at the same time, agriculture secretary tom vilsack testifies for a house appropriations subcommittee about the president's 2022 jet request. at 2:30, a hearing on cyber security threats. ♪ >> american history tv on c-span3, every weekend document thing america's story, funding for american history tv comes from these companies who support c-span3 as a public service. >> senate majority leader chuck schumer and house speaker nancy pelosi spoke about covid-19 hate crimes legislation. they were joined by senator hirono and andy kim. this runs 30 minutes. sen. schumer: good morning everybody, i am pleased to be joined by our great speaker, nancy pelosi, senator mazie hirono, rep. grace meng from my state of new york and rep. andy kim. i want to thank senator hirono and mung for leading the charge on legislation, and speaker pelosi and congressman kim for lending their great support for this as well. we know over the past year there has been an awful rising tide of violence and discrimination against asian americans. it is driven by fear, by misinformation, by age old prejudices, from s

. >> the cabinet will go to capitol hill, tom vilsack is testifying about the usda's 2022 proposed budget. we'll hear from the transportation secretary and the education secretary as well. if there's a theme, what is it? >> i would say it's probably historic investments in domestic programs. these are non-defense programs. programs that do not involve the pentagon or the military. that is essentially because we're at the end, we're now on the other side of what was ten years of strict funding limits under what was called the budget control act. that set limits on how much congress can spend for ten years. that was a 2011 law. and now that we're in fiscal 2021, fiscal 2022 in october is the first year we're outside of those caps. a lot of folks feel like programs have been short-changed for a decade. now that we're beyond that, congress really has an opportunity to course correct, if they want, with domestic funding, and rein in military spending if they want. we're in a free zone where congress can decide what levels are appropriate for domestic levels and for the pentagon, and that will

at the same time, tom vilsack testifies before a house appropriations subcommittee about the president's 2022 budget request and that 2:30, a subcommittee holds a hearing on cyber security threats. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. created by america's cable television companies in 19 79, today, we are brought to you by these television companies to provide c-span 2 viewers as a public service. >> at tuesday's white house briefing, dr. anthony fauci and jeff zients adjust the pausing of the use of the johnson & johnson vaccine because of concerns over blood clotting. and the press secretary announced biden's plan to withdraw troops from afghanistan. this is just over one hour. jen psaki: come on in. i am joined by jeff zients and dr. fauci to talk about the news from the fda this morning. they will also take some questions. i will keep an eye on the clock and with that, turn it over to jeff. jeff: thank you to all of you. good afternoon. as you know, the fda and cdc announced earlier today that out of an abundance of caution they recommend a pause in the johnson & johnson

at the same time, agricultural secretary tom vilsack testifies

vilsack on agriculture. a piece in the hill talks about inflation. their headline says inflation rears its head amid spending debate, saying the consumer price index for march released tuesday jumped to higher than expected 6% from february, the biggest monthly increase since 2012. prices were up 2.6% compared to march of 2020. the economist agrees some degree of inflation should be expected but the economy recovers from the worst recession since the great depression. congressman hill, you mentioned this briefly earlier. how does the rise in inflation complicate the budget process on capitol hill? >> that's a good question. we had a $1.7 trillion deficit last year. we are projecting a $2.1 trillion deficit in this fiscal year. that is a lot of spending generated by a government in the economy. it is the most ever since world war ii. we are running extraordinary deficits, adding debt, and on top of that, the federal reserve is buying about $120 billion of that debt every month. they are injecting incredible r

at the same time, agriculture secretary tom vilsack testifies before a house appropriations subcommittee about the president's 2022 budget request. and a senate armed services subcommittee on cyber security threats. next up is the politics editor for the washington times. with us to talk about border issues and in particular immigration and border issues. guest: good morning. host: the nori -- the story we noted about the border last week. he reported the dhs may restart border wall construction to plug "gaps." tell us the policy so far when it comes to the border wall with mexico. guest: at the end of the trump administration, the administration constructed about 460 miles of border wall system over the four years. much of that paid for through defense department money through some emergency orders and other changes siphoning from pentagon accounts to go to border wall funding. president biden immediately revoked that declaration and restored or cut off that siphoning of money from the pentagon for portable construction. so it took at a large swath of the funding that president trump ha

i'm hanging out about jennifer granholm and tom vilsack and michael regan, every one of these cabinet agencies really have a lot to offer about how we reduce our emissions, but equally importantly, how we just rejuvenate ourselves as a country and start investing in the kind of future we want to hand our kids. >> how much of that big goal announced by the president this week, this idea of cutting our national carbon emissions in half by the end of this decade, how much of that -- how much toward that goal do we get by the infrastructure bill? i know the infrastructure bill is a big priority for the administration, and i know the legislative effort to pass that is well underway. i believe that some version of the infrastructure bill ultimately will pass thanks to the budget reconciliation process, even if republicans don't come along. how much is that overall goal dependent on that one bill? >> well, i think president biden was really interested in moving that bill regardless of what our commitment was, because he saw it as being so vitally important for our economy and for, you know,

vilsack is going to increase our focus and our resources around helping the farmers in that region who have been devastated by crisis in terms of climate and drought. usa i.d. where we're increasing our disaster response because again, the hurricanes. so this is the kind of work that has to happen. the kind of work that has to happen is the diplomatic work that we have been engaged in including my calls to the president of mexico, the president of guatemala, and we have a plan to actually have another meeting coming up soon. >> are you going to go there? >> yes, we're working on the plan to get there. we have to deal with covid issues, but i can't get there soon enough in terms of personally getting there. and then we have to also look at the piece about community-based organizations. so for example, this week in addition -- or next week, in addition to meeting again with the president of guatemala, i will be meeting the following day with the community-based organizations in guatemala. they call them basically civil society to figure out how we can better assist what they're doing on

secretary of agriculture tom vilsack. secretary, thank you for joining us. you're giving families $375. how do you ensure they use it on food for their kids and that it's going to the families that need it most? >> stephanie, the check -- the cards are going to go to families of free and reduced lunch youngsters. so those lined up at schools that have identified as free introduced lunch. states know who they are. they will be distributing the cards to the families and they will be able to use it at the grocery store to purchase fruits and vegetables and good food. we will trust parents to do the right thing for their child. the reality is oftentimes they don't is because they don't have the financial resources to do so. this will give them an added boost along with other things the biden/harris administration have done to help families struggling through this pandemic. i'm excited about this. this is a good day for america's children. it covers children with free lunch and children under age 6 if they live in a s.n.a.p. family. it gives them a little extra c

. >> find c-span weekly where you get your podcast -- >> agricultural secretary tom vilsack testified about budget priorities for his department. the president's 2022 proposal calls for 28 billion to help fund department hear is almost three hours. >> this hearing is now called to order. as this hearing is fully virtual we must address a few housekeeping matters. after today's meeting chair or staff designated by the chair may mute the my microphone for purpose of eliminating inadvertent background noise members are responsible for muting an unmuting themselves. if i notice that you've not unmuted yourself i will ask you if you would like the staff to unmute you. if you indicate by approval by nodding, then staff will unmute your microphone. i remind all members witnesses that the five minute clock still applies. if there's a technology issue, we will move to the next member until the issue is resolved and you will retain the balance of your time. you will notice a clock on the screen that will show how much time is remaining. at one minute remaning the clock will turn yellow. at 30 s

. >> reporter: agriculture secretary tom vilsack wants to close the gap between white farmers and socially disadvantaged farmers. >> the eight years of the obama administration were focused on trying to respond specifically to specific acts of discrimination. so we had a variety of settlements of class-action cases against the department of agriculture. in that process, one of the things we learned was that the farm service agency offices in the past made it more difficult for some socially disadvantaged producers to access credit or when they accessed credit it was late in the growing season or was at a higher interest rate. it's the systemic issue. >> reporter: president biden's coronavirus relief program aims to fix these inequities by providing an estimated $5 billion in aid and debt relief to farmers of color. this is your second stint as agricultural secretary. there are those who say you didn't do enough under the biden administration to help black farmers who have been systematically marginalized or discriminated against. >> i don't think you ever do enough. but i think -- i'm prou

vilsack, where we're looking at the fact that among the needs and the harm in that area, it includes that they've had two gigantic hurricanes and now drought. we're talking about economies that are in large part based on their agricultural production so this is the work we're doing. i have convened american foundations to renew their emphasis and priority around the northern triangle. i've been talking with foreign leaders. i met right in this room with the prime minister of japan to talk about renewing our friendship on many levels including an investment in the northern triangle. similarly, i've talked heads of state around what we can do including giving th to renew its focus on the northern triangle through our great u.n. ambassador linda thomas-greenfield so this is the work that we need to do. it will not be fixed overnight. look, if it were easy, it would have been fixed a long time ago. it's not a new issue but we are prepared to make the investment and to get in there for the long haul to do what is necessary to address the reasons people flee. >> senator tim scott said last

this morning we are honored to have secretary tom vilsack to discuss his vision for usda during has second tour at the department. thank you for answering president biden call to return to service after having been the longest serving member of president obama's cabinet. you are the first cabinet secretary to testify before the house appropriations committee this year. and we really appreciate your taking time to be with us today even while you're still settling in and working on your long to do list. we look forward to hearing your thoughts on key priorities of the year end. let me a little take this opportunity to say thank you for moving quickly to resume assistance payments to farmers and implement american rescue plan. swift axes are desperately needed to lift rural america out of the pandemic and especially to small farms and food and secure populations. and the pandemic and climate change is at new major challenges while obstacles related to access to the suspicious food, unstable farming and racial justice, and developing communities in rural america still persists. addressing thes

at the same time, tom vilsack testifies before a house appropriations subcommittee about the president's 2022 budget request and that 2:30, a subcommittee holds a hearing on cyber security threats. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. created by america's cable television companies in 19 79, today, we are brought to you by these television companies to provide c-span 2 viewers as a public service. >> at tuesday's white house briefing, dr. anthony

at the same time, agriculture secretary tom vilsack testifies for a house appropriations subcommittee about the president's 2022 jet request. at 2:30, a hearing on cyber security threats. ♪ >> american history tv on c-span3, every weekend document thing america's story, funding for american history tv comes from these companies who support c-span3 as a public service. >> senate majority leader chuck schumer and house speaker nancy pelosi spoke about