Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 09012019 20240714

To post there. And send us a tweet, cspanwj. Also to keep our eye on other news this morning, including Hurricane Dorian and the latest on that. From the dallas morning news, their lead story obviously, at least five dead after more than 20 shot as gunmen targets random victims in the odessa. 20 were shot on saturday when a gunmen hijacked a postal truck and begin shooting randomly in the odessa. Odessa area of west texas. Three officers were among the shot, in stable condition according to the Texas Department of public safety. Michael gertie confirmed that authorities had fatally shot the gunmen whose name was not released. You can read more at dallas news. Com. From the local newspaper, their point of view, their editorial , to rally around the victims, we are all in shock at the senseless violence that touches our world each day and every day, german home on saturday as a gunmen shot five people to death and injured 21 in odessa. The why and the how is still not known, it will all make its way out in the coming days. What we do know is that our friends and neighbors have been killed or injured and their families are in pain and we need to be the pedestrians that we on the we are, rally around and support the families and each other while we are at it. Thes ratective on of Mass Shootings in america this year, particularly in the month of august, from the New York Times, 51 people died in ,ass shootings in august alone three or more shootings with three or more fatalities in the month of august, ending as it began with a shooting rampage and a significant death toll, five People Killed near texas on saturday as the gunmen started shooting indiscriminately a cars , bringing the number of victims of mass killing by firearm to 51 for the month. They write that the term mass killings is defined by the Justice Department as three or more killings in a single episode, excluding the death of the gunmen. There is no Legal Definition for the term mass shooting, despite its frequent use by the news media. Host so, we welcome your thoughts and comments. Comments on twitter, cspan wj. Richard rogers tweets this the country needs more guns . From dave, host President Trump tweeting justight about this, review by the attorney general host we welcome your comments. Lets go to joe in northern georgia. Good morning, joe. Caller good morning, love cspan, Great Network for 30 years. I think trump is the best president in history and we need to come together, get behind the police, support them, and frankly we need more love in politics. Im a strong republican it i dont believe in personal attacks on my democratic friends. Love is something i preach, even though im a conservative republican, look for the good in people. Host do you think of the president is in the position to take a lead on the gun issue . Yes, i do. And of course i support the people, using the guns to kill people, im so im a strong supporter of the nra. The main thing is we need to tell it down and come together for a people. Ive got a lot of democrats that i love his people, but i dont agree with them. We need to strongly support our Law Enforcement people, the police. I think that trump is doing a great job and i dont know what else he can do, but the people, we only to come together and show more love towards each other. Appreciate that. Lets go to our independent line, daniel here in the nations capital. Good morning. Caller thank you for a much. The last caller, show some love by using the popular name of the democratic party, not democrat party. You journalists would do well to start correcting people to dont the propere pop democratic party. Lets go to the Second Amendment. It doesnt include individual rights to bear arms. Just read it here the Second Amendment as a subject is a wellregulated militia. I dont think that an amendment can legalize something that didnt exist for 300 years. If we are going to bear arms, runaround bearing 12 2500 pound bombs. Ohio orce like texas or parkland, the school, we are obviously confronted with extreme hate. Against the individuals. Hate of themselves and others is so extreme. We need to provide young people , to Healthy Places to grow have a community involvement, to be more loving and sharing. Here in washington, d. C. , theres a park called mcmillan park, which could have been a beautiful place to raise children, give them activities, and its being bulldozed for commercial development by the city government. Mcmillan park is a place that we could have been helping children to grow with integrity and to give them activities that are helping community building. Instead our government and corporations are selling us out, they are not giving us places because they all want the land, they all want to put developments in, mixeduse everywhere. Lets say places for our children like mcmillan park. Lets raise our children in a healthy way. Are 21 andese 22yearold men, often, boys, they are boys. They hate, they kill each other, and they dont care. They kill indiscriminately. Host all right, that was daniel in washington. Will show you a number of comments on twitter from members of congress. Nancy pelosi reaching releasing a statement, saying in part about yesterdays shooting in texas that enough is enough, every day the epidemic of gun violence in flicks a devastating in everyommunities corner of the country, forcing breakny to endure heart and tragedy, the Republican Senate must end of structure and pass a common sense bipartisan house passed gun violence legislation. Tonight and in the days to come all americans stand with these communities, may it be a comfort to those grieving the loss of their loved ones that so many more in width and pray for them at this difficult time. Shes also talking about the legislation that will potentially be marked up in the house and in the weeks ahead, scheduled for a markup in the Judiciary Committee next week, that was postponed due to the impending Hurricane Dorian hitting the east coast. Florida, next. Barney is on the democratic line. Go ahead, barney. Caller yes, i want to comment on this situation. First of all, we need to get the boot puppet out of office. Putin puppet out of office. If trump wants to do something, he should make the border defending against all these weapons. Stuff from the republican party, they enjoyed this kind of mess. Thank you for letting me share that comment. Carol is inght, fairmont, west virginia. Go ahead. Thank you for taking my call. I agree that we need something with universal back on checks. And we need the automatic rifles and all that kind of stuff really taken off the market. You are astion is, if criminal and you really want to do some damage, youre not going to worry about background checks and all of that. Youre going to be able to get a gun. My thing is, are they going to take from these gangs and all of that. Take all the assault rifles from them . They are not going to pass background checks and all that. What do we do about that . I dont understand. Host thank you. There was news on the background check related to dylan roof in the charlottesville, charlestown shootings that should say. This is a ruling that came down friday night from an appeals court, they reinstated a lawsuit over a faulty background check that allowed dylan roof to purchase a gun he used to kill nine people in a racist attack at a South Carolina church. Host to the democratic line, next, montpelier, virginia, porsche. Caller i think we should all turn our guns in. We have gotten to the point where people dont know what to do with a gun. Host how do you enforce that with people that dont want to do that . That want to retain their firearms . Caller they should be fined. Given the Second Amendment in the u. S. How is that constitutional . You dont seem to know what to do with the guns, seems like they should turn the men like they did in the wild west along time ago. Cant deal with the guns, turn them in. Senator ted cruz tweeted this yesterday host lets hear from michael, next up, alexandria, virginia. Caller star that we have such a tragedy again. The message that i get as a retired man, scanning tv channels, is a constant stream of gunplay. Its the commercial product of whereby the sponsors make money. Its shameful. Going back to the texas or theant massacre, geithner tv show showed an almost identical scene. Nobody made the connection that it was a copycat thing from tv. I hope we learn that tv teaches violence. Tv, teaches, violence. Thank you. Corey bell, pennsylvania, republican line. Hi there, robert. Caller thank you for taking my call, i have this to say. We need to quit blowup glorifying these shooters. They do this mass murder and then you have them broadcast on the tv for at least a month. They are in every single newspaper. Then there is some crazy person out there who says i can do more killing than that. So, if you stop glorifying them and only report at because its news then and then stop it, maybe we can stop the crazy people from trying to kill more people. Host what if that doesnt stop it. If you just reported once and the shootings continue. What does that mean . That means that that didnt work. At taking the guns away from people and trying to take the Second Amendment out of the constitution is absolutely 100 totally wrong. Host all right, eric is in lake land, florida, eric on the democratic line, go ahead. Caller i dont think that universal background checks is going to stop Mass Shootings because the guys doing the Mass Shootings no weapon. That wont stop no one from getting a weapon. The the reports say that shooter in this case was killed in yesterdays incident. The headline in the washington post, shootings leading to chaos on the highways, with photographs of vehicles hit by the shooter. From the Vice President who is heading to poland for the 80th anniversary there of the start of world war ii, speaking to reporters at joint base andrews in suburban maryland, Vice President pence said that our hearts break for the shooting victims, the president and i spoke about this and we remain determined to work with leaders in congress, both parties, to take steps to address and confront this scourge of nasa atrocity. Mass he gave no specifics. Hello, doug. You are on the air. Caller hello. I want to talk about i think ,e need to look at the preamble the preamble was the purpose of the constitution, it states the purpose, the goals we want to try to get to. I think the Second Amendment has gone haywire over time, particularly 2008. The preamble spates that to establish justice. Well, justice, we dont have good justice in the country right now but thats not a gun issue per se, but there is a tangent there that is part of gun. Guns. Also talks about domestic tranquility. The gun situation we have right now is certainly not establishing tranquility by any stretch of the imagination. Provide for the common defense . The original concept of the common defense and the day was this in the south the Second Amendment was put into justify to the Southern States mostly so that they could protect their property, which was slaves at the time, which obviously does not comply with justice as we look at it now. And in the north the guns were in the armories and all that stuff and everybody was required to be in the militia. Ok question mark certainly those guns were different. There was a purpose. I hear people say that what happens if we have to go against our own government . Well, if we do, its a difference situation. We do it through political means more so than probably physical means. To secure the blessings and the myterity going forward, suggestion would be to put the big guns in the armories, ok . People can get to them if they needed to. Maybe only drone weapons that shoot like five shots, rifles and things like that for hunting. We need to change the Second Amendment. Obviously, how you do that is a difficult thing . It has to be done through legislation but we need to realize that the constitution is flexible. Thats why you have amendments, so that you can change things. We changed the amendment on alcohol because it wasnt a good amendment. This amendment no longer holds up very well and it is causing us not to have tranquility, causing us not to have a part in justice and it certainly hurts us with our general welfare. It doesnt really provide for any common defense. Idea, doug,iate the calling in. Sebastian, florida, go ahead, you are on the air. Caller the Second Amendment was not sacred. It wasnt brought down by moses from mount sinai on the tablets of law. No less than former justice john , whattevens had written a you call it, letter to the editor of the New York Times suggesting that the Second Amendment needed to be repealed. I agree with that. At least if not repealed, at least modified. I agree with the last caller in terms of what he said about the Second Amendment. The cost of fusion should be a living document and is subject to amendment. I think that the country has gone completely haywire with regards to its attitude towards gun ownership. The entire thing needs to be reexamined. I believe it would be a very good move as a start to reexamine the Second Amendment itself in terms of possible repeal or amendment. Or modification. Host ok, bill. Thanks for those couple of comments on twitter. Mike conaway is the congressman from that area of texas, the 11th district of texas, here is what he is tweeting today in cuba, new york, linda, independent line, welcome. Caller i dont think its just a gun situation. I think we need a Violent Offender registry. There are more, believe it or not, its not on tv as much, people that come out that repeat the. Only use guns, the use knives or whatever else they can get their hands on. Theres a lot more people dying at the hand of hands of repeat Violent Offenders. As far as the children getting their hands on guns, they need to have somebody check them out on a regular basis. The kids are left home alone a lot, they see it the social media, they get all the people that want to hurt other people, its horrible whats going on this country but believe it or not is been going on in this country for a long time at the hands of repeat Violent Offenders who get their hands on guns, believe it or not, without any kind of licensing. And they also use other objects. O murder people it happens frequently on a daily basis, its been happening and its never, ever on tv and if it is its not on for long. Think of these acts of violence, these Mass Shootings continue to inspire other people, or at least unencumber them and allow them the idea to take up a firearm like this and do this kind of horrible damage and destruction, kill this many people . I think they get a lot of it. Social media, a lot of it from the media. You know, you have got thatornia media people design these shows and stuff that constantly show how many people murdered. Thats in the first few scenes. Then you have the video games and stuff. Maybe its a form of brainwashing. They say maybe not. But this has been going on. I remember being a child and people trying to fly like superman. Because they thought they could do it. I think that the media i think, people are seeing it on tv, its being repeated and glorified like the gentleman said a few minutes ago. I think that that is encouraging them. Instead of encouraging them maybe to go into Law Enforcement or the military, its encouraging them to shoot down our own people. This morning that the latest shooting in texas, mass killing, five dead, 20 injured in the attack. Is the line to call for democrats. Republicans, call 202 7488001. For independents and others, 202 7488002. Certainly, the second shooting theyve had to handle in the of august. Month greg abbott releasing this statement, saying that the first lady host and from the Senate Minority leader desk thethe houses house are they have postponed the market session that had been scheduled for next wednesday the fourth. Of canceled because of the likelihood of landfall of Hurricane Dorian. Lets go to bob, on the republican line. North carolina. Is thad. Orry, this host you are on, bob, go ahead. Im sitting here recovering from a lung infection. There are two rifles sitting in my room, no one is in danger from those at all. I have had an outpouring of support from renz and family in my recovery, but these shooters are not in that situation. Of theirnot part communities. They are alone, they are unhappy in the american dream. Its something thats not in play for them. The problem that i see is that there has been a decline in morality due to the entertainment industry. A weakening in the strength of the family from the government. Letcommunity needs to not people slip through the cracks. The better our economy is, the fewer cases we will have like this, the more people that are lives. Live fulfilled thats all i have to say. That, inck question on terms of people that slip to the cracks, particularly people with mental issues and those were able to purchase firearms but later it is revealed they have a mental issue, how do you think that the federal government can strengthen laws to prevent that . I think it is a very difficult problem. I dont have the answer to how to solve that. Hopefully the legislators do. Or can work something out. All in all i think the happier the people in america are, the more successful we are as a country, the fewer of these incidents there will be. Ok, thank you for that. To our democrat line, coleman, florida, kenneth, welcome. Caller good morning. Yes, i have called a few time. Every time with a mass shooting. Can you hear me . Host yep, go ahead. Caller im sorry that i cant catch you catch her name, i get you confused with john. Three things are going to say, every time its a mess shooting and i would somehow get through on my 30 days, i would always say that everyone is saying Mental Illness. Example,t like for i have said it a few times and i dont understand why someone dont do the research and track all these people that have done these Mass Shootings. Young people, people under the age of 40. If you look at it, i just wonder how many of these people have been given ritalin when they were a child. Military im retired military i remember in 94 i had a commander who, to make a long story shirt or he would give the kids the ritalin and it was it would settle them down. These were young, growing minds and no one would bring up the thought that the drug, ritalin, i guarantee you, if they do a research, 90 of the steeple more than likely took ritalin. Lastly, i hope you noticed that Chuck Schumer and mitch , people are tired of hearing them saying thoughts and prayers. If you notice they didnt use the word prayers. The only thing they said was our thoughts the. Because they know they are all fake. Appreciateeally cspan and i just hope that someone will step out of the box and do our research on all those people and ritalin. Host lets share some of the comments from president ial candidates on the shooting. We will more today from Elizabeth Warren. This house party in New Hampshire that we are covering on cspan. Here is better or more, former congressman from the el paso area. Heres what yet to say about [video clip] the latest shooting. [video clip] say about the latest shooting. [video clip] dont know the motivation. [indiscernible] [applause] there is no reason, there is no to acceptt we have this as our fortune, as our future, as our fate. And yet functionally right now we have. Thats his initial reaction to the shooting in the odessa area. Kamala harris, her tweet on this , she says shes heartbroken for the families host clovis, new mexico, james, your thoughts. As a christian nation, where is our trust in the lord that we need these weapons to defend ourselves as smart ourselves . Host thats it . Caller yes, sir. Thank you in much. T all right, jarrett jerry, North Carolina, you are on the air. Got to turn down your tv there, jerry, if you want to be on the air. Go ahead. Jerry, you are on the air, make sure that you mute your television, go ahead with your comment. I was just listening to these comments host make sure the mute your television, go ahead with your comment. We may have lost them. Ted lieu muck, next. Paul . Caller hello. I try to watch programming on television and in the movies where is not gun violence. And its really, really hard to find. And the people that are doing these horrific deeds with guns, they either havent taken a gun safety class or they are probably easily programmed. Is all called programming. One of the shows that i do watch is called copycat killers. Its a series that has been going on for years and it clearly shows that what we see on television and what we see in the media is picked up by those who are weak of mind and they copy exactly what they see and they go out and they do the same thing. The best way to stop this is to take the profit motive out of it for the producers of this violent media so that if it can that their media shows it, you can prove it. If you can show that they are the ones who havent cited someone to commit violence, they should be financially liable to the tunes of millions of dollars. Host im not familiar with the show, but does this say that the video games, the copycat killers are from what they see in video games or the News Coverage of actual Mass Shootings . Caller from actual shootings. They are weak of mind, they have watched the news and taken the suggestion that they should go out and kill using guns. , copycatas saying killers makes it pretty clear, its not hard to prove that people are being programmed by the media, by the violent media to go out and do these things. So, the best way to slow it down proofp it is to use that to seize the producers of that media and make them responsible financially. Host host what about First Amendment rights . The right to publish and cover news . Fine. thats responsibility doesnt go away. If some of the damage while they are drunk driving a car, they still have the right they were given the right to drive. Were not given the right to discriminate me host i guess my question is, who defines that, where the liability kicks in . In your telling of it, news media would have rough liability for copycat killers. How would that be determined . It would not be determined there, it would you determine in the courts. Im waiting for some and who has performed one of these horrific deeds to have their Defense Attorneys sue the media saying that their client was programmed. Somebody, ier get mean the proof is right there in copycat killers. These people freely admit that they were programmed. If we can get those attorneys to ate the thread and follow and follow it to the producers of the media the program the clients and win in court, from then on anybody who produces violent media is going to be on notice that they need to factor in the cost of the damage that they are programming. Host california, appreciate the input. Reaction on the democratic side from president ial candidate, Elizabeth Warren tweets im heartsick for the victims of the latest mass host mike is next, stockton, california, independent line. Caller i like the comments from the people, from the political , its to be expected. Seems to me that the people calling in to cspan have given this problem a lot more thought than our politicians. Basically my comment was if we want to get serious about this, it seems to me that there should be serious studies as to the acuity of these weapons. The Supreme Court has already said that we have a constitutional right to defend ourselves. How bad of a comparison is that about the lives that have been saved with people being able to defend themselves against other people who are not capable of living in a civilized way . Donetil a serious study is , it doesnt make much sense to decide to throw out the amendment. The fellow from petaluma is right, i agree with him, the First Amendment and the right to is not unlimited is. You are not allowed to, for example, for speech, to say the theater is on fire. You are not allowed to scream fire in a theater. Sullivan,mes versus they limited what could be published by the press. So his idea that the courts openly may take this up should be compelling so that these entities are not over publicized. It seems to me that the media including cspan are constantly publicizing these events and trying to decide Public Policy based on a functional response rather than data and thats what we need, we need to figure out the utility of these weapons and why so many people are buying them and if they are useful, consider that before you throw out our right to defend ourselves and protect those whom we care about. I appreciate that. Certainly one of the reasons we cover this issue and as we mentioned but for, certainly going to be issue number one when congress returns, they had planned to hold a market meeting before they returned next wednesday that has been postponed because of the hurricane, but certainly action in the house is likely to happen shortly after they return on september the ninth. Maine, we hear from chris on the democrats line, go ahead. Caller how you doing today . Host good, thank you. Caller if they try to unit of the Second Amendment they will turn around and come right after the first. Everyone gives their guns away, the next they a bad shooting happens by a criminal and they say he got it all on tv, hes here watching these violent deal games, violent movies, listening to the press, hardcore by any of these people, including cspan. You people, once they get rid of it, they will come after the first. You will only have government news. Which i guess you have kind of got now. But watch out what you hope for, people. Host all right, chris. Next, russell in line. Next, republican line. Politiciansof these screaming about gun control, they didnt say a word when obama and holder let 2500 guns go to mexico and kill mexicans and Border Control agents. If you want guns, if you want background checks, make them be a citizen or a green card holder before they get a gun. Make them prove their citizenship and green card holder. No illegals getting guns through buying at a store. The background checks, put them in. Host was there an indication in this shooting in texas that he was an immigrant or illegal immigrant . Not. R im saying that all you guys never said one word about the guns going to mexico. You covered it up. Everyone of you people. Refused to hold obama and holder accountable for anything. Thats our in, washington state. More of your phone calls and ,omments, 202 7488000 democratic line. Republicans, 202 7488001. All others, 202 7488002. U. S. Shoppers feeling the pinch takingnewest tariffs effect today. The u. S. Casualty list from the china trade war will include American Consumers when President Trumps next round of tariffs on chinese products takes effect, capping a month of contradictory policy announcements and second thoughts. At 12 01 a. M. This morning customs was set to begin collecting a 50 tax on clothing, footwear, host janice, go ahead. Outraged. M for tubing reasons. One, that this keeps happening. Two, that we as citizens cannot see what the real problem is. People have alluded to this, Mental Illness, the country has Mental Illness. People have alluded this to entertainment. Other countries have entertainment. When are we as americans going to realize that these weapons that these people are using for Mass Shootings, these are weapons of war. There is no one here in the United States at war. I dont own a gun. I dont understand why anyone would have to. I understand that there is a Second Amendment. That amendment was written when our forefathers knew nothing of an automatic weapon. Nothing of a clip that could hold over 100 bullets. When are we going to understand that the Second Amendment does not mean owning an m16 or whatever the rifle is. That was meant for people who thought they might have to step up against their government. That doesnt mean that for people to own these types of weapons now. The m16 or whatever rifle they are using that repeat and kill is not meantckly to be on the streets of a Civilized Community and society. We need to change the Second Amendment. We need to vote Mitch Mcconnell out. E need to get rid of the nra until it happens to you, how many of us are afraid to go shopping, to go to the movie, to send your children and grandchildren to school . We need to own up, get these politicians out that wont stand up and take these weapons off the street. A pistol is one thing, a rifle for hunting is something else. These weapons of war should not be on the streets of america killing innocent people. ,nd its not Mental Illness its just evil. Thanks, janice. Travis, republican line, welcome. Caller good morning, thank you very much for having cspan. I think one of the major things that we need to consider when you think about the Second Amendment and the right to bear , basically, it piggybacks on what the previous caller stated. At the time the Second Amendment was written, you had a need for a militia. A citizen form of militia that could help the government form of military. Asically it was sort of like state i do want to say a statesupported militia, but at the same time a sort of state support because they served a necessary purpose. In todays society, we dont we dont need weapons of mass destruction on the streets of america. Gun into consideration that manufacturers on a constant in all of this. The citizens may change with respect to nationality, racial , sexual makeup, all of that changes. , it could beoday an immigrant tomorrow. But i guarantee you that the person who needs the guns are gun manufacturers. When they make the weapons of they mass destruction have to sell it to someone. The military can own it, but so many guns . The you lose the concept of understanding of where these guns are going, but they are manufactured and you just start seeing dollar signs and not looking at the actual people he hind them . This is what you get. Beguniving a child of the bb gun. He can only shoot up bottle caps for so long before he wants to try his hand at it more real target. Now, im not saying that is the reason. Dont mistake me, im not saying thats the reason, but im 54 years old and as a kid . I had a bb gun. That looking at you, you might have had a little bb gun aura slingshot and that was a healthy thing in our day and age. Reaction from cnn, a description of the shooter, a gunman going on a shooting spree , west texas, randomly firing from his vehicle host some reaction on twitter, cspanwj is how you send us a tweet. To chesapeake, virginia, paul on the independent line. Go ahead. Several of the callers, a lot of them have really thought this out. Like with the Second Amendment there have been a couple of people saying you need to get rid of it, you need to amend the Second Amendment. , you are amending that starting to mess with the bill of rights, the first 10 amendments. As one caller said, they start going after the first, they will start going after the third, fourth, fifth, right down to all 10 of them. Now i dont know i thought your one caller was pretty insightful with the ritalin comment, that no one has done a study on that. I had some stepchildren. They were on ritalin. It was in the 80s. As he said, in the 80s that stuff was handed out to kids like candy. And no one has done that study. Host how long were they on it . Were there adverse effects . That itwell, i will say slowed them down a little bit. Yeah, there were still some discipline issues. This, with theo gun control. There was a gentleman, im not sure which new station it was, but he started a campaign on limiting the number of bullets that are being used. You know . The sale of bullets. He started a campaign on the sale of bullets, the bullets or coat build things that are killing people. I own two guns. And one issporting for reenacting. Ones a black powder, once a shotgun. Something else i was wondering about to, that people might look into well, two other things. How many of these are really done has been state as has been stated by other callers over social media . Andle are not getting out interacting on a personal basis. They are interacting on social media, i believe, a lot of these people are. And some of these things, when it comes to the Mental Illness issue, living in virginia with the Virginia Tech shooting, one of the problems that came up there was that the shooter had had some issues, but they could not be released because of the hit the laws. Hippa laws. Maybe they need to release those when it comes the background checks. I am in agreement, even though i am a sportsman, i am in agreement that you do not need , you know, you dont need those for hunting and sport it. So i am in agreement that that needs to be done and they need to go back. Im an agreement. They need to go back with the assault weapons, get the military style weapons off the ofeet, and limit the number rounds you can put in a clip. Host appreciate your calling in the. That was paul from virginia. Back to the New York Times, reporting on the shootings in texas, five dead, 21 injured, writing that the attack came after just four weeks after one of the deadliest Mass Shootings in Texas History when a 21yearold gunman opened fire on august the third met avid is next, madison heights, michigan, democratic line, good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call and i hope you give me enough time allowed. It seems like you are very, very good about that, letting people speak their mind and i thank you for that. I call it a total republican failure and i say that because moscow mitch has three bills that were passed by the democrats in the [no audio] and he will not bring them to the floor. Thats the first thing. The next thing is White Supremacists i guarantee that this kid is another white supremacist trump supporter. Its opened the doors, opened with wide open doors so that this kind of violence happens. Based on the evidence you have heard, what makes you think other than being white that he was a white supremacist and a trump reporter. One person on twitter said it sounded like a traffic stop, ride. And i understand where you are coming from but i guarantee hes a white supremacist trump supporter just like the last one in texas. These are hate crimes. He should have no and gives the police and First Responders so much credit. If they deserve that credit, which they dont, they would have gotten that shooter right away. I know that if i had a powerful car i could stop that shooter in a heart eight. Moscow mitch has a boss, the nra. Trump has a boss, thats the nra and vladimir putin. Host david, michigan, congresswoman mary gay scanlon mary sammons, her thoughts on the shooting and what to do about it. Our country has a gun problem that cannot be solved with thoughts and prayers, we need to take multiple steps to get weapons of war off the streets to keep guns out of the hands from those who pose a danger to themselves and others, addressing the root causes and traumatic results that perpetuate gun violence. Diane is next in new enterprise, pennsylvania on the republican line, go ahead. Caller to all the democrats that want to take firearms away from lawabiding citizens, how will that prevent Mass Shootings . As far as i know none of these have been committed by lawabiding citizens and most of these Mass Shootings came with a forewarning. Parkland is a good example. Philadelphia is another good whople of a criminal decided he wanted to get firearms despite all the laws already in place against that. The sutherland, texas shooting, the church shooting. That shooter was terminated by a person who had a legal firearm. I think that taking my firearms away from me, i just am see how its going to have a positive. Mpact on any criminal activity preventing my ability to defend myself against criminals and other lawabiding citizens, other lawabiding citizens, the lawabiding citizens are going to be only ones the comply with these new laws. Thats basically my comment. Thank you very much. Host sarasota, florida. Independent line. Caller i hate to waste my call on this this month, but i listen every day and there is so much craziness i have got to say something. Kudos to the lady from pennsylvania. Janice from virginia, wherever it was, North Carolina, i wish we could have asked her if she was a schoolteacher. Heres my reason. If you look at the timeline and the facts, all of this socialist curricula, teachers, professors, starting in the late 60s, spreading out in the 70s. Fastforward to columbine. They came up through all the socialist curricula. No selfrespect, no respect for others, no Critical Thinking skills. No coping skills, no real history or real civics. So, they are all confused and everybody is their enemy. Then they want to grab a gun and shoot up their fellow students and teachers who put all this in mind. All these School Shootings are current or former students at schools, and these other Mass Shootings are just a spinoff of that. People want to talk about the symptoms and not the cause. Getting rid of guns is not going to stop antisocial people from doing something crazy. I am in my late 60s. We did not have School Shootings. We had a real civics, responsibility, Critical Thinking. Host appreciate the comments. Day, we ahead of labor will talk about labor issues. We will speak with National Mark to work Legal Defense mix. And then the center for American Progress David Madland. Then we review 10 of the biggest spending super pac guy cecil. On senate races. Here is what he had to say about those efforts. [video clip] the most undervalued think about running for president is being able to explain why you are running for president. It is really important. If you ask Elizabeth Warren in 30 seconds, five minutes, two hours why she is running for president , she has a clear case. I think that is an important istor that cory booker building a strong operation on the ground. If there is a chance for a secondtier candidate to move into the first tier, corey has shown a strong ability to enter into these debates with strong organization. I think you will see him do better. Given how late joe biden got into the race, they are building a strong foundation. How do you balance the National Needs of a campaign with the fact that so much attention is placed on iowa, New Hampshire, nevada. Map aheadlook at the of the general election, is there a state or two that could be unexpectedly in play given the areas of the trump campaign. I think arizona is a state we see moving in our direction. In 2018. Me success i expect mark kelly will be the next senator from arizona. That helps to put the state into play from the president ial perspective. North carolina is always on the margin. President obama was successful in 2008. Another senate race it will be important for democrats to have the majority. Lots of talk about georgia and texas continuing to move into the democratic direction. Those are states we tend to keep an eye on. Host that is newsmakers guy cecil of priority usa. That is also on cspan radio. You can watch it online. Heading into Labor Day Weekend, we are joined by mark mix, president of the national right to work Legal Defense foundation. Thank you for joining us. Remind us, what is the right to work . Guest it is really simple. 27 states have passed right to work laws that protect a workers right to join a union and the right not to join or pages to a labor union as a condition of employment. Congress passed the national that a lotions act of Union Officials would have the power to fire workers if they did not pay dues. There has been effort to overturn that provision that compels workers to pay dues. States have passed right to work laws that outlaw what is known as a closed shop union situation. 27 states have right to work laws. How has that number changed . Guest it has been five in the last seven years, indiana, michigan, wisconsin, west virginia, and kentucky. Host what is your organizations role in getting that legislation passed . Guest our Legal Defense foundation for tax employees in the courts. The national right to Work Committee lobbies in state legislators and mobilizes activists to pass legislation. Host is your foundation and those who support right to work states, are you against labor unions . Guest absolutely not. Guest in right to work states, Union Density is higher in some states. Obviously, the other side has a different opinion about right to work and what it means, but it is not antiunion. Many of the clients we represent our Union Members, former Union Members. A lot of our supporters are aren Union Members who had a bad incident or employers who have battled against unions, and most of them are folks who believe workers should have the choice. Host what is your sense on the size of the labor unions in those 27 states . Does membership tend to drop after those laws are passed . Guest the numbers are hard to come up with. In indiana, their Union Membership increased in the year after right to work was passed. In some states it goes down. N some states it goes up the trend of Union Membership is not a focus of the right to work laws. If you look at Union Membership across the country, about 10 of americas workforce is unionized. This started occurring before we start the past right to work laws. To 1983, 20 of the workforce was union. In 2018, 14. 7ure million workers. Union anding about labor issues ahead of labor day. 202 7488000 for democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. Independents and others 202 7488002. If you are a union member, 202 7488003. We spotted your opinion piece in the wall street journal on friday on the janus case. You write that 14 months ago the Supreme Court held the First Amendment protects Government Employees from being forced to subsidize unions. That vs. Afscme affirmed state and local workers have the t to subsidize unions beat before deducting union dues or fees from their paychecks. To be effective the waiver must be freely given and shown by clear and compelling evidence unless employees clearly and affirmatively consent before any money is taken from them, the standard cannot be met. What is happening here . What is not being done by the federal government . Decision thatus was decided in june of last year had two parts. One is that everything government unions do is political and a violation of the First Amendment. You cannot pay someone money to speak on your behalf without their consent we got to the compulsory dues of unions in the government sector. The second was off in versus opt out. This, the standard was workers had to opt out of these compulsory dues. The unions created significant terriers to that right to get barrier to that right to get out. The court said that in order to take money from someone you had to have an affirmative waiver of First Amendment rights. That means everyone who is having money taken out of their paycheck after this decision, there had to be evidence that says yes, you can take their money. The alaska attorney general just gave an opinion that the governor saying the state had not provided, so they are not going to take any money out. To go to every worker and say, allow us to take . Oney the right is in the favor of the employee now. What is the main reason that is not happening . Built the structure around this process in many states, once you become a Government Employee the the money comes out of your check before you even see it. That is part of the employment process in many instances. The Union Creates these window periods where they say you can only get out during the first two weeks of the school year, the only month that has a bloom on. The idea blue moon. They cannot do that anymore. We are encouraging the states that the employees have been asked the you want the money taken out . If they say no, dont take it. Host does this question have to be answered annually by employees . The time it is annually. We just filed a classaction lawsuit in ohio. They are using a threeyear period. Host you dont have another chance for three years if you dont make it. Missouri, mike is on the independent line. Good morning. Caller good morning. I did not know that you are going to have a line for Union Members, but i am a retired union member. I do get attention from being a union member. I dont understand why people like this man you have on your screen want people to work for less wages because it is a proven fact that right to work states, people make less money. I also would like to say that verdict from the Supreme Court is a bunch of garbage. People like mark janus just want to get money from other peoples labor. The right to work is actually the biggest ripoff this country has ever seen. Host what union were you in when you were employed . Roofersi retired from and waterproof first local 120 in kansas city. Looks like the union did good things for you, and you joined voluntarily. You are enthusiastic about union support. No question about that. It is obvious. I take a little offense to the idea that someone stands up for freedom in the workplace is attacked, but that is ok. The right to work law in the 27 states that have it protects workers rights to join or not join a union. It cannot stop you or anyone else in the country from joining a union if they choose to do so. As to the wage issue, you are frankly wrong. The Missouri Economic Department puts out a study each month on the cost of living. When you run the numbers from the state of missouri, you find out that workers in right to work states are better off. The study shows it is up to 4500 more in disposable income for laborers who work in right to work states. Union officials never do this analysis. They go wages apples versus oranges. When you look at the data and look at it in a serious manner, you find out workers in right to work states are better off. Host lets go to james in North Carolina. Go ahead. Caller good morning. The other guy, i dont know why you put him on. He doesnt know what he is talking about. I live in North Carolina. Im from new jersey. He is talking People Better off. I live in North Carolina. People are not better off. People are suffering. They are always coming to me, wanting to borrow from it. I love unions. I get a good pension. I was it truck driver, local 560 out of union city, new jersey. You are looking at me, laughing. It is nothing to laugh about. They are suffering. Some of them are nonunion. It is sad how they are suffering. Host what union were you in . 560, union city, new jersey. Guest nothing in North Carolina law or new jersey law stopped him from joining a union. In new jersey, you would be compelled to pay dues. In North Carolina, you cannot do that. Host next up in South Carolina, james. Go ahead. Caller yes, sir. Host you are on the air. Go ahead. Caller i worked unions here in charlotte for years, and we did good. My sister is retired from a union out of new york. They pay medical, dental, and they do good. It is unfortunate that this guy is saying about the studies. Construction the last 15 years when there was no union, and those people were paid however. 5here was a guy making 9. 7 two years ago, electrician. That is ridiculous. I have outcry for the poor guy. I dont know where this guy is getting his studies, but maybe he needs to come down here and just step out into the real world and see what is going on. Thank you. Of construction, are there areas where the union sectors have grown that other areas have not been as strong . He talked about construction, dollars was the wage. Is the Construction Industry worse off . Guest i dont think so. It depends on what kind of construction job you are doing. If you are on a job that involves public funds, you have laws that talk about what wages can be, and wages are set by government action. That law is called the davisbacon law. Governmente doing construction, generally there is a wage floor that does occur. As far as unionization in the construction sector, about 85 of construction workers are nonunion. About 14 are in unions at this point. That does not mean they are not able to join a union. That is the point. Calling might be against my position, but there is no law that would stop you from joining a union if you chose to do so. If people can join together voluntarily, if the conditions are really this bad, then there is a real place for unions to be out there. Why arent they organizing . Host how do you measure how well a worker does in a right to work state versus nonright to work . Cited for thedy i first caller is relevant. Union officials have their think tanks, and we have hours that put out our statistics. The first principle is freedom, individual freedom and choice. Nothing stops a worker from joining a union in america or paying money to a union or giving his entire paycheck if he chooses to do so. In the 27 states that will not allow a worker to be fired if they dont pay dues or fees. We look at wages. The unions want us to compare a plumber in new york city who makes 100 an hour with a plumber in utah that is not unionized that makes 65 an hour. They would say there is a 35 and our wage gap. The plumber in utah is better off because he can afford a better apartment. Host it is cost of living. Guest exactly. The unions dont do that. We do. NonUnion Workers are better off in disposable income after their paycheck. Host the line for Union Workers is 202 7488003. Ted. Egon, this is good morning. Caller i would like to speak to the host this morning, not mr. Mix. A couple of months ago you had mr. Janus on your program. Jaded very much of a conversation. I want to remind the host that when you had mr. Janus on the television on your program, you had him flagged as an employee of Illinois State Public Employees, which he was no longer. He is the mouthpiece for the right to work think tank that was actually the dimestore scissor bill attorney that was covering mr. Janus. Him i think we identified at the time. I did host that program. He had left the state of illinois employment. Go ahead with your comment or question for mark mix. Thank you. Caller i guess my question this ning is he has to realize i am a member of the ua. Im a journeyman plumber, retired. I had to deal with a lot of rat plumbers, nonunion. One thing about a nonUnion Plumber, he does not have the training we do. You cannot take a nonUnion Plumber and put him on one of our jobs. He just doesnt have it. He needs to go to the training center. He needs to get trained up. Hopefully he will go from a c card to a b card to an a card. I went through that training program. You can take it all the way to a masters if you dont want to wear the coveralls anymore. You can put on the car hearts and leather shoes and become a project manager. Plumber is one of the dumbest things i have ever seen in my entire life along with mr. Mix. Host ted in oregon. Sorry about the last comment. I think there are a lot of plumbers across the country that are offended by his remarks. This idea that he would group them like that is very questionable to say these days. Im sure that every Union Plumber, whether there is a distinction when it comes to ability is concerning to me that you would say it that way. I guess every Union Plumber is absolutely perfect and everything they do. I doubt that. The notion that you would separate that way is offensive to me. Charles on hear from the independent line. I like to talk to the guests. He is absolutely incorrect. The ability to organize a job in a right to work state is just not there. Louisiana went right to work years ago. I was a member of the 582ermakers working out of trying to organize jobs, and we were permanently replaced, took it to the nlrb, received a few dollars back. The legislators have changed the laws. I was injured on the job. I lost half my foot. In order to receive any sort of decent compensation for the loss of my occupation, i had to prove onent, and certainly no intended that to happen, but they removed the tools i was supposed to use in the Nuclear Plant where everything is designated by the powers that be. Its completely bogus. Completely bogus. Cantto work, you organize a job. You can tell me whatever you like. Host let me ask you. You attribute your loss of a job directly to right to work laws . Caller no. No. The fact is that without Union Organization and someone in the lose allislature, we our rights. We lost our right to organize. We lost our right to get fair compensation when we are injured on the job. The wages are lower. There are no benefits. These guys are going to retire out from and no one is going to have a pension. Host we will let you go, charles. Mark mix. With it is tough to argue someone who is that certain about what he believes. The fact that anyone is stopped from organizing in any state is against the law. Our National Labor relations act says every worker has the right to organize and join together for mutual benefit, also has the right to refrain. If an employer is trying to stop someone from organizing, that is a violation of the National Labor relations act. There is recourse at the National Labor relations board. What you are saying is incorrect. Ist on twitter, jan says, see his point on the political speech of unions, but unions built this country. You must hear that a lot in your debates with those who support unions, particularly in this president ial year. Guest people say that all the time. Many people say there was always a place for unions at the turnofthecentury during the industrial revolution. There was a place for unions, there is a place, and there will be in america. You can hear it from your callers. There is no place for compulsion. Why would an organization that is doing great things for mike compel them toto pay dues to keep their job . The workers of america adhere to voluntary institutions. Compelanything else is a menaco their rights. What congress was commenting on in 1918, he was concerned that delegates to the afl were going to come to washington and ask for power to force workers to join unions. If you do that, you will become a ward of government. That is why Union Officials have invest 2 billion in elections. Instead of providing services, which all these workers called in today. What stops the unions from selling their product to those people and doing the best they can representing workers . The idea of compulsion is totally opposite of anything these people are talking about. People would want to join unions. Why would they want to be compelled . Host we started the program talking about the Supreme Courts janus decision, which your organization supported. Areyear after janus, unions flush. The biggest Public Employees union is surprisingly flush. Talking about afscme. Are you surprised by that . Guest not at all. If these unions are providing services, people will join them. It does not surprise me a bit. Janus is not about defunding unions. It is about giving workers individual choice. The firstjanus Supreme Court case involving the Political Part of Union Membership . To 1977, it goes back a case called abood versus detroit board of education. That raised the same issues. They are lobbying the government to spend resources in a certain way. Thatourt said in janus everything they are doing is political because they are addressing government. Had a series of cases, davenport in 2007, all u. S. Supreme court cases. The court try to regulate this political aspect of Public Sector employment. Theythey got to janus, said we have tried. We have tried to regulate this. Id only we got to the First Amendment question. The government must enforce this infringement in the least restrictive means possible. Therefore we got janus and said workers can choose to join or not to. We were talking about the janus case, i wanted to play her comments and hear what you had to say. [video clip] did isink what janus unleash the resilience of our Public Service members who were impacted by that decision. There was a previous decision on quinn that impacted our home care workers in the same way. Way for our Public Service members by declaring no court decision, no president of the u. S. , no state legislature, no governor is going to stand in the way of us joining together and building a better life for ourselves and our family. I would say all the systematic attacks on working people and unions has intensified the resilience we feel and has made it much more critical for us to insert the demand unions for all no matter where you work and expecting the president ial candidates to speak to how they are going to check Corporate Power in this economy and make it easier for working people to join together and build a better life. I think we agree. She is saying because of the decision, workers now have a choice. They are building resiliency in their movement. What is to argue with that . Unions isf government another issue for another day. What she is saying is now that we have to provide services and convince people to join us, we will do that. What is wrong with that . City,lets go to new york tyrone on our democrats line. Caller thank you for taking my call. This gentleman is a prime reason why this country is going down the road of selfdestruction. The reason why Companies Need this country is so that they dont have to pay their taxes, and they dont have to pay americans their minimum wage. Part of that is what is going on here with this right to work. I live in new york, and i have been working as part of the union for over 30 years. The reason why you can pay 60,000 someplace else is because you dont get them the benefits they need. Job,am sick on a nonunion i am on my own. If i am sick on a union job, i have coverage. I have an option. You say this as if this is a wonderful thing. The union, they are not perfect. You are not perfect. Im not perfect. There are things you can fix about the union. You dont throw the baby out with the bathwater. Ase, he seems more upset about the fact he did not know where his money was going. We could have fixed that. We could have taken care of that. We are on the road of selfdestruction. I believe that. Guest i dont know, are you saying, did you say that nonunion Construction Companies dont pay benefits . That is not true. Lets be careful about how we use our language. The idea that a 5 of construction workers across the country are nonunion, they are doing ok. They are getting benefits. I would be more worried about the Union Pension plans that are on the critical edge. If you look at what is happening with Pension Funds from those promises made by Union Officials will not be kept. Host reports happening in level,s, on the federal congressional representatives are working to bolster the rights of Public Sector unions. Legislation is highly unlikely unless democrats win the white house and senate. Bill that would set a minimum nationwide standard for collective bargaining rights for the 17. 3 million Public Employees. Public employees would be required to recognize workers unions if they are freely chosen by majority vote. It sounds like an issue your organization is working on even before it is debated in congress. Guest that is being debated in congress as we speak. There are several bills that may be taken up as Congress Comes back into town next week. What the federal government wants to do is impose their will on the states. State employees, local employees are under the jurisdiction of the local government. The federal government has stayed away from that. There are several bills that would basically say the federal government is going to force states to unionize, set up socalled core standards that every state has to need, and that includes forcing workers demings. In virginia, we have a very strong public union. The state does not recognize them as bargaining agents. The law you are talking about would overturn virginias statute, North Carolina, south in five, state statutes or six more states that regulate the unionization process for Government Employees. We disagree. Host the state doesnt recognize the union as the bargaining agent. Who is the bargaining agent . The state is the bargaining agent . Guest the state is their employer, but if you go to richmond on lobby day and drive around Northern Virginia on election day, and you will find out how active the Firefighters Union is in Northern Virginia. They lobby for themselves. Host does right to work in that case mean they cannot strike . Guest that is a state law. That has nothing to do with right to work. Ont lets go to richard our republican line. Caller i am a retired pipefitter. I have been in the ua forever. How come my United Association president and all the people up there, all the plumbers, the Sheet Metal Workers, all those organizations, how come they have billions and billions of union dues dollars . Back tohat money not go the Union Workers, the people that filled those coffers . No, they sit on that money, and they turn around and elect these crazy liberals. I have dropped my book in louisville because my union took my dues and elected these crazy liberals in kentucky. I will not have my money go to these people. Until my union realizes they are not going to get my money until they give Political Campaign money to people who care about human beings, they will not get a dime of mine. Guest kentucky is our newest right to work state in 2017. He has the ability to support his union or the ability not to as a condition of his employment. Workers across the country, the unions have decided on a political team. They are active politically. Indicate that unions are not political. They spent more money than any other institution in the political process. They selfreported over 2 billion in lobbying over the last two years. That is more than the dnc, rnc, President Trump, Hillary Clinton. They are big political players. They generally come down on one side of the aisle. Guys like richard are offended by that. That is why the right to work holds his right to hold his Union Officials accountable for his money. Host does any union make political donations separate . You pay your dues, and here is our lobbying peace, and if you want to contribute, you can. Guest i would say this. Pac contributions are indeed voluntary. When you sign up for the union as a member, that political deduction is part of that process. You can get in and out of it. It is not the political money per se that they spent. It is general treasury money that makes the political money fungible. Direct contributions to candidates, Voter Registration drives, get out the vote efforts. Be done byts can general treasury money. Host this is bill in midway. He is a union member. Caller thank you. For about fivecw years to be able to work at a grocery store. I had to join the union. That is ridiculous. I did not know a lot about it when i first joined. Whatthe years, i found out Union Membership really meant, and the reason i was happy that right to work in kentucky came along when it did because as i learned, every time there was an election, the folks from the union office would come around with the list of candidates to vote for. Every single one of those people was a democrat. They would go around and post that list on all the departments around the grocery store, and they would tell people you need to vote for this guy. Your job depends on it. That flew in the face of what america is about. I was happy to wrap that up. Tactics,d of pressure that is exactly what those callers were using them trying , using those talking points that are not applicable because our economy is roaring along. They are using the same old nonsense to try to push the unions they had in the past. Guest thanks. Appreciate that. Another good example of how it works. He was in the mean. He saw what they are doing. He is holding Union Officials accountable. Whether they change their behavior is another question. At least he understands the process of holding them accountable by withholding his money. That is how you get someones attention. You take their money. Protectsad kentucky his right to choose. Louisiana, to democrats line. Caller good morning. Right to work in louisiana has destroyed our state. It destroyed most of the unions here. Whites and blacks cant get a job in construction because they dont hire them anymore. Whistleblower contacted the border patrol. The word on the job is it was coming. The next morning, there were 60 employees showing, all of them illegal. Louisiana has gone down since the past right to work. We have so many hispanics in louisiana. It is unbelievable. Thank you. George,nnessee, republican line. Caller good morning. I think there was a point in the trys history where unions were probably a good thing. I think not so much these days. I am confused by all these people calling in and saying how much the unions did for them. Unions dont do anything for people. Unions dont create an income. What did something for people is the company they work for, the profits they made for that company. The union people got their money from their paycheck, so the union did not create the income. They should be grateful to the company. Unions sometimes destroy companies and destroy their jobs. I dont understand why somebody would want to destroy themselves. That is my opinion. Guest i think it was Samuel Gompers that set a working mans best friend is a businessman who makes a profit. Well said. Host the Economic Policy institute with their take on the labor field and wages. U. S. Inequality wage stagnation tied to falling Union Membership in the private sector. They look at the passage of the 1947 tafthartley act through the famous 1981 airTraffic Controllers strike. What is your thought on that . Guest president reagan was enforcing the law. It was illegal for air Traffic Controllers to go on strike. He told them to go back to work. This idea that somehow reagan was breaking the unions, i would hope and most people listening would hope that no matter the present, they would enforce the laws of the United States. The idea of unionization in 1947, congress looked at what they did in 1935 with the wagner act and said we probably need to roll that back a little bit his Union Membership flourish between 1935 and 1947. There was huge growth in the union movement. After world war ii, there were 4 million americans on strike across the country. What congress did, instead of repealing the wagner act and allowing labor laws to go back to the way it was, they amended it, and they said you cannot do a closed shop. Laws, the 27o work , that has beene something that has been a response to the Economic Conditions traded by unions and the violence and the things that have happened over the years. Stateg in a right to work stops a worker from joining a union if they choose to do so. No matter what these people say, a lot of these people are happy with their union. That is the way it should work. No one should be compelled. Host do you think there is wage stagnation in our country . Guest i dont know what the numbers say. Epi is the other side of the coin. They put out the study on union wages. Dont adjust for cost of living. Lets get away from that. Lets stay on the primary issue on right to work. The right to choose. Host mark mix is the president of the national right to work legal foundation. We will continue our conversation next on labor issues with David Madland with the center for American Progress as we continue here on washington journal. In the late 1850s, americans generally trusted their congressman, but they did not trust congress as an institution, nor did they trust each other. Were routinelyn armed, not because they were eager to kill their opponents, but out of fear that their opponents might kill them. Author Joanne Freeman will be depth today. In her latest book is the field of blood. Her other titles include the essential hamilton, and affairs of honor. Join our live conversation with your phone calls and tweets. Howeter words, ben examines how evangelicals are choosing political power. I think the lesser evil argument is dangerous. It tends to keep a system in place that takes accountability out of the system. I think it is also an easy way to bring in Something Like evangelicalism and then use that as a way to get votes, which seems like the worst possible way to use faith. Watch booktv every weekend on cspan2. Q a, university of Pennsylvania Law School professor amy wax on Free Expression on College Campuses in the conflict surrounding an opinion piece she authored in the philadelphia inquirer. I think this is what ruffled a lot of people that not all cultures are alike. We were trying to tout this code of behavior that is particularly suited to our Current Society and comparing it to other cultures, which are not as functional. We gave some examples. That immediately caused a firestorm. Tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspans q a. Washington journal continues. Host David Madland is the strategic tractor for the American Worker project at the center for American Progress, focusing on labor and workforce issues ahead of labor day. We will pick up where we left court the janus supreme decision, which changed the Playing Field a bit for publicsector unions. What has your organization seen as the fallout in the aftermath of that decision . Guest there are several things. There is the direct effect where to Supreme Court took sides deliberately go after the Labor Movement. It is something that has been building for years that the Supreme Court has been doing. You can see it in a whole series of decisions, like one that enabled employers to force workers to sign forced arbitration agreements. The Supreme Court is tilting the Playing Field against workers. The Immediate Reaction is it made it harder for unions to finance their operations if they lost members. They also counter organized and fought back. That there is a Strong Movement within the unions and the general public towards saying we like unions, and we want to find a way to keep them going even though the laws are becoming increasingly hostile. ,ost this decision coming down the increasing number of states that are right to work your kentucky is the most recent. What do you think is driving that . Guest powerful ceos unfortunately. It is unfortunately the union issue has become extremely partisan where the corporate elites have teamed up with one Political Party, typically the republican party, to go after basic rights for workers. Those states, one of the first thing they do is try to weaken anyone that would challenge their basic ability to do whatever they want. In this case it is the unions. The unions aggregate and represent the interests of workers. You have states where republicans have taken power. They go after labor. That is unfortunate because the voice of workers needs to be heard. Host why do you think a strong Labor Movement is important beyond having that voice . Guest the race six of what basics of what labor unions do this gives the workers the ability to improve their conditions and negotiate for higher wages and benefits. It goes well the on that. When they have some power, that tends to spill over to nonUnion Workers. The whole economy operates better when you have a stronger Labor Movement because wages for everyone are higher. Overall economic inequality is lower when you have a strong Labor Movement. Combinevement helps peoples voices and the political space. Right now our government is unfortunately dominated by the top 1 , the ceos and executives. When labor has sufficient power, they are able to be an effective counterbalance. Host David Madland is our guest. He is the strategic director of the American Worker project at the center for American Progress. We welcome your calls and comments. 202 7488000 for democrats. Republicans 202 7488001. All others 202 7488002. Like the last segment, well have the line for Union Members 202 7488003. I want to take a look at some of the recommendations your organization is calling on congress to do in terms of strengthening collective bargaining. You say all workers should be free to join a union and bargain. Workers need more power to make collectivebargaining work in the modern economy. Government should be on the side of strong unions and worker organizations. The government should ban right to work laws. This would be fairly aggressive federal legislation. Is some of this in the works already . Guest you can see a number of bills that have elements of what we are proposing in congress. Whichis the pro act, would reform the National Labor relations act, which would fix glaring holes. There are very few penalties when a company violates law and illegally fires a worker for joining a union. It would enhance workers abilities to take action on their own for strikes and things. It would deal with right to work. There is a growing debate within the president ial election where many of these issues are being discussed. I think you see a growing movement to discuss the flaws with our basic laws. I would love to talk more about the structure of our current sos tilted against unions, much so that the current private sector density is lower today, 6 in the private sector. That is lower than when the National Labor relations act was passed. We are now in an environment that is almost like the wild west where employers can do almost whatever they want. Take onve us a toptier why the private union number ship has declined . Protecthe law does not their rights to join a union as much as it should. If an employer breaks the law and fires a worker for joining a union, the best the worker can hope for after years of legal fights is getting their job back minus anything they made in the meantime. They get paid for back his, but they would lose anything they earned instead. It also allows you to be permanently replace if you strike. Host we have a union member on the line. Tom is in flint, michigan. Go ahead. Caller good morning. Am a Union Steward here in flint with local 332 of the teamsters. Uncertain i see you folks talking while i am talking. I guess it is just the delay. Im sorry about that. Host go ahead with your comments. I was fortunate to be in a Union Household as i grew up here in flint, michigan, during the prosperous days of the 1950s and 1960s. I am 62 now. Know, was a uaw, you autoworkers shop worker for 30 years. The standard of living was such that we had a wonderful childhood. We had security in my dads employment. , whicha lot of benefits did nothing but undergird a strong bringing up. We had great Public Schools, which the union wages supported the taxes. My dad being a union member certainly made for all five of us kids in the family. You could have one job supporting a family of seven. All the wonderful things that fr ees you up for to be more productive in life over the long haul. The big thing for me about unions is they are nothing more than allowing for two sides to a bargaining table. If there is not a union, it is not that there is one side to the bargaining table, there is no bargaining table. Guest i think the caller hits on a number of key things. He talks about his life being dramatically better because his family was a union family. The whole community was stronger. You can see there is an important study that i helped do where it shows that Union Households if you are a child that growth in a household where your parents were in a union, you were more likely to have a higher income as you get older than nonunion families. That is the basic idea of the american dream. It is also communities that have greater Union Density where people born at lower income levels are more likely to have higher incomes over time. He mentioned schooling. The basic things unions do. They aggregate basic power so workers can get the things they need. That is not just with their employers. In the public, they advocate for Stronger Public schools. We have had a teacher strikes the past couple years. That is because Public Schools have been dramatically underfunded for years. It is not just that teacher wages were stagnant, but also the basic public investments in schools were going downhill. They were standing up for everyone. Host the Union Membership being a question of speech. The janus decision focusing on that. If the union member does not support the candidates that the union supports, that worker is out in left field, out in the cold when his dues are going to support the union. How do you rectify the two . Guest there are a couple of issues going on. The law before janice is you could never be forced to join a union. You could be forced to pay the costs of the bargaining they undergo. That is the bargaining. That is not the political activities. That is a separate, voluntary contribution. The Supreme Court claimed that everything the unions do is inherently political, and therefore you dont have to pay the basic cost of the bargaining. Even that bargaining was political. Degrees certainly some when organizing workers to speak up has a political component, but that this idea that workers should be able to come together and have a voice that counterbalances the powerful elites. Study after study shows that ordinary citizens have almost no voice in our democracy. Their views are not listen to. By federalt heard officials. Only the top 1 have independent influence. Ordinary people have influence is when they come together as part of an organization. The janus decision is about weakening that power to come together. Neil ints go to virginia, democrats line. Caller thank you for taking my call. Im speaking more to the previous guest you had on. He was trying to present his arguments as somehow credible when he referred to studies that haded right to work states better comparative income than the right to work states. Those studies typically emphasize income without regard to the other benefits that union mostrs typically get that 90 workers do not get. He also presented the right for people to choose to be in a union or not in a union is the highest priority no matter what. That puts aside all the other rights we should have as workers. After almost 50 years of working. Worker othernion than for a short time as a young person when i worked in a factory for a summer job. I was for much of that time in Union Resource department of large companies, and you talk into how unions put dues Political Action and legislative action, etc. , when in fact the corporations, for decades, have invested tens of billions of dollars in antiunion legislation, and campaigns, and turnout for the company to diminish and intimidate workers to not unionize, and then you talked about the law, then ation Labor Relations law that says we all have the right to unions and the right to work, but the legal enforcement and accountability is almost not spend because you have to years litigating to in fact inform those rights, and most of us as workers have no ability to handle years of litigation. Host all right, we will let you go there. Guest what the caller was referring to is the definition of freedom, putting this weird definition of freedom above others. Example, when you start to work for a company, the employer can tell you almost anything you have to do shave your mustache, shave your beard, go to a political rally for Donald Glover or Hillary Clinton donald trump or Hillary Clinton, otherwise you lose your job. You have little freedom for an employer and less you negotiate a set of contracts and negotiations that protect you. Support socalled right are not trying for more freedom for workers. That is not what they are trying to. You know what, whatever you want to do at that very moment that is going to weaken a union, that is fine, but other things that might enhance your rights and give you more positive freedoms, we dont support that. When you are talking about right to work, you really recognize where the power is, what is freedom, and what is a more moral and important freedom. Right to work is a very narrow discussion. It is about weakening unions in the strange definition of freedom. The agenda needs to be positive about advancing workers rig far and that calls for a more appealing right to work, actively encouraging Union Membership. It is the lowest it has been in nearly a century, so the things you need to do, negotiate for higher wages, unions help make the economy more equal so that we do not have a high inequality, and we also have a captured political democracy, and unions help give ordinary workers a voiced regret that, so we really need to be end it up for unions right now. Host the American Worker project, what is that . Guest it is the project focused on the needs for workers, things they need to get ahead, good jobs, wages and benefits as well as the right to work including the ability to join a union. Between research and write about the economy and come up with to really putthis workers at the center of the economy and set up just cast off to the side or seen as something that maybe we will think about later. If the economy is working, maybe we will help them out later. Host lets hear from bob in philadelphia. Bob is on the republican line. Caller good morning, cspan. Thank you for taking my call. How are you . Host good, thank you. Caller listen, i was a 32year of forcedwho was kind into retirement, which is ok because i collected pension during currently a manager for a company that i am at now, so i truly see both sides of the coin. In themy experiences union i was in was representation, and i went to pattern bargaining one year, and i spoke to one of the president s in a local in a right to work stay in virginia that had to represent people who would literally back out of the union after they voted on a contract. Then those people had to be represented, which is so unfair. That is the point that nobody has made here. Know, in these right to work states, people can literally back out of the union, but they thel reap the benefits of Union Contract, and they still have to be represented. It would be the equivalent of me saying, well, you know what . I do not agree most of what happens in washington and the bloated federal budget, so i am not going to pay taxes, ok . It does not work that way. I still have to pay my taxes, even though i find most of what the government does to be abhorrent. That just patently unfair a person can claim themselves to be union, they can get and literally for one month to vote on a contract, ok, and then back out the next month and still reap all of the benefits. Host thanks, bob. Dland. Ma guest i think the caller hit on something. When a union is in a workplace, the majority of workers come together and support it, and that creates the ability to charge others these dues and things like that and negotiate collectively, so there has been a majority that says this is what we want to do, and this is how we want to move forward. That will create a set of rights and abilities that is akin to how we work in a democracy. We will vote 50 plus one, representative and that, and the representative has the ability to do things. You could not sort of it actually would not work if you just opt out and said that is not for me. That are binding rules they are going to organize. You are fundamentally weakening the power of the union when you let people withdraw at a moments notice and when the majority of the organization has said we want and support the union. Host let me ask you this, the Economic Policy institute tweeted this study. Inequality, the wage stagnation types to falling Union Membership in the private sector, and they trace it back to really be 1940s and the decline after the air Traffic Controllers right under president reagan. Do you believe there is wage that nation and the country . What do you think is causing that . Guest yes, there is wage stagnation. It is not a matter of belief. Ale worker inal m the 1970s a typical male worker today earns what a typical male worker in the 1970s earned. That is wage stagnation. To talk has seen rapid increases in their wages, so yes, there has been stagnation, pretty slow growth. We have had a quite productive economy over those four decades, and most workers have gotten very little of that. And what is behind that . Why is that so . There are of course many, many factors. Changes in globalization, trade rules. Theres technology changes, but the core thing is about the basic power of workers to negotiate for higher wages and benefits, and unions or a keep these of that. As workers have weakened, have not been able to negotiate for higher wages and benefits, and the decline of means over this period has been responsible for about onethird of the rise in economic inequality, so it is really clear that unions play a really Important Role in the story and what is happened in haseconomy and what happened for those workers. Our line for Union Workers, 202 7488003. Ken is next on that line. Caller good morning, guys. Thank you for taking my call. Guest good morning. Fair bargaining, some of the states, i can see a big and to give states, you an example, tennessee is a right to work states. Our local opened up a few weeks ago. An employer in the state is a few miles away. People came in from the company to apply for furniture and were scared for apprenticeship and were scared to death to talk to us. Tennessee is right to hire, right to fire. Your employer can fire you for any reason or for no reason. Another thing i want to bring up is the fact that these lawyers come in and propagate the right to work laws. How about we use the right to american bar the association and see how far you get in the American Court system to try to represent a case . That is a closed system right there. But anyway, they give for taking my call, and i appreciate it. Host thanks. Guest the caller at the end sort of mentioned that other organizations do not work when they provide services to people that dont pay, like the bar association, the chamber of commerce, any other organization. So this burden of right to work is that if unions provide services for all, and they then have to not be able to receive revenue for that, and that is designed to weaken them. The other thing that is worth mentioning here is i noticed the callers through the show so far in your previous guest are very much prounion, and i realize that maybe who is listening in washington right now, but the public right now is as unionsive of labor as it has been in decades, and a majority of workers would like to join a union if they could. Unfortunately, we talked about the laws that make it quite difficult to the publics is quite supportive of unions. There is a basic power against all the things designed to weaken vent your problem is with our political elites right now that have not done enough to enable workers to get what they want, which is clearly voicing the ability to join a union. Host among the president ial candidates, Bernie Sanders is perhaps the most outspoken about his vision for unions. Sanders goal for unions double membership in four years. I want to bring your comments to the aflcio, detailing some of that plan. Here he is. [video clip] sen. Sanders today, as all of you know, millions of workers want to join unions but are unable to do so because of employer opposition. When 50 ofn, a card in a unit sign s one, they have a union and of discussion. [cheers applause] sanders and if employers refuse to negotiate that Union Contract in good faith, we will impose strong penalties against those employers. [applause] workers will get a contract, under my plan, we wil l end socalled right to work laws in iowa and in other states around this country. [cheers applause] plan, weers under my publicke sure that all employees in iowa and drop this and have the right to throughout this country have the right to organize and bargain collectively. [applause] not only for decent wages but for the decent benefits, safe working conditions, and reliable schedules. Host David Madland of the American Worker project come what do you see a some of the element of Bernie Sanders plan . I hear very strong support for the right of all workers to join unions and eight series of policies that will help make that reality, and i think that is right on. Is ond as Bernie Sanders this issue and has been pushing, this has become more and more where sort of all of the democratic president ial candidates are strongly supporting the rights of workers to join unions. Can design a better and improve the system, not just fixed, so to fix the obvious flaws but to enable a better kind of bargaining, and one of the elements of this plan is to encourage what is sort of called sectorial bargaining. Our system is very narrow where it is workplace by workplace, which leaves out lots host so company by company. Guest and instead say here are the broad unions, to have more power, what they are negotiating covers most people in the industry, so you will do several things, cover more people so but workers wages go up, also, you encourage companies to compete based on productivity, not by squeezing workers and going low wages, so you encourage the level competition, sort of the high road competition, and it is good for the overall economy, and it is for workers. Host lets hear from john in new york on our democrat line. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host you are on the air. Go ahead. Caller good. Good to hear from you. I am calling in. I also am a union worker. I am with the Sheet Metal Workers, local 112. Also, i have worked nonunion doing Sheet Metal Work also. Commentlike to make a that any nonUnion Workers out there, even if you do not plan on ever, ever joining a union in your entire life, you are still going to make more money as a nonunion worker, because your unions that are out there right now, you know, setting the bar, you know, competition so that you can have a higher wage, and i will give an example. New york state is not a right to work states. When you go on a school job or ate job, theng r nonunion worker gets a big theease in his pay, for reason up because of labor laws that were set up by union so that the nonunions can make the asct same amount of money the union worker on any governmentfunded job, for example, like a school job, any construction work, whatever construction you are interested in or you do, you make the same weight as a union worker. That includes a whole benefit package. Work nonunion, and i used to love to go on prevailing rate jobs because of the labor laws set up by a union, and i did not realize it at the time, but i was so happy, because i made really good money when i worked school jobs. If you vote right to work, you will cut a lot of your money out. The unions are making it so that the nonunion can make more money. And another example of how the more makes a nonunion money, when i went to union from a nonunion, i went into the union. I have other guys but i know that i talked with and worked with, they also went there, and the union wanted them to come to work, and they went back to their employer, and they got a big raise. That is another example. Here is another example, another guy i worked with went back to the union, he went back to his employer, gave him a two week notice, and they also told him they would give him a huge raise. Everyone is different. He got insulted. Because why didnt you give me the raise before . I had to go to the union, give my two weeks notice, and then you give a raise . Host thanks, john. Guest i think the essence of what the caller is talking about is exact right, the unions their members directly, but the benefits spread out to others, and really they help all of society. Wages acrossse when they have enough strength, and they can do that directly , they do that through policies, as the caller mentioned, these prevailing wage laws, and basically what they said is for government contracts, the ways contractors need to pay the wage that prevails, and prevails mean what most workers are getting in that industry. When the unit is in the industry, that is the union rate. When they are not in it, that is not the union rate. That is about amplifying powers, when i was talking about earlier, we can push for a better type of bargaining, we can have bargaining that spreads the union even more directly. I think we can dramatically increase the thing like prevailing wages that would be a very good thing. Host do you think the absence of unions not only an right to work states also states drive down wages . Isst yes, i think research very clear, and it drives down wages not just for workers who would be unionized but for nonUnion Workers as well. The estimates are when you control for all sorts of factors, it is about a little over 1000 that a typical worker right to having a non work states, because they have the ability to negotiate. Again, nonUnion Workers lose that. Host what are some of the challenges facing the new technology that, as new technologies evolve, new workers for those technologies or those Workers Organizing in those employment categories . Guest certainly workers are, analysts all categories, are interested in trying to join unions, and especially some of. Hese Newer Technology the drivers, the ubers and lyfts, but also other companies that do service, and what has happened here is there are so to several things sort of companythings, one, the organizes itself in several ways. They contract layers and layers of work, so it is very hard for the workers to bargain with the person, that employer who has the power at the top of the chain. They make a very difficult. Been able tove join a union, but they cannot negotiate with the person who is ultimately setting the terms of their employment. The other thing that happened this companies claim their workers are now independent contractors rather than employees, because technology has enabled them to call them that, which is often not legally been somethere have court cases, but independent contractor, you have no right to join a union. So those are other ways the technology has helped enable the weakening of worker power. Host in the case of uber or lyft, have they been successful in organizing . Guest [laughs] well, those companies claim their workers are contractors. Courts are recognizing they are employees, and there has been a big legal, a big policy fight now in california to legislate and codify what the courts have said, and so we will see. The workers certainly have organized, and they have organize online or even participated in strikes, and we will see, but i think that they want to join unions, but they have not had that right so far. Host on our union line, this is bobby in west virginia. Hey there. Caller yes, first of all, let me say thank you to cspan, because i feel you guys are one of the most fair and balanced media outlets, you know, going. I am asay thirdgeneration coal miner. Are you there . Host yes, we are, body. Go ahead. Caller ok. I am a thirdgeneration coal miner. Ii. Randpa was in world war that was that when the world war ii was going on, and they had to have us coal miners to mine coal to make the steel and ammunition, you know, preparations for the war, and generally the women was working in the factories at that time. But anyhow, that was my grandpa and my mothers side. Hegrandpa on my dads side, got killed in the coal mines. This was all back when they was trying to organize in the 1930s and the 1940s, even as far back as the 1920s, and i tell you, my dad could tell me some tales, you know, i will not name the Power Company, but the Power Company absolutely disintegrated, and guys that unions leaders of the that were trying to get unions to come in here, we had an incident on breyer mountain, which is in the history books,he companies had it removed off of the roster, and we thought for years and years and years the Historical Museum that everything finally got it back on track, and now it is there again. I would like to say, first of all, my last name is made, bobby proudly,i say that because im union to the core, i am democrat to the core, and i belong to local 1440 in west virginia, and i am sure you guys have heard about the main water massacre, where the company came in, they threw the women and the children out in the streets, the furniture, and all of that, and know, theyners, you lost their jobs and everything. Tried to organized labor and everything. Just recently in the last few years, our international union, which has to have money to operate, our dues give them funds to do things for us, and i am union, and i got on several buses, even my wife, which is a retired schoolteacher in the union, she had a hip replacement. She had breast removal, cancer, and she is somewhat disabled. She should not be on a bus trip, 20hour bus trip, going to d. C. And a lobbying lawmakers. At that time, it was over health care. They spent 3 million in four years, and that was money out of our operating fund that should never have had to happen. Host bobby, we really appreciate your call in your perspective as a coal miner. David madland. Guest i appreciate the callers efforts and his wifes efforts. I hope she is doing ok. You mentioned something that humans do to make democracy work, a basic theme i have been trying to talk about. To much focus is on the contributions that they make. The core of what humans do to make democracy work as they organize and encourage them to participate more in politics. Organized workers are more likely to vote, turnout, and dont talk to their policymakers. Gettinger talked about on a bus. The union organized that so they could go speak to a policymaker, who would not necessarily listen unless they were altogether. That is a really essential thing that Union Student that is a necessary function to make any democracy work. The other thing the caller highlighted is a really ugly history you mentioned the massacre. The law before the National Labor relations act was in some ways the wild west, and there was real, real violence. Largely on employers but on civil unions, too, because there was not a basic structure. The density is as low as it was when it was like the wild west, and that is not a good thing. We need to create a better structure, so that workers have basic rights and can exercise their voices and join together. Host i want to talk about workers, wages, and labor rights. I want to show you part of a rally that President Trump had in manchester, New Hampshire, talking about the rise in wages over the last 20 years. Here is what he had to say. [video clip] only with six polls does that happen. Unemployment for africanamericans, you have heard me say this many times. I am very proud of it. Hispanic americans and asianamericans have their lowest rates ever recorded in the history of our country. [cheers applause] wages are rising quickly. Remember when i used to say, people have been working to a free jobs, making less money than they may 21 years ago . I used to say it all the time. For the first time in 20 years, wages are rising, and you know who are the biggest beneficiaries . . Bluecollar workers s. Madl david and, what is the administration doing, right or wrong. Guest first, there is the basic economy. We have the Great Recession in economy2009 where the collapsed, and a lot of people lost their jobs. For the past decade, we have at a growing economy where unemployment has been decreasing, wages over the past couple of years have started to increase, but the basic trends under trump are basically like the same as they were the last couple of years of the obama administration, where unemployment was falling, and wages were starting to rise. Unfortunately, that is over a where wagesof time, have been segment, and they fell farther during the Great Recession, so we are still nowhere near good enough, and this is what is really scary, this is about the tightest labor market we have had in decades and decades to my get wages are and the peopleg, they are rising for our largely those at the top here they are not rising much for most at the middle. The people at the bottom are starting to get some increases, which is the tight labor market, but also cities and states are passing higher minimum wage laws. So the economy is really not that different than it was several years ago, and it is sort of scary that it is not doing really well for most workers at a time when it should be. Host what about people working to entry jobs . Is that still happening, according to research . Guest guest yes, unfortunately, there are too many people having to work too many jobs to hold things together, but it is also even people working one job are still not making it enough, and the Trump Administration i think has an interesting duality on this issue. In some ways, this is really great to be talking about workers and saying we need to make things go better and that is going to be his goal, but unfortunately, the policies he has been pushing do not do that nearly as much as they should. Such as he has made it harder for workers to get overtime pay. He is seeking to weaken i think callers were talking about this in the last 1 weaken basic a british of programs one weaken basic apprenticeship programs. Is from themadland center for American Progress, American Worker project. Thank you. Guest thank you so much for having me. Host how satisfied are you with your jobs . 202 7488000 is the number to call if you are satisfied with your current job. If youre considering switching jobs, that line is 202 7488001. And if youre not satisfied with your job, that line is 202 7488002. Ahead of labor day, how satisfied are you with your job . We will be right back with your comments. In the late 1850s, americans generally trusted their congressman, but they did not as antheir congress institution, nor did congressman trust each other. By 1860, many congressmen were routinely armed, not because they were eager to kill their opponents, but out of fear that their opponents might kill them. History professor and author Joanne Freeman will be our guest today fromh noon until 2 00 p. M. Ms. Freemans newest book is the field of blood. Join our life conversation with your phone calls, tweets, and facebook questions. Mennonite 00 p. M. Eastern on after words, in his latest book, the immoral majority, ben howe discusses christian values. Ben i think it is tempting the dangerous. I think it is keeping a system in place that takes accountability out of a system, and i think it also is an easy way to bring in Something Like evangelicalism for any other faith and then use that as a way to get votes which seems like about the worst possible, way to do that. Watch booktv every weekend on cspan2. Washington journal continues. Of labor day, we spent a lot of time today talking about unions and the right to work. We would like to hear from you now. How satisfied are you with your current job . 202 7488000 if youre satisfied with your job. If you are considering switching your job, that line is 202 7488001. And if you are not satisfied with your job, that line, 202 7488002. Start dialing in. We will get to your phone calls momentarily. On the line by congressman john rutherford, representing the fourth desert of florida, jacksonville, state augustine, all of northeast florida there. Congressman rutherford, thanks so much for joining us to rachel farge you think jacksonville in the northeast part of your state will be hit, according to the latest forecast . Rep. Rutherford thank you, bill. It is good to be with you this morning. I tell you, it is difficult to determine that right now, and i was in st. Johns county anderday with sheriff sure, the frustration with this storm is it is moving so slow, in fact, i am staying in contact through the eots sheriff sure, sheriff williams and evolve, and the sheriff up saidssau, and that one this is like watching the grass grow. It is moving so slowly. But the results can be catastrophic. Right now,a cat 5 165 mile an hour sustained winds. It has wobbled a little bit to the west, but one thing, bill, that i would like everyone in northeast florida to remember is look at the cone not the lines, because it can go anywhere inside that cone. We have to be vigilant with this storm. It is a massive storm. We are still expecting look, they are predicting 90 miles to 120 miles east of my district, which is due volcker on the st. Is due nassau, uvall, st. Johns, and , which issts up to 73 hurricane winds almost from a three foot to five foot surge, and a two foot to three foot coastal surge, so were going to have a lot of flooding regardless. The eeocs, most of news are already letting folks know, look, if you are in those areas that we know they flood, we know those areas, and they need to consider evacuation sometime probably around wednesday. Rutherford, aman former sheriff of due volcker county. What are the preparations for . He storm what are the things you are reminded of to look for . Rep. Rutherford the real difficulty is our special needs populations, if they are in lowlying areas, we will still have those areas available. The real challenges you want to make the evacuation call at least 48 hours out, and this storm is just moving so slow, and it is so unpredictable. I mean, they are not even expecting it to turn until wednesday. And it is supposed take that shortter sharp turn to the nor. So we have to be ready with things like special needs shelters, Traffic Control to get people out of the Barrier Island areas, those sorts of things. Host how about yourself . How do you keep yourself safe . Where will you be as the storm exits way close to the coastline . Rep. Rutherford i will probably be in one of the eeocs. Downmily will be hunkered at home. I am about four miles off the oceans coast, so i feel pretty three big but these the things are water, food, and fuel. Have that backup for our going out, be prepared for that. Fill up your bathtub. It possible to flush the toilet and all of that, and if push comes to shove, you can even drink. That. If you go online, you can find really good tips on how to do that, how much clorox to put in the water and all of that. Host congressman, we know it is a busy morning. We will let you go in a minute. When we started our program talking about the horrible mass shooting in texas yesterday in odessa. From your perspective, as a former sheriff, and with congress set to come back and perhaps take up some legislation, briefly, what do you think the priority should be . Rep. Rutherford look, i think the priority should be looking at these red flags alls where these individuals, and i do not know the case in texas yet. At that. Ill looking but i can tell you in almost every one of these school bill, two weeks later come after the event, we have people come up and say, im not surprised. I knew there were troubles with this fellow. All of that. Like i used to tell my officers when i was sheriff, i dont want to be the best First Responder to a mass casualty event. I want to prevent it before it occurs, and that means having the intelligence out there, understand what threat assessments are, how to report that information to authorities, and then they follow it up, and we actually get these individuals before a horrible event, and that is what the red flag is focused on. These special protection orders will allow Law Enforcement to go in, take guns away from people with due process, and you have to have due process. That is the caveat. For example, in the state of florida, we have a twoweek review where the judge makes a final determination after the seizures, and then the judge can take the guns for up to a year. At the end of that, there is another review to see if the gun should be returned to the individual, who might have just been having a rough spot in his life. But i think is the best way to protect the american public. Host well, we know it is going to be a busy couple of days for you. We really appreciate you taking the time to talk with our viewers here on washington journal. We hope you stay safe, congressman john rutherford, Fourth District of florida, thank you for being with us this morning. Rep. Rutherford thank you, bill. Host and our question, as we wrap up the program, the las 20 minutes or so, how satisfied are you with your job . If you are satisfied, that number is 202 7488000. If you are considering shipping jobs, that number is 202 7488001. And if youre not satisfied, 202 7488002. Part of this is driven by a survey from cnbc, a survey monkey survey, a majority of workforce are pretty happy, the majority grows five categories hey, opportunity for advancement, recognition, autonomy, and meaning. Surveymonkey poll surveyed 8664 people. We go to vicki. Good morning, vicki. Thanks for waiting. Caller i am very satisfied with my job personally. Have the worlds best clients, that keep me gainfully employed them even through that recession, even though i saw my clients lose their homes, and so i would just say that going into Massage Therapy was the best thing that i did, because, um, i am very happy. But prior, i just want to make one comment to your guests of last, that you had, your labor union on, i am actually a worker, prior to my massage, and what the union has done for me, as i am approaching retirement, it is going to give me a small, little pension. And in the discussions all through america now on having income in your retirement, or are not saving today like they should, and the regular person, you know, but myself, as access to buyin, you know, stock in savings. I mean, there is a whole bunch of discussions i hope cspan does to educate young people and how they can really start saving money by entering into the stock market themselves. But back to just this last labor live, i havehere i seen more manufacturing jobs pop up in here, and i have lived in the county for 35 years, and i am very thankful for a president that is allowing manufacturing to come back, so these workers can have a job, and then have either a union help them with the pension, or a company that does not want to be unionized offer pensions as a sort of a benefit for these people that need retirement at the end of, you know, when they want to retire. But that is my comments, and i thank you for cspan. You are awesome. Host glad to have you on the program. From jim in georgia, satisfied with your job. Tell us why. Caller hi. Good morning. Thank you guys for always putting on a good show. I am satisfied with my job. But i am a professional, and there is no union, like, available for me whatsoever at all. If i wanted to join a union, i could not, because there is not one. So i am very satisfied with my job host would that improve your Financial Condition . With that improve your pay . What kind of work do you do, jim . Caller i do accounting work. Not a part of a cpa firm or anything. But i did want to address i do not think it would improve, joining a union would improve my condition of your diet pretty well compensated already, but i did want to address one thing i did not hear from you guessed earlier, and that is that a lot of our labor jobs appear to be getting exported. I mean, for example, the textile industry, which was very strong in the carolinas some years ago, all of that has disappeared, and, you know, it is all now done in the far east. That is changing our standard of living here in the United States. Folks in other countries, that is giving them other jobs, so their standard of living is rising, and hours seems to be going down to stabilize what is theirs. Host all right, jim, thank you. Lets go to pennsylvania. A speech therapist in a nursing home, and i have been in the nursing home career for many years, and i have gone into private practice, because recently, oh, probably the last , il, since clinton got in believe is when it started, the emphasis on productivity, it is to the point where Nursing Homes the quality of nursing home care is really at risk now. Nurse fors a almost 45 years. She, uh, quit six months before her, um, Social Security eligibility age, full age at insistence of the instances o of productivity by the hospital when she was employed, which was part of a, uh, i guess you would say a megalith, that hospitals have become a huge corporation, if Small Community hospitals are getting sucked up in this. This is happening across the country. Not only is it for our future, that is up to us, health care, especially health care, and education because of the state of the um, teachers do not have the support from parents. Burning out. Are health care is so critical right now, and nobody is looking at it. As far as the union goes, i think they have seen their day. You have to look at it from another aspect, you cannot duplicate what they tried in the past. It is over. That is all i have to say. Thank you for taking my call. Host lets go to dawn in glen bernie, maryland, satisfied with his job. What you do, don . Caller i do plumbing work. I do health care, and i pay my mortgage, but the question should be, you know, you should do a survey on how many people actually live within their means, you know . They are always saying you live a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget. Maybe they should do a survey on that. Host that is a good question. We will consider that. That is a really good idea. Caller all right. Host appreciate it. Lets hear from david, satisfied with his work in irvine, california. Guest yeah, i am very satisfied with my job. As a matter fact, i love my job, money toe pretty good do basically i will tell you what i do i work and a cannabis shops, and i feel like i am helping people, because more people get cannabis instead of drink, it would be a much better world. I am over 62,ior, and we have a lot of seniors who come into our shop. A lot of people do not know about cannabis, but it is, like, so much better than drinking, and theres a lot of good benefits to it, and over the years, it got a bad rap. Host so it is relatively recent. It is a new field in terms of being a business in california. How long have you been working in the cannabis business . Caller well, i just started that job, and i have been there, like, eight months, and i did not think it would last. It is such a great place to work. Everybody is really nice. They play rock music. I just feel like it is one of the best jobs ive ever had. I had two other jobs that was good. I was in the military, and then i was an extra in a movie, and i really liked that, but does job here, it really beats everything. Host all right, david in california. Wall street Journal Business section, workers under 35 are happy with their pay. Workers underican 35 are happier with their paychecks than people over 35, according to a new report that hold employees about workplace satisfaction. Overall, the share of workers satisfied with their paycheck rose to 30 46. 4 in 2018 to 43 in 2017, an increase that mirrors federal data showing that rate growth accelerated in 2018. Jessica is in madison on the line not satisfied with work. What kind of work do you do, and what dont you like about it . Caller i work in water quality, and i love my job, i have always can tell you and i this i have been there for 29 years, and something that i have noticed, and this is i am trying not to be emotional. Years, we had top management that used a shepherd approach. Healthyt their herd with good health insurance, livable wages. Their main concern as managers was that people stay in we not lose knowledge capital. That made our workforce extremely productive, very physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy, so we were considered topnotch. In the last 10 years, we are under management who rewards folks at the top, 75 of the people were at work are making sixfigure salaries. The workers on the bottom have n frozen, and i have seen it is insane the amount of turnover, the amount of time wasted turning people, and they just turn around and leave. I have never seen anything like this. Said you jessica, you are in water quality. Is this a Government Agency . Caller yes, sir, it is. Host you have been there 20 years. What do you attribute this change in management to, this change in approach to management there . Caller political. Politicizing our water, politicizing our services. When you start losing real revenue from property taxes and businesses, you have to get it somewhere, and our water and many of our Municipal Services are used as cash cows. Host all right, we will hear from stan up next, satisfied with his job. Good morning. Caller good morning. I have been working at Catholic Social Services for 40 years, and they keep taking care of us, making a decent wage, but more importantly, knowing that you difference. I am 67, and i look back at my life saying all right, was it worth it . And i am very happy. I have been very fortunate. I do a lot of staff development, and one of the things millennials will say is if i get a job, am i going to make a difference . Do i have coaches . Do you take my feedback and honestly do something with it . Overall, i am very, very satisfied with my job. And fortunately, i have worked for an organization that has been very good to me. But more importantly, i actually feel it i have made a difference. Host stand, thanks for the call. Monkey, amongurvey the five attributes, the highest is meaning in work, 17 out of 20 in their index economy, able to work on individual products and on their own, 15 , contributions to the actual workplace, 15 out of 20, opportunity is less so, 11 out of 20, and the pay, 13 out of 20 in that surveymonkey poll. We go from denver in here from sean next on job satisfaction. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I listen to the show, and the caller prior to me had mentioned the healthcare sector, which i have worked in for 18 years, and it prompted me to call you. Over the past 10 years, i have received three promotions and by all accounts was excelling in my career. Forok seven weeks off paternity leave, to be with my firstborn daughter, and while i was out on leave, my position was closed. It was somewhat of a Prestigious University in new york city, and it was quite shocking to me, had what was interesting about the opposition is the university had recently acquired a Large Medical Center and deunionized the workforce there. And i found the whole process just to be shocking and disappointing and really pertinent to the conversation, the important conversation that you guys are having today, and i wanted to share my story. Host during this paternity leave, they called and said by the way, dont come back, your job has been eliminated . Caller well, they were kind enough to let me return for two weeks after i came back. I was gone essentially from thanks giving to new years. And by january 22, i was no longer employed. Host and did you know when you came back to the job had been eliminated . Had you heard about it . Caller there were a lot of whispers going around, and several people knew, and i had premonitions as to that going down. It was a really tough time, you know, it was a really tough time. I cannot help but wonder or think if there was not the de unitization of the place i was working at, i would still be thriving in my career. Thanks. An, we have read a couple of surveys and stories of all positive aspects people are finding in the workplace. Doit. Com, in their column the way we are working is not working. What we can do about it. A new podcast started exploring how we are working and how we can change it. It would be one thing if we actually ended up accomplishing more at the end of the day, but since the 1990s, worker productivity across the world has actually stagnated and even decline. What if we are working this way for no good reason . What if we are being less efficient, and worsening our healt in the process . Rs dying for a paycheck how modern management harms Employee Health and Company Performance and what we can do about it and journalists brigid schultes. Your thoughts on your jo satisfaction. E will hear from craig next you are thinking about quitting your job. Tell us why. Craig. Lost we will go to lloyd in san diego, california. Go ahead. Caller hi there. Thanks for taking my call, and thank you for cspan. The article you mentioned highlighted a little bit of my experiences since the 1980s, and i share that perspective. I think since the 1990s, there has been an increasing demand less time, and doing the best you can with the inputs, like email, phone, etc. I am looking in part because of the balance between the work and the compensation. Asked or yount you talked about earlier, in regard to unions, and i will call it s, i need toation be focused on benefits and representation to the employees, because the corporations, they have their human relations, their hr departments that represent the companys interests host right. Caller but not necessarily the employees interests. If the trade associations can provide benefits and representation so that when the employee leaves the company they still have health benefits, that would be, i think, a set of services that people would be willing to pay for. But i certainly appreciate the article you just went over, because that is my experience of having been in engineering and Business Management and marketing and sales. Host and that Previous Article is that doit. Com. The Trump Administration moving to expand the number of americans eligible for overtime pay. Labor department is expected to complete in the next couple of weeks. Lets go from warren in wisconsin. Not satisfied with work. Tell us why. Caller well, it started with some tax cuts. The corporation i work for employees about 700 people in wisconsin, it is seems to me that they took the tax cut that they got and they bought robots to replace 30 workers with that money, so the trickledown effect never works. That is my comment. Host thanks for that, warren. That will about rapid up. Thanks for your calls and comments. More tomorrow beginning a similar am eastern. Thanks for being with us. I hope your Labor Day Weekend is just great. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] is what you can watch on cspan. Supportedpreviously president obama and Hillary Clinton. After that, interns from the Cato Institute and Heritage Foundation debate. Then a conference on opioid addiction and substance abuse. The u. S. Senate comes back into session with two important issues on their agenda, passing federal spending bills and antigun violence legislation. Senateehind look at the when cspans history program, the senate conflict and compromise. Created in the spirit of compromise and mutual concession. Thomas jefferson questioned the need for a senate. Lets follow the constitution. A the framers established senate to protect people from their rulers and as a check on the house. The fate of this country lies in the hands of congress of the United States. The senate