Transcripts For CSPAN Washington 20240704

Of congress for more regulation, especially over concerns of risk of gambling addiction. Should the fedent regulate Online Sports bet something if you say yes regulation is needed if you want to tell us why and to what extent, 2027488000. If you say no, 2027488001. Maybe youre not sure, 2027488002. If you want to give us your thought via text, 2027488003. Facebook is available to facebook. Com cspan and we have a twitter poll as you can participate as well on x. You can at cspanwj. Bets on basketball online saying the total amount of bets on all sports through legal wagering sites in 2023 from the previous year. Thats up from 7. 5 billion. The American Gaming Association estimates that 2. 7 billion will be bet this year on mens and womens sports tournament. Some of those facts from Sports Betting from the United States 38 states, the district of columbia allow some form of Sports Betting. When it comes to the question of regulation there was a recent poll done by s c if more regulation was needed on those are the poll. Let us know. If you say yes, more regulation is needed, 2027488000. If you say no, 2027488001. And if youre not sure, you want to tell us why, 2027488002. And then you can facebook on x, you can send us a text as well at 2027488003. Of the legislatures on the forefront of the world ononis senator Richard Blumenthal. He has a series of x tweets from yesterday regarding the start of march g posts addiction and tragedy. Eas adhaev betting small action of the budget could make a big difference. Thats senator blumenthal from the x service there. If you want to make yourn x its cspanwj. It was this program in february that we invited keith white of the National Problem on gambling to give his perspective on whats needed on these type of sites. Heres what he had to say from back in february. Based on our research, peoples gambling problem, its guestingly enough, most forms of gambling skew are overaggressive. Theyre more likely to have a negative impact except for Sports Betting. Education is positive associated with betting on sports. So the Higher Education you have, the more likely you are to bet on sports. To deal well the fact that in america surprise, it is so intertwined with college. T sports has been commoditizing but theres also, i think, and i think this may help an your questions about this, theres something to do with the fact that most americans think of sports as a game of skill. So theres an intuitive thing that the more educated you are, the more likely you may think that youre better than, that you understand the odds better and youre making a more informed decision about betting and the more you gamble, the more like you you are to lose. And that belief that we all have we are, the better we are at things can work against you in the gambling space. Host that program back from february if you want to see it, go to tour website pat cspan. Org and you want to give your input on more regulation is needed in the Online Gaming space, say yes. 2027488001 if you say no. 2027488002 if you are not sure. Xavier our no line starts us off. Good morning. Tell us why. Caller thank you for having me. I dont think that the government should regulate it because i think that that would be another inroads into somethinlse. Just every industry, i dont think the government should be involved in everything that people do. And i think that it would end up driving up prices for everybody and, you know, many people whether theyre using that particular form forum to maybe become entrepreneurs or whatever, they use it to make a living, i think were beginning to regulate everything. And i dont think its something that they should do. I think that people take their hard earned money. They put it in and if they win they win if they done, its they dont, and so forth. And let people do what they do. Host what about some of the legislatures who want to respond to regulatioor concerns of those who might have addiction issues . Do you think thats legitimate or do you think that should be served by other means . What do you think abouthat . Caller i dont think that as far as addiction is concerned youre going to have addiction no matter what you do. And the government getting involved is not going to stop people from having addiction. The medicine industry and everything and you still have addictions. I dont think that has anything to do with it. I think that its just another ploy for the g i mean, look, its even like when you talk about the marijuana issue, you know. Its probably getting ready to be liz bit, you know, especially in a place like West Virginia. Its more regulations than a little bit and they priced to where people to where you can open up one their apothecaries and they pr out of it. So if youre not rich, you cant even invest. Host all right. This is richard in our no line from manhattan. Good morning. Caller morning. Listen, i dont have a problem with allowing people to bet on their phones or anything like that. Y would like to see is there are no advertising on tv to where there are no advertising of nicorette. Host do you see caller if someone wants to gamble, theyll find the place because they know what they want. Its really that simple. The only other thing that im a little leary about is like im a sports fan. And im clearly engulfed but my 15yearold son, he has password to log in, you know, they have to be some safeguard but that falls on the parents. The government really cant do anything about it. Host is it the the ad or the style of the ad . Caller yeah, they should not advertise. If im watching lets say a hockey game and after one series they say oh you know, if the Washington Capitals scored two or more goals, its plus 300. If you say no, its minus 300. I dont need that come on during the game. Host ok, richardnhattan, also on our no line he talks about the access to these type of sites on phones, the Siena College poll a look and asked people thing on their launch of march madness, the concerns over Online Gaming, particularly when it comes to more regulation and if its needed, 2027488000, you say yes. 2027488001 if you say no. This is stephen from new york state on our yes line. Hello, thanks for calling. Caller well, like your previous caller who said no but he re meant yes because its not just the advertising. You actually have the i cant hear you. Host its ok i didnt say anything but keep going. Caller ctually its the announcers are actually that are announcing the game. If you bet this now or whatever, ive seen that on. I cant remember which i watch all sports. You actually have the announcers talking about betting on the games. I mean if were to bet this, you could have won 4,000 if you put this in and that was just on a recent basketball game about two weeks ago. So if you were to bet 100 on this, that should be regulated. I understand the advertising but if you just just want to watch sports on Sports Center or any one of those, you bet this and that, its all intertwined now. Now, the announcers are encouraging up you to bet. Host do you enjoy when you see those things happen . Caller no, im one of those people that would go overboard. Host ok, stephen there in new york, thanks for calling and giving your sports. The idea onon, via phone or other device. Call the line, text, post on facebook and on x. On x, by the way, we have a twitter poll going on that you can participate in too about if there should be more regulation from the government on this front. You can participate on that by going to cspanwj. On the no line, this is howard. Good morning, youre next up. Caller good morning. Hey, i like to one question maybe somebody could answer for me. Name me one thing. Were so free in america. Name me one thing that is not regulated by the government. Anything. Host well if its a rhetorical question, im sure go ahead and answer it. Caller well, i cant ever think of anything that is not related. The government seems to put their fingers in everything that we do or want to do. Nothing theres nothing thats not regulated. Theres not one thing i can think of that is not regulated. The government needs to keep out of our business more. Host so when it comes to particularly Online Gaming, why is that, aside from the fact that not a general sense stay out of the business more . Caller well because i dont gamble that much very, very little but its the point that the government wants to run our lives totally. Get out of our lives. Host howard there in ohio on our no line. We will hear from robert on our yes line. Hes in massachusetts. Robert youre next up. Hello. Caller yes, im from worcester massachusetts. Gambling is a very very bad thing. I could go to my corner store i could scratch tickets. I could go to my corner store and i could at the corner store and i could buy papers. Now, as gambling, remember pete rose . Pete rose . Withwas a great baseball player. And he bet against his own team, right . Today, we got college kids getting paid millions of dollars, 17, 18yearold children getting paid millions of dollars with contract were gambling right . You can go all the way back to when you go back to Something Like donald trump at new jersey. Donald trump has all these property in the trump tower and all those. I used to be a gambler. I got out of gambling because i seen what it do to people. It would kill a family just like alcohol and just like drugs. Gambling is a very very bad thing. When you can go to your cornere, your children, to go by papers up here in massachusetts. I dont know what it is across the country. But numberts legal. I went to the store the other day and i looked around. I seen an 80yearold white lady buy weed. You ever seen its terrible. Host ok. Robert there in massachusetts, giving his thoughts. Some of you sin losing money but the federal government has other things they need to worry about secure the border which is not being done. Frhi t to buys. Again, the x site is cspanwj. Thats where the twitter poll they add this when it comes to the Sports Betting saying despite living where Sports Betting is legal, some fans still could be blocked from their teams or favorite players. The ncaa has raised concerns that player specific bets can lead to problems including strain on their mental health. The Organization Says such bets entice players to wager on themselves plays. Thats on that front. On the online front, you can talk about the accessibility. You can talk about the ads of some and concerns about addiction, whether you support it or you support more regulation. Thats the yes line, 2027488000. And if you oppose it, 2027488001. If you dont, its ok to not be sure. You can call into 2027488002 raymond in colorado on our yes line. Good morning. Youre next up. Caller yes. Good morning. Im 66 years old and ive been gambling for ever since i was 24. But i dont let the gambling control me. But heres the elephant in the room, i think, pedro, is that fanduel and other companies, you try to get in contact with them if you have a large Winning Ticket and theres no way to get in contact. They dont have a telephone number. They dont have a corporate number that you can reach. And the reason why i say that, im not sure. I had 445,000 ticket. I had five teams right. I took a partial picture of it and it disappeared from my transaction history. So, and i tried to search my franks history and that ticket is gone. So i tried get in contact with fanduel for them to let me know if that ticket was a winner or not and ive been trying and the computer shuts off. It wont let me it times out. It wont let me find that ticket. So im concerned that there needs to be a better way of getting in contact with these companies if you have a big winner. And i believe they have control of everything. Host when you play these sports, is it primarily on your phone and if so, how much more betting do you do because of that . Caller do i a combination of things. I will play on my computer. I dont play on my phone but go to like casinos. I play casinos and ive seen machines from malfunctions and ive seen people had to take casinos to court to win their money. Ive kept up with those things like vegas. And when theres so much moneyvolved, there is an amount of control, i believe, thats involved in it. Im not saying they all are crooked, but just try to get hold to fanduel or draftkings or any of those companies, they dont have a company that you can call. So what you end up doing is talking to a computer and it keeps repeating the same thing over and over again. Thank you forget my point across. Host raymond, thank you very much for calling, giving us your perspective on your no line. Te. Good morning. Caller good morning. Id like to say id like to quote George Washington on the and this is a real quote. He said gambling is a chi of average, the brother of inkity and the father of mischief. Now Everybody Knows gambling is a bad thing, basically but i just want to talk about hypocrisy. Last man named pete the most its ever played and hes not in the hall of fame because of gambling and there was never a case that he threw a game. It was assumed that he bet that the team he taught would win. He had more insight than the average player and they are putting him out of the hall of fame and now, theyre promoting gambling and its just a sad situation. You cant s its like a big mistake for the abortion. They say you cant have an abortion and thats not going to and they are now saying you cant gamble . Its just a hypocrisy. Its so evident, especially with a guy like pete rose. Who played for a thousand years and got a million hits and hes not in the hall of fame because he gambled. Host ok. Allen there in new york, bringing up pete rose and using that to talk about whether more regulations is needed of the Online Sports betting space. You can call us yes. How you do that is 2027488003 to give us your perspective. Lets hear from victoria in connecticut on our yes line. Hello. Caller good morning. Host good morning. Caller i feel like the advertising is what should be regulated just like it was with cigarettes. If people want to gamble thats fine. And one of the comments betting on players. I think that probably also should be regulated. We dont want the players to you know be harassed if something goes wrong. So thats all i had to say. Host well, when it comes to the advertising, why focus on that . Caller becauset think that it enhances gambling and it encourage people to gamble. And i think thats probably a bad thing. If people want to gamble, thats ok but i dont think it should be i dont think it should be encouraged. Your senator Richard Blumenthal is at the forefront. What do you think about those efforts his . Caller i think thats probably good ultimately. Gambling is an addiction. Its kind of fun if you do it with not a lot of money and maybe just a little bit of gambling but it can get out of control. Maybe a fully regulation is in order. Host ok. Talking about advertising, you can bring that into the mix as well. We will hear from wesley on our no line. Wesley hi, there. Caller hi. Host youread caller yes. I feel like gambling should not be regulated because the gambling that they do regulate which is casino gambling, i do a lot of that, and they take one third. They want 10 times more than the church want. And thats a big hunk out of your money. So if theyre regulate Online Gaming, does that mean that theyr to want one third of your winnings . Because thats the only thing that they have against them. They take too much of your win. Same 1,000 that you go there with, you lose it you get nothing from them. But if you win, they want one third. Dont you think its a bit much . If i win 1,200, they want 400 of that. And thats money that i worked for in my job. Host you ever bet electronically on sports or do you stick games particularly . Caller i stick to games because of that one third. I dont want to have to go through all that sipangment to get the sipang. Entanglement to get the rights to win. Host this was last year 18 million more adults plan on betting the march madness. Americans are expected to wager less on the tournament than they plan to wager on that big game. It was the American Gaming Association bill miller who did a rec on the cbs show 60 minutes talking about the issue of addiction when it comes to Online Gaming and was asked about it. Thoughts on that interview. Take out our phone, 24 hours a day, a few swipes. This entertainment has the potential to addict users. They are addiction element of people addicted to their common phrase. I dont believe that theres an addiction to mobile betting anymore than there is an addiction to utilization of your phone for any other reason. You dont thick adding a layer of betting makes the phone more addictive than just tooling around instagram . No. Every clinician have said weve noticed a rise in problem i would concede to the fact that there are more known people with gambling problems because we in the flagging those people. The illegal industry doesnt flag any of them. Host again thats from the 60 minutes interview. You can find that on line. When it comes to regulation gambling, give us your thoughts. Yes, more regulation is needed 2027488001. If you say no, or not sure, 2027488002 vanessa in maryland calling us on our yes line. Vanessa, go ahead. Caller hi, good morning. I think the government should regulate it. I think the guy from massachusetts who said he checked with fanduel and his ticket disappeared . Well, if the government was involved, it would kind of change that. I remember as a kid my grandmother used to send me around the corner to play those threedigit. As it grew the government wanted to get involved. If theres money to be made in that industry there. Are millions and millions of baby boomers who are in tint why not . Its a profitable business. You know, the government says that if you gamble and i dont the Online Gaming, you know . There are losses you can write off. I do write off my losses but i do gamble. Its an addiction, yeah, it is but you have to learn ho control it. Its not easy to control. But if you broke you have no choi again, whats the difference in betting on the stock market . Host so vanessa, is your when you gamble, if i may ask, do you do it online . Do you do it in person . How does that break down usually . Caller i do it in person. I dont do it online. Like the gentleman said, fanduel, he wasnt able to get through. And then you got these a. I. And all his stuff going on and you dont know whats going on in the b if you went to gambling in person, i go to the casino and its to the maryland is the highest grossing. Its a profitable business. And the person that opens the casino to operate it is, you know, but then think about the games thats been going on for years the gays get together. They bet themselves. Host thats vanessa oh go ahead and finish. Im sorry. Go ahead. Caller ok. Im just saying theyve been betting amongst each other for years. Its just that you need some type of regulation with everything. I went to play a lottery number. The machine shut down. Once my money left the there, i had about 50 left in there. The owner kept saying ok. Were notwhen i do the totals, i will give them. I had to call the Maryland Association and i got my money right away. Host ok, vanessa, well finish off this round of the first hour of our program today in talking about Sports Betting. You can continue to make your thoughts known on our social media site if you want, cspanwj and facebook. Com cspan. You can also call us at the talk about the Sports Betting aspect, you can continue doing that. But other matters of politics and elsewhere on this open forum, if you want participate, you can do that too. 2027488000 for democrats. 2027488001 for republicans. And independents, 2027488002. Those are the numbers to call if you want to p forum. If you called the last 30 days, we would ask you to hold off from doing that. And make sure you pick up the best line that represents you. While those calls are coming in, we continue on in this halfhour. Some news to share with you in and around capitol hill. It was at the white house yesterday where more was talked about when it comes to the white house asking an israeli team to come to washington to talk about their plans when it comes to gaza. President biden has summoned a senior Israeli Military intelligence and humanitarian team in washington for consultation over israels plans to launch a maj military operation in gaza tell the Prime Minister that every city would be a mistake. Here is mr. Sullivan speaking. You can find his complete comments on our website and his app but heres portion of that phone call. Can youescribe the caller characterized what the tone was and then also did the president say that an invasion is in the red line . Ive got nothing more to say on this front as you know particularly for me. Thats something that is post in your questions. Its not stated as a declaration of our policy and weve made that clear. With respect to the call, im probably not the best person to, you know, give the kind of assessment and body language and tone. It ended in a totally normal way when they had each gotten through all of their points and it was very business like. Each of them recog moment in this conflict. They share a Common Objective that is for israel to prevail over hamas. And they have a different perspective on this operation in rafa and they went into some detail in that and had the opportunity to elaborate each of their respective views in a way they always do when President Biden and Prime Minister netanyahu took over. This call was much like a previous call that each of them have had. Host you can comment with that in the open forum on our phone lines, democrats 2027488000, republicans, 2027488001, ints, 2027488002. The Washington Times picks up the fact about fund fc deads lines that are fast approaching by the end of the week. Mike johnson to extend homefield homeland security. Host so if you want to talk about those domestic fronts on open forum, you can do that too. In the illinois, democrats line, stephen up first on this open forum. Stephen, good morning. Have a question from the congressman from florida matt gates. Theres an investigation about with underaged female girls, might say actuallily involved. And there was a congressional investigation. Whatever happened to that investigation . Has it been finalized . And issue two is congressman colmer from kentucky supposedly about 10 to 12 years ago he paid for an organization for a girlfriend that he had. Im not against that. Thats his choice, although i have specific opinions about abortions and they shouldnt be used for a certain purposes. But he always comes a rabid antiabortion person. I dont know that he could have that attitude and pay for an abortion for his girlfriend. So i wonder whatever happened to that investigation. Host for the first one, i can give you information on this is from march 2024 by msnbc say the justice departments investigation into allegations that representative gates had sex with a 17yearold girl ended with no criminal charges. The fallout from the now closed Investigation Continues to plague him as part of the lawsuit brought by the state legislature who said he was defamed in the course of the investigation. He ahat they all accused him. In florida, republican line. This is william. Caller yeah. Its funny that guy should call in and talk about matt gaetz because theres over 900 indictments against the politicians of illinois. Theyre pending yes, but theres over 900 indictments. Against the politicians of illinois. I used to live in illinois and thats onecrooked states in the country. Host ok. Well move on to daniel from new york. Daniel in new york, are you there . Caller yeah. Host youre on. Go ahead please. Caller yeah. [indiscernible] utica mission all they have to do is look for work. [indiscernible] host ok. Thats daniel there in new york city. Again, open forum. 2027488000 for democrats. Republicans 2027488001. Independents, 2027488002. It was at the white house yesterday and in honor of womens History Month that President Biden gave remarks in the east room of the white house signing an executive order to prevent and diagnose Womens Health conditions. Heres part of the president s comments from yesterday. Pres. Biden with all kidding side yesterday was st. Patricks day at the white house. Todayor month. Two of the best days of the year backtoback. [laughter] [applause] learned my name. I rise, i rose up, i remembered it and now i can tell my story. It was different from the story told about me. End of quote. That poem was entitled mother ireland but she captured the history of American History as well. In your own way, all of you are generations of women before you have up, shown your power and told your story. Were the only nation in the world divided and defined. Every nation is defined in geography. Were the only nation based on idea. Think about it we hold these truth be selfevident that all women and men be treated equally. Weve never fully lived up to that but weve never walked away from it either. But jill and i and the entire administration have never walked away from anything, especially when it comes to women. Women are half the population underleapt represented across the board but not in my administration. [applause] host it was 1 00 that there will be a look at the u. S. Withdraw from afghanistan. It will feature testimony from the former chairman of the joint chief of staff the former commander of central command. You can watch this in front of the House Foreign Affairs employee at 1 00 on espn3 cspan now the app and cspan. Org. Later onthebout t 202ose thn3. Along there, the app and the according dotorg as well. Phil, a republican from florida. Go ahead. Hello, youre on. Caller oh, thank you. Afghanistan. First of all, i was in the military. You never leave weapons for enemy. That general should be courtmartialed, ok . Number two, we have a balloon that goes all the way across the country before it gets shot down. It should have been shot down in the pacific ocean. Now we have 10,000 illegal chinese coming across the border. You dont thinkheres a connection there somewhere . Joe biden is putting our country at risk big time. We need to close the border. We got 27 bridges at the border. I watch contraband at the border all the time. Joe biden is not doing his job. Host lets hear from jenna in mesa, arizona, democrats line. Hello. Caller yes. Pedro, im calling in to talk about why i will not vote biden. I cannot vote as a defendant of slaves. I cannot vote for a gaza. Thats my number one reason. I cant vote for joe biden. My second reason is that this illegal invasion devastates poorer neighborhoods. The schools are overcrowded. The hospitals are overrunning and going broke. The social services are overwhelmed by illegal invaders. Those people moving to poor neighborhoods. Thats who is hurt. Poor and working class people. My third reason is biden needs to stop paying off the loan of College Educated people. Theyre young and vibrant. They can go to work to pay off their loans. They can work two jobs and then they should fight with the colleges and the universities in their states to get more reasonable tuition. And then my third reason is we need to stop this war mongering. Biden is war mongering bombing wars everywhere. We need to stop the war mongering. And thats what i have to say this morning. Host veteran in tennessee. Republican line. Hi. Caller hi. Mississippi is getting ready to file a lawsuit against the administration over letting the illegals vote and the people in prisons vote. Theyre interfering with the states control of the voting. And the d. O. J. Supposedly, joe did an executive order and sent that out a couple of years ago for them to go ahead and do all this stuff. I just want all these people have to think about it. If youre in prison, you should be able to vote. If youre an illegal you should vote and youre not paying any damn taxes or anything. And i am one of them people. Im not talking about migrants. People been here and work and and dont cause trouble. This whole of migrants. Im talking about illegals and people in prison and the United States trying to make these people vote in our elections. Did you know theyre going to vote to for the people that let them run across the b and whatever they in prison. Thank you. Host thats peter in tennessee speaking of election roll calls. Voters in california could fill a vacant house seat today. All elections in illinois and ohio will pick nominees for another empty battleground races. Some contests have draw heavy spending. Another has been fueled by bitterness between two republicans over making kevin mccarthy. And many districts which one party is heavily favored and theres no real process and theres more resignation and retirements than average. Each of illinois running for reelection and 11 of them are unpete rosed in their Party Primaries in oh all of the five democratic incumbents are unpete rosed in the primary as are five of the eights running. Here is robert from california. Caller yes, i would hope that now that the democrats and the republicans have made theirons, theres a long gap between the conventions and the general election. I hope that cspan would make an effort to cover the Third Party Candidacy of mr. Kennedy and hopefully, hell get a fair Ballot Access to me could appear in all 50 states. I dont see any real coverage of s candidacy at all on this station. And the Major Networks arent going to cover him. So this is one of the few place who is i think he should be some kind of coverage since its been predetermined to the Major Party Candidates are and there is a yearning and the polling people want a third choice. And i hope that host why are you a Robert Kennedy p caller because hes honest. Because hes very, very intelligent. I watched him on a couple of podcasts with joe rogan. He he has a sense of responsibility. Hes not beholden to any special interests. And thats what the country wants. The country wants an independent thinker and theyre not someone like we have now. We have biden who is a guardian of the left. And you haverump whos a guard guardian of the right. And what people want is center governance. Right now, what youre protecting is a twoparty monopoly. And we need a Third Party Candidate in this country now more than ever before. Host well robert, i would tell you that early on in mr. Kennedys campaign he appeared on this program in september of last year for an interview talking about at a time what he was interested doing and issues that he was interested in on september 13 of 2023. If you want, take a look at it. It took place on this program. You can see it in our website and the rest of you who are supporting mr. Kennedy. Lets hear from steve independent line. Caller yes. Good morning. Host good morning. Caller my the reason im calling is i think a large portion of your or a good sized portion of your viewing audience are Senior Citizens. Im one myself. And i just wanted to make them aware that theres a movie out now called jules. Its rated pg13. Its wonderfully entertaining and heartwarming little film. Its a rare little film that Senior Citizens especially will enjoy because filled with filth like so much of entertainment is nowadays. Host ok. Caller and i just want to share that with everyone. Its a wonderful little film. Its Senior Citizens meet e. T. And it will put smile on your face. Host well movie reviewer steve is joining with us his recommendation on the open forum. Thanks for that. Is in ohio, democrats line. Good morning. Caller good morning, pedro. How are you today . Host im fine, thank you. Caller great. I was interested in you had the topic of gambling this morning and as i listened to some of the callers, i thought to myself people seem to have a lot of money for gambling. When i listen to your callers and they talk about the high price of gas and food and, you know id like to gamble, i go once in a while and i spend what i think i can afford. But i never complained about the price of gas or food because gas, food, im retired. Its been going up can down in my lifetime. Its just one of those things, living in america tha deal with. But i would suggest to your cspan listeners whenever they talk about the price of gas or food or how bad the countrys going, they should take a look in the mirror and theyll probably find out the reasons why they feel the way they do. Food prices, gas prices, the border, abortion all these things are just part of our lives and we just have to deal with them. And you shouldnt get so angry about things that you cant control. Thanks, patriot, and you host ron in ohio. One more call. Martha in ohio as well. Republican line. Caller yeah. Immigration, asylum fraud is being committed by 150 countries crossing over our border. The first day of bidens government was found evidence of massive fraud. Hundreds of brazilian i. D. Cards and passportsdiscarded by the haitians when leaving mexico and stepping into texas. The i. D. Cards all had names and faces of haitian women and children. This was hundreds of them lying around on the ground. The reason the haitians tossed their i. D. Cards is because someone familiar with asylum system told them their i. D. Cards would be evident of ineligibility for would keep them from incredible check since theyidency, they would get a nocheck instead. Host ok, martha in ohio finish finishing off this round of open forum for those of you who participated. Up next on the program, were going to hear from lev facher of stat news. Coversparticularly issues of addiction in the United States. To talk about his new investigation into opiod you know that march 19 might be a regular date on your circle it in red here particularly iday. Its 45th you foul march 19, 1979. We opened it to house gavel. Do a whole lot more to politics to find out more of what we visit cspan. Org 45. We had a chance toon with our coc. E. O. About cspans past and also a bit about our future. Cspans coc. E. O. Why the significance . Well, media institutions have no guarantee. Weve seen a lot of them go under. And cspan is still around 45. The good news of that is were providing services that some people find valuable. And i think what weve tried do over the last decade is to build an institution that people can trust, that theyre going to see the whole story and that we have the interest of showing the political process as it occurs without bias, without our own interpretation and creating an archive that people can go back and find what Public Officials have had to say and what they think about it thats what cspan has been all about. And the fact that were still around at age 45 means people have understood the role that played in american media. Lets go back to the beginning. A reminder of viewers how we started. My time came in 1979. And tip oneill speaker of of the house gathered in the first session of the the house will be in order. Gentleman from tennessee. Mr. Speakern this historic day, the house of representatives open this proceedings for the first time to televised coverage. I wish to congratulate you for your courage in making this possible and the committee who had worked so hard under the leadership of congressman charles rose to make this a reality. Television will change this institution, mr. Speaker, just has it had changed the executive branch. But the good will far outweigh the bad. For about two years before hand, private entrepreneurs have been organizing for that day. They built the first satellite in the whole washington, d. C. Area to transmit that session of the house to the american public. 18 million American Homes who had Cable Television could see that first session of congress and it started an evolution, realevised access to the political process. Lots of people are now offering ways for people to follow washington, follow congress, but in 1979, this is a real use of technology to the publics good and there had been nothing like it before. This year for the first time for our anniversary, were celebrating it by calling it founders day. Why is that . What does mean . Enormously. We have lost 40of the homes that carry cable and signal to them. We have done everything that we up in the face of change but the reality is a lot of people are accessing content now its an expensive thing to do. We are marking founders day and kicking off a campaign andasking for public help to support cspan. We are still going to have the important dates of cable and Satellite Companies carrying our signal. They pay . 75 per year to carry cspan and subscription fees. On cable who would like to help because, people using us online through youtube or social media, if they would like to help to support cspan so that we can continue to offer gaveltogavel coverage in congress, our history and books programming and alll materials that we develop for the classroom, all of which is available for free of the cable networks. We are asking now for people to help contribute. Founders day is an interesting i think of the founders as the entrepreneurs who created the private enterprise of those who said yes to televising the sessions, and then seven years later the senate doing the same. The reporters that covered us when we were an unknown entity and they werent sure what to make of it. And importantly, the viewers who watched over the years. Viewer support of the network has been critical. Those callin shows that you host support us online by using our products. And in many cases they have helped to get years when we sought to expand coverage. We are now calling on viewers to help us in a different way with a bit of support on founders day to help us a contribution that will sustain cspan into the future. With challenges and opportunities, what can viewers expect in the future . The goal is that the mothership cspan, cspan2 cspan3, providing linear service and we want to be everywhere thatffairsthat requires resources. If we are going to expand our social media presence, it takes people and technical resources. We will be there but we will do it faster and better with the help of our viewers. Founders a contribution, that is what we are asking from viewers today. Our 45th anniversary. Thank you. Healthy democracy doesnt just look like this, it looks like this. Americans can see democracy at work with citizens and a republic thriving. Get informed straight from the source on cspan. Unfiltered unbiased, word for word. From thes capital to wherever you are. The opinion that matters the most is your own. This is what democracy looks like. Cspan, powered by cable. Host joining us from new york is lev facher, correspondent here to talk about his new series, the war on recovery which you can find online at statnews. Com. Guest thank you for having me, happy anniversary to cspan. Host hank you very much. How do you describe stat to people and how you are supported . Caller guest guest we are a Health News Website under the boston globe umbrella, but if folks are interested in Premium Health content, we there. We do a lot of general News Coverage for much broader audiences as well. Host you write a lot about addiction in the United States but the latest series takes a look at recovery. The war on recovery is how you title it. How did you get interested in this topic . Guest i wanted to drill down on whats going on in the United States. We are obviously not handling our d crisis well. 10,000 people dying each year of drug overdoses. 80,000 are drug opioid overdoses. The premise of the series is that essentially we have two really effective medications known to reduce the risk of dying of opioid overdose by about half. Instead of doing everything we can to get these medications into the hands of the people that need them, in many cases we do the opposite, we make it difficult to access and place a lot of restrictions on use. People may know it by the brand name suboxone. Thats the premise of the series. At many Different Levels we are restricting access to medications known to prevent overdose death and, of course, with over 80,000 people dying of overdose, its something that needs to happen urgently. Host lets start with the drugs themselves. How do they work . Guest they are weak opioids. A bit like a nicotine patch or nicotine gum for someone trying to not smoke cigarettes. Essentially, if you try to stop using illicit opioids like heroin, fentanyl, or even a prescription painkiller, if you just stop cold turkey you will experience debilitating withdrawal symptoms. So severe that almost no one successfully does it. That was already true in the age of heroin. Now that the drugs on the street are almost entirely this ultra potent fentanyl, its doubly true. Itsust quit cold turkey. The medications essentially come in and bind of the receptors in your brain, the same asfentanyl. But they dont get people high if administered properly. For someone with addiction trying to stop using illicit substances, the idea is that the medication leaves them clearheaded, free of withdrawal symptoms, free to go about their as family members students employees, anything else. Host you said if they are administered properly. Typicay, they administered . Guest methadone is very effective to treat opioid addiction. Its only available at a special methadone clinic. In many cases they require patients to come in every day to get a single dose. You are essentially structuring her life around the ability to be at these clinics and in recent years more have grown lenient with takehome towing doses. Giving you three days, week, two weeks to takehome, ke in little liquid bottles. But for the most part, people that go to methadone clinics have to comply with logistics in a way that a lot of Public Health experts believe is harmful to their recovery. Because obviously you want to be able to have a source of income Stable Living situation, Stable Family situation. Any of us who wake up and go to work every morni how difficult it would be if we added the requirement of going to a Medical Clinic every day at 6 a. M. , 7 00 a. M. s methadone. Bucher nor frame is much simpler. You can essentially get it prescribed byors and you can get it from a doctor. Host our guest is with us here through if you want to give them a call, its 202 7488000 eastern and central time zones, 202 7488001 for mountain and pacific. If you are a caregiver or medical professional, give us a call at 202 7488002, and you can text us at 202 7488003. The first part of the war on recovery is found online and you said it is conscious choices that are being made to keep these drugs from people. Can you elaborate . Guest there are many Different Levels of American Society that in somes work harder to deny the medications to people that need them than to provide access to them. A few examples. Until recently doctors required a special license to prescribe it. Even though any doctor who is a licensed prescriber could of course provide patients highly addictive painkillers like oxycontin or any other opioid painkillers. Even though there was a much safer, weaker medication used to treat addiction, those painkillers can cause the addictionhe to jump through hoops to get a special license just to prescribed the medication treatment. Thats one example. I already mentioned the prescriptions around methadone clinics and how difficult it can be to receive care. One interesting and nuanced example is that of narcotics anonymous, the 12 step program modeled largely after alcoholics anonymous. I t broad of a brush, there has been an evolution, different chapters are different from one group to the next, but in many cases these meetings, the organizational literature at a national level, opposes the use of these medications, even though they are essentially the best tool that we have to help people stop using illicit opioids and prevent them from dying of opioid overdoses. There is a view that people that use the medications are not clean, fully abstinent or in true recovery, but addiction doctors and many who use the medication as a part of the recovery would e them their life back and they are happy and thriving thanks to these medications. So, there is a lot of stigma to this day that people that take the medications face. Host the group that you mentioned, narcotics but it raises the question, do rtct using to listen and speak with this is not meant to alienate or embarrass, but to preserve atmospheres of recovery. There is more on the website but i saw that one part and you did say it was a nuanced approach. Can you elaborate in light of that . Guest to cast every meeting in the same light, many are increasingly supportive of this approach, known as medicated assisted treatment. But in the language you just cited, i heard the phrase still using, i believe. I think thats very telling in terms of the phenomenon we are discussing because of course there is a huge difference between, you know, smoking fentanyl you buy on the street or injecting it. And, you know, waking up in the morning and taking, you know, a pill or a sublingual film that is app fda and manufactured under tight regulations by a Pharmaceutical Company and is safe and you know exactly whats in it. Those things are clearly just not the same and one is, unfortunately, likely to kill you and one is likely to help enable your recovery and enable you to go about life as anybody else can. Thats not just narcotics anonymous. Its more broadly true. People view these medications as just another form of addiction. Tom price, president Donald Trumps first Health Secretary infamously kind of referred to medication assisted treatment as substituting one opioid for another, which in a technical and medical sense is true, but at the same time, again, taking an fda of fda medication is far safer and allows life than, you know, using fentanyl several times a day. That ease an attitude that remains pervasive throughout American Society. Host lev facher, who reportsction in the United States for stat news, you can find it online. 202 7488000 for the eastern zones, 202 7488001 mountain and pacific. For those of you with a special interest on the topic, 202 7488002. Paul, you are on with our guest go ahead. Caller thank you for take my call. I had a couple of questions. I currently take opioids and i have for quite a few years. Ive got five major third test had five major surgeries arthritis. You have kind of answered my question. Is there a government formula that says x amount of milligrams is safe for a person that currently takes opioids . Guest yeah, i figured we would get some calls from patients with pain, its a huge subplot in my opinion. For those who may not know, you know, in the mid to thousands know, about a decade ago, there was of course a huge prescription opioid oversupply problem driven in part by Companies Like Purdue Pharma and the medication oxycontin. Of course, the government response to that was to really restrict opioid prescribing and really encourage a change in the medical culture to prescribe fewer opioids and in some cases that is probably many vicodin i got when i got my wisdom teeth out, it was probably 20 times what i needed. But there are also a lot of pain patients who have been taking oil opioids for years and havent oved suddenly those folks have found access to their medication restricted by doctors who are worried about crackdowns Enforcement Administration or patients overdosing. So, there are a lot of patients who had been taking prescription opioids who lost access to those medications and because they had become physiologically depended on them had wound up using there is a convincing argument that severe restrictions in the wake of the oxycontin and other drugs crisis, it surely exacerbated the overdosed problem. But yes, there are prescribing guidelines from the centers for Disease Control that specified amount they believe is safe but they stress that it is not onesizefitsall doctors and clinicians should use discretion. And im not a medical professional, so i dont want to quote anthere is government guidance on that, yes. Host john is in tennessee. Good morning. Caller good morning thank you. According to what i see on cnbc there is a Pharmaceutical Company called vertex that a nonopioid painkiller and has shown partial results. Ev addictive that it is an effective painkiller. Im curious about it. It sounds promising and i was wondering if you know anything about it. Guest there has been a big effort to develop nonopioid painkilli will admit, i dont know the specifics of this particular drug candidate. I will say that we are essentially talking about issues. One, how do we treat pain, how do we treat it in ways that are not going to give people access to huge quantities of potentially addictive medications . Of course, there is this welcome effort to develop nonopioid painkillers to avoid another oxycontin situation in the future. However, there already is a huge of people taking either prescription opioids for pain or illicit opioids because they have grown dependent or addicted to those drugs. So, there is the pain question butler is also the russian of what we do with the Huge Population of people who either opioids day to day or are addicted to illicit substances and, for the latter category, if people want to stop using, their best bets are these two medications, methadone and buprenorphine. Host has there been an official position taken on these drugs . Guest the director of the nora National Institute of drug abuse is a huge opponent of their use. Proponent of their use. Buprenorphine, 40 less likely to die, 59 percent less likely if youre taking methadone. The Agency Position is that these are effective medications. When i spoke to the Agency Director for the first piece series war on recovery, she told me that she believes if we made access universal essentially if we provided it to everyone in the country who needed it, we would see opioid overdose she stressed that was a conservative estimate, saying essentially that if we provided universal access, 40,000 fewer people, at least, would die every single year of opioid overdose in this country. There was an announcement earlier this year that hhs expanded some of that access to methadone through telehealth means. Can you elaborate on if hhs has taken a position on granting more access . Host guest hhs has gone back and forth on access to buprenorphine through telehealth. They in the drug Enforcement Administration and the drug Enforcement Administration dont always see eye to eye, another thing we will cover in the series, the role of law jails, prisons, the court systems, and restricting access, but there has been a debate over how freely doctors should be able to prescribe buprenorphine by telehealth. As of now you can get a prescription without ever person. You can see them over video chat and they could write you a prescription and they could pick it up at a pharmacy. There is no by telehealth. For the most part people need to go to the clinics in person just to get a single dose. Certainly, there have been efforts by the Biden Administration to expand access to the medications. Early in his presidency, the house set one goal was that by the end of his first term would be to make access universalhadone and buprenorphine. Here we are in 2024, its obviously not going to happen, but yes, hhs and the bite administration have taken steps to increase access. Publperts tell you that for the most part they have not fast enough. Host this is lev facher joining us from statin news, looking at opioid addiction and recovery. Kevin, your next, michigan. Caller thanks for taking my call. Im a guy with permanent nerve damage done by a doctor. The war on opioids is really bad because it doe take into of account a guy who people who rely on opioids. I had a ba year ago they cut off his opioids. He had a quality of life, taking one opioid per day. He has now passed. When you have a war on opioids and all doctors are scared to give them out, you know, it leaves us pain, which we shouldnt have to do and we should have to fight. Whenever there is a hearing on opioid addiction, i have never seen anybody there who is a pain, has to deal with the pain, because they have taken their opioids away. There has got to be a middle there. 2 of people who are chronic opioid users od some of them are probably just sick of being in pain. Nerve damage never goes away. 24 7 you are hurting ok . But can you get a doctor to help you out . No, they are scared of the government. Thats not good. I would like to hear your response. Thank you very much. Host thank you, kevin. Guest we just mentioned this, theres a Huge Population of chronic pain patients in this country who rely on opioids to treat their pain. In some cases they are also physiologically dependent on those opioids in a way that hasnt crossed the threshold into addiction. These are differ concepts. There is the physiological dependence and then there is addiction, a psychiatric diagnosis about your behavior related to substance use. Yes, there are tons of people in this country who regularly take prescription opioids who are not addicted in a medical and psychiatric sense to opioids. It is a huge problem that people are increasingly being cut off from pain medications they have relied on for years. There is anecdotal evidence, yes, that it has led to increase in suicide. Certainly, there is thought that restricting pain medication for people who have used it for a long time has led to an increase in overdose. When people regularly use opioid painkillers and are suddenly cut off, quitting cold turkey is usually not a practical ask to make of someone. A lot of people end up using heroin instead. Now that the drug supplies fentanyl, they use fentanyl. As you can imagine you are way more likely to od on fentanyl then a Prescription Medication you picked up at your local rite aid. Absolutely, that is a huge issue and i agree, probably one that doesnt get enough attention from policymakers. Host las vegas, go ahead. Caller mons to an article that you posted recently about private sectors overtaking methadone clinics. I was just wondering if the People Manufacturing it are actually infected and those invested in those private sectors, in overtaking the methadone clinics. Caller hes referring to an art guest hes referring to an article i published this morning about the increase of private equity in methadone spaces. One third of them are owned by private equity firms, two thirds are run as forprofits. That is a big shift from a couple of decades ago when the majority of clinics were run by Government Agencies or local nonprofits. As far as i am aware methadone the medication, is not a huge moneymaker because it is a very common, generic medication. There is no patent or anything particularly specialized about manufacturing or selling methadone. I think the bigger financial implications are in the way that the clinics and the fact that they build to dispense the medication and hire patients to participate in counseling, drug testing,nd sometimes other services as well. They bill for those. It has turned into quite a large forprofit industry. In that story we reported that Acadia Health care, only about 17 of their revenue is from methadone clinics. They callt a comprehensive treatment center. I believe that even that 17 accounted for half of a billion in revenue in the past year. Yes, in some senses methadone clinics have become big business. I do think that this is more about them getting reimbursement for the services they provide as opposed to a huge profit margin on the physical medication itself. Host that was part three introduced today. In part two you introduce us to rebecca smith, who goes to her clinic every morning to get her treatment. You also describe why she has to go physically. Can you elaborate . Gues right. We were in detroit, michigan, and as you say we spent time with a patient named rebecca smith, who really was the model of what you would want recovery from opioid addiction to look like. She had been in Stable Recovery for five or six she was active in her church. Had great relationships with her kids and grandkids, working asteady job. She credits this with helping her put heroin. She had been going into the clinic. She met every week and met weekly with counselors, picking up medications to take home. She deliver life. She attended she had a small amount of white wine as a part of a toast they were making. She mentioned it to her counselor. A small amount of alcohol showed up on her drug screen. I should note, this is not someone who has ever had a problem with alcohol. The clinic has never been worried about her alcohol use. But the clinic upon learning of this stripped her the takehome privileges, which they call them , making her come in every single morning. When she had to come in every single morning, this woman doesnt own a car, has had a kneelacement, needs another she was not able to show up at the cli also make it to her day job and she essentially told the clinic that if you need me here every morning, i have to quit my job. They were not swayed. Filet, she has a great support system and she made it through. Well even today. But i do think her story is illustrative of a very restrictive and sometimes even culture at methadone clinics that makes people who use drugs afraid to even seek care in the first place, or once they are enrolled in treatment it can pose obstacles to them saying in Stable Recovery. Host that ist two of the series. You can find it at statnews. Com. Pennsylvania, you are next up. Hello. Caller unfortunately, i have had a ton of experience with these problems of addiction. 13 people that i know personally have done this. My stepdaughter used methadone, which was a disaster for her because like you said, in your last story, running back and worth, determining how much you take, and if youre good about it you can do what you want and take it home. Thing. Addicts have a problem with the onoff switch in their brain. Once they use something, they want more of it. My experience shows that when addicts go to a recovery house a recovery center, get through the detox part, the most difficult and dangerous part for them, when they go to a 12 step program, they get a sponsor they work the program with a family of people doing the exact same thing that is the most positive way to get off the drugs. Giving them more drugs is not the solution to the problem. It might stop them temporarily and they do abuse those substances. I have seen thousands of addicts in recovery and not a single one of them said they did it withth or suboxone. I know it is a treatment plan, like you suggested, for some people, but it is not a panacea. Its basically replacing one drug use for another drug use and if you really want to solve the problem the 12 steps changing mind, body, and soul, because they cannot deal with life on lifes terms, once they learn how to do that, thats how they get clean. Everyone in my life who used drugs is clean, 12 step program. I wish they would do that more instead of people into more drug use. Host we will let our guest respond to that. I am happy that your kids are doing better. There are different approaches that work for different people. Certainly, there are a lot of people happy and in Stable Recovery thanks to narcotics anonymous. I would doubt a couple of things. The drug supply being what it is today, fentanyl being so prevalent, asking people who want to stop using to just detox and go through a week or more of total agony as the they experience this, it is not always a practical asked. More importantly yes, people have achieved really successful happy lives in recovery thanks to 12 Step Programs and thanks thapproaches, thats certainly true. I want to stress that a pretty large body of researchpioid treatments, essentially cold turkey detox, 12step, and tera, is a lot less effective than medication treatments. Simply put, people who take methadone more buprenorphine are far less likely to of course, in a drug crisis like this country has, not dying is i think, the most important thing. Down the road people can choose whether they want to remain on the medications. Doctors have mixed views about tapering folks off, if its safe or if there is a reason to. Yeah, i want to stress that. Studies show that people who take the medications are far die than people who receive abstinencebased treatment. Host whats the costs of the treatment . Guest it really varies. One big issue is that historically Insurance Coverage for these medications has not been good. As well as the fact that as you can imagine, people with particularly severe addiction many people who are experiencing homelessness, are not actively enrolled in insurance, dont have good id or records. Pain is an issue. It varies so much from place to place, from medication to medication, one provider to the next, but some people pay very little for these medications and there are people who pay thousands and thousands of dollars year just to stay enrolled at the methadone clinic. Host new jersey, good morning. Caller thank youtopic, today, i really appreciate it. I never was an opioid addict. I used because of the spine injury at a neurological disease. Back in january, the fda announced that buprenorphine was causing people to lose their teeth. This was on the heels of that other lawsuit where they were lying to people about the pills no longer existing and trying to film. Im starting to wonder, because of whats happening with people losing their teeth is that why doctors are not prescribing buprenorphine instead of the other opioid pain medicines . Guest im not aware of active change in prescriber behavior. Its true that one side effect of some forms of buprenorphine are dental decay. That is certainly something to be aware of. While we are omethadone is also a serious medication with potential side effects. First of all, it can and does cause overdose. In much smaller numbers than fentanyl or a more powerful, illicit. But methadone can also cause heavy sweating, weight gain, sexual dysfunction. These medications are, l said, not a panacea. They are medications like any other with because it is, negatives, side effects and benefits. The bottom line is that people who take them are less likely to die, but there are side effects that lead people to want to di use. Its a good question about prescriber behavior in the wake of that warning about dental issues and somd. Host you used of the term filmic. Are there various ways to get the medications, then . Guest its like a sublingual film, almost like a listerine strip that you can put under your tongue and it dissolves and that is how you ingest it. Its not a liquid or a pill. Its a little film that you put on or under your tongue and that is how you take your medication every day. Host ron is in tennessee. Thanks for calling. Caller thank you for calling taking my call. I have experience with this. You know, you dont oppress the mental obsession. Actual drug addicts live with this mental obsession until they can get a change. You are not addressing that. You are just putting a bandaid on something that is always going to be there until they go through this change. I dont see taking drugs to geke sense to me. I mean, theres always, theres different ways people do it, but if you dont go through that psychic change, the mental obsession will always be there. Ive seen people be sober for years and go back. Myself, i went back after i went back after 16 years, now im coming up on 10 again. Its just a bandaid, what you got. Thanks for taking my call. Guest sure. I dont want to invalidate anyones lived experience with addiction. I dont have lived experience with addiction. I know what the research says. I know what leading medical groups and patient groups about the use of these medications. I dont there are too many people arguing, though, that people should use these medications in do absolutely nothing else in the worst of their Addiction Treatment or recovery. Most people believe that therapy or some form of psychosocial counseling can be helpful. Other structures, activities related to recovery and the underlying reasons they may have been drin to drug use in the first place, those are important and i dont mean to downplay their importance at all. There are doctors who will tell you, though, that you cannot treat dead. Which is to say you cannot give someone access to therapy if they have already passed away overdose. So, there is a lot of stigma, a lot of thinking as we are hearing, in some of these calls that the medications dont constitute true recovery. I guess the important thing to know is that these medications enable people to stop using illicit substances. They are associated with just terrific Health Outcomes across the board in terms of being less likely to get hepatitis c, hiv, endocarditis or any other disease associated with injection drug use. Not a panacea. Nor are they necessarily the sole component of countries that have made access to these medications easier have had great Public Health outcomes associated with their drug problems. The United States has kept these medications quite strict it and we know what the Public Health outcomes have been here. 80,000 people dying every year. Host how do we compare with other countries . Are theregood job . Guest absolutely. I should say that we do better than some countries. In russia, i believe that methadone treatment is largely illegal. However in other parts of europe like switzerland germany, the netherlands, even to a degree in france in the u. K. , access to these medications is far, far better and they have far fewer opioid overdoses and drugrelated deaths with far fewer Adverse Health events like the Infectious Diseases that i mentioned associated with drug use. Its not a totally apples to apples comparison. We have fentanyl here, illicit opioid in the drug supply. Thankfully, for europe fentanyl doesnt have a huge presence. At least not yet. That said, everything i have set on this segment was true prior to fentanyl entering the American Drug supply. Access to these medications with worse Public Health outcomes likely as a result. Host lets hear from ed, in new jersey. For lev facher, e good morning. D. Caller happy anniversary. I worked in the 80s at a drug have program at my turnout is marijuana and how that influences gateway drugs to higher use. Guest i will admit that i dont know for size numbers on recent studies about marijuana is a gateway drug. There are some concerns certainly, associated with the legalization of marijuana on the scale that it has been made available. Generally speaking, speaking to folks in drug policy and addiction medicine, its not high on their list of we know that opioids are killing people. We know that stimulants like cocaine and meth are killing people. Marijuana is not. Im sure that there are concerns associated with legalization and use among young people. But in terms of the scope of the Public Health crisis, its frankly just not a high priority topic in a lot of my conversations with people regarding dying of drug overdoses. Host one more call from danny, washington state. Caller yeah, hello . Host youre on, go ahead. Just been sitting here watching this show and i wanted to add in, im a 35 year functioning addict, i go to work , i got addicted, but i got addicted to methadone, got on got on the merrygoround. Did all that stuff. Finally got clean. The one thing hes talking about is the psyche. One caller called in and said no matter what, people who have been clean thousands of times went to jail, got out. If you take them to jail and get them c, you release them, you give them the shot, they wont even think about it anymore. Its on. The craving, the idea you can get past the next fix, its essentially gone. Then you can deal with your personal issues. Host did you want to comment . Guest as we are hearing, its a common sentiment. Agai are not a panacea or the sole component necessarily, of highquality Addiction Treatment. I will close by saying, again Research Shows people who take the medications are far less likely to die than people who pursue abstinence based courses of treatment. Methadone and buprenorphine make you less likely to die,. , which is what the Research Shows conclusively. Host we talked about the tangents of your reporting so far. What other avenues did you want to ask for . Guest folks can expect to hear more about the recovery community. We have touched on narcotics anonymous. We are als homes. We are going to talk about Law Enforcement and car sorrel settings. Thats jails and prisons. As well as drug courts and the role of those systems in denying access to these medications. We will write about the Health Care System itself, which even though doctors buy a march support the use of these medications, access at hospitals and pharwe are also going to talk about the discrimination, particularly professional discrimination, that people who take these medications so often face. Much more to come on the war on recovery at statnews. Com. Host that is where our guest serves as an addiction correspondent. Lev facher, think of her talking to us about your series. Guest my pleasure. Host ouis and the potential for reese migration to the United States. Before that, another round of open forum if you want to participate. Free democrats fi stomac for democrats 202 7488000 for republicans independents and all others, 202 7488002. The house will be in order. Cspan is subverting 45 years of covering Congress Like no since 79 we have been your primary source on capitol hill providing balanced coverage of government in some with the support of americas cable companies. 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Important information on committees, president ial cabinets, and state governors. It costs 32 95 cents, plus shipping and handling, with every purchase helping to support our nonprofit code on the right or go to cspanshop. Org to preorder your copy for today. Again this is open forum. 202 7488000 for democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. Independents, 202 7488002. Nt will be announcing today a National Program to reach latino voters. Reverse gains that former President Trump appears to be making with hispanic voters. Four years ago axios reports that biden was the winner of lano voters toone but recent polls are showing that the fastestgrowing segment of the u. S. Population is diminishing their support. This turbine is traveling to nevada and phoenix this week after a fundraising trip to texas, part of the push after the state of the union to shore up the base and motivate voters. That is what is expected today as far as the president ial campaign is concerned. You can talk about that during open forum and other things of note in politics. You can post on socials or text us as well. Bradley, michigan, democrats line. First up. Hello. Caller thank you for taking my call. To alert you maga people, cults never end well. Consider that, history of proven they never have a good ending. Number two, the swiftboat organization, they were so eager to eliminate john kerry, but where are they now . Also, i would like to have more information on project 25. It alarms me and i see very little about it. Maybe washington journal did something on it and i didnt catch it. But i appreciate that and every thing else. Thank you, pedro. Host are you referencing project 2025 . Caller yeah. Host we did a couple of segments on it go to the website, type it in and you can find have done on it. Lets go to wil in North Carolina, independent mind. Caller hey, things are taking my call. I wanted to kind of address the previous segment. I have some experience with addiction in my past. Turns out more than 93 of Treatment Centers in this country use the 12 step addiction model and thats not an accident. 12 approaches have among their traditions not to organize politically, that doesnt apply to friend organizations that they have that do lobby for this toim tired of seeing my friends and neighbors die. Im tired of seeing my High School Class with her over opioid addiction wither over opioid addiction. Im tired of seeing the alternative that gives people a ladder out cannabis, be criminalized. Im tired of the way that, when we actually need medications in this country, for anything, from adhd to nerve pain to suboxone, we find roadblocks at every given turn. And somehow, the government not wanting it is making it more efficient . Even though we pay the most for health care in the world. Host ok, thats will. Texas, independent line, caleb. Caller i think that things are growing going i think we need to negotiate texas legislators need to help caliiafornisaster funds. Its looking bad with eight point seven magnitude earthquakes in california and i would like for california legislators to negotiate for hurricane disaster funds. You know that hurricanes are hitting texas pretty hard. California and texas are the only victims of disaster and we dont help each other. I would like to see us come together on some House Resolution bills this year. Ot that, its good to have a little tugofwar but we need to remember that we are america and i want to thank you know, chuck schumer, for approving the hurricane disaster funds. We love yall for that. Host part of the news, texas, coming out of the supreme port, this is from the peak the bbc , the u. S. Supreme court has again blocked a texas Immigration Law and the Biden Administration called it unconstitutional it would have allowed local and state police to arrest those illegally crossing the border from mexico, it woulde of the toughest immigration measures from any u. S. State. The court opposed an administrative cannot be enforced while the emergency appeals challenges play out. When it comes to the former President Trump associates, chief Justice John Robert rejected an attempt by the former white house trade advisor, peter navarro, to stay out of prison as he appeals conviction charge and found guilty after refusing to comply with subpoena from the House Investigative Committee investigating the attack on the capital on january 6 2021. Also the Washington Post reporting yesterday on the hearing about the president ial Administration Contact social Media Companies saying that the work seemed preped to reject the effort to sharply limit the government from pressuring social Media Companies to remove misinformation and harmful post from the platform. A majority of justices expressed concern over hamstringing federal employees communicating with tech giants about posts the government deems problematic related to elections among other topics. There is more there. By the way, that hearing, you can still find it on our website , its a part of the oral argumentgiven to us by the Supreme Court where you can follow on and see who is talking whos making the points. You can do that at our website cspan. Org. Its open forum. 202 7488000 for democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. For independents. Richard, san diego, democrats line. Caller thank you. I called yesterday but not timed out, id like to speak. I watched a good film last night, its called the boys in the boat, a pin advising the american spirit, which is contradictory to the current situation. We are facing armageddon. Its a movement thats very similar to a movement from europe in the 30s and 40s. Named adolph at the olympics where the americans with the winners, that behavior in those receptions around their, the symbols they used, they cheered people on. I see a lot of similarities there to whats going on in this country right now. The texas guys are pretty good, like the one i heard. Hes doing well. That donald trump has got sort of a funny way, not really my thing, but donald trump is a putin want to be, donald trump i dont think anyone should vote for him and i encourage everyone to vote for anyoneald trump. Thank you for your time. Host thank you, richard. A couple of events today. At 8 30, its already started but the American Banking association has an event taking a look at regulation of banks featuring Bank Executives and former financial regulators on the Banking System and financial services. If you are interested in that it may conversation with the House Majority whip. Thats at 8 30, it has already sreon chity d afternoon today on cspan two, the app being cspan now and cspan. Org. Democratic line, tim in new york on this open forum. Go ahead. Caller yes, i have had a flking about polls. But since 17, democrats been winning. Its just confusing to me. Biden raising more money, people spending, that people going to trump. I dont understand these polls. Its confusing to me. Ask the next republican, why are they not winning elections . I just want to thank you. Host dan is on the independent line from florida. Go ahead. Caller i want to talk about the comment he made. About the oil. You know what it was at the beginning . It was for the january 6 people in prison, where donald should be with them. He attacked the capital. There is no getting around it. If you listenj,b to mitch mcconnell, when he gave that speech right after, Lindsey Graham had enough. They had all had enough of it. Donald trump came back. They let him right back in. Him, they are scared of them. Those people think the Capitol Police they smashed them, they pulled the windows. That girl that came through the window shes not the victim. Hes the victim. He brought them going to jail. He did the sweet. Thats what he was in charge of. The january sweep. The people in Congress Make me laugh. They know. Mitch mcconnell knows. Lindsey graham knows. Everyone in their nose. They are in there, romney knows getting out of there, calling it ridiculous. They are in there because thhost ok. That was stan in florida concerning the former president having to come up with money to pay for the, 454 civil judgment against him. It was in a filing, an appeals court, the judge ordered last month that it was so large they would require cash and not real estate to guarantee the bond. The Trump Organization would need 1 billion in cash to obtain the bond company does not have. Ongoing efforts have proven the bond and the full amount is a practical impossibility, according to the lawyers for the former president. Derek in mississippi. Independent line. Caller good morning. I want to touch on the black vote that has been talked about and will be talked about as this election goes on. I want to point out something the black vote. Democrats seem to feel that it is theirs. I want to share something with the democrats. Black people as a culture do not believe in using abortion as birth control. A woman is in danger or the child is in danger or Something Like that going on, thats understandable. To use abortioas birth control, like people as a whole black people as a whole do not support that. When obama ran in his first term, if he said marriage was between a man and a abortion he would not have gotten the black vote and probably not gotten elected. He switched up in the middle of his term. The second thing. The gay marriage. Culturally, you go back a little while, not far and you will see when you take voters, probably dirty, 35 and up my age 30 to 35 and up, that is something we are not for that. They would not have such a hard time winning. Who knows how this election is going to go. Thank you. Host john next in Ohio Republican line. Caller these people say trump is a five different states by democrats only. Letitia james is off thefannie lewis has her own problems. They are operating right out of prudens cant putins handbook. This is ridiculous. That is all i have to say. Host amongst the Opinion Pieces in the Washington Post this morning, one by joe manchin democratic senator of West Virginia who writes under the headline the biden triumph his advisors dont want you to know about. I will do something. I want to congratulate President Biden for the recordbreaking Energy Production we are seeing states is producing more oil, gas and Renewable Energy than ever before. We are exporting more fossil fuel energy that we import. Our country has never been more energy dependent independent than we are today. This is something to celebrate. It would not have been possible without the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law mr. Biden signed. Thanks to these historic laws we are unb country, implementing and all the above Energy Strategy that we need today while continuing to innovate the technologies we want tomorrow. You will not hear about the historic Energy Production on tv, social media or democratic campaigns. These bills because of these bills there has never been a better time to invest in american energy. You want to read that in the pages of the Washington Post. Joe from kentucky on the democrats line. Caller i get so tired of people saying the elite think that got trump convicted with Sexual Assault. If people do a Sexual Assault its a politically correct word for rape. Hes been convicted of rape. Sexual assault. Host the Court Decision was a sexual abuse. The judge clarified in those terms but that has been well reported. Caller thats what im trying to get across. Abuse, Sexual Assault, it still boils down to rape. If you want somebody running the country convicted of rape i guess trump is your man. Host joe in kentucky. Robert in vermont, independent line. Go ahead. Caller hello. I want to get back to a Quick Response to the addiction thing you had before at the end. I had a relative that did get addicted right out of college. We discovered it when she took about 4000 out of our checking account. First she did a 30day recovery place in maryland that cost us almost nothing because insurance picked up the first one. She got right back into it went to a second one for 30 days. This one was a little different. When she got out of that, that one cost 30,000 out of pocket. Then she was required to go to a group home which was about 3000 miles away that was self controlling. If you brought Cold Medicine into the place the people that were in there recovering with throw you out. Here he strict. She stayed there for over a year. Got a job when she was there. Then she came home two years h r and actually it worked. The big thing was that when she came home she met people who were still into drugs and got right back into it. You have to leave, go away for a year and get your brain back together. Host robert in vermont. If you want to see the interview with lev facher, you can find it on cspan. Org and also available on the cspan now app if you want to listen to the unity. One of the people speaking yesterday the white house in honor of womens History Month was the Vice President Harris Kamala harris encouraging female voters to use their vote to protect womens rights. Here is a portionrom yesterday. [video] vicepres. Harris even as we lift up in the women of our nation there are those who are intent on dragging us backwards. At this moment in states across our nation we are witnessing a full lawn attack against full on attack against freedom and rights including the right of women to make decisions about their own bodies and not their governors tell them [applause] today in america one in three women of reproductive age live in a state with an abortion ban. Since roe w oveurned i have met women with miscarriages in toilets because they refused. Care women who went to an emergency room to receive care and were rejected because the Health Care Providers thought they would be sued and potentially sent to jail if they administered care. It was only when she developed sepsis that she received care. Just last week i visited a clinic in minnesota where i met with medical professionals women who provide Critical Health care and who see like we all do clinics across our country which have been closing and forced to close, leaving millions of women without access to essential every day lifesaving care. In conclusion i will just say this, there is so much at stake in this moment. We each face a question. What kind of country do we want to live in . Ry of liberty freedom, and rule of law, or country of hate . Each of us has the power to answer that question. With ouree voice and with our vote. [applause] host the app where you can find more of the Vice President s comments. Steve, good morning. Caller good morning. Good morning america. I want to say what a great job President Biden is doing. On inauguration day, the president of the United States takes an oath to protect, preserve and defend the constitution of the United States. Biden is doing that right now. I believe that in itself would qualify him to earn my vote on election day. He might be 81, but look at all hes done for this country. And, you know, abroad. When ukraine was surrounded, all the analysts and experts said ukraine was going to fall within days. Joe biden cap nato together. He even expanded nato, adding sweden and finland. He played a role in doingthe guy has been hit with a lot. He got us through covid. Now he has israel. Feet. On the other hand, we have donald j. Trump, the man of anarchy. He cares about no one else but himself. He doesnt talk about america. He has no policy plans nothing. Im just amazed im amazed at the republicans. I really would like to help you. I think we need an intervention. They need to set up a hotline or something. Maybe call liz cheney or Adam Kissinger or other solid great i wish john mccain was still alive. What a hero and Great American john mccain was. Come on, america. Lets get together. I still believe in the country. I believe in the rule of law. I believe in life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. Something that works for all of us. Host mac in mississippi on the republican line. Caller thank you for taking my call. I have been watching cspan for quite some time. One thing i want to say is that this border question that keeps coming up, the republicans are not normally republicans. They dont know how to handle it. They need to tell people what is going on at the border is what biden wants. It is his plan. Here, it is what biden wants. He knocked down the doors the first day he got in office. We are suffering from it. The republicans wont ever say that. They dont say the they say the administration or the democrats, but they wont say biden owns this border crisis because he created it. That is what he wants. The mitt romney wing, the milquetoast, they dont have a backbone. They dont realize we are going to lose this country if these people keep pouring in here unrestricted. They want to stay there and be safe and be in the same house until they get 92 years old and thim sick and tired of the republicans. They dont have they need to pound him like the democrats are pounding the republicans about abortions. Host ok. This will be from clark in florida, democrats line. Caller good morning, pedro. I have suffered through a few of my own addictions in life. The one addiction we never talk about is the global addiction to money. It will take you down the road to evil. Everybody is striving forward. Everybody kills fort. It. Everybody who has an agenda wants to hoard it but you never hear about it. To the gentleman about the emigration problem, we dont have an immigration problem. They keep looking for democrats and republicans for solutions. Here the problem. They are the problem. There are men of power they went free labor, free health, and the taxpayers to bail them out. That is the way i see it. Host that is clark in Florida Democrats line. Part of this open forum. You can follow along on our various channe. Cspans 1, 2, and 3. Cspan. Org. You can also post on x, cspanwj. To talk about Current Events in haiti the u. S. Is coming up when washington journal continues. Friday nights watching cspans 2024 campaign trail around if of cspans campaign coverage, a onestop shop to discover what the candidates across the country are saying to voters. Along with firsthand accounts from political reporters updated poll numbers fundraising data, and campaign ads. Watch cspans campaign trail friday night at 7 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan, online at cspan. Org or download us as a podcast on cspan now, our free mobileever you get your podcasts. Cspan your unfiltered view of politics. Cspanshop. Org. Browse our latest collection of cspan products, apparel books home to court, and accessories. There is something for every cspan fan. Every purchase helps support our nonprofit operations. Shop now or anytime at cspanshop. Org. Be uptodate on the latest in publishing the book tvs podcast about books. With current Nonfiction Book releases, plus bestseller lists and Industry News and trends through insider interviews. You can find about books on cspan now, our free mobile app, or wherever you get your podcasts. The house will be in order. Cspan celebrates 45 years of covering Congress Like no other. Since 1979, we have been your primary source for capitol hill providing balanced, unfiltered coverage of government, taking you where the policies are debated and decided with the support of americas cable companies. Cspan. 45 years and counting. Powered by cable. Washington journal continues. Host we are joined by francois pierrelouis from Queens College from the City University of new york. He serves as a Political Science professor and studies the topic of haiti particularly as its undergoing much turmoil these days. Good morning and thank you for giving us your time. Guest you are welcome. Host when you see the events going on in haiti how would you say we get here we got here . Guest it is a long history. We should start in the beginning of 2016 when left office. Not elections the country went into a chaotic situation. The provisional president had elections. That was contested by the opposition and the main members of the opposition. There was not a Large Purchase of patient of electors. And the parliamentary elections. By the time 2021, the country was running a without a legitimate government to administer things. In 2021, the United States supported the installation the interim prime and us are. Minister. He was supposed to hold elections within a short period but itsn the gangs began to invade haiti s capital of portauprince. They begin that effective rulers of haiti. T of c in. The officials are basically nonfunctioning. Therefore you end up in a very in haiti. It has gotten worse now. Host the United Nations tells us 3ternally displaced within the country. 5. 5 million needing humanitarian assistance. We talked about the gang issues in 2023. 5300 and incidents including 1200 kidnappings. Tell us about the gangs. Tell us about who makes them up. Guest the gangs originally guards, a protective force for many businesses in haiti. They protected their businesses. This is how they squashed any kind of opposition from the population, from members of the Civil Society who wanted to have a Better Society in haiti. The gangs also came unin and federated by the was government hoping that would control them. Instead of controlling them, they went after others since no one could touch them anymore. Between the gangs territory and the drug trafficking, more drugs are coming into haiti. Many guns were coming directly from the United States. There was a lot of protests u. N. , giving out reports and asking for the u. S. To take care of the gun trafficking in haiti. This did not happen. Eventually because they were supported by politicians, they had the money to function. They used kidnapping and extortion to get money. No one has control over them anymore. That is how they ended up controlling the capital and the judicial system. It is very corrupt. You end up having the gangs controlling the capital. Host there is a man at the center of that that is quoted often. He goes by the nickname barbecue. Who is he . Michelle martini. Barbecue was made by members of the government as a way to make sure he could keep the population in check. He controls alerts for the slump in bel air and portauprince. Many of then the gangs were Police Officers or people closely aligned with the police. The support he was getting where the official members of the government. It is not just one that came out of the slums. These were police inistration. They empowered them to become the gang leader he is today. Host continue with our guest francois pierrelouis. If you have questions about whats going on in haiti and the role of the United States, 202 7488000. For those of you who are democrats 202 7488001. Independents, 202 7488002. If you want to text us your questions or comments, do that at 202 7488003. It was recently that the secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke with reporters last week about the situation that was going on in haiti. The u. S. Efforts to stabilize them. I want to play what he had to say and what that means [video] on haiti, as you know, this has beenfolding story. The heart of the story is the suffering of the haitian people have a want to see that brought to an end. That requires a few things. It requires a more stable political system so that the country can function and function democratically. For that we need to see a transition to elections, to a clear return to democratic path. We need assistance humanitarian assistance, Development Assistance so the economy can get built up and people can have opportunity. Fundamentally, we need to see security. Ge hard to do ththings in an environment that is dominantly insecure. Right now in haiti you have pr insecurity that is being driven largely by the action of gangs who control the capital city, critical for stru we have been working on all these fronts. As you know, the United Nations endorsed months ago Multinational Security support mission to help the Haitian Police regain control of security. As we are putting that together and can you stepped up to say it would lead to Mission Kenya stepped up to say it would lead to the mission we are contribute resources. We have been trying with the caribbean countries and other interest to help the haitians get back on better political path. Host that is the desire of the United States. What is the reality as the days forward for haiti . Guest the reality is that since 2021 a population, the leaders into civil siting members and the Civil Society members have been a dialogue. First, he was not serious about having a Government Election so the countr legitimate state that can function. Secondly, ariel henry was doing nothing to curb Gang Violence or bring them to justice. It is unfortunate that haiti has gotten to that point. No matter what they are told about the situation in haiti unfortunately this has led to the current situation. It is up to society to choose other leaders that are more democratic in haiti and supported by the Civil Society population. They will force ariel henry to hold elections. There would have been other leaders in the country to bring us out of the situation. Unfortunately, it has gotten so bad now that the country has been shut down. Even the u. S. Has evacuated its personnel in haiti. All of these things could have been prevented if the u. S. Had not supported ariel henry. Host francois pierrelouis of Queens College at City University of new york doing us for this discussion. Lets hear from sean and cayou are on with our guest. Caller good morning. How is everybody . I have a comment and a question. My comment is, i have been watching haiti for years now. I remember the young man barbecue when he was a citizen and his mother owned a business and haiti was trying to feed their local community after a lot of thes they had. I want to break it up to a question. What happened to anyone haiti s president being assassinated . Why is it that haiti was not at the table countries deciding for haiti . How is it we can bring kenya who is having their own issues . They dont know that culture. It reminds me of the vietnam war. Why is haitian people in the community that are at that table . I do not believe anything this man is sitting up here saying. Yall are calling these people gangs and thugs and criminals in so many words when i am seeing nothing but gangs and thugs and criminals that are causing this problem in haiti. When they are having hurricanes, no one is helping them. Host sean from california. We will respond. Haiti bringing its own voice into resolving its problem and the degree to which it is listened to . Guest thats a good question. They have been asking for it since the beginning. Let haitians decide their own fate. The problems haitians have with the u. S. Is the u. S. Put its big thumb on the scale in deciding the fate of haitians. They have been doing this for a long time. The results have been terrible. They brought in other countries to figure out the future of haiti. They kept supporting the same leaders in haiti that have shown terrible results over and over again. For example, after the elections in 2011, we had Hillary Clinton then secretary of state. She went personally to haiti to ask the president to choose Michel Martelly as president instead of the candidate officially declared the winner. His life was threatened and they would put sanctions on haiti in themselves unless they removed their own president ial candidate. This is how muchffort the u. S. Has been doing in terms of pressuring haitian leaders to remove what they want so they can put in their own leaders. Host christine, independent line, washington d. C. Caller hi. I am calling because we know the history of haiti. We know why they have been treated. They were a Black Country that in the formation revolted against the slave trade. There is a big history there. I believe they were treated like a stepchild. Then hung out to dry. We have this interference with other countries tryg to put leaders in place, etc. I get that. What is the solution . If you dont want outside interference, which i agree with however internally you are dealing with major corruption. Major poverty. When you say candlelit inside, i totally agree. What does that look like . How does that work . What is the solution . This has gone on a really long time. It is really sad. Haiti deserves better. That is christine and washington, d. C. Guest thank you for the question and comments. Saying we dont want outside help. What they are saying is it is under conditions we want to set up. They are telling us what to at we want. Condly, given the freedom to choose their own candidates. The past two elections that took place in haiti, the u. S. And basically the u. N. Supported those candidates. They managed to keep them in po martelly in 2011 and 2016 did not support any mystical elections. He was supported by the state department and the u. S. Ambassador. They did not hold interim elections for parliament and minas apologies. Municipalities. When he was assassinated, the state department did not ask the Civil Society groups and other citizens and organizations in haiti how a we have apartments or. A Prime Minister. The state department supported ariel henry despite the opposition and protests. This is not the way you should do it. You should have a conversation with us. The idea of treating haitians as children and knowing what is best for them has been a long history of the u. S. In haiti. This is what has created this situation. 1991, the haitian people elected within six monthscoup supported by the United States. It took almost three years for him to come back in 1994. When he came back in 1994, the u. S. Jesse helms was the chairman of the senate ford affairs committee. He decided to forgo helphaiti. There is definitely a history of punishing haiti or making haiti look bad in terms of u. S. Foreign policy. Its not that haitians dont like americans. Haitians want the support of the International Community. When you treat them as children and you are deciding for them, anybody would not accept that. Host the current headlines out of haiti say they are vigilantes involved in battling the gangs that are there currently. How does that complicate the situation . Guest its very complicated. We are going into a civil war. The vigilantes in the gangs. The gangs are armed, well armed. They have heavy weapons. The vigilantes with machetes are not going to be able to do much. We have a situation where there are civilians, children, people that are sick, elderly that are victimized in the situation. Many hospitals have been closed in haiti. There are no flights out of haiti. The food shortage is getting worse and worse. The Dominican Republic has closed its borders with haiti. This puts haiti in a situation of trying to shut out the population. Why is the internatiking that way acting that way . Why havent they been more forceful in the transition and setting up another government . This is the questions the haitians are asking and why theyre not trusting the International Community. Every time it is always for the wrong cause. Host francois pierrelouis from City University of new york to any guess from this for this conversation. John on the republican line. Caller thank you for taking my call. Can you hear me . Host go ahead. Caller what i dont understand though, my questionwhy cant the United States send some troops over there at least took well to quell the forces to give security to the country so at least the haitian people can take it from there . Security and peace and then maybe the so people can put their Heads Together and move forward from there. As long as the gangs keep going nonstop the country will still be what it is right now. They need to quell the gangs first. That is what i like to say. Host john in massachusetts thank you. Mr. Pierrelouis . Guest i agr government and the International Community, they have the means to control the gangs. There is no will on the part of the International Community to do that. The reason im saying there is no will is the u. S. Knows through its intelligence who the gang leaders are, who controls the gangs, where their money is coming from, how they can manage to control the situation. So far they have not done that. We have been working with members of congress, meeting with the state Department Meeting with Civil Society groups and askingthe gangs were not as powerful as they are now. If they had done that instead of sending marines to protect the embassy and shut down the airports and shut down the country they could have done Something Different by forcing the haitian government resign come up with a Prime Minister, the head of the Supreme Court as interim president , and then you will have a government that can deal with the national International Community and seek support and not shut down the country. Host ed, good morning. You are on. Caller thank you for taking my call. I would like you to remind the viewers the role that haiti played in saving america from napoleon bonaparte. Pretty much a love this country to gcoast because bonaparte had to sell the louisiana territory which crossed over the mississippi and go west to the money lost from getting his butt kicked by the leaders of haiti. I would like to address several bam bam. They call them morally repugnant elites who are running the country. Many are in miami. They are eating popcorn and looking through microscopes to see the cartilage carnage because they are financing the gangs. They are behind this divide and conquer because they are upset the people did not want this guy henry. Bigiought i car from epstein and he has diplomatic immunity from israel. They co copper, even diamonds. Offshore there is oil. They are there to take, like most of the people today are doing. They are taking the wealth of haiti and having the haitians who were standing up and he will never let go, they will never give up their land to people coming in with diplomatic immunity all around the world. Host ed we, will let our guest respond to what you said. Guest thank you. You said a lot of things. One thing i would like to say is haiti has been contributing to the u. S. Since the. The slaves who fought for the independence got their training in savannah, georgia during the american revolution. Haitians have been supporting the u. S. The u. S. Has not been able to support haiti that way. We know that jefferson explicitly said the u. S. Should never established if a medical relations with haiti because will support black people in power. The u. S. Has not recognized haiti as a sovereign nationit wasnt until the end of the civil war they sent an ambassador to haiti. They have about history between the u. S. And haiti in that sense. When the earthquake took place in 2010, there was a lot of money to support haiti. They have been supporting haiti for a long time, thethe u. S. Government, the playbook it has for haiti this has not changed since the time of jefferson. They need to give haitians the right to have their own agency for themselves. There is this fear about haiti that is not wellfounded. The elite in haiti have been with their bodies to washington and other influential members of the international committee. Many would listen and hear better than they would hear the haitians and Civil Society. We the elite in haiti doesnt want to pay taxes. He does is extract resources from haiti. Instead of investing for the betterment of the people. They are holding the haitian people hostage right now and that is why we have this crisis. Host customs and Border Protection tells us over 163,000 people migrated out of the country in 2023. 2024 so far is 85,000 people. What to the events in haiti mean for those leaving the country and migration issues into the United States . Guest every time haiti is in crisis people try to leave. They leave on boats, by land, or any way they can find to get out. This crisis is accelerating. People do not want to leave their country but the fact they cannot go back home now. We are happy of the humanitarian program the Biden Administration started to rejoin their families here and to have an opportunity to better themselves. That is something the was government can continue to support. More or less, many haitians have protected status because of the crisis in haiti in 2010. The u. S. Should continue to giving that status to haitians in the u. S. Who cannot go back. I think it is very goodthere was a Reunification Program where families in the u. S. Could bring their loved ones from haiti primarily spouses and children. It was a humanitarian gesture. The vita administration should encourage that. This is not a permanenta permanent solution for the crisis in haiti is reestablishing the democratic order. Letting haitians elect their own representatives. Let haitians elect their own people. One someone else does it for you that when someone else does it for you you have no agency or choice. A solution would be having democratic and Fair Elections having a package of Economic Investment in haiti. Most of the people that belong to the gangs are teenagers people under 30 years old. If you have jobs, and economic package, you have security. He stopped the impurity that exists in haiti. You clean up the judicial system and no one would want to come to the u. S. As refugees and try to take all these risks. Many times they end up losing their lives who come to the u. S. Peace and security instability should start at home. Having an economic package and a social and Clinical Program that would support the haitians in haiti. There is no way you can have 11 Million People living in haiti to go somewhere else. That will not happen. That is why a lot of members haitians want to choose their own if i understand it correctly, you served on the private cabinet of the former haitian president was overthrown in 1991. What did you learn from his overthrow . What lessons can be applied to whoever is going to be the next president of haiti . Guest the first lesson is that the u. S. Is there. Without having a Good Partnership with the u. S. Secondly, the u. S. Shoultry to respect the will of the haitian people. That was a shocker when you had 70 of the population that were about to start an Economic Program and they did not like aristide because they did they were able to go to washington and the administration the second thing we learned is there are a lot of people who may not agree with you but you have to find a Common Ground to allow them to share power. Yourself and leave other people out. You have to pay more attention to them then your friends. Third, you should have a package of Economic Programs. Education. Development. You can never rule the country out the economy. Its about the people. Its about having families having peace and quiet so they can go about their business. Its about giving opportunities to young people so they dont see haiti as a place to have to leave. We have learned is you need organization accountability, and friends willing to during the process. Host if a president is installed in the right way to what degree do you think the gangs will step back . Guest i think the gangs will step back if theres an Economic Program, a judicial program. In 2006, the president was elected and he had a program to control the gangs. He rehabilitated the gang leaders by providing Training Program so they can get a job. Some of them were put in jail. In 2006 through 2011, they were able to control the gang leaders. It could happen. The judicial system, the economic package, the training for the young people, they will not want to join gangs anymore because they will see for themselves a future. Host david from tennessee, independent line for our guest francois pierrelouis. Caller hello. Thank you for taking my call. I am wondering if the United States sending money to haiti and these other countries ot finding the people the immigrants are running away from. Funding the people the immigrants are running away from. Feet are cold, starve a fever. Host finish your thought david. Caller thank you. Host ok. Lets go to joe in new york republican line. Hi. Joe in staten island, good morning. We will try one more time for joe. If you want to call in and ask questions, 202 7488000 free democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. Independents, 202 7488002. You can post on our 202 7488003. Mr. Pierrelouis, back to migration. Ron desantis talking about potentia florida. He was quoted on fox news saying, i dont necessarily expect to get the help we are click coast guard do a good job. They are just way under resourced, saying President Biden would not provide the number of v interdict all the ships that come. That was from floridas governor. What do you think about that response and how surprised i you bite . By it . Guest im not surprised. Florida has a large haitian american population. Mr. Desantiss of immigrant origin also. Tinos full well he knows full well the plight of people that are destitute and what they can go t is really not becoming of him as a governor of florida. Y situation of the haitians, haitians are not fleeing haiti because they want to come to florida. Patients are fleeing haiti haiti has become a hellhole for them. There is no way they can survive their due to the lack of government, the support of u. S. Government of bad leaders in haiti. The humanitarian aid the money that goes to development of the u. S. Government comes back to the u. S. A lot of the Development Projects have a lot of corruption. Money siphoned off by political leaders who put it back in u. S. Banks. Many leaders the u. S. Supported have homes in florida and the United States. The u. S. Has not taken action to curb the corruption. When the governor does putting it back on the haitian people he does not care. We are all immigrants in the United States. We came in one way or another. It was not easy for us. What if we came in because of the famine in ireland or prosecution . Somebody had a history. The u. S. Welcome to them. We are a country of immigrants. We are a country of opportunities. They cannot find opportunities in other places. For a governor of one of the populations in the United States and people from all over, south america, central america, the caribbean, he is not representing americans and other immigrants in the country. This is unfortunate. Host james in North Carolina democrats line. Caller good morning. Its unfortunate to hear what you are saying and from the callers. I dont think the socalled gangs are gangs. I think they are Freedom Fighters, just like you have Freedom Fighters throughout the world. I think these people are sick west robbing this rich land of all of its resources. Everyone knows they dont need foreign aid. They have more resources than america does. We always prop up some civilian government we want so these rich billionaires in florida and france and other countries can rob these their Natural Resources. These people are not gangs. They are sick of being robbed. They are sick of being living in poverty in a rich land. We all know haiti has Natural Resources way beyond his means. They dont have the investment to get it. Imf are other guys would lend them a couple of dollars and they would on the resources. And they sent troops from africa because haitians are strong fighters. They will reject a white army coming there. They want to send people from africa to help rob them of their resources. Whatever his name host first time i will stop you but thank you for calling. Mr. Pierrelouis if you want to respond to any of that. Guest i would not disagree with the caller that the gang leaders are Freedom Fighters. Freedom fighters do not burn down their homes. Mfif they are Freedom Fighters, you have to be responsible to the people you want to free. When you go out there and burn their homes and loot businesses and kidnap people that have no money, you are ransacking their homes, burning down their houses, displacing them, this is not the way Freedom Fighters fight. I cannot agree with the caller on this. The other question about resources, yes there are resources. You may have the resource you dont have the right techniques and investments to extract those resources. You have to have the right conditions where you have the political, social environment for the resources to be benefiting the population. If haitians have their own government, if haitians are allowed to choose their own leaders, if other nations are free to invest, haitians or people you give the money and they turned it into thousands of dollars. If you allow them to do that im sure within the next decade or so there will be a different haiti. First you have to allow them to leaders. Host mr. Pierrelouis, what are you looking for in the days and weeks ahead that would suggest a result of whats going on . A hope that some kind of good will come out of it . Guest i would like to see a government in power. Secondly the International Community should open the country. There is nowhere they can go for maladies without leaving thecountry. Some people having condemned today because of the lack condemned to die because of the lack of medicalweapons and bullets from outside haiti, where they getting their supplies . A provisional government. Let haitians decide the provisional government. Go forward with a counsel in place so they can be freealso, because of the Economic Disaster that took place in haiti in the past 10 years they should have an economic package from the International Community so that the haitians can get themselves back on their feet again. That is what i hope happens with haiti. Host francois pierrelouis at Queens College at the City University of new york Political Science professor. Thank you for your time today. Guest thank you. Host before we end today on this 40th Anniversary Day of ours, a word of thanks from us to you. We shared with her coceo talking about cspan at 45 and our founders the effort. I received a number of generous donations and wonderful comments about ourknow what values such as being shared talk swap text wise from lords in st. Pauth