Flint baking headlines because of the water problems. It is a crisis on top of a crisis. Just like the flint water crisis, this pandemic has both a health and Economic Impact. Ofthe case of my hometown flint, dealing with the water issues and health issues, impacting children, but also the Economic Impact of that, layered on top is the coronavirus issue. As you know, i am sure, coronavirus seems to have disproportionate impact on communities of color, a majority minority community. In michigan, 14 of the population is africanamerican. 32 of coronavirus cases are. 41 percent of deaths are occurring in the africanamerican community. It is a crisis on top of a crisis. That is why so much of the intervention we have been focusing on in washington and at our state level is really important for a place like flint, saginaw, to move forward. Host lets focus for a moment on the water situation. What is the status of that today . Guest the Water Quality is improving for sure. The lead service lines, the federal government stepped in and provided significant money to replace the lead service lines. That process is almost complete. Even though the Water Quality has improved, trust in that water system will take some time so many if not most Flint Residents still use bottled water for their own consumption. It kind of points to the biggest casualty, one of the biggest casualties of the water crisis. The loss of trust in the word of the government. Back then, the States Government told the residents of flint that the water was fine. In fact, told them they should just relax when that same State Government actually knew that the water had high levels of lead and new there had been a legionella outbreak. So the trust has been broken. That going to take a lot longer than it takes to repair pipes. Host i want to ask you about House Speaker nancy pelosi. She referred to the president as morbidly obese. The present taking aim at her yesterday. It is pretty clear that they are not talking to each other. How dangerous is that when you have two Public Officials who deal with Public Policy issues not communicating . Guest we wish there was better communication between the white house and the congress. The president himself has order many of his officials to not respond to subpoenas, to not appear before our committees. The lack of communication goes how dangerous is that when you have two Public Officials who deal with Public Policy issues not communicating . Guest we wish there was better communication between the white house and the congress. The president himself has order many of his officials to not respond to subpoenas, to not appear before our committees. The lack of communication goes well beyond any tension between the speaker and the president. I think it is a much broader issue than that. It is a problem. I think it is ok for leaders to have words. It is all a matter of substance and style. In the case of the speaker, there is a lot of substance behind the things that she says. I am not so sure that is the case with the president all the time. More important is that the administration itself has a responsibility to respond to the Constitutional Authority congress has, whether that is adhering to our Appropriations Bills that we pass, following the law, or responding to legitimate areas of inquiry where congress has an oversight responsibility. To me, that is the more fundamental breakdown that, in some ways, is indicative of the relationship between the speaker and the president. Host we are talking with dan kildee. Glenn is joining us from lancaster, california. Caller you act like you care about the constitution. We have 35 Million People out of work right now. We have illegal people that we not people who come here the right way, that wait in line. But we have 30 Million People taking our jobs 35 Million People being out of work. What is 30 Million People done to our economy for the last 30 years, taking our jobs, taking our health care, overcrowding our hospitals, and this pandemic has shined a light on this, and you fought our president and the constitution every step of the way. Host we will get a response. Guest i understand the gentlemans concern. I think it is important we adhere to the constitution. That constitution not only provides us with rights and responsibilities. There is a responsibility for congress and the president to act in a responsible and thoughtful fashion when it comes to immigration. There was a bill we were ready to move on, but we cannot get the Republican House leadership to take it up. I think we have to be honest about what has prevented us from dealing with immigration issues in a conference of way. We are a country of immigrants. Not every immigrant has come here through the same path, but every human being, i think, has a right to have their rights protected. That includes american citizens, but it also includes people who are seeking a better life by coming to this country. This country has a history we want to honor. We have to do it properly. I does a shame we have not been able to come around a comprehensive reform of our immigration system that protects the integrity of the promise of america. It will take us coming together. Host we know you are at your home in flint, michigan. Where are you in the home . Guest we call it a michigan room. It is a room in the back of my house where we have a small fireplace, a library. My wife is working from home at her desk. It is a Beautiful Day here. We have had incredible rain the last few days. In fact, we had serious flooding in the northern part of my district. Today, at home, and working from home. Host the next caller is from michigan. Kevin, you are on. Caller i have a question about how our governor has divided the state. My town is just below her opening of restrictions. My town has no debts. I know we are right next to a county who has a little higher one. My biggest concern is about the state parks. I am a frisbee golfer. Apparently, our dnr do not think they can keep our disc golf safe. 70 degree temperature no virus will last more than 30 seconds. Why is the dnr not opening our disc golf courses is my number one question. It is something that anybody can do, it is outside. The chances are minimal, extremely minimal. Can you tell me why our dnr people are acting like nazis and not opening our parks . Guest i am happy to respond. Congress does not vote on whether disc golf courses in western michigan are open. That is the decision that the governor has had to make. I will say this. The choices that she has made have ruffled some feathers, cause some discomfort. I would much rather take the discomfort of somebody who is maybe inconvenienced for a few weeks and is unable to throw a frisbee around because there is a concern about contact with the virus. We would much rather have that discomfort than to see counties in the western part of the state have a spike in cases. It is interesting to note some of the states, by the way, that a couple of weeks ago where making the decision to open up or feeling like we have passed the crisis, are now seeing their numbers come up. It was not long ago that kent county, michigan, had very few cases compared to my home county of genesee. Now they have a significant number. The irony is the governor has been willing to take the heat to shut down elements of the economy. What she has done has worked and has prevented the spread of disease in those places. Now because there is very little disease and some of those communities, the argument is, well, we did not need in the first place. Maybe the reason we have not seen a greater spread and some of those communities is because the governor was willing to make the tough decision to temporarily shut down some elements of our economy in order to save lives. I have friends who died from coronavirus. I take it a little more personally, the loss of those lives, then the inconvenience to somebody who wants to throw a frisbee around the park. I get it and i understand we want to protect those rights, but we have to balance the interests of everyone with the interests of the few. If it is a matter of shortterm inconvenience in order to save lives, even if the governor is going to take keep from people who do not like the choices she is making, i think history will treat the decision she is making favorably. Host as you probably know, the governor confirmed with nbc that she has been in for preliminary talks with joe biden to serve as a running mate. What do you think the odds are that she would be a contender for the vp position . Guest i think she would be a fine Vice President. She certainly has demonstrated willingness to make tough decisions. Obviously michigan is a critical state. She has detractors and supporters, but if you look at just the general views as to how this governor has managed this crisis, she is getting really high marks. She has shown the willingness to make hard decisions and not avoid those choices. That is a characteristic that Anyone Running for president could be looking for in a Vice President ial nominee. I think she would be a fine candidate. I think she would be a great Vice President. She is prepared. But that is obviously going to be a choice that Vice President biden will have to make. There is a lot of really good choices that he has. Fortunately for us, the democratic party, that spot is full of highly qualified candidates. Washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Thursday morning, discussing the role of Inspector General and the president s firing of multiple igs. And, dr. Kevin fama talks about how americans can modify their the restrictions for covid19 are lifted. Thursday, on cspan, the Senate JudiciaryCommittee Meets to consider subpoena authorization for documents and witnesses related to the committees authorization of the pfizer process and the 2016 russia probe. On cspan two, the senate is back to vote on texas congressman John Ratcliffe to be the next director of national intelligence. Speaker nancy pelosi holds a News Conference to discuss the agenda including legislation for more aid to deal with the coronavirus. This is 35 minutes