Map showing e spread of the pandemic, that april 17th brin peak, the july 20ifth summer peak, the low point between summer and fall of september 19th and so far in the fall, e fall peak two weeks in november over 2 million cases, the total at that time 12,772,000 total cases but the headline is how the surge, inside usa today they write about that and a quote from matthew fox, professor of epidemiology at Boston University school of Public Health, he says it was inevitable it was going to get to the mountain states and when it got there there were so many susceptible people it was ready to take off. Matthew fox said we learned this time and time again in a reaction that pays off, wait until the spread is already substantial at that point your measures to contain the virus are really shutting things down completely. He also said it would be foolish to try to pin widespread outbreaks on single events such as the sturgis motorcycle rally, rather he said small get togethers make the spread inevitable, quote, if you are not limiting the number of people you have contacts within doors that are unmasked we can say this is unlikely to change, this from usa today. Wants to get back to the measure proposed earlier this week by Bipartisan Group on capitol hill, the covid19 relief measure, the latest measure, heres the headline, lawmakers pressure leaders to ach covid19 relief deal and he writes that lawmakers are putting pressuren Mitch Mcconnell, nancy pelosi and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer to reach a deal on a Coronavirus Relief package by christmas. Sete republicans are putting the squeeze on mccnell arguing he could agree to a deal even if it means accepting a price tag higher than the 500 billion target. Four republican senators, mitt romney, susacollins, Lisa Murkowski and bill cassidy who was on this program yesterday presented the 908 million compromise proposal to mcconnell in his Capital Office thursday. President elect joe biden was asked about efforts on capitol hill to pass the new package of economic relief. Here is what he said. Do you support that bill . Do you think that you go to the floor of the senate . If they get what they are talking about, i think it was 900 billion, that would be a good start. It is not enough, we need to focus on things that are immediately needed. What is immediately needed is relief for people, unemployment checks, relief for people who will get thrown out of their apartment after christmas because they cant afford to pay their rent anymore, relief on mortgage payments, relief on all the things that are in the original bill the house passed, may have changed again today, i dont know, maybe you know but the fact the president said he wouldnt sign any such legislation. I am told, i may be mistaken, im not there every day in the senate anymore but somewhere between 2022 republican senators who say they wont vote for anything but here is the deal. If Mitch Mcconnell just brought the bill up, put it on the floor, i believe the senat believes that it would pass. Is a start. People are really hurting, they are scared to death and teache are prepared to go back if they know there is something, theres masking, teing, they are available to them, able they need more help. When you say it is a start, for negotiations. I think it should be passed and we will need more, i have to ask for more help when we get there to get things done. Have faith in chuck and nancy. Am not doing the tail negotiation. One of the people deeply involveds the guy who took my spot in the United States senate, chris coons is a brilliant guy. I am relying on their judgment, the most basic things that are needed now. Your priorities in the biden administers in 2028001 for republicans, 74080,000 for democrats and for all others 2027408002. From the hell, the headline, biden to urge Wearing Masks for the first 100 days in office, this entire we, the incoming Biden Administration, and telling positions, and biden taps murphy as nations top doctor, joe biden Coronavirus Crisis tapping a veteran of the Obama Administration to serve as americas top doctor the country suffers a surging pandemic. Former us Surgeon General has been asked about an expanded version of the new administration according to individual familiar with the decision. Lets hear from bob in duluth, minnesota. They should make it a priority to repeal the tax scam, and if they dont, Social Security is not going to survive and neither is medicare. The taxes of the average citizen is going to go up. That is my comment. To alabaster, alabama, republican line, priorities for the Biden Administration. Priority caller the economy needs to be opened up again by all the democrats that have it shutdown, so people can get a job. Number 2 there is no Biden Administration, the election is not over, you need to cover the election, fraud election hearings going on in georgia, pennsylvania, michigan, arizona and nevada. There was a hearing yesterday in nevada in front of a judge to decide whether illegal votes were going to be counted or not. That is the priority. Host karen in alabama 2027408001 for republicans, 2007408000 for democrats, independents and others, 7488002. On the election, Wisconsin High Court turned away the trump lawsuit, this is from wall street journal, wisconsin, another setback to Donald Trumps efforts to overturn defeat president elect joe biden, challenging the validity of hundreds of thousands of mail in ballots cast in a battleground state two days after the Trump Campaign brought the lawsuit the wisconsisupreme court in a divided ruling said the state law required the case to start in a lower court, trumps lawsuit sought to avoid certification in wisconsin which mister biden won by 21,000 votes. It claimed the collection an counting of absentee ballots in heavily democratic counties, were marred by systemic violations of state election laws and 220,000 of the 3 million votes cast statewide should have been excluded from the recount totals. Lets go to joe in georgia, good morning. Caller i love your show because cspan for 30 years, i miss steve scully but i want to comment on biden. I live in georgia and all these voting irregularities being added i think the election is going to be overturned, there is so much fraud in the 6 borderline states, hundreds of thousands of fraud and i think the election is going to be overturned and given to donald trump. Host you had two recounts, you think the results are going to be overturned yet again . Caller i do. Filing a lawsuit today and i think they found a lot of illegal votes in georgia, not only georgia but arizona and michigan and other states, i think there is more than enough to overturn the election and i think donald trump will be declared the winner and i like that because i think trump is the best leader in World History but you will see that happen in the next i would say before december 14th because that is when they have the Electoral College but i call a lot of talk shows and never seen people so fired up, they feel the election was stolen from trump and i certainly concur with that. Host the atlanta journalconstitution. Host trumps physicals promise and peril, and republican incumbent have been dreaming about saturday, and deal lasting damage, with georgia republicans who refuse his demands to overturn Election Results casting more doubt on the integrity of the states voting system. More of your calls coming up on washington journal, top priority for the Biden Administration. We are joined by natalie who covers cannabis and other relad issues for polical, federal cannabis policy reporter, on with us as the house is taking up aill that would legalize to some degree rijuana. Tell us about that bill. Caller the house is voted on historic bill, First Time Ever that the last 50 Years Congress has taken up a bill on the floor of any chamber, would astically change the way marijua laws are done in this country. Host what are the things the bill would do . Guest one thing to be clear about, there are a lot of misconceptions, it would not legalize marijuana. It removes federal penalties on marijuana and state still need to create their own system as states regulate alcohol. It focuses on criminal Justice Reform. It removes those penalties which would mean no one gets arrested for federal marijuana position anymore and would expunge federal records and creates money for states to do expungement. Going through the Expungement Program is pretty expensive. Host is the money created through a tax in the bill . Guest there putting a 5 tax on cannabis that becomes 8 over a couple years. Host how do they reckon with, one of the issues for states dealing with legalizing marijuana is the whole financiatransaction itself being able to work with banks. Is that addressed this bill at all . If marijuana was removed from the federal drug law it would no longer be hard for banks to service marijuana. A lot of other bills deal with parts of Marijuana Policy, this bill would deal with all those problems. Host is this a bipartisan supported bill . Guest it is supported mostly by democrats but there are a few republicans, some from Legal Marijuana states that support it and also a couple others ke representative matt gates. Host it is late in the session, any indication the senate will take it up . If it passes the house, i assume the house is voting on it today. Guest everything i heard it is expected to pass the house. It will not come up, theres a week and a half left and majority leader Mitch Mcconnell is not in favor of any comprehensive Marijuana Reform. It would be a miracle to come up in the senate this session. Pushing this in the 100 Seventeenth Congress would result in the same result. Guest yes. A lot can happen in two years, two years ago i probably would not have that money on this bill coming up but a lot has happened with the focus on, Justice Reform with states deciding cannabis was an essential business during the pandemic that has also changed the minds of moderate democrats in the house. I will not say nothing will happen in the next congress but it is uphill battle with republicans reaching the senate after the georgia runoff. Host how many states allow legal sale of marijua either for recreational, medicinal or medicinal purposes only . Guest 15 states allow recreational marijuana, 36, Fact Checking on that, electio day changed it a little bit. Mecal and recreational marijuana. It is a pretty big year for marijuana this year. One state, mississippi legalized medical. South dakota is the most intesting, from having no marijuana laws at all, without allowi marijuana for counting seizures, vast majoritof states, 47 states in the cotry allow, for medical purposes. South dakota was one of the three that had nhing, medical and recreational marijuana. Host you mentioned you have been covering federal Marijuana Policy for two years. What has changed on capitol hill . What is changing legislators mind and has the Trump Administration made any executive orders or regulatory changes to federal rulations on marijuana . Guest the Trump Administration does significant things, actual changes on the ground. Jeff sessions, the paul memo ich was an obama era Justice Department memo that said states created, regulated cannis systems the Justice Department is not going to go after them. Defitions repealed that, weve not seen the Justice Department go after any states thatave legalized marijuana. On capitol hill specifically, one of the biggest differences this year with how democrats especially talking about Marijuana Reform as, justice issue and i was in a hearing yesterday and the tone was quite different from hearings on this issue where criminal Justice Reform was part of the equation and the economic benefi of marijna legalization, creating jobs and the medical benefitfor kids and it is very focused on criminal Justice Reform and that has created more moments of passion among democrats for the issue. Host our guests covers policy for politico. You can read reporting including toys debate and the measure. Than so much. Back to the first hour of question, Top Priorities for the biden and ministration 2027488001. 2027488000 for democrats, 2027488002. Wh joe biden hope to accomplish in his first 100 days, focusing on immigration, the environment and economic fallout of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Lets go to todd in michigan, thanks for waiting, go ahead with your comments. Caller i think top priority should be economic relief. Send the checks out. People need money in their pockets. Look at canada. Canada has given their citizens 2,000 a month. The richest country in the world and the government doesnt give a damn about us. 644 people, the top one , 40 of the nations wealth, really . Time for revolution. Host fairfax, south dakota on the democrat line. Caller what biden needs to do is raise taxes on the rich. Also take the Social Security. In south dakota, dont know if youve been around cattle or not but it reminds me a lot spring of the year when you turn able into new spring pastor, all the tall grass, that is how happy i am about this election. Up here, talking marijuana, they did pass it on both deals. Pennington is fighting it, the Highway Patrol fighting it. I dont know. They need to start paying the debt down. People live on credit so much anymore. Food lines and all that, they need to help them but a lot of those people getting old like me, i am 66 years old and dont need a handout. 26, 000 per trillion dollars in the hole, we need to start paying that debt. I heard the other day a third of the people havent paid for christmas last year, put it on a credit card. Got to get that straightened out. Host darren on the independent line in alabama. Caller good morning. I want to make a comment on economic fallout. I think with the recent cnn story about china we should hold china accountable for the economic devastation from covid19, the researchers that recently left and so forth. It is destroying our country economically. From east to west. I researched it, they are behind it. Whichever administration, whatever they can do to do it. One of the richest countries in the world, in the middle east, lets make them pay for it. Host john ratcliff, National Security director writing about china, the lead opinion piece in the wall street journal, china is National Security threat number one, the intelligence is clear, the rest of the planet economically, and technologically, many of chinas major public initiatives and from an Companies Issue a layer of camouflage about activities of the Chinese Communist party, it is an approach of economic espionage, china robs them of their intellectual property the record pace of technology and replaces us firms in the global marketplace. That is from inside the wall street journal. The front page showed the wall street journal with this dramatic photograph of a wildfire in Orange County in Southern California wildfire erupted in california forcing acuations, california senator, Vice President elelec Kamala Harris in a cnn interview saying Climate Change would be one of th administrations top prioriti. Pretty progressive. Some might call it ambitious but the American People in the world cant afford anything less. The clock is ticking rapidly on this issue. The president ect has made very clear we will approach this in a way that we know the vast majority have in common with what separates us. Through the policy, convened everyone from labor groups to fortune 500 folks. There is a consensus on what needs to happen. The president elect was talking to t head of gm and days later, they are going to drop the resistance to californias rules on electric vehicl. We have reason to be optimistic about at is possible. It will not be easy. It will require convening but as the president elect always says this as much as anything is about jobs, investing in research and delopment, vesting in the american worker, wellpaying jobs, good union wellpaying jobs. I think that there is more consensus than one might think. Host back to your calls on Top Priorities for the Biden Administration. In virginia, stefan on the independent line. Caller thank you for trying to be unbiased. I wish you would this basic Fact Checking when you can, hauling people racists, just eliminating