Holidays. The senate convenes january 8. The house on january 9. Both chambers face two upcoming deadlines to avoid a government shutdown. The first january 19 and the other february 2. The committees are ready to do the work but we are waiting awaiting for the other chamber to come forward with a number we can agree upon. Leader mcconnell and i will figure out the best way to get this vote in quickly. Neither of us want to shut down. Announcer coverage on the cspan network cspan, now, or cspan. Org. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Announcer a healthy democracy doesnt just look like this. It looks like this. Where americans can see democracy at work. When citizens are truly informed, our republic thrives. Get informed straight from the source on cspan. Unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. From the nations capitol, to wherever you are. The opinion that matters the most is your own. This is what democracy looks like. Cspan, powered by cable. Where are you financially compared to three years ago or roughly the start of the Biden Administration . Heres how you can tell. If you say you are better off than three years ago, give us a call at 202 7488000. If you say you are worse off, 202 7488001. The number to call. Perhaps you are the same financially. You want to tell us why. 202 7488002. You can always text us at 202 7488003. Post on facebook and x as well. We should do this earlier. A recent poll done by the Financial Times and the university of michigan. Only 14 of American Voters believe they are financially better off since President Biden entered office. A couple of factors. The poll takes in 70 of voters thinking the current president s economic policies have hurt the economy or had no impact. 33 saying they hurt the economy a lot. It adds 82 of respondents cited price increases as their primary financial stress. Perhaps that is something you can factor into. Many pvious callers talked about the prices they pay, some talked about jobs, some talked about savings. Factor all those things in if you want. If youre better off than you were three years ago, 202 7488000. If you are worse off, 02 7488001. If you are the same, 202 7488002. The front page of the Washington Post talks about Economic Growth in the new year, this new year. Retail sales leading up to the holidays. Sales between november 1 and a december 24 up comparatively year ago. Online shopping accounted for a large share of the increased, rising 6. 3 compared to a 2. 2 jump or in person shoppers. Apparel sales roles and a Strong Demand for in person dining, a jump in restaurant spending. Thats an aspect of economic the economic snapshot. April in indiana says better off than three years ago. April, you start us off. Caller i am living financially better than i have ever lived in my entire life. I have a great job. I have a great income. Prior to that i had a lot of financial problems. I struggle to pay bills. I can go to the Grocery Store and i dont look at prices. I justby i just buy what i want to buy. Not long ago i had serious illness. Health insurance is great. I think this is the best economy that i can ever remember living in ever. Host what changes made it better . Caller i think what made it better is, you know, there are more job opportunities. Folks are not able to work remote, work hybrid. I have seen so many friends that if they are not happy with their job within a couple of months they can get a new job. Host ok. Caller its good. Its very good. I really wish more people would embrace the great economy that we have. To be able to go into the store and you dont really worry about things host did you get it is that because of a new job or financial gain . Caller i think its because ive been able to save money. I have been able to like i said, i have a really good job. Two years ago, i had an ok job. I was making pretty good money. Now the economy is really great. Host kirk up next in virginia says he is worse off. Caller good morning. I live in a rural area. Im retired on a fixed income. When it comes to inflation i dont trust the government statistics. I go to the Grocery Store. You see things like brand x oatmeal doubling in price over the last two years. When you see that kind of basic commodity like that go up to that extent that is hurting a lot of middleclass folks. The government Inflation Numbers on food is 12 , whatever. Thats a joke. Host are you saying it as food prices that make it worse for you particularly . Caller food. Interest rates. Young couples can no longer afford to build their first house. Its now 500,000. Thats in the course of the last three years. Host kirk in richard svile. Valerie says she is better off. Valerie in saginaw . Caller hi. I am better off. I can leave my house without fear of covid. Prices have always going up. Im old enough to remember one a five cent candy bar mid something. Potato chips. Throughout my lifetime im 71 prices of always going up. It has nothing to do with the president. People have to adjust and learn how to live in their budget. My daughter, my granddaughters, my grandkids are doing wonderful. Im retired. I live on a fixed income. I stay in my lane. I dont want to go and buy things, a new car. I remember when you get a new car for under 5,000. I remember when gas was not even a dollar a gallon. Things have always gone up. It has nothing to do with the president. It has to do with the Free Enterprise and companies raising their prices. We need to stop and learn how our economy works. Host what makes you better off specifically . Caller i got a nice little race last year from Social Security. Raise last year from Social Security and im getting a smaller one this year. I medication has gone down. One is on the list to go down next year that i desperately need. It is over 100 per prescription. Not counting my other meds. Some meds have gone down to . 32 copay. I have really im really doing much better off. Ive fully been retired for maybe two years. I have only been retired for maybe two years. Host sue in michigan says same off. Caller hello. I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and happy new year. My situation is this. Im 70 years old, retired. My husband is still working. We dont blow our money. We watch our money. We buy whatever we want. Were not rich. We are in a rural area. We enjoyed ourselves. We do what we want to do. Nothing has affected us. Groceries did go up a little bit but i watch what we spent. Spend. We dont do without. We buy whatever we want to buy. It has not affected me hardly at all. As far as the market goes, the market is going up so im happy. That is my situation. Host there are some examples. If you think you are worse off or better off or the same, call the number that best represents you. You can also text us if you wish at 202 7488003. There was an announcement from jay powell talking about the fact they will not raise interest rates, at least for now. He was asked about surprises he saw in the u. S. Economy. This was a few weeks ago. Here is a portion of what jay powell had to say [video] say. [video] forecasters were broadcasting a recession 423. That includes fed forecasters and essentially all forecasters. A high proportion of forecasters saw very weak growth in the recession. We actually had a very strong year. That was a combination of Strong Demand but also real gains in the supply side. This was the year when Labor Force Participation picked up. Immigration picked up. The distortions to supply and demand from the pandemic, the shortages, the bottlenecks begin to unwind. We had significant supplyside demand was strong just because the healing on the supply side. That was a surprise to just about everybody. The inflation forecast is roughly what people wrote down a year ago but in a different setting. I would say the labor market because of stronger growth has been significant the better. If you look back at the sep, there was significant increase in on employment. That did not happen. We are still at 3. 7 . We have seen strong growth, still a tight labor market but one that is coming back into balance with the support from the supplyside, a greater supply of labor. That is what we have seen. I think that combination was not anticipated broadly. Host if you want to see more of that, it took place on december 13. You can find it on the archives at cspan. Org. Riya in South Carolina says worse off than three years ago. Good morning. Caller good morning. The reason im worse off than i was three years ago is because i have not received a raise. I have received two raises. I started fulltime in 2019 for the pandemic it. Just before the pandemic it. I was guaranteed a raise every year for the cost of living. Then covid hit. I ended up not getting any raises for all of covid until last year. That coupled with the food cost increase and im only making about 2000 a month, there is literally just no ability for me to pull myself out of the hole. Im having to borrow money just to buy groceries. Things that cost two dollars three years ago now cost five or six. It is just really exhausting because im working 40 hours a week and i cant afford anything after i finish paying all my bills, my light bill, cable. I live in a camper. I cant even afford regular rent. Paying homage bills, i make 2000 a month. I have maybe 200 and 300 left over every month just to buy groceries. The cost of groceries is so high that it into being 200 to 300. I have to borrow money just to pay my bills. I dont blame joe biden for it. I blame is the responsibly of the u. S. Government to not be taking care of its people or ensuring we have what is necessary. I know the homeless situation is much higher than it was a few years back. It is because the cost of living has forced people out of homes to live in campers like me or to live on the street because they cant afford rent. It is really frustrating. Host giving us her story there in South Carolina. We will hear from alice in austin, texas. Better off than three years ago. Caller how are you . Host go ahead. You are on. Caller i feel like im a lot better off than i was three years ago. This year i did not have to pay any copay for my insurance. I am retired. I have had all my covid shots. I have great grandkids. One grandson who is getting his fellowship. I had my first great, great granddaughter and everything is going just fine. Joe biden is doing a great job. I am a democrat but i also think outside the box. Life is just great. Host ok. Alice in texas. Joseph in maryland, says he is worse off than he was three years ago. Tell us why. Caller good morning and thank you. Its a pleasure to hear your voice. You are a hard worker providing for our world. I hear your voice everyday whenever you are worki announcer you can continue watching this portion of washington journ on cspan. Org. We takyou live to a discussion on the 20 election with pollster and political analyst frank luntz. Im speaking with frank luntz. We are happy to have him with us. I hope you will give him your undivided attention. As he discusses what is possible and probable in 2024 based on the latest results. Welcome. Thank you. Im going to do something that ive not done before until this moment, which is to say that these last few weeks, the last few months have been very challenging healthwise, but they have also given me a sense of a new lease on my career, a new way to look at and articulate where we are right now. Its been very tough. I spent a few days in the in the e. R. I will tell you that our Health Care System is not so great but it also allows me the freedom to tell you what everyone in this call is seeking right now. Which is the truth. Not a democratic truth, not a republican truth, not even a no labels truth, but a truth about where we stand and sit as a country, as we are going into 2024, which looks to be one of the worst elections of modern times. I im going to do Something Special for you which is walk through some data with you. Stuff we have been doing over the last few weeks. And im going to open this up to answer questions. Its important that we speak of what we know rather than what we wish to know. And that we examine and im trying to Pay Attention to every word that i say to you. Because its never been more important. Im afraid that people are often misled. Im afraid what i often see on the television, 1520 feet away from me, is not always the truth, not always accurate. But at this point, if we are going to make the right decisions as a country, as a people, and as a functioning democracy, we need to know where things are. Going to pull up im going to pull up some results for you that i think you will find particularly in wharton. Particularly important. Ill try to get it fullscreen for you. To start, where we are right now, and we look at this every month, and majority of americans a majority of americans will consider voting for a Third Party Candidate with joe biden versus donald trump. I want to dispel that the at the outset that this idea of a third already candidate leads to the election of donald trump. That is false. That is inaccurate. The reason why trump at this point does a slightly ever so slightly better is because joe biden is doing so much worse. As we get closer to these first votes of 2024, if you are a democraticleaning person on this call, you should be apoplectic about your partys nominee. Not because of an issue, or any attributes other than one, and that is his age. And that is something that no campaign can fix. That is something that no spin doctor can change. And that has weakened him. But overall, it is an eight point difference. 80 of independents would vote for a Third Party Candidate. I know most polling right now, if you take a look at the nationwide surveys, most polling has donald trump up by two, on average. We have him that even. Notice that at 20 , we choose a community Third Party Candidate. 16 of independents. The top choice among republicans. 37 among independents. I know how many people are on this call. I know who is on this call. I am a little bit nervous. Because i want to get this right. But i want you to see this. Third party candidate, 15 of democrats and 16 of gop candidates. How does that elect donald trump . It doesnt. Allow me to show you a few things that we have been learning. Im trying to figure out what matters most to america right now as we enter 2024. And what matters most for this country is still freedom. But there are two definitions of freedom. Republicans define it as freedom to own a gun, speak your mind, pray anyway you want, freedom to democrats describe freedom as freedom from racism, from bigotry, from hate, from fear whether you define at the republican way or democratic way, freedom is still the number one attribute in this country and a unity ticket will have to address how they will make america more free in the months and years to follow. Second. And i love this one because this is my journey. What ive been going through over the last few years. They dont want bullshit. They dont want lies. They want to know exactly the truth. And, yes, the number one concern about social media. About what they get on television. On cable news and what they read in the newspapers. Is it the truth or is it biased or onesided . Only partially the truth . It is the number one attribute we want more of in 2024. You will see that as well. I see hands are already going up. By the way what we are going to do is i want you to be focusing your question. Focus on the learning part of this. Wipe everyones hands out. When we go to questions, we will start from there. This is what i do with my own students. I teach at west point. These young men and women, these young cadets are so devoted to this country, to the constitution, to doing the right thing for the right reasons. I know a lot of you have children and grandchildren, at universities right now, it really seems like its hell, and it is at west point, they understand service, sacrifice, commitment. When i do presentations like this, i add the west point aspect in mind. Have the west point aspect in mind. Third, the public is really frustrated with a lack of success and results from washington. If you want to discuss congress, which i think we should, it is more likely than not republicans lose the house and democrats lose the senate. Theres going to be a turnover in both institutions on capitol hill. And thats because of frustration that has boiled over into anger. Why can they get nothing done . The public will punish thema year from now. Fourth, with all due respect to the white house, inflation is not transitory. It is still by far the number one economic issue and the fourth highest priority for americans right now. And its very simple food, fuel, housing, and health care. The things that matter most to most people are more expensive today than they were 2, 3, 4 years ago and the public is saying i cant afford this and they want something better. The candidate that has the best answer to make things more affordable is the advantage that has the advantage come november 5. This is related to number three, the lack of results and lack of solutions. The attribute of problemsolving. Not a problem discussing. Not collective action. But actually rolling up your sleeves and fixing whats wrong is something they think is missing in america right now and they are so desperate for that from their president in 2024. Number six, the American People are not looking for oversight. Because oversight is performance. They are looking for genuine accountability. The idea that you say what you mean. You mean what you say. You do what you say. And if you dont, you are punished for that. Thats what accountability is for the average american. Number seven, people believe in climate, that there is global warming. They believe it is manmade. They want something done with it. But to the left, they talk about sustainability. Thats not what the public is looking for. Sustainability to the status quo. The red river will still be there, the forest will still be there. Thats not what the public is looking for. They are looking for cleaner, safer, healthier, better. Thats not what they seem to be getting. Thats what no labels is about. This has never been a priority in american politics since ive been working at it. Which is 1989 actually 1987. The idea of working together sidebyside. The uni