0:04

Welcome to Washington Today on C-SPAN Radio for Wednesday,

0:06

April 3, 2024. Senator

0:08

Bernie Sanders joins President Joe Biden at

0:10

the White House to talk about lowering

0:12

the cost of prescription drugs. CNN

0:15

writes the event gave Biden an opportunity

0:17

to flex his progressive bona fides. Republican

0:19

Congressman Robert Adderholt calls for a delay

0:22

in next week's vote for the next

0:24

House Appropriations Committee chair so

0:26

that there can be a discussion about

0:28

the annual spending bill process, which he

0:30

calls fundamentally flawed. We'll talk about it

0:32

with CQ roll call budget and appropriations

0:35

reporter Aiden Quigley. Federal

0:37

Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says more

0:39

data showing that inflation is under

0:41

control is required before the Fed

0:43

lowers interest rates. He was

0:46

at Stanford University in California. White

0:48

House asked about a Palestinian-American doctor

0:50

who walked out of a meeting

0:52

with President Biden Tuesday night in

0:54

protest of the administration's policy toward

0:57

Israel in its war with Hamas

0:59

in Gaza. NATO Secretary

1:01

General Jens Stoltenberg at a NATO foreign

1:03

ministers meeting in Brussels promotes a plan

1:05

to convert aid to Ukraine

1:08

for its war with Russia from

1:10

voluntary country by country into a

1:12

NATO multi-year guarantee. And

1:14

we'll talk with the 2024 US presidential

1:17

candidate who changed his name to literally

1:19

anybody else. Next

1:21

story from the Washington Times, President Biden linked

1:23

arms with Senator Bernard Sanders, a hero to

1:25

the progressive left on Wednesday

1:27

to burnish his brand as Big

1:29

Pharma's chief nemesis and push for

1:31

an extension of newly adopted drug

1:33

savings to all Americans, not just

1:35

seniors on Medicare. Mr. Biden,

1:38

eyeing a tough reelection campaign, is pushing for

1:40

a broad cap on out-of-pocket drug payments and

1:42

the cost of insulin, hoping to build on

1:44

key parts of the signature 2022 legislation.

1:47

That was from the Washington Times.

1:50

The program was in the

1:52

Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Senator

1:54

Sanders praising the president. Despite

1:56

all of the incredible wealth

1:59

and political power of the pharmaceutical

2:01

industry, believe it or not, they

2:03

have over 1,800 well-paid lobbyists

2:08

right here in D.C. Despite

2:12

all of that, the Biden administration

2:14

and Democrats in Congress are

2:17

beginning to make some progress. What

2:21

have we accomplished over the last several

2:23

years? As a

2:25

result of the inflation reduction act that

2:27

not one single

2:29

Republican voted for,

2:33

seniors with diabetes are paying

2:35

no more than $35 a

2:37

month for the insulin that

2:40

they need. Beginning

2:42

next year. That's

2:44

right. And

2:50

God knows how many lives that alone

2:52

will save. Beginning

2:55

next year, and this is a very

2:57

big deal, seniors will

2:59

be paying no more than

3:02

$2,000 a year out of pocket

3:04

for prescription drugs. Well,

3:11

and we all know, we all

3:13

know seniors who have

3:16

chronic illnesses more than

3:18

one and are running up huge prescription

3:21

drug costs that they can't afford. Well,

3:23

the cap next year will be $2,000.

3:27

Further and very importantly, pharmaceutical

3:30

companies can no

3:32

longer increase the price of

3:34

prescription drugs above inflation for

3:37

seniors without paying a substantial

3:39

penalty. And maybe

3:42

most importantly, for

3:45

the first time in American history,

3:47

Medicare is negotiating with the

3:50

pharmaceutical industry to lower some

3:52

of the most expensive prescription

3:54

drugs in America. Senator

4:01

Bernie Sanders, independent from Vermont and

4:03

chair of the Health Education, Labor

4:05

and Pensions Committee today in the

4:07

Eisenhower Executive Office building at a

4:09

program on lowering healthcare costs, particularly

4:12

prescription drug costs with President

4:14

Biden. He and the president also touted

4:16

the recent announcement that three of the

4:18

four largest inhaler manufacturers said they

4:20

would cap the cost of inhalers for many patients

4:22

at $35 per month. That

4:25

came after Senate Democrats sent a letter to

4:27

the CEOs of the companies demanding information and

4:30

documents on the costs involved in

4:33

manufacturing those inhalers. It

4:35

was President Biden. Senator Sanders

4:37

has pointed out one company sells an

4:39

inhaler for $49 in the United Kingdom.

4:42

You know how much they charge the United States for that

4:44

one inhaler? So

4:48

I take it $645. If

4:51

you need that inhaler, you're getting there for a moment.

4:53

The next time I go to London, you can get

4:55

off and you can get it. I'm

4:58

serious. I think, think about that though. Just

5:00

think about that. For

5:02

the same exact medicine and the same exact

5:04

device, it's outrageous. Another

5:07

company sells an inhaler for $9 in Germany,

5:09

$9 in Germany, and we paid $286 in

5:15

the United States, $9 in Germany,

5:17

same outfit, same company, same

5:19

device. And

5:21

so 30 times more, 30 times

5:24

more I repeat, it's outrageous. We're

5:27

doing something about it finally. Why

5:29

in God's name should an American pay $645 for the same inhaler

5:31

sold in the United Kingdom

5:34

for $49? By the same outfit, the

5:36

same outfit. Bernie called out

5:39

the drug companies during the congressional hearings. And

5:42

you just heard from Lena Kahn,

5:44

the chair of the Federal Trade Commission, who's

5:47

working with the Food and Drug Administration to crack down

5:49

on these drug companies. And it's a big

5:51

deal. As a result

5:53

of all this action, some drug companies

5:56

have withdrawn their abusive patent listings for

5:58

inhalers and other common products. like

6:00

EpiPans. You know, the last

6:02

few weeks, some of the big drug companies have

6:04

gotten a message to reduce the prices for some

6:06

asthma drugs. Bernie's a big reason

6:09

why that's happened. In fact,

6:11

three of the four largest companies are

6:13

capping the cost of inhalers for many

6:15

patients that can be up to $600 out of pocket at $35.

6:21

There's some progress going on beyond what we've looked

6:23

on in the law. But it's

6:25

about time. And

6:28

going forward, with more competition and more generic drugs

6:30

on the market, the price could even be less

6:32

than it is now coming down.

6:35

President Biden today in the Eisenhower Executive

6:37

Office Building. A Washington Times

6:39

article about the program reads, Mr.

6:42

Biden and Mr. Sanders tried to draw

6:44

contrast with former President Donald Trump and

6:46

his GOP allies. The Republican Study

6:48

Committee, a major block of House Republicans,

6:51

released a fiscal 2025 budget

6:53

plan that would attack Obamacare

6:55

and convert Medicare into a

6:57

premium support model. Mr.

6:59

Biden said he is pushing to extend

7:02

super-sized subsidies that made Obamacare more popular

7:04

and drove record signups, yet expire

7:06

at the end of 2025. A

7:09

CQ roll call story begins House Republicans

7:11

shouldn't rush to pick a new Appropriations

7:14

Committee leader until they have a fuller

7:16

discussion about changing the process to avoid

7:18

massive packages like the long delayed $1.2

7:21

trillion measure enacted before the Easter recess.

7:23

Congressman Robert Adler Holt, Republican of Alabama,

7:26

said Wednesday. That was written by Aiden

7:28

Quigley, CQ roll call Appropriations and Budget

7:30

Reporter, who joined us now. Thank you

7:32

for being on Washington today. What's the

7:35

state of this committee chair race? Yeah,

7:38

so thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Tom

7:42

Cole is really kind of the front runner at

7:44

this point. I mean, he's the only person running.

7:47

So he really is kind of in a

7:49

good position. He's the Transportation HUD subcommittee chair,

7:52

and also the chairman of the Rules Committee. He

7:55

has gotten the support

7:57

of Nearly all of the

7:59

other subcommittees. The term out

8:01

appropriations but. As

8:03

use as you just read the

8:05

articles without a whole piece. Also

8:08

what these for the Appropriations Subcommittee

8:10

Chairman he's interested in running. He.

8:12

Has not officially announced whether

8:14

he would rather get some

8:16

call but he was a

8:18

delay to be a potential

8:20

for the next Tuesday on

8:22

that who will be the

8:24

best Appropriations Committee Chairman. When.

8:27

He says he wants a discussion about

8:29

body changes as he suggested some of

8:31

these changes. Not explicitly.

8:33

I mean I think a lot

8:35

of frustration about. How. The

8:38

process played out this year. yeah,

8:40

I was it until last month

8:42

March, which is about six months

8:44

into the school year that that

8:46

we wrapped up there. Fiscal toy

8:48

plants are appropriations process. And.

8:51

You. Know that process was very like the

8:53

and it led to the ouster of

8:55

one speaker and now another one might

8:57

be facing V I. Wanted to

9:00

vacate from much utilitarian that we saw. She

9:03

brought up. Or at least

9:05

club the table before have decided to sees

9:07

us but I think at a Glock story

9:09

short get out they want to try to

9:11

pass of to appropriations bill. Which.

9:13

Is always a talking point and another

9:15

cause matter hold has been. Concerned.

9:18

About some, your boss had some senators

9:20

put into the Association's package, so maybe

9:22

some your mark reforms could be on

9:24

the table. Just. Away and and

9:26

see what he comes up with. This he

9:28

deserves to have. Any. Response from

9:31

Congressman Tom Cole or Speaker Mike

9:33

Johnson, or other Republican members involved

9:35

in the election. He apps

9:37

are times when call told me today that

9:39

he up there have lot of time to

9:41

wait. They. You know,

9:43

already? behind on their fiscal twenty

9:45

twenty five process. Seen that? Yet

9:48

up, the Superstar February and the other

9:50

half hearing scheduled for next week by

9:52

somebody April and. Developed. as

9:54

a lot of time of year

9:57

to they sit down someones bills

9:59

so you know, Representative Cole wants

10:01

them to move fast and have this

10:03

election next week as

10:05

originally scheduled and there's no indication yet

10:08

that it will be moved. How

10:11

powerful is the House Appropriations Committee

10:13

chair position in the current budget

10:15

process? I mean, as

10:18

an appropriations reporter, I think I'm somewhat

10:20

biased, but I would say it's

10:22

one of the most important positions in Congress. You

10:26

know, the power of the process is

10:28

kind of Congress's top responsibility, controlling

10:30

where federal money goes and the Appropriations

10:33

chairman has a lot

10:35

of control over, you know, how

10:38

Congress spends money. So

10:40

definitely a really powerful

10:43

position. That

10:45

said, leadership often is

10:47

involved in final appropriations deals, sometimes

10:49

negotiating them themselves. So

10:53

it really kind of depends on the

10:55

year, but overall the position of appropriations

10:57

chairman is one of the

10:59

most sought after on Capitol Hill and

11:01

it's been pretty fascinating to watch this,

11:03

turn into what, you know, one man

11:06

or two man race. So

11:09

far only one person running for it

11:11

and that really goes to show how

11:13

Cole has consolidated the support. Final

11:16

question, what does Congressman Adderholt's

11:18

letter and the disagreement that

11:21

he has with the appropriations

11:23

process with what's been going

11:25

on with Congressman Cole and the

11:27

speaker say as we head into the

11:29

fiscal year 2025 cycle? Yes,

11:33

Congressman Adderholt is definitely kind of

11:35

positioning himself with the

11:37

members of the House Freedom Caucus and

11:39

other kind of right flank of the

11:41

House Republican Conference and

11:45

he voted against the big compromise

11:47

spending package that just passed. And

11:50

I think he is, you know,

11:52

there's definitely a lot of House

11:54

Republicans who are upset about how

11:56

the appropriations process is going, but

11:59

when it comes down to it, you need to make

12:01

compromises when you have divided government, which is a

12:03

situation that we're in. And

12:05

the alternative would be to try

12:08

to do a full year continuing

12:10

resolution or the

12:12

compromise final bills, which

12:14

the direction that house

12:16

leadership decided to go in and it's how

12:19

we finally wrapped up this lengthy process last

12:21

month. Reporter, Aiden Quigley,

12:24

you can find his articles

12:26

at rollcall.com and on

12:28

X at Quigley Aiden. Thank

12:30

you very much. Thanks again. And

12:33

the House Republican Steering Committee is scheduled to

12:35

meet Tuesday to select the new Appropriations Committee

12:37

chair. And if there

12:39

is one chosen, the full House Republican

12:41

Conference could ratify that choice on Wednesday.

12:44

The former chair, Kay Granger, Republican

12:46

of Texas, has stepped down after

12:49

the fiscal year 2024 spending

12:51

bills were finished. House Speaker

12:53

Mike Johnson was interviewed on Monday

12:55

by a Moon Grafon radio show

12:57

in Louisiana about how he handled

12:59

those fiscal year 2024 federal

13:02

spending bills. The final

13:04

product is not the bill

13:06

that Mike Johnson and Moon Grafon would have drafted.

13:09

But here's the reality. Okay, this is what everybody's

13:11

got to understand. Right now,

13:13

we have the smallest House majority in

13:15

U.S. history. To advance any

13:18

conservative policy preferences, I can only

13:20

lose one vote. Literally, we have

13:22

a one-vote market. Okay. And because

13:24

several House Republicans decided last fall,

13:27

it's now acceptable to block our

13:29

own procedural rule votes. Okay. We

13:32

can't anymore bring our own preferred legislation to

13:34

the floor to just pass it with a

13:36

simple majority. We can't even

13:38

use our one-vote majority. Because instead, we

13:40

have to collect Democrat votes to pass

13:42

the big must-pass legislation like appropriations. That's

13:46

what they call suspension vote. Suspension

13:48

of the rules to bring the vote to the

13:50

floor. And that requires two-thirds of the body to

13:52

agree. So they're right out of

13:54

the box because their own team has decided we're

13:56

going to block our ability to bring our bill

13:59

to the floor. We have to

14:01

work with some Democrats or nothing nothing happens,

14:03

right? So the Democrats who control the White

14:05

House and the Senate remember Biden the president

14:07

Schumer runs the Senate We only have control

14:09

of the house and barely have control of

14:11

that They know that

14:13

when we go into the negotiations

14:15

process that I the House

14:17

Republicans are not sticking together Okay, so they're

14:19

on the high ground in negotiation house

14:22

speaker Mike Johnson Republican from Louisiana on a

14:24

radio show in his home state

14:26

of Louisiana on Monday From

14:29

Bloomberg News Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell Signaled

14:32

policymakers will wait for clear signs

14:34

of lower inflation before cutting interest

14:36

rates Even though a recent

14:39

bump in prices didn't alter their broader

14:41

trajectory Powell said

14:43

recent inflation figures though higher than expected

14:45

did not materially change the overall picture

14:48

He reiterated his expectation that it will

14:50

likely be appropriate to begin lowering rates

14:53

at some point this year Chair

14:55

Powell spoke at Stanford University in California

14:58

On inflation it is too soon to say

15:00

whether the recent readings represent more than just

15:02

a bump We do not

15:05

expect that it will be appropriate to lower

15:07

our policy rate until we have greater confidence

15:09

that Inflation is moving sustainably down

15:11

toward 2% Given

15:13

the strength of the economy and progress on inflation

15:15

so far we have time to

15:18

let the incoming data guide our decisions

15:20

on policy We've held

15:22

our policy rate at its current level since last

15:24

July as shown in the

15:26

individual projections that the FOMC released

15:28

just two weeks ago my colleagues and I continue

15:30

to believe that The policy rate

15:33

is likely at its peak for this tightening

15:35

cycle If the economy evolves

15:37

broadly as we expect most FOMC participants

15:39

see it as likely To

15:41

be appropriate to begin lowering the policy rate

15:44

at some point this year Of

15:47

course that outlook is still quite uncertain and

15:49

we face risks on both sides Reducing

15:52

rates too soon or too much could result in

15:54

a reversal of the progress we've seen on inflation

15:56

and ultimately require Even tighter

15:58

policy to get inflation back to 2%.

16:02

But easing policy too late or too

16:04

little could unduly weaken economic activity

16:07

and employment. As

16:09

progress on inflation continues and labor market

16:12

tightness eases, these risks continue

16:14

to move into better balance. As

16:17

conditions evolve, monetary policy is well positioned

16:19

to confront either of these risks. We

16:22

are making decisions meeting by meeting and we

16:24

will do everything we can to achieve our

16:27

maximum employment and price stability goals. Federal

16:30

Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at Stanford

16:32

University in California. Fed guidance has

16:35

said it expects three interest rate

16:37

cuts this year. USA

16:39

Today's story includes this paragraph. The

16:41

Fed raises rates to make consumer

16:43

and business borrowing more expensive. In

16:46

an effort to curb economic activity and

16:48

inflation, it lowers rates to stimulate weak

16:50

growth or dig the economy

16:52

out of recession. Officials are struggling to

16:54

balance both of its mandates. Secretary

16:57

of speech, Chair Powell was interviewed

16:59

by Arvind Krishnamurthy, Stanford University

17:02

Business Professor and one question was

17:04

about political pressures. External

17:06

pressure from the

17:08

Fed from outside over

17:11

where to set interest rates. And you have

17:13

faced this pressure over the last six

17:16

years including from

17:18

the former president. So how

17:21

do you navigate the decision making

17:23

of the Fed in the larger

17:25

scheme of pressures coming in from

17:27

the outside? So the thing is internally

17:30

we have peace of mind on this because everybody

17:32

who works at the Fed knows that we are

17:34

going to do what we are going to do

17:36

and we are going to do it for economic

17:38

reasons. And that is it as I mentioned in my

17:41

remarks. And I mean I think you can

17:43

go back and look at anybody can read the verbatim transcripts

17:45

of the

17:48

things that we discussed during it

17:50

doesn't matter what the election calendar is saying.

17:52

Whatever is happening in the economy

17:54

those are the decisions. We make decisions based

17:56

on the analysis that I described in my

17:58

remarks. know that. So

18:00

it becomes a communication issue that people

18:03

need to understand that that's what we

18:05

do. It's always what we do. If

18:07

you look at the modern historical record, you'll see

18:09

that the Fed has been prepared to move or

18:11

not move and do what it

18:13

thinks is the right thing for the economy

18:15

in the medium and longer term without

18:18

regard to kind of outside considerations. And it's

18:20

important to just have people know that, which

18:22

is why I brought it up. I'm not

18:24

I don't have concerns that, you

18:27

know, that it's going to be a problem for us

18:29

because we're going to do what the right thing is

18:31

for the economy over time. And my

18:33

colleagues and I are tightly focused on that. Federal

18:36

Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at

18:38

Stanford University in California. Who

18:42

else did today the Dow down 43,

18:45

NASA got 37, S&P up five. The

18:48

Federal Communications Commission has scheduled a

18:50

vote for April 25 to restore

18:52

net neutrality rules similar to those

18:55

under President Obama and then repealed

18:57

under President Trump. And FCC press

18:59

release said it will prohibit broadband

19:02

providers from blocking, slowing down or

19:04

creating pay to play internet fast

19:06

lanes and bring back

19:09

a national standard for broadband reliability,

19:11

security and consumer protection. Democrats do

19:13

have a three to two voting

19:16

majority on the FCC. The

19:19

FCC posted this video with the

19:21

chair, Jessica Rosenworsal. COVID

19:23

taught us just how important broadband access

19:25

is in modern life. And

19:27

at the FCC, we think the way

19:29

consumers interact with internet service providers should

19:31

reflect that fundamental fact. We're

19:34

working to bring back net neutrality, a principle

19:36

that ensures an open and fair

19:39

internet where providers treat all online

19:41

content and applications equally and without

19:43

bias. This also gives

19:45

the FCC the ability to protect the

19:47

internet in the name of national security

19:49

and public safety. If there's

19:51

an internet outage in your area, the FCC could

19:54

now have the power to work with companies to

19:56

help fix it. And if

19:58

bad actors and foreign adversaries are using

20:00

our networks for nefarious purposes, we would

20:02

now have additional tools to fight them.

20:05

Restoring Net Neutrality will secure access

20:07

to a fast, open, and fair

20:10

internet for all. Washington

20:30

Today continues in a moment. In

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the beginning 45 years ago, the media

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back to Washington Today. available as a

22:01

podcast on the C-SPAN Now mobile app. That's

22:03

free and wherever you find your

22:05

podcasts. An

22:07

article at CNN, a Palestinian American doctor

22:09

walked out of a meeting with President

22:12

Joe Biden before it was over Tuesday

22:14

evening, underscoring the high tension, anger, and

22:16

concern from Arab, Palestinian, and

22:19

Muslim American communities amid

22:21

the Israel-Hamas war. Dr.

22:23

Thayer Ahmad, an emergency physician from Chicago

22:25

who traveled to Gaza earlier this year,

22:27

told CNN he abruptly left the meeting

22:30

that included Vice President Kamala Harris, National

22:32

Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and

22:34

other administration officials, plus

22:37

a small group of Muslim community leaders.

22:39

That was from CNN. Dr.

22:41

Ahmad was interviewed by CNN Tuesday

22:43

night. You know, we had shown up to

22:45

this meeting really concerned about what was taking place in

22:47

the Gaza Strip, and I'm glad that you mentioned that

22:49

we were insisting that there would

22:51

not be any food there. It made no

22:54

sense for us to sort of break bread

22:56

while talking about a famine taking place. We

22:58

had shown up and the President and the Vice

23:01

President, the National Security Advisor are in the room,

23:03

and there was very brief comments by the President

23:05

saying he wants to hear from us and he

23:07

wants to listen to us. And so

23:09

I spoke first, and I let him know that I

23:12

am from a community that's reeling. We are

23:14

grieving. Our heart is broken for

23:16

what's been taking place over the last six

23:18

months, and that the rhetoric that

23:20

has been coming out of the Biden administration, that's

23:22

been coming out of the White House, it's

23:25

frustrated a lot of people, especially

23:27

people who are Palestinian Americans, Muslim

23:29

Americans, Arab Americans, we

23:31

are not satisfied with what has taken

23:33

place. There has been no concrete steps.

23:36

But keep in mind, we're very concerned about

23:38

the people that are over in the Gaza

23:40

Strip that are in Palestine right now, who

23:42

are not just starving, but are facing the

23:44

threat of a looming Rafah invasion. And

23:47

so I was able to share that with the President and

23:49

let him know that out of respect for my community,

23:51

out of respect for all of the people who have suffered

23:53

and who have been killed in the process, I

23:55

need to walk out of the meeting, and I wanna walk

23:57

out with decision makers and... them

24:00

know what it feels like for

24:02

somebody to say something and then walk away from them

24:04

and not hear them out and not hear their response.

24:07

Wow. I mean, how did

24:09

President Biden respond to that? You

24:11

know, there wasn't a lot of response. He actually

24:14

said that he understood and I

24:16

walked away. And I think, you know, for me, just

24:18

like many of the other Palestinian Americans and

24:20

Palestinians, or as I mentioned, many of the

24:23

people who are interested in what's going on,

24:25

we're panicking. Dr. Thera Maad

24:27

on CNN Tuesday night, ABC News

24:30

writes, the White House meeting behind closed

24:32

doors was followed by a small Iftar

24:34

dinner to mark the end of the

24:36

daily fast during Ramadan with Muslim administration

24:38

staffers, but not with the community leaders

24:41

and that the events are very scaled down

24:43

gathering to mark Ramadan, Islam's holiest

24:45

month, compared to previous years when the

24:47

president would host hundreds for a reception

24:49

and deliver remarks in front of guests

24:51

and the press. Neither the meeting with

24:53

Muslim community leaders nor the Iftar dinner

24:55

were on President Biden's public schedule. That

24:58

was from ABC News. The

25:00

White House press secretary, Kareena Jean-Pierre, got

25:02

questions from reporters today at her news

25:04

conference about what happened. So

25:19

let me just say a couple of things just

25:21

at the top about last night and how

25:23

important it is, as you know, the president

25:26

and the vice president, they continued their tradition

25:28

of honoring the Muslim community during Ramadan by

25:30

hosting a meeting with Muslim community leaders to

25:32

discuss issues of importance to the community. Let's

25:35

not forget, this is the

25:38

sit down conversation, the meeting was

25:40

asked and it was supposed to be

25:42

private. They wanted a private meeting. That was something

25:44

that as we have done our

25:47

outreach, as you know, senior White House officials have

25:49

been doing this outreach to president and

25:51

the vice president have been in

25:54

communication with the community regularly since

25:56

October and this is something that they

25:58

asked. They asked for a private meeting. working meeting,

26:00

if you will. And so

26:02

we understand how this community is

26:04

feeling. It is deeply painful moment

26:07

for many in the Arab and

26:09

Muslim communities. The president also expressed

26:11

his commitment to continue working to

26:13

secure an immediate ceasefire

26:16

as part of a deal to

26:18

free the hostages and significantly increase

26:20

humanitarian aid into Gaza. And

26:22

the president made clear that he mourns

26:25

the loss of every innocent life in

26:27

this conflict, Palestinian and

26:29

Israeli. The president and

26:31

vice president are committed to continue

26:33

engaging with these leaders moving forward.

26:36

As I mentioned, we've had regular engagement

26:39

with members of those communities as

26:42

it relates to the part

26:44

of the question that you just asked me

26:46

about a participant walking out. Look,

26:48

I want to be really careful here. We

26:50

said that we would keep these conversations private,

26:52

so I'm not going to continue. I'm not

26:54

going to comment on any

26:57

private discussions. But

26:59

as I said many times from

27:01

this podium, the president respects any

27:03

American's right to

27:06

peacefully protest. And we

27:08

are going to continue to have these

27:10

conversations, obviously, with that community. How

27:13

did the White House decide who would

27:15

attend the charge? So what

27:18

I will say is I want

27:22

to be careful here. You

27:25

know, this meeting,

27:27

again, was decided after we had done

27:29

outreach for some time now. We

27:32

wanted to make sure that this was a private

27:34

meeting and that participants had an opportunity to be,

27:36

you know, to be honest

27:38

and to be able to share their thoughts

27:40

and feelings about how, you

27:43

know, where they are, how they feel about the

27:45

situation happening, obviously, in the Middle East. I

27:48

don't have a process to lay

27:50

out how the list came about.

27:53

And so I don't have anything to lay

27:55

out in that realm. But as you know, and

27:57

as I stated a couple of times, I'm going to be very careful

27:59

here. We've done outreach for

28:02

this past several weeks, several months, to

28:04

the Muslim, to the Arab community,

28:06

Palestinian community, and heard

28:08

from them directly. And they spoke.

28:11

We listened. And we hope

28:13

that they feel like they had an opportunity to

28:15

express themselves and had an opportunity in front of

28:17

the president and the vice president to talk about

28:19

an incredibly painful time. The

28:22

White House Press Secretary, Kareen Jean-Pierre, at

28:24

her daily news conference in the White

28:26

House briefing room. A story from AFP,

28:28

the bodies of six foreign aid workers

28:30

killed in an Israeli airstrike were on

28:32

Wednesday taken out of Gaza to Egypt

28:34

for repatriation, a security source said,

28:37

as Israel faced a chorus of

28:39

outrage over their deaths. The Israeli

28:41

military killed seven staff of the

28:43

U.S.-based food charity World Central Kitchen

28:46

on Monday in an attack that

28:48

U.N. Chief Antonio Luterez labeled unconscionable

28:51

and an inevitable result of the way

28:53

the war is being conducted. The remains

28:55

of the six international staff who were

28:57

killed alongside one Palestinian colleague were taken

28:59

in ambulances to the Rafa

29:01

crossing to Egypt, where they were handed

29:03

over to representatives of their respective countries.

29:05

The security source said, in condition of

29:07

anonymity, one of those workers was American. That

29:09

was reporting from AFP. The

29:12

Israeli Armed Forces chief heard the

29:14

hallevee in a video called the

29:16

attack a grave mistake. The

29:19

IDF completed a preliminary debrief.

29:22

I want to be very clear. The

29:25

strike was not carried out with

29:27

the intention of harming WCK

29:30

aid workers. It was

29:32

a mistake that followed a misidentification

29:36

at night during

29:38

a war in a very complex

29:40

condition. It shouldn't have

29:43

happened. This incident

29:45

was a grave mistake. The

29:49

war is at a war with Hamas, not

29:51

with the people of Gaza. We

29:54

are sorry for the unintentional

29:56

harm to the members of WCK.

30:00

We share in the grief of

30:02

their families as well

30:04

as the entire World Central Kitchen

30:07

organization from the bottom of

30:09

our hearts. Hersey

30:11

Hallavi, Chief of the General Staff

30:13

of the Israeli Defense Forces, posting

30:15

that video. U.S. President

30:17

Joe Biden writes Reuters will speak by

30:20

phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

30:22

on Thursday, three days after Israel launched

30:24

an attack in which seven World Central

30:26

Kitchen aid workers were killed. The U.S.

30:28

official said the White House

30:30

has described Biden as outraged and heartbroken by

30:32

the attack, but the president has

30:34

made no fundamental change in the

30:37

United States' steadfast support for Israel

30:39

in its conflict in Gaza. Again,

30:41

that's the story from Reuters. The

30:43

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller

30:45

took more reporters' questions about this

30:47

at his news conference in Washington.

30:49

Reuters, we have

30:51

an interview with Jose Andres actually

30:53

just on our wire, and he

30:55

told us that the

30:58

Israeli army targeted the convoy,

31:00

quote, systematically, car by car.

31:03

And you know, President, Prime Minister

31:06

Netanyahu talked about this being a

31:08

mistake and unintentional. How do

31:10

you reconcile those two, the reporting

31:12

and what Jose Andres is saying

31:14

and what Prime Minister Netanyahu is

31:16

saying? So two things about that.

31:20

So, number one, the chief

31:22

of staff for the Israeli Defense Forces has

31:24

come out and said it's a misidentification. So

31:26

while they were, I took

31:29

that to mean while they were targeting those cars,

31:31

they did not believe that it was the world's

31:34

central kitchen that was operating those vehicles at the

31:36

time. But that

31:38

said, we need to wait and see the outcome

31:40

of this investigation to know with any confidence what

31:42

it was that happened, and we're going to wait

31:44

to do that. But the

31:46

second thing is, the second

31:49

point is, it doesn't really matter

31:51

how they made the mistake. At

31:53

the end of the day, you have seven

31:55

dead aid workers who are there trying to

31:58

deliver humanitarian assistance. So whatever the reason was

32:01

that led to this tragedy, whatever the mistake

32:03

that happened inside the IDF, it's unacceptable. And

32:05

they need to do better and they need

32:07

to put measures in place to ensure that

32:09

it doesn't happen again. State

32:12

Department spokesperson Matthew Miller at his

32:14

news conference. This is Washington Today.

32:17

From Al Jazeera, NATO members

32:19

have agreed to start planning military support

32:21

for Ukraine on a long-term basis. Urged

32:24

by Secretary General Jan Stoltenberg, a

32:26

meeting of NATO foreign ministers agreed

32:29

on Wednesday to move toward guaranteeing

32:31

long-term weapons deliveries to Kyiv. However,

32:34

proposals to establish a $107 billion five-year fund met resistance

32:38

from some quarters. The

32:40

alliance chief said allies agreed to move

32:42

forward with planning for a greater NATO

32:44

role in coordinating security assistance and training.

32:46

The move would give NATO a more

32:48

direct role in coordinating the supply of

32:50

arms, ammunition, and equipment to Ukraine as

32:53

it fights Russia's invasion. That was

32:56

the article from Al Jazeera. The

32:58

Secretary General Stoltenberg spoke to reporters

33:00

earlier today. Europe

33:03

now faces war on a scale

33:05

we thought was resigned to history.

33:08

In recent days, the Kremlin

33:10

has launched new major attacks,

33:13

striking Ukrainian civilians

33:15

and infrastructure, and

33:18

Russia continues to press along the

33:20

front lines. So

33:23

we must stand firm in

33:25

our support to Ukraine. And

33:28

I welcome that allies continue

33:30

to make major deliveries of

33:32

weapons, ammunition, and equipment. But

33:36

Ukraine has urgent needs. Any

33:40

delay in providing support has

33:42

consequences on the

33:44

battlefield as we speak. So

33:48

we need to shift the dynamics

33:50

of our support. We

33:52

must ensure reliable and predictable

33:54

security assistance to Ukraine for

33:57

a long haul. so

34:00

that we rely less on

34:03

voluntary contributions and more on

34:05

NATO commitments, less

34:08

on short-term offers and

34:10

more on multi-year pledges. Therefore,

34:14

ministers will discuss how NATO

34:16

could assume more responsibility for

34:19

coordinating military equipment

34:21

and training for Ukraine, anchoring

34:24

this within a robust NATO

34:26

framework. We will also discuss

34:28

a multi-year financial commitment to

34:31

sustain our support. This

34:34

ministerial will set the stage for

34:36

achieving consensus on these issues, as

34:40

we prepare for the Washington summit.

34:43

NATO Allies provide 99%

34:46

of all military support

34:48

to Ukraine. So

34:51

doing more under NATO would

34:53

make our efforts more efficient

34:55

and more effective. Moscow

34:58

needs to understand that they cannot

35:00

achieve their goals on

35:02

the battlefield and they cannot wait us out.

35:06

NATO Secretary-General Jan Stoltenberg,

35:08

NATO is marking its 75th anniversary this

35:10

week. A

35:13

U.S. House vote on

35:15

Ukraine aid isn't likely until at

35:17

least mid-April and possibly later, with

35:19

Speaker Mike Johnson still searching for

35:22

ways to soften opposition from Republican

35:24

hardliners. Multiple party leadership officials said

35:27

Johnson raised expectations for a quick

35:29

action in a Fox News interview Sunday,

35:32

saying the House would move forward with

35:34

Ukraine assistance right away when lawmakers return

35:36

next week from their two-week Easter break.

35:40

The Undersecretary of the U.S. Army, Gabe

35:42

Camarillo, was asked today about the

35:45

effects on the U.S. military of

35:47

not approving additional aid for Ukraine.

36:00

What's the impact on the army, in particular

36:02

in the area of not just impact on

36:04

the army, but how it affects the defense

36:07

industrial-based modernization and also how it would

36:09

impact critical munitions that are needed both

36:12

in Ukraine and for us elsewhere? Yeah.

36:14

No, thanks for bringing it up. You

36:16

know, we always say that the

36:19

need to pass the supplemental is

36:21

absolutely crucial, not just because we're

36:24

supporting Ukraine and it's absolutely vital

36:26

that we support Ukraine

36:28

in this conflict against Russia. Not

36:30

passing the supplemental would have devastating effects to

36:33

the United States Army. And let me explain

36:35

why. As I've said

36:37

before, many of the current

36:39

operations costs that we are

36:42

currently undertaking in

36:44

the army, for example, all of our

36:46

support mission to NATO and deployments to

36:49

Europe, that cost has

36:51

been up until December

36:53

of 2022 paid for

36:55

by supplementals. Since

36:57

December of 2022, we have been

37:00

essentially cash flowing. I'm sorry, December of

37:02

23. We have

37:04

been cash flowing a lot of those

37:06

costs with our own internal

37:09

army funding. So until

37:11

the supplemental is passed, you know, we have

37:13

a running tally, and I'm looking at General

37:15

Mark Bennett here from Army Budget Office. It's

37:18

around the nature of 500, north of $500 million at this point, that we

37:20

have been essentially cash

37:24

flowing to date for these operations costs.

37:26

We need that supplemental to reimburse us because

37:28

that's essentially operations funds that we cannot use

37:30

for other things that we had planned to

37:33

do during the course of the year. So

37:36

what does it impact? It impacts things like exercises

37:38

that we had planned in Europe and the Pacific.

37:41

It affects, you know, operations activities at

37:43

the unit level that they want to do.

37:46

Other areas where we have to take

37:48

risk because we're cash flowing these costs.

37:51

And second example is, you know,

37:53

the area of procurement that is

37:55

in the supplemental. This is all through the replenishment

37:58

funding. said

38:00

very clearly, for example, the need for 155 artillery

38:03

to be able to produce it at a

38:05

rate of 100,000 rounds per month by the

38:07

end of 2025. We

38:10

can only get there if

38:12

two things happen in the supplemental. First

38:14

of all, if we get some of the

38:16

investment for facilities that are in that bill,

38:19

and again, that goes to

38:21

domestic sources like Army

38:24

ammunition plants at Scranton and in Holston,

38:26

and some of our vendor base. The

38:29

other thing that we need are the

38:31

procurement of critical munitions, which is part

38:33

of the supplemental. So it's

38:35

vital to the industrial base. It generates jobs

38:37

here in the United States. It

38:40

supports our ally in Ukraine, and

38:42

it definitely reflects our commitment to that

38:45

cause. So it's vital for the Army

38:47

that we get that supplemental pass. Gabe

38:50

Camarillo, Undersecretary of the U.S. Army

38:53

at an Association of the U.S.

38:55

Army program in Arlington, Virginia today.

38:58

Story from the New York Times, President

39:00

Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has signed into

39:02

law three measures aimed at replenishing the

39:04

ranks of this country's exhausted and battered

39:07

army, including the politically poisonous step of

39:09

lowering the age when men become eligible

39:12

for mobilization and eliminating some medical exemptions.

39:15

Russia's forces have been on the offensive along

39:17

the front line, and Ukrainian generals have warned

39:19

of a broader attack in the spring or

39:21

summer, even as Ukraine's army

39:23

runs low on ammunition and many

39:25

soldiers have been on continual combat

39:27

duty for two years. That was from the

39:30

New York Times. In the race

39:32

for the White House every four years,

39:34

there are candidates from major political parties,

39:36

minor political parties, and

39:38

independents, and that

39:40

could run well over a thousand, according

39:43

to ballopedia.org. One

39:45

of the latest to enter, a 35-year-old

39:47

man from Texas who changed his name

39:50

legally to literally anybody

39:53

else. C-SPAN spoke to him this

39:55

morning. why

40:00

you decided to throw your hat in the

40:02

ring here and change your name and enter

40:05

this race? Well, it was one of

40:07

those things that felt like somebody had to. After

40:10

the last two presidential elections, we've had

40:12

one of the highest dissatisfaction rates, which

40:16

is the choice of candidates. And

40:19

first time that's kind of expected, second

40:24

time, you really

40:27

start to get frustrated even more. And

40:29

now that we're on round three

40:31

of just completely undesirable choices, this

40:34

tweetism has got to stop. And

40:37

so with that in mind, it wasn't

40:39

an immediate thing. It wasn't as soon as I had the ideation

40:41

to change the name that it's

40:43

happened because that's my identity. That's something

40:45

very serious. So as

40:47

it progressed and got worse and worse, it

40:50

kind of, as that weight climbed

40:53

the hill, once

40:56

it reached the peak, I

40:59

felt like somebody had to do something. Formally. Don't

41:01

step up, then, yeah. Formally, Dustin,

41:04

E.B., currently, literally anybody else, what's

41:07

your background? What qualifies you to run for president?

41:10

Well, I don't have any background in

41:12

politics, really. I did an internship for K Granger

41:14

for a while when I was at TCU.

41:18

Other than that, my hands-on

41:20

experience with politics is not

41:23

really there, but that's the beautiful thing about American

41:26

government is that you don't have to have experience

41:28

required as long as your heart's in

41:30

the right place and you have the mental capacity

41:32

to make those connections because that's

41:34

what it should be about. If

41:37

the government's meant to be a government

41:40

of representatives, then why don't

41:42

the people represent us anymore? Why

41:44

doesn't Congress and the president, why don't

41:46

the two presidents represent a

41:48

majority of the people? It doesn't make any sense. So

41:51

I hope to bring that. As a teacher,

41:53

as a veteran, I can connect

41:55

with far more people. I can relate to far

41:58

more problems than they ever could. In an

42:01

interview on this morning's Washington Journal on

42:03

C-SPAN, you can find all of our

42:05

2024 presidential election coverage

42:08

at c-span.org. Click on Campaign 2024. And

42:12

thanks for listening to Washington Today. If

42:14

you subscribe to C-SPAN's free evening newsletter,

42:16

Word for Word, you'll get the stories

42:18

that are making headlines in Washington sent

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42:23

sign up at c-span.org/connect. Have

42:25

a good night.