. These are the messenger rna vaccine. The other candidates still in , there are two other platforms, they dont have genetic material. I understand the viewers concerns. I dont think theres any evidence for that. Are following people for two years for further evaluation. Safety. Learn more about as to the second point about the financing and the prophets and the profits. This is based on the company and the initial deal they made with operation warp speed, which was the overarching federal response. Personally have known dr. Anthony fauci my whole career because he has been the director. If you went into the private sector, he would be very wealthy. He is not done that, he has stayed on a government salary and has no conflict of interest with these vaccines. That is a matter of Public Record. I dont know where that supposition is coming from. The way the contracts have been written, the government is purchasing with taxpayer money 100 million doses in advance of these products. Those that are safe and effective will go into that Public Sector distribution. Will some of these Companies Profit from the vaccines . That is how our Health Care System is set up. , the pharma knows industry is a forprofit industry in this country. Vaccines are handled differently because there is a low profit margin with the compared to drugs. The government is a big purchaser of vaccines. Typically, they are managed through both purchase contracts. Cdc who has the distribution mechanism. Ohio. Next is rick in guest caller you are talking about the money here. You talk about Public Record and money. When you started talking about this virus in the media, the stock market went down. Oil wakes down. Today it is that 30000 and oil at 50 a barrel. Windfall100 trillion based on you guys creating this virus. The stock market goes when exposes up on me that this guy who works for limburg bloomberg. Bloomberg has a stock market channel. Host our guest does not work for bloomberg, he works for Johns Hopkins. We will go to illinois. Comment is from your first segment about should you take the virus the vaccine . Im convinced that everyone should be undecided. There is no reason to cross that bridge until you get there. Said to waittleman for the test results. Nobody should be making a decision right now. Concerning the medical profession, im disappointed. There are some doctors that talk about it nobody were talking about vaccines and therapeutics. I see very little concentrated talk on diet and exercise. It is not enough. I am a Second Generation italian american. Ages taught at an early that most of the vitamins and things you need to live a healthy life you can get from natural foods, vegetables and fruits. It was almost like a commandment that it had to be part of every meal. We talk about the different nationalities that have higher rates, i think it has a lot to do with diet. Myspace my spouse is africanamerican and hispanic. I think it has to do with diet. I have to force my wife to eat vegetables. It was part of her normal diet from the south american country. Beyrer, a headline in the Washington Post on groups being considered for the vaccine. They may consider giving obese people higher priority for one of our sexy. The cdc for the vaccine. The cdc is meeting today, theyve already considered four groups. Frontline workers, older people and people with it is unclear at what level they will prioritize that group. Guest it is an important issue and one we dont fully understand. It is being very intensely investigated. That is that people with underlying conditions, including obesity do worse with covid. Significantly more likely to be hospitalized, to have acute respiratory distress syndrome and to dive covid. With obesity to die of covid. With obesity, that has was the been with younger people who are obese which is a striking. Under 35, people who have done badly with covid are morbidly obese. That is a real concern. Your caller is right. We have an epidemic of obesity in the u. S. About 30 of adults are overweight or moving into obese levels. That is an Important Health issue. Your caller is right that the mediterranean diet is highly healthnded for cardiac and to avoid obesity. That is important. Host the vaccines themselves, theirs and how they are administered, how they are transported in the store. One requires a double shot does come a correct . Both the moderna and pfizer candidates require two doses. Both the moderna and the pfizer candidates require two doses. Host you think that will limit the number of people who get the vaccine or make people less likely to go back for the second round . Is that a concern . Guest it is always a concern. With having 40 million doses by the new year, with a two dose regiment, that means you can only immunize 20 Million People. You do need people to come back and get their second dose. There are a number of vaccines like that that are two doses. Candidates in the pipeline that have one dose. The pfizer candidate has to be stored at very cold temperatures, colder than an ordinary freezer. It has to be shipped on dry ice. There are some distributional issues with that vaccine. Some of the others in trials , the protein vaccine trials are going to start probably this month. There will be more trials starting. These issues will vary with the candidate. They are good problems to have. , at least fore is now with the data we have seen with the fda, these products have 94 and 95 efficacy which is high. Appear, so far, to be quite safe. As i have seen, we will need to see that safety data, we will need to follow these folks for two years. Preventccines virtually 100 of serious covid disease among more than 30,000 people in each trial. That is pretty great. Host for most of us living today, this is the largest Public Health effort vaccine Health Effort we have ever seen. Guest that is right. It is unprecedented. 2020 has been a year of unprecedented challenging issues. This has been remarkable. I am on the Covid Vaccine prevention network, on the Community Engagement team. Seniora title as scientific liaison. The first time i saw this laid out that we would have to do five efficacy trials with at least 30,000 people each over a five month time to try to get to safe and effective vaccines, it is mind blowing. That is an enormous undertaking. It is going remarkably well. In therazeneca trial u. S. , we have 700 to 800 americans volunteering every day in that trial. It is remarkable how people have stepped up. We know we have needed and will need about 850,000 vaccine volunteers to participate in these trials. Americans have pulled up their sleeves and agreed to volunteer. It has been remarkable. Host we shared this earlier, where things are with the three major developers. Pfizer reporting over 95 effective. They reported they apply for emergency use authorization. Modernas candidate is 94 effective. Effectivea up to 90 and theyre still awaiting application to the fda for that emergency authorization. Lets hear from shirley in the nations capital. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I wish you a happy holiday. I am africanamerican, 71 years old. I have several Underlying Health issues in addition to high blood ,ressure, heart disease, lupus and at 1. I had cellulitis at one point i had cellulitis. What exactly is in the vaccine . Do all of them have the same things and it . I take a blood thinner and there are certain things i cant take with the medication. My question is how does it affect one . Host thank you, shirley. Guest thank you for your question and i hope you are getting good care and managing those conditions. That would put you in a highrisk category if you did get covid so i hope you are mask wearing and being careful and social distancing. Me say that these vaccine candidates are deliberately different. There are three different kinds of vaccines be tested. They are the messenger rna vaccines, there are then nectar vector vaccine that use a inserted into them, and then there are pure protein vaccines that just have the protein that stimulate a response. Those are the ones that will be starting in december. They are very different though they are all aimed at which is the spike protein. That protein attaches to cells. That is why it is important to target that protein. These vaccines are different because we know we are going to need multiple vaccines. We know that no single one of these five forms could be scaled enough to immunize all of humanity. We are concerned about the need not just to protect americans boot to protect everyone in the world because this is a pandemic. If we cant respond, if we ignore a number of countries, coronavirus will continue to spread in the spaces in those places. We could end up with this pandemic ongoing and nobody wants to see that. We need multiple vaccines and multiple different vaccine. How these understand vaccines can protect folks like yourself with underlying conditions. That is one of the reasons why we deliver really enrolled people over 65 in this trial. News, people with the Pfizer Vaccine, people over 65 appeared to have just as vigorous responses to that candidate as people under 65 65. Beyrer, wehris appreciate the update this morning. Thank you for joining us. Guest thank you, it was a pleasure. I hope everybody stay safe. Wear a mask. Vaccines are coming but they are not here yet. If you are receiving or close to receiving Social Security benefits, our next guest will discuss the state of the program. Nancy altman joins us when the program continues. Devices andmobile go to cspan. Org for the latest videos, live and ondemand. President trump, president elect joe biden, news conferences event coverage at cspan. Org. You are watching cspan, your unfiltered view of government, created by americas cable Television Company as a Public Service brought to today by your public provider. Washington journal continues. Host we are going to talk about the Social Security program with the president of Social Security works, nancy altman. Works Social Security and how are you funded . Guest we are a Nonprofit Organization that is designed and determined to protect and expand Social Security. Comes from income small contributions online. We also have some Foundation Money as well. Host it is the end of the year and the end of a presidency so it seems like a good time talk about to talk about Social Security. Tell us about the health or lack of for the Social Security program. Trillion has a 2. 9 that can pay all benefits in full for the next decade and 87 after. It is more important than ever providing not Just Retirement which is important but benefits from a life insurance. Host what is the best way to make of that shortfall you mentioned . Guest there are a number of ways to do it. The balance is a means to an end, the end is what level of Economic Security to be want to provide ourselves collectively. We think the benefits are too low. The number will expand the and have the wealthiest contribute more to Social Security. Host have there been changes made to the Social Security program during the last four years ring the Trump Administration during the Trump Administration . Guest there been regulatory changes that have made it hard that have made it carter that have made it harder to collect benefits. There are a no bird of radiations that have been rushed out the door post election regulations that have been rushed out the door post election. Administration has a platform to expand Social Security. Host that includes two higher the tax rate for wealthy americans, more money for those who have received benefit in the last 20 years. They call for improving the minimum benefit providing spices spouses would receive a higher benefit. In terms of higher Social Security tax rate, are there any specifics proposed by the Biden Campaign . Guest they have. Fundedsecurity is merely through contributions matched dollar for dollar by employers. Of 137,000 a maximum 137,000. You pay 2. 6 up to that threshold. What joe biden has proposed and members of congress have collect is to begin to the Social Security contributions again for incomes over 400,000 over 400,000. Of ally, because because the threshold is indexed, it would close and everyone would pay on all of their income. Host that income ceiling, has that risen at all in the last decade . What has been the resistance what is the argument for the resistance of raising that . Every ever since 1972, much of Social Security has been automatically indexed. Its wages go up. It goes up usually a few thousand dollars each year. It is a gradual increase. I think this widespread support, only 6 of the population lives over 137,000. Most working American Families work all year long. We joked that bill gates probably stopped paying into it on his coffee break on january 1. Once you hit that, you stop paying. Most americans when they hear they there is that maximum, they support eliminating it. That is a prominence bill the chairman of the Social Security subcommittee has most has proposed. 208 cosponsors. Host do you know where that ranks in terms of the Biden Administrations priorities . Guest i dont know, i hope it would be high. Seniors partially with the concern about covid, but there was a contrast before the election. President trump talked about eliminating the payroll contributions, defunding Social Security. Ran on that. Elect if you look them up poll after poll shows believe Social Security should not be cut, it is more important than ever. Host we have a line for Social Security recipients, 2027488003. Other lines other lines are broken up like this, 2027488000 for republicans. Excuse me, 2027488001 for republicans, 2027488000 for democrats, 2027488002 for independents. The payroll tax cut. The headline from the wall street journal, it creates a predicament for congress. President trumps decision is leaving count is for lawmakers to manage after he leaves office in january. They havent figured out what if anything to do about it. This was a deferral that manley affected federal workers, correct that mainly affected federal workers, correct . Guest yes. Unilateral and using a provision that allows national or local emergency to defer the collection of taxes. 1 througheptember september through december 31 , employees were freed from giving these employee contributions. Starting is that january 1 they will have to pay it back and it will be 12. 4 . It will go from zero withholding from 12. 4 withholding. Using that authority to spread out the payback. Intead of paying it back four months, if you payback in 12 months it will be a smaller amount withdrawn from weekly paychecks. Host did federal workers have the option and say i will keep the tax cut . Guest no, they did not. It was written for everyone. It was for federal employees but employees private said it cost too much money, it is too complicated. The chamber of congress and other organizations said we dont want this. It was imposed on federal workers, military and civil service. Called this as federal workers being guinea pigs. They should have had the option to opt out but President Trump said nope, this has to cover you. Federal workers, including awarery workers, are they they have had something their temporary their paychecks are temporarily larger but they will become smaller. That is a concern. Host does your organization propose changing the eligibility age up or down . Guest the age is set by statute. Receiveiest age you can canrmined is 62 you receive retirement is 62. The idea is to be complete the neutral about when people plan to retire. Retireould not decide to because of what they will get in Social Security. They should look at the circumstances and make a decision. We expected between the ages of 62 and 70 we expect it between the ages of 62 and 70. Host in terms of the u. S. Versus other countries, is that age about right and what other aiden other nations use . Guest it is interesting to make benefitsrison because are by whatever you choose. By international standards, they are quite low. Countries they tend to be lower than those in the u. S. Theyre set by statute at 62. Social security has a full 67 which isge at women who have to take the work first to care for their family. A high retirement age. Lets ssent to from maryland. Caller good morning. The issue that i have was with Social Security. People they threatening and their and terminating Social Security when some people , they shouldndemic not have the Social Security even reviewed to begin with, because someone who is immunosuppressed, like i am. I had a liver transplant. But they want you to go and get a job. You have the people in the cdc and the government and experts in the private sector saying the number one people who have been killed by this virus are people like i am, immunosuppressed, old people. Be goingd be even through a review . I think the documents are there. Say take a look at it and this guy has become a person that needs to stay out of the public as much as possible. I dont get it. Host is your concern that too many people are seeking Social Security benefits during the pandemic . Caller that is not my concern. My concern is no one on Social Security should be getting a review right now during this pandemic. Host nancy altman . Uest you are exactly right one of the things we are fighting against is the increased continuing reviews that help people get Social Security is one of the stringent in the world. This Administration Come in the middle of the pandemic, and seniors and people with disabilities are the most threatened by covid and it is most important for them to shelterinplace to keep social yet, what this administration has proposed is trying to rush out more of these reviews. Every once and a while people are reviewed to make sure they are still eligible for those benefits. In the middle of the pandemic, they are proposing to speed those up here there should not be any continuing disability reviews during the pandemic. A colleague of mine joked that this administration has the one person causes trouble and whole class has to stay after school. There is no reason that people like max should have to in the middle of a pandemic justify receiving disability benefits that he has earned. Host to bobby in West Virginia on the independent line. I would like to make a couple statements and asked a couple questions. On Social Security, it seems like in our area, most of the people in mines are shut down all newcoming back, but green deal and Energy Things are changing. I am blessed to be in the 90 mile marker and therefore i have an additional income besides Social Security. For the most part, i live around they threaten and people every election that the democrats are going to take your Social Security. I know we have to go through the chambers and the president and probably the Supreme Court to make laws that govern Social Security, but the people that i know just barely exist on the amount of income coming in. I dont know what the percentage is in the United States of people who go on Social Security. I know there are a lot of people on disability Social Security before the actual retirement do you know the percentage of that . Because these people barely exist, they still have to have government assistance on top of that because there incomes are short 700 or 800 a month. 700 or 800 a month. 700 or 800 a month. Guest you are right. More people are going to be relying on it because of the disappearing of private sector to Fund Contribution plans. Two out of three seniors rely on Social Security for their income. Almost 60 5 million americans receive Social Security benefits 65ry single month almost million americans receive Social Security benefits every single month. President elect biden ran on the platform of expanding not cutting Social Security. The republicans talked about that we have to save social isurity which in my mind washington insiders speak for cutting benefits. What we need to do is expand benefits and have the wealthiest pay their fair share. Host what about additional pension . What percentage of retirees these days get some sort of additional pension or retirement account after they retire . Guest those are really declining. The 1960s,t in about half the workforce was covered by pensions, which didnt mean they receive them. Public pensions are still there. Havepublic employees supplemental pension. In the private sector, if you plans, it is around 10 or 15 have that 10 or 15 have that. They are quite inadequate and they really have except for the really wealthy very low accounts. Those who dont have any supplemental pensions exclusively on Social Security. Host next up is bonnie in denver, colorado. Caller i have a question about the penalty phase with medicare. I was under drug coverage with mutual of omaha. I had express scripts and thought i was covered. Medicare put me on the penalty phase of 15 a month that i have to pay for the rest of my life. Is there a way they can . Egislate that out of medicare i dont understand why Social Security beneficiaries like myself have to pay 50 in month for the rest of my life. I thought i had drug coverage at that time. I did appeal it, but that did not go through. Is there any way that they can legislate against that . Thank you so much. Guest the claiming of Social Security is a very big financial decision for people and should be thoughtfully made. At the same is true for medicaid. It is very complicated. I am sorry you got caught up in that. Millions have been affected by the penalties. The whole point of the protect us ando help us, not penalize us. One of the things we are fighting for is Better Administration at the Social Security administration. There should be clear language that lets people know about the claiming options and what will happen if you claim late in the penalties and so forth. Legislatean always and correct this. We are talking about expanding medicare as well. Are the penalties all about . 50 or 60 a year. It seems from her a fairly minor thing here that is a penalty i assume goes to the treasury, right . Correct. Ats insurance and you wait until it is about to occur and then nice state we will take insurance. To be able to take the you to get they want the insurance immediately and so they building a penalty to encourage people and penalize people if they dont claim as early as they can. It gets very complicated. ,f you have private coverage then you dont have to claimant at this time. The rules are very complicated. They should be simplified and better explained by the government. Assuming the Social Security agency and workers have been working from home remotely, has that slowed things down at Social Security for many people . Who work forople Social Security, the civil understand how important these benefits are that they have earned by the American People and they are very hardworking. Of the of covid, all field offices had to be close. But that didnt make the work stop that it meant people could no longer walk in unless they had dire need, but they can still call the 800 number and the local offices and still file for benefits. This effort to go with overpayments was stabbed in the middle of the pandemic and have started up again. We think it should continue, especially when the government is at air and not the individual. The workforce has been very productive working from home and they have been trying to do their best. Those who have Social Security issues or questions should call the 800 number. You can call your local office. The offices are closed except for dire need but employees are still working hard. Host lets hear from kate in pennsylvania. Regardingam calling something you said earlier about the max for Social Security. Host do us a favor. Make sure you mute your volume and go ahead. Caller im sorry. Broken down in plain english so everyone would understand how unfair it is that the people making the most amount of money ,ith Social Security [inaudible] that breaks down the maximum payment that they get at age 70 because most of them wait to claim until 70 because they dont need the money. The maximum payment they receive is 3790. I hate to let you go but i think we got the gist. You are just breaking up a bit. Thanks for your call. Was talkingshe about references what i talked about earlier. Restorea proposal to Social Security to require that the very wealthiest pay the same. Ate on all their earnings in minimum wage workers pay that 6. 2 . I would go even further than that. Security inequality has cost Social Security income as well. It strikes me that it makes sense most of Social Securitys revenue has come from and should come from employer and employee contributions. But at this point, there is just a small amount of progressive revenue, about 3 , that goes into Social Security. There should be more in the theram, whether it is commissioner proposed dedicating state tax to Social Security. They talked about the wealth tax coming could dedicate that Social Security. You could have a surtax on incomes over a million dollars. You can get progressive revenue. The incoment given and wealth inequality, i think more progressive revenue while expanding benefits for everyone would really help individuals and help the economy. Host our guest wrote a piece headlined Social Security isnt in a crisis, it just needs a tuneup. Nancy altman, i wanted to tell you these comments who was a guest on the program last week and his thoughts on the status of the program. [video clip] in 1983, they did a solution that was half on the revenue side and half on the costcontainment side. At this point we are facing a shortfall that is much larger than the one they faced in 1983. Any adjustments they would have to make on the tax side or benefit side would have to be substantially larger now than was made then. My own personal view is that we would actually have a much better policy if we did more of a solution on the costcontainment side than on the tax increase side and that is primarily because if you want to make the system fair according to when you were born and if you want have different generations treated comparably under the program and have a truly progressive solution so that people who have been the biggest gainers from rising income inequality make a substantial contribution to solve the problem, it is very difficult to do that with a solution that is predominantly tax related. As an analyst i would say everything has to be on the table because it is very difficult to close the shortfall with one. With what is your thought what he had to say . Guest he calls the shortfall a problem i say Social Security is a solution paired we are in the middle of a pandemic and we have 265,000 americans and many may have survivors receiving Social Security who were dependent on those. We dont know what their situation will be, whether they will able to return to work. You have people out of work who hope to work longer. Covid, too Many Americans felt they would never be able to retire and retain their standards of living. Social security is strikingly superior and less than a penny goes to administration. It is very secure and has many strengths. Its one weakness is the benefits are too low. The question is, what level of benefits do we want to provide through our Social Security system and how do we pay for it in a fair way. . 5 of mostrity costs domestic product. At the end of the century that will be only up to 6 of gdp. There is a question we can afford it. The issue is one of value, not affordability. What he was talking about was cutting benefits of middleclass and in fact the Democratic Party should be increasing benefits for everyone and looking first to the very wealthiest to pay their fair share and that if there are shortfalls decide how you want to make up the difference. Tyrone. Ts hear from aller i wanted to ask question. I am 61 and will be 62 in august of next year. To know how to apply for Social Security. Can i go online or do i need to go to the offices. I was trying to figure out which way to go to get it going. When is the earliest i can get it going. Host nancy altman . Guest the first question you should ask yourself is whether you want to start receiving benefits at 62. I dont know if you are married but it has an effect on joint survivor benefits. Your spouse may get higher benefits depending on your record. If you start receiving benefits at 62. You have a reduction and then it is for the rest of your life and your spouses life. Is whether you want the money in the short term whether you can delay. Is when you want to start collecting benefits but these days you cannot walk into a field office and hope that will and we hope that change but you can apply over the phone or you can apply online. All of those opportunities are available. If you go to ssa. Gov that is the website and you will see the 800 number. I should have written that down. You can see how to apply. See more people are doing andr will get benefits at age 62 . Which mostage at americans apply for benefits is under the full retirement age of 62, 63, 64. Before covid it had been creeping up. In thet had figures middle of covid, but most americans find that either they are in physically demanding jobs or jobs you dont think of necessarily demanding. If youre a Kindergarten Teacher or a nurse, it is a very physically intense job. , we oftens we age somethingp in that is that these are benefits people have earned after a lifetime of work. Claim these benefits. They are part of your deferred compensation. If you can delay, and not everyone can, people often have off to retire in they can no longer work and they have to support family members. Every situation is different. It is important that if you can delay it would be better off for when you get to 80, 90, 100 and it would be better off if you delayed because the benefits will start at the higher level and it is indexed against inflation. You have that inflation protection as well. Delay, youif you can should. But if your circumstances are such that its just impossible to do that, then you should claim those benefits. Another point to be aware of arentpeople dont aware of, getting Social Security is tough but the benefits you get are the benefits you would have gotten if you are able to work to your full retirement age. If you are retiring for early benefits, you can simultaneously apply for disability benefits which will take longer to resolve. If you are able to get that, he would start getting early Retirement Benefits right away. If you qualify for disability, you will be able to get the higher level of benefits that you get. That is another option that people have who feel they may be leaving work because they just are not able to continue to work. And we will go to illinois wayne is on the independent line. Caller this is the best show on tv. God bless both of you. I keep seeing a commercial on tv where three years ago they took 144 out of our check and they keep saying if you call in you can get it put back on. I want to know about that and i also want to know, will we ever be getting a raise . I just think that the callers who call in act like they are giving it away free. I worked two jobs all of my life since i was 16 years old. Now i have diabetes and i cant work anymore. I worked hard all my life i just dont want to hand out, i feel we deserve it. I feel this is the best show on tv. He isany idea what referring to in that commercial . I think he is talking about a raise in Social Security benefits. St the Democratic Party you are exactly right. There is a Cash Compensation and this is the deferred compensation. This is part of our earnings. You talked about working two jobs. Unfortunately that is not unusual these days. You have definitely earned those benefits and are entitled to have higher benefits. All of us should be urging congress to act on the promise of president elect biden to increase Social Security benefits. I was trying to think about that 144 is, and nothing comes to mind. I am unfortunately not sure what that was a reference to. , letsn joe bidens plan say democrats dont win control of congress, are there senators that want to see further reforms made in Social Security that some agreement could be found between the biden in for administration and the senate . Guest unfortunately the parties are extremely far apart. The democrats say expand with no haveand the republicans the view to have some kind of increased benefits for those at the very lowend end and cut. Enefits generally democrats are against that. The good news is that the American People overwhelmingly support expanding benefits with no cuts. If the democrats came up with a bidennd president elect has very similar plans ,ntroduced in Congress Democrats in congress and the president cant agree on a package, introduce it, have hearings, draw a lot of , and social it security historically has been not done and close doors but openly, which is what should be done with the program. There is a vote in the house that will require republicans to either vote for the package, orent an alternative simply vote no. Then it would go to the senate. If republicans are in charge, they control the agenda. I think the American People could put a lot of pressure heading into the next election. Social security is in issue has the best of American Values represented in it. Hink it should be either legislation should be enacted to expand or it should be an issue in the campaign. Host nancy altman our guest she is president of Social Security works. Thank you for joining us this morning. Guest thank you so much for having me. Host we will ask you about your thoughts on what the economic priority should be of a Biden Administration. 1 forines are 202 748800 republicans. 202 7488000 for democrats. Independents. For a look at a headline from bloomberg, the headlines policies hope and uncertainties for economy in vaccines. Ourwriter of the piece was guest on washington journal previewing the hearing coming up before the committee. It was passed back in march to help boost the economy to the pandemic. More broadly, both of them will be asked about the state of the economy and how they think the economy is holding up. I expect we are going to hear both of them in somewhat different ways, both of them talk about the need for additional congressional action, even though we are hearing about the approach of vaccines, which is the light at the end of the tunnel for the economy. Both will emphasize there is still quite a big challenge left for the economy and the need for additional congressional action. Host the treasury secretary announced the end of some emergency fed funds. What were those and did that from justice not committee but others on capitol hill by surprise . Guest i think it somewhat caught people by surprise. They had made noises about this continuing some of the emergency fed lending programs. But it did really upset a lot of people. Cleard had clearly made that they wanted to extend the of all emergency lending facilities, not because they are needed for action right now. Most had gone pretty much idle, but they wanted them there as a sort of just in Case Financial markets in particular tightened up again, if there was a new surprise or shock in the economy that could send the Financial Markets into a new panic. The fed felt the economy was still very vulnerable and this was a risk. So to be safe, it would be better to continue. The secretary of treasury disagreed and discontinued them. The one that caused the most angst were the ones that would support the Corporate Bond market and another one that would support the Municipal Bond market in the event that things took another very bad turn of the worse. Lawmakers today are going to ask both of them about that situation, whether that was a mistake or not. Mnuchin will defend the position saying they are not needed and the backstop money that was there to support those programs could be put to other uses. Powell tread very carefully here. He will not want to step on mnuchins toes publicly too much and knows he will have a new treasury secretary in just a few weeks. So maybe he can have a reversal there and stand up a couple of these programs again. Host whenever the fed chair speaks in testimony it makes news. His statement was released and said something to the effect that he was going to say he believes the economy is still vulnerable. Guest absolutely. Powell made very clear in that prepared text that they released last night that number one, the economy has made a big amount of progress since the spring in bouncing back from the huge hit it took. It has come nowhere near the levels if you are talking about growth, employment especially, we are nowhere near back to the level we were in february 2020. There is a lot of work to do. He said the vaccines look very positive, but there is a lot of uncertainty hanging around the vaccines and the economy in general. The tone of his testimony will be very cautious and cautionary towards lawmakers to not think we are out of the woods yet and that a lot of challenges remain. There are 10 Million People lost their jobs in the spring who remain out of work. There is a lot congress could perhaps still do to help those households and Small Businesses as well to get through the remaining months of this pandemic. Host janet yellen now named by joe biden as they treasury secretary. Give us a quick snapshot of her responsibility or her preparedness for that role based on what she did as fed chair. Is goingrtainly, she to be very well prepared for dealing with the continued problems we are having from the pandemic. She is a worldclass economist. She knows what the economy faces and the prospects for fed treasury collaboration or cooperation will be very high. Powell and yellen have a very good working relationship. They worked together for many years at the fed. Will run pretty smoothly between the fed and the treasury. I think she will probably hit the ground running with a lot of ideas about what else could be done by congress and the incoming Biden Administration that could help bridge the economy through the remaining months of this pandemic. That hearing coming up this morning at 10 00. We will have live coverage of Steven Mnuchin and powell. A discussion of fiscal policy under the incoming Biden Administration at the brookings administration institution. We are talking about your economic priorities for the Biden Administration. Forlines are 202 7488000 republicans. 202 7488001 for republicans. 202 7488000 for democrats. Independents. For lets go to our next call. The working people, we need a raise in the minimum range. You have to work with the states. Biden has to follow through. , youring Social Security last guest was really good. When george w. Bush was president , he wanted to privatize Social Security when he started his second term in 2004. Thing, but the same came through the back door. He wanted to let you keep your salary. T of your that was taking money from Social Security. Want tothe republicans go after Social Security and it started with george w. Bush. Pennsylvania, john, good morning. Caller my interest would be to see if the economy boomed would be to do something about the rail system, the Passenger Rail system. It is essentially a disgrace that the average passenger train is about 45 miles per hour. I think we need highspeed rail. It would employ many thousands of people. Since biden is a trained lover, i hope he is listening and i hope some of the money spent on the wall diverted for trains. I think amtrak gets 1. 2 billion a year. I would like to see that extended 10 billion a year and fix some of the train stations and have dedicated rail systems for passenger trains only. This would employ many, many millions of people and would be a real help to the economy. That is my point today. In pittsburgh, they received assistance funds. You may be asked to repay. They write that 11,000 people who have filed for and received jobless benefits to a new federal unemployment benefit will have to repay some of those. They have been to the Pandemic Assistance Fund to the cares act to provide assistance to give workers and self employed individuals and those not previously eligible for unemployment compensation. Overall, pennsylvania has. Eceived 2. 2 million claims of the claimants, state officials determined 11,000 official people are not eligible and maybe on the hook to repay some of the funds. Thats here from patrick in maryland on the democrats line. I really appreciate what you guys. One a few sources of information that is not biased in the world. Speaking of biased, the previous caller who mentioned about privatizing Social Security, that is an information piece that was a matter of taking a small portion of Social Security money and putting it in a private place to earn more money, which is the correct way. Contactlike to please your previous guest and ask why the 144t know that that they were talking about is an advertising piece that they put on the radio and the television to entice people to call in or get online and contact those people who are advertising and the hundred and 44 is the approximate the 144 is the approximate amount of pay for Medicare Part b. And people who are poor and possibly eligible and that pays for medicaid or that help . Host it does. I push it that information. I appreciate that information. We will go to mary on the democrats line. Caller i think the health of the American People is number one and getting everyone insured is a top priority for me. Earnthe caps on people who over 300,000 a year paying out Social Security tax. What is the history of that . If they get a Social Security check in their lifetime, they no matter their share how much they make. That manyerstand other Government Agencies have borrowed from Social Security, and i dont know. Whatever get that money back. I think the health of the nation is the most important thing for the Biden Administration and to get everyone covered by insurance in this country. Senate committee coming up at 10 00 with the secretary of treasury and the fed chair. Mornings movement this on the pandemic relief front. This is the headline in the Washington Post. Bipartisan group of senators prepare 908 billion dollars stimulus plan aiming to break partisan logjam. It reads it is expected to unveil in approximately 908 billion stimulus proposal on tuesday, today. They need to break an impasse over providing emergency relief to the american economy. They write that congress is facing increasing pressure to approve additional economic since talks collapsed first over the summer and then in the fall ahead of the 2020 president ial election. On that, they mention a bipartisan group. There was a letter published this morning to the democratic and Republican Leaders in the senate signed by a number of senators on that proposal. Andill go to virginia next hear about your priorities for the Biden Administration on the economy. Are creating a generation that will be impoverished from education. If you make a minimum payment on your student loan, your balance will still increase and you should not be punished for working hard. The same format if you make minimum payments on your cards your credit cards, they decrease. We are punishing hardworking for putting themselves forward and making a better country. People will not want to educate themselves. They will not want to move forward in life if they are to student slaves loans. Host it sounds like you have direct experience with this. Is hq with the Student Loans . Is it you with the Student Loans . Caller i am watching what is happening within an entire generation. We are going to impoverish an entire generation. You would have to be blind to see they are not going to live any better than any previous generation. Their pensions are not going to be as good. The health care not be as good. And we are going to impoverish them. These kids are working to, 3, 4 jobs 2, 3, 4 jobs to pay for Student Loans just so they can be educated, and we should be ashamed of that. They should have a better life if they work hard. Ohio thisrly, is ruby, on the republican line. Husband and i worked all of our lives and now we are disabled, living on Social Security disability. Our medicare get taken out of that. We dont any help with medicaid. Stimulus that trump gave helped with back medical bills and stuff. I just wonder if biden is going to do anything like that to help us . 70s. In our host how much additional per month did you get and for how long . Caller the stimulus . Is that what you mean . Host yes. Caller we both got 1200. We only got one stimulus. Host that is ruby in beverly, ohio. The president elect joe biden will announce his Economic Team today at 12 30 eastern. A story about one of his nominees. Pick draws fire from republicans. The plan to nominate the office of management and budget string tensions on capitol hill where republicans say her past comments threaten her nomination. She is currently the head of the center for american progress, centerleft think tank has become a lightning rod in mr. Bidens rollout of his team in part due to comments she has made on twitter. She has regularly criticized President Trump and republican lawmakers, including allegations involving russia and tussling with the leftwing of the Democratic Party. Here is brenda in montgomery, alabama. Good morning. Caller i am all for biden. I will be so happy when he gets in there. Everything that is happening now is not bidens fault. People understand how can just keep going for him. Play it like it is halloween and wear your mask. The to steve in ohio on independent line p what are your priorities for the next administration . Independent line. What are your priorities for the next administration . Caller restore the doctrine of state rights. There is no American People. There are the people of each separate state. Restore the gold standard, restore the doctrine of strict economy in Public Administration so that taxes are absolutely as low as they can be so that public spending is as low as it can be in order to foreclose any justification for fresh debt. Pay existing debt. Stop antagonizing the rest of the world. Maintain and establish free trade with the rest of the world and abolish. Val arise the dignity of the lawabiding individual citizen of any of the states. Host President Trump talking about the election and criticizing governors in a couple of states, including georgia in this tweet, do something, you have allowed yourself your state to be scammed. We must look at signatures and then call off election. It wont be needed. From the constitution in atlantic, they push back on voter fraud claims. We are better than this. He aligned himself with georgia officials and warned the gop risks alienating voters by spreading misinformation about voter fraud. The Lieutenant Governor became the highest profile republican and refuse demands to interfere with georges election over false claims of a rigged outcome. Minnesota. Chester, good morning. Sayer i just was going to that Social Security is actually the savings account for the working people. We put money in and at some time in our life when we are older, that is when we get to reap the effects of that. The people who dont survive long enough to get there Social Security, the funds they donate help to take care of the rest of the people and keep people of the country safe. If you have a lot of money and you dont need the Social Security, thats fine. But people dont realize it is there money that they put into a savings account through the government to be able to be taken care of when they get older and the people that dont survive, their funds go to take care of the rest of the people. It is a wonderful thing. And the people who have all of the money in the world, they dont need it and they should just drop all the silly ideas about how to make it insolvent. It is a very good program and Franklin Delano roosevelt did a wonderful job. Host beth is next in tampa, florida. I keep seeing so much and have been reading so many wanting from the squad to eliminate the student debt. Questiond the biggest dont they go to college to get a better education to earn more income from a better job . I mean everybody throughout ,enerations has gone to school nurses, doctors, lawyers, whatever, they go to college to earn better paid than those who dont have the opportunity to go to college and now we are going to erase their debt and yet they are making more income from the school that they went to in the first place. I dont quite understand that theory that is really being pushed and promoted right now. Host the holiday displays are going up everywhere, including the white house. The first lady unveils the core for Christmas America the beautiful is reflected in traditional white house decorations, including a Christmas Village hospital figurine, perhaps an ad to healthcare workers during the pandemic. Our camera crews captured at all as it was unveiled and you can find that at cspan. Org. Just search white house. You can see some of the videographers and cruise shot at the white house as well as the Vice President s mansion. You will find that in past ones as well. We will go to chris in scottsdale, arizona. Good morning. Caller i would say health care and really fix the affordable ,are act back to what it was bending the curve and also incentivizing longterm care, meeting keeping people out of the hospital, i think they got rid of them, but creating pools of money so health care writers could receive income by keeping patients from coming back to the hospital. , aould say infrastructure Real Infrastructure plan that fixes sewers, our electric grid, and improves it and brings wifi al parts oft to rur the country so they can join in this kind of revolution. Lastly i would just say, well, thats it. Thank you. Call. That is the last we are back everyday at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. We are going to take you to capitol hill a little early, but participants are arriving at the committee eating room. This is Committee Meeting room. They are hearing from Steven Mnuchin and fed chair Jerome Powell. Testing 1, 2
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