Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622

Debate. The chair will learnt recognition alternate recognition between the parties, each party limited to one hour, and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and minority whip limited to five minutes, but in no event shall debate continue beyond 1 50 p. M. The chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. Blumenauer, for five minutes. Mr. Blumenauer thank you, mr. Speaker. This weekend we gather in portland to mourn the passing and celebrate the life of don frisbee, who died june 26 at the age of 91. Don led an extraordinary life. Rising through the Company Ranks to become the chairman and c. E. O. Of pacificore then the major private utility throughout the pacific northwest. He was a bold and visionary leader of this important company. He was a board member of fortune 500 Companies Like warehouser and First Interstate bank now wells fargo. He was regarded as the most influential Business Leader in oregon for 20 years. Dons influence extended beyond the business space. He was also on the board of two prestigious northwest academic institutions. Wittman college in walla walla, and reed college in portland, where he played a Critical Role in the development of that storied institution. He helped promote the growth of Portland State university, the Oregon Health science university, and helped guide the childrens institute. Later in his retirement, he worked for five years with his daughterinlaw, denise on a program known throughout the state of oregon to connect people with their public schools. He cared deeply about this civic infrastructure. How to encourage and empower individuals to make a difference the way he himself had. He was instrumental in the creation and growth of the Oregon Leadership Forum which now for 30 years has gathered people from all across oregon on an ongoing Yearlong Program to develop leadership capacity and commitment to our state. From its founding to his board leadership, from participating in the very first years programming he was the driving force for this unique organization. The utility executive was passionate about oregons special places. He loved the out of doors and his own special place, his beloved ranch and sisters located in a spectacular setting in central oregon. This veteran utility executive didnt think there was a conflict between sound Sustainable Business practices and protecting the environment. During the last conversation i had with don, he talked about how delighted he was with the popes encyclical on the environment and global warming. For all his many accomplishments, his family and friends were central in his life even more so as the years passed. He lost his beloved wife emily, in 2003, after 56 years of marriage. Together they built a family, a career, and a better community. After losing emily later in life he met and wooed a widow who was his neighbor, betty perkins. Together they found extraordinary happiness. They had an amazing effect on everyone they met, whether on a civic on a cruise, or the 60th reunion of dons class at the Harvard Business school or just people on the street. At a time when most of their age would be rocking chairs, they were traveling the world, providing inspiration to all privileged to spend time around them. His was an extraordinary life well lived. Portland is often regarded as one of americas finest cities, listed on all the best places. But over the last 50 years, no one made it a better place than don friss be. Our hearts go out to dons family, his wife, betty, and all those who were touched by this extraordinary man. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from North Carolina, ms. Foxx, for five minutes. Ms. Foxx thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker in 1996 federal legislation established a new type of employer sponsored Retirement Plan known as a simple i. R. A. These plans are designed to give Small Businesses a retirement option for their employees without the administrative burdens of other employersponsored Retirement Plan types. Stimple i. P. R. A. S face a 25 early withdrawal penalty during the first two years of their existence compared to 10 for other i. R. A. S in order to prevent account holders from unknowingly rolling their i. R. A. Funds into simple i. R. A. S and being surprised by an increased early retirement penalty, current law prohibits rolling funds over into a simple i. R. A. From other retirement accounts. However, simple i. R. A. S have the same early withdrawal penalty as other i. R. A. S after that initial twoyear period and consumers and Financial Planners have struggled with the rollover restrictions as they attempt to consolidate accounts. This week i will introduce legislation to allow for rollovers into simple i. R. A. Accounts that have met the twoyear threshold. The joint committee on taxation has previously estimated this legislation would have a negligible effect on federal tax revenues. This bill will simplify Retirement Planning and ensure a complex tax code does not prevent sensible Financial Planning decisions. Individuals should be able to consolidate the Retirement Funds in a way that best meets their needs. This legislation is a small but important first step in the long road to ensuring our tax system works for americans not against them. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms. Norton, for five minutes. Ms. Norton thank you, mr. Speaker. Shortterm Highway Trust Fund extensions have become one of congress most costly habits. Kudos to the Senate Environment and public works p which has marked up the highway portion and may come to the floor this week with a sixyear bill. That committee, that bill is not yet paid for. But the senate is at least making progress toward a sixyear bill, the kind thats needed to make a dent in the backlog of our Construction Projects in the states. We should not be deterred by the likelihood of another shortterm bill, perhaps going to the end of the year. The goal before the year is out must be a longterm bill. Congress has taken to authorizing the Highway Trust Fund for two years knowing full well that the Highway Trust Fund collecting gas user fees at 1993 levels would run out even before those two years are outs. Then are out. Then the waltz begins for endless shortterm bills. The states are disgusted and exhausted. The twoyear Highway Trust Fund ran out before its twoyear lifetime. The last shortterm bill extension was so useless that it lasted longer than expected because the states could not apply the funds to the backlog of now endless rescheduled projects. Sixyear extensions have yielded sixyear projects. Usually patchwork only. This poster goes beyond showing that the shortterm expansions extensions have been useless to the states. They are having negative effects on the pocketbooks of our constituents. The highway user fee which has not been raised for 22 years, cost drivers 97 a year. The bad roads that are the results cost those same drivers 515 per year. Find your state for the cost to your constituents. Heres a random sample. Louisiana, 514 per year. Oklahoma 763 per year. New jersey 685 per driver. Ohio 446 per driver. California 762 per driver. Pennsylvania, 471 per driver. All the figures are high. Regardless of state or region of the country. And that high amount goes out of the pockets of our constituents paying for bad roads instead of putting the funds into fixing those roads. Congress shortterm attention to our roads highways, and bridges are breaking the bank not for the federal government but for our constituents. Its no longer that you cant get something for nothing. Rather not funding the Highway Trust Fund for six years costs the people we represent not nothing but 515 per driver. We have got to fund these roads or ask our constituents to pay for bad roads. It ought to be clear what the best thing to do is. I thank you, mr. Speaker. Yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Poe, for 2350eu6 minutes for five minutes. Mr. Poe mr. Speaker, the department of justice is failing rape victims. Across america an estimated 400,000 untested rape kits sit on shelves. Government officials long blamed the lack of resources to test the kits. So congress fixed this problem in the reauthorization of the violence against women act. Vawa as its called. Vawa included the Sexual Assault forensic evidence reporting act or safer, which allows and mandates that 75 of what is called debbie smith d. N. A. Backlog grant funds, go directly to test the long backlog of rape kits. The bottom line money has been allocated to fund the backlog of 400000 rape kits. Funds are required to be made available for audits so we could find the true number of languishing kits throughout different states and test them. The goal of safer was to ensure that no rape kit went untested, so all victims had answers and all rapists were brought to justice. Yet, mr. Speaker, its been two years. Kits remain in basements on dusty shelves and nothing has changed. The money is there the law is written, but the d. O. J. , d. O. J. Dodge shamelessly ignores this mandate leaving Sexual Assault victims waiting for justice. Meanwhile, untested rape kits create unfair treatment of victims. One thing it does it allows the guilty outlaws to go free and prevents the innocent from being exonerated. And the statute of limitations may expire, then when the criminal is captured, he may escape justice but because the kit was analyzed long after the crime was committed. Thats a travesty of justice. Its an insult and shameful treatment of Sexual Assault victims. To quote an old league maxim the criminal goes free because the constable has blundered, or in this case the constable is incompetent. Without this, without this safer act, which allowed the implementation of funds to analyze backlogs of rape kits, we would still be in a problem we had two years ago, but these funds are available for the states to analyze and get the kits tested. Once tested, the results would allow the apprehension of criminals. The department of justice has yet to offer the safer audit grants to the states. The d. O. J. Cannot show that 75 of the funds are going to direct testing and lab capacity enhancement as required by the law. To give rape victims justice, d. N. A. Often holds the critical key and the only key in learning the identity of the perpetrators. Without this, justice is often delayed or denied forever. Ignoring safer is an affront to Sexual Assault victims. Mr. Speaker victims deserve to know who assaulted them. They know they need to know for peace of mind. It is a mental turmoil for rape victims not knowing the identity of the perpetrator while sometimes still fearing for their own safety. A rape kit d. N. A. Test may prove to be their best and last and only hope in knowing the identity of the rapist. Bureaucrats should do their job, quit making excuses for not implementing the law. In my 30 years as a prosecutor and a criminal court judge, i talked and met a lot of Sexual Assault victims. Sexual assault, or rape, is to me the worst crime in society, and rape victims, more than anything else, they want to know who did it. They want to know who did it, and we have the capability of helping rape victims know who did it in 400,000 cases. Why arent we doing it . Not knowing the identity of a rapist is haunting to the victims. Its traumatizing, and to know that the rapist may still be on the loose because testing kit was not done is inexcusable incompetence. Each day that goes by were running out the clock in the statute of limitations, knowing they can escape the long arm of the law. Its time to analyze the 400,000 rape kits. Rapture the rapist. The department of justice must ensure justice for victims. Until then, many rape victims see no justice. Our country deserves better. Sexual assault victims deserve better. And mr. Speaker, justice deserves better and justice is what we do in this country. And thats just the way it is. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. Lamalfa for five minutes. Mr. Lamalfa thank you mr. Speaker. Last week the president announced his plans to designate once again over 300,000 acres this time of mountains, meadows and other areas that stretch over 100 miles in northern california, including parts of yellow, solano lake, glen and calousa counties as a monument. This designation now marks the 19th time this president has created or expand since taking office resulting in over 260 million of designated lands and waters in monuments or wilderness areas. This move actually exemplifies the president s complete disregard for the legislative process, lack of hezz tans on using every single political to use to use more executive power grabs. Indeed the one in Snow Mountain was a bipartisan effort under way with legislators working on how that might be become a designated area. Instead, that has now been usurped by one more round of executive power, kind of like what we saw with the Supreme Court exercising its power yuesurping the legislative process we the legislators are subject to we, the people. Using the Antiquities Act as justification to designate over a third of a million acres in my state overnight is not only a serious abuse of power, its a disregard of the intent of the law itself. The purpose of this law, which was enacted after archaeologists years ago noticed small artifacts disappearing or ending up in private collections across the countries, was meant as an emergency option to curb looting in small archaeological sites in the southwest. It would seem like a simple text of the law actually directs the president to limit any designation to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the resource or the objects to be protected. Now, when you see 330,000 acres designated here or 700,000 designated in nevada or a few years ago when president clinton declared a million acres in utah, are we really protecting a particular area or zone or is this a widespread power grab . Indeed, what are we protecting it from . Well, youll hear from the left from oil and Gas Development or from timber, from mining or from all sorts of things that would be devastating to the environment. Well, have you noticed how hard it is to get a permit to do any one of those things . By the time you get to the e. P. A. , the u. S. Fish and wildlife and the whole litany of others that are in the way of doing things that could be done with Good Environmental stewardship at the same time as developing the resources that people in this country still need. They still need oil they still need gas, they still need Paper Products. Heaven knows that we use Paper Products in this country. We do it more responsibly than anywhere else in the world yet, these wilderness designations, these monuments, they dont really seek to protect anything. They make it offlimits to all americans. Even if you just want to go in for hiking or hunting or a little offroading, and indeed those that would develop the resources this is so absurd it even has made it difficult for Fire Suppression in our forested areas for our various Fire Agencies to go do the job they need to do. To have the roads and areas so they can attack the fires that are needed and even worse so as weve seen what happened with the loss of life of Illegal Immigrants in this country, like kathryn in san francisco. Illegal immigration, the effort to stop that at the border was made even more difficult, i believe, down in new mexico when the president designated a bunch of the area along new mexico as a monument, making to where the Border Control cant even patrol the areas because its now an environmentally protected zone. Thats ridiculous. I think its americans when they hear about this, they say, what is going on . So this again is a power grab that is completely inappropriate. It bypasses the legislative process where the legislators are directly accountable to the people and its about time that we change the Antiquities Act or have somebody in the white house that knew the balance between designating just a small area that actually helps protect a resource and archaeological site versus hundreds of thousands or millions of acres that makes it just offlimits to the type of use the public needs and actually makes the assets a safer and healthier one for example, with our forests where we can do the work that needs to be done to keep them healthy. Local residents have very little input, if if any on a designation happening in their back yard. Is this a transparent process . No. Its power in washington, once again, ruling over the people, ruling over the stakeholders in those communities that know best how to manage the resource, what that resource needs and the local economy that whether it is hunting or fishing or hiking, offroading, even a little gold mining. We can do these things. We know how to do them environmentally responsibly and yet we get run over time and time again by leftleaning folks using the Antiquities Act as something for their environmental dreams. Mr. Speaker im highly frustrated by this and i hope the American People will get behind the effort to change the Antiquities Act and protect what needs protecting, not everything else. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Priffle pursuant to clause 12 of rule 1 pursuant to clause texas congressman randy neugebauer. You can watch live coverage on our companion network cspan3. Well have that in a couple hours. 2 30 eastern time. Wisconsin Governor Scott walker announcing this morning hes running for president sending out a tweet that red, im in. That brings the number of candidates seeking the republican nomination to 15. He also released a video declaring his entry into the race. Heres a look. For too long they said we have to compromise our principles to win. Scott walker showed the path to victory is to run on principles conservative, bold, decisive. He balanced budgets. Cut taxes. Improved education. Created jobs. And showed how to fight and win. America needs new fresh leadership with big bold ideas from outside of washington. Actually get things done. Wisconsin, we enacted big bold reforms, took power of the hands of Big Government special interests, gave it to the hardworking taxpayers. Our lives are better because of it. We fought and we won. The republicans feel there are some who are good fighters. They havent won those battles. There are others who won elections but havent consistently taken on the big companies. We show we have can do both. Now im running for president to fight and win for the American People. Not sacrificing our principles. We won three elections in four years in a blue state. Did it by leading. Now we need to do the same thing for america. Its not too late. We can make our country great again. Join our cause. Help us fight and win for america. Governor Walkers Campaign video. Hell be making an official announcement about his president ial campaign tonight at the Waukesha County expo center in wisconsin. Well have live coverage at 6 15 p. M. Eastern. On the campaign trail today, democratic candidate and former discriminate secretary of state Hillary Clinton. She outlined her ideas for the economy at the new school in new york city. Thank you. Ms. Clinton thank you so much. Thank you very much. And thanks to everyone at the new school for welcoming us today. Im delighted to be back. Over the past few months i have had the opportunity to listen to americans concerns about an economy that still isnt delivering for them. Its not delivering the way that it should. It still seems to most americans that i have spoken with that it is stacked for those at the top. But i have also heard about the hopes that people have for their future. Going to College Without drowning in debt. Starting that Small Business they have always dreamed about. Getting a job that pays well enough to support a family. And provide for a secure retirement. Previous generations of americans built the greatest economy and strongest middle class the world has ever known. On the promise of a basic bargain. If you work hard and do your part you should be able to get ahead. And when you get ahead america gets ahead. But over the past several decades that bargain has eroded. Our job is to make it strong again. For 35 years republicans have argued that if we give more wealth to those at the top by cutting their taxes and letting big corporationings corporations write their own rules, it will trickle down. It will trickle down to everyone else. Yet every time they have a chance to try that approach, it explodes the National Debt concentrates wealth even more and does practically nothing to help hardworking americans. Twice now in the past 20 years a democratic president has had to come in and clean up the mess left behind. [cheers and applause] ms. Clinton i think the results speak for themselves. Under president clinton, i like the sound of that, america saw the longest peacetime expansion in our history. Nearly 23 million jobs a balanced budget, and a surplus for the future. And most importantly incomes rose across the board not just for those already at the top. Eight years later, president obama and the American Peoples hard work pulled us back from the brink of depression. President obama saved the Auto Industry imposed new rules on wall street, and provided health care to 16 million americans. [cheers and applause] ms. Clinton now today today as the shadow of crisis reseeds reseeds and longer term challenges come into focus, i believe we have to build a growth and fairness economy. You cant have one without the other. We cant create enough jobs and new businesses without more growth. And we cant build Strong Families and support our consumer economy without more fairness. We need both. Because while america is standing again we are not yet running the way we should. Corporate profits are at near record highs, and americans are working as hard as ever. But paychecks have barely budged in real terms. Families today are stretched in so many directions and so are their budgets. Out of pocket costs with health care childcare, caring for aging parents are rising a lot faster than wages. I hear this everywhere i go. The single mom who talked to me about juggling a job and classes at Community College while raising three kids. She doesnt expect anything to come easy. But if she got a raise, everything wouldnt be quite so hard. The grandmother who works around the clock providing childcare to other peoples kids. Shes proud of her work. But the pay is barely enough to live on, especially with the soaring price of her prescription drugs. The young entrepreneur whose dream of buying the Bowling Alley where he worked as a teenager was nearly derailed by husband student debt. If he can grow his business, hell be able to pay off his debt and pay his employees including himself, more, too. Millions of hardworking americans tell similar stories. Wages need to rise to keep up with costs. Paychecks need to grow. Families who work hard and do their best part to get ahead and stay ahead. But defining economic challenge of our time is clear. We must raise incomes for hardworking americans so they can afford a middle class life. We must drive strong and steady Income Growth that lifts up families and lifts up our country. And that that will be my mission from the first day im president to the last. [applause] ms. Clinton i will get up every day thinking about the families of america like the family that i came from with a hardworking dad who started a Small Business and scrimped and saved and gave us a good middle class life. Ill be thinking about all the people that i represented here in new york and the stories that they told me and that i worked with them to improve. And i will, as your president , take on this challenge against the backdrop of major changes in our economy and the Global Economy that didnt start with the recession and wont end with the recovery. Advances in technology and expanding global trade have created whole new areas of commercial activity and opened new markets for our exports. But too often they are also polarizing our economy. Benefiting highskilled workers but displacing or downgrading blue collar jobs and other mid level jobs that used to provide solid incomes for millions of americans. Todays marketplace focuses too much on the shortterm. Like second to second financial trading and Quarterly Earnings report. And too little on longterm investment. Meanwhile, Many Americans are making extra money renting out a spare room designing websites, selling products they designed themselves at home or even driving their own car. This on demand or socalled gig economy is creating exciting opportunities and unleashing innovation. But its also raising hard questions about workplace protection and what a good job will look like in the future. So all of these trends are real and none, none is going away. But they dont determine our destiny. The choices we make as a nation matter. And the choices we make in the years ahead will set the stage for what American Life in the middle class in our economy will be like in this century. As president , i will work with every possible partner to turn the tide. To make these currents of change start working for us mother than more than against us. To strengthen not hollow out the american middle class. Because i think at our best thats what americans do. We are problem solvers not deniers. We dont hide from change. We harness it. The measure of our success must be how much incomes rise for hardworking families, not just for successful c. E. O. S and money managers. And not just some arbitrary growth target untethered to peoples lives and livelihoods. [applause] ms. Clinton i want to see our economy work for the struggling, the striving, and the successful. We are not going to find all the answers we need today in the play books of the past. We cant go back to the old policies that failed us before. Nor can we just replay the successes. Today is not 1993. Its not 2009. So we need solutions for the big challenges we face now. So today im proposing an agenda to raise incomes for hardworking americans. An agenda for strong growth, fair growth, and longterm growth. Let me begin with strong growth. More growth means more jobs and more new businesses. More jobs gives people choices about where to work. Employers have to offer higher wages and Better Benefits in order to compete with each other to hire new workers and keep the productive ones. Thats why economists tell us that getting closer to full employment is crucial for raising incomes. Small businesses create more than 60 of new american jobs on net. So they have to be a top priority. I have said, i want to be the Small Business president and i mean it. And throughout this campaign im going to be talking about how we empower entrepreneurs with less red tape, easier access to capital tax relief, and simplification. Ill also push for broader Business Tax Reform to spur investment in america, closing those loopholes that reward companies for sending jobs and profits overseas. [applause] and i know its not always how we think about this, but another engine of strong growth should be comprehensive impration reform. [applause] immigration reform. [applause] i want you to hear this. Bringing millions of hardworking people into the formal economy would increase our Gross Domestic Product by an estimated 700 billion over 10 years. It then there are the new public investments that will help establish businesses and entrepreneurs create the next generation of highpaying jobs. When we get americans moving, we get our country moving. So lets establish a Infrastructure Bank that can channel more public and private funds. Channel those funds to finance world class airports, railways, roads, bridges, and ports. And lets build those Faster Broadband Networks and make sure theres a greater diversity of providers so consumers have more choice. And really theres no excuse not to make greater investments and cleaner Renewable Energy right now. Our economy, obviously, runs on energy, and the time has come to make america the worlds clean energy superpower. I advocate that because these investments will create millions of jobs. Save us money in the long run. And help us meet the threats of climate change. And lets fund the scientific and medical research that spawns Innovative Companies and creates entire new Industries Just as the project, the sequence the human genome did in the 1990s, and president obamas initiatives on Precision Medicine and Brain Research will do in the coming years. I will set Ambitious Goals in all of these areas in the months ahead. But today let me emphasize another key ingredient of strong growth that often goes overlooked and undervalued. Breaking down barriers so more americans participate more fully in the work force, especially women. We are in a global combe contiguous as im sure you have noticed and we cant afford to leave talent on the sideline, but thats exactly what we are doing today. When we leave people out or write them off, we not only shortchange them and their dreams we shortchange our country and our future. The movement of women into the American Work force over the past 40 years was responsible for more than 3. 5 trillion in economic growth. But that progress has stalled. The United States used to rank seventh out of 24 advance countries in womens labor force participation. By 2013 we had dropped to 19. That represents a lot of unused potential for our economy and for american families. Studies show that nearly a third of this decline relative to other countries is because they are expanding Family Friendly policies like paid leave and we are not. We should be making it easier for americans to be both good workers and good parents and caregivers. Women who want to work should be able to do so without worrying every day about how they are going to take care of their children or what will happen if a Family Member gets sick. Last year last year while i was at the hospital here in manhattan waiting for Little Charlotte to make her grand entrance, one of the nurses said thank you for fighting for paid leave. We began to talk about it. She sees first hand what it means for herself and her colleagues as well as for the working parents that she helps take care of. Its time to recognize that quality, affordable childcare is not a luxury, its a growth strategy. And its way past time to end the outrage of so many women still earning less than men on the job and women of color making even less. All this lost money adds up. For some women its thousands of dollars every year. Now, i am well aware that for far too long these challenges have been dismissed by some as womens issues. Those days are over. Fair pay and fair scheduling, paid family leave and earned sick days, childcare are essential to our competitiveness and our growth. And we can do this in a way that doesnt impose unfair burdens on businesses, especially Small Businesses. As president , ill fight to put Families First just like i have my entire career. Now, beyond strong growth we also need fair growth and that will be the second key driver of raising incomes. The evidence is in. Inequality is a drag on our entire economy. So this is the problem we need to tackle. Now, you may have heard governor bush say last week that americans just need to work longer hours. Well, he must not have met very many American Workers. [applause] let him tell that to the nurse who stands on her feet all day or the teacher who is in that classroom or the trucker who drives all night. Let him tell that to the fast food workers marching in the streets for better pay. They dont need a lecture. They need a raise. The truth is the current rules for our economy do reward some work like financial trading, for example. Much more than other work like actually building and selling things. The work that has always been the backbone of our economy. To get all incomes rising again, we need to strike a better balance. If you work hard, you ought to be paid fairly. So we do have to raise the minimum wage. And implement president obamas new rules on overtime. And then we have to go further. Ill crack down on bosses who exploit employees by misclassifying them as contractors or even steal their wages to make paychecks stretch we need to take on the major strains on family budgets. Ill protect the Affordable Care act and build on it to lower outofpocket Health Care Costs [applause] and to make prescription drugs more affordable. Will help families look forward to retirement by defending and enhancing Social Security and making it easier to save for the future. Now, many of these proposals are time tested and more than a little battle scarred. We need new ideas as well. And one that i believe in and will fight for is Profit Sharing. Hardworking americans deserve to benefit from the record corporate earnings they help produce. So i will propose ways to encourage companies to share profits with their employees. Thats good for workers and good for businesses. Studies show that Profit Sharing that gives everyone a stake in a companys success can boost productivity and put money directly into employees pockets. Its a winwin. Later this week in new hampshire, ill have more to say about how we do this. Another priority must be reforming our tax code. Now, we hear republican candidates talk a lot about tax reform. But take a good look at their plans. Senator rubio would cut taxes for households making around 3 million a year by almost 240,000 which is way more than three times the earnings of a typical family. Bell well, thats a sure budget busting give away to the superwealthy, and thats the kind of bad economics youre likely to hear from any of the candidates on the other side. I have a different take. Guided by some simple principles. First, hardworking families need and deserve tax relief and simplification. Second those at the top have to pay their fair share. Thats why i support the buffet rule, which makes sure that millionaires dont pay lower rates than their secretaries. I have also called for closing the carried interest loophole which lets wealthy financeers pay an artificially low rate. And lets agree that hugely Successful Companies that benefit from everything america has to offer should not be able to game the system and avoid paying their fair share. Especially while companies who cant afford highpriced lawyers and lobbyists end up paying more. [applause] ms. Clinton alongside tax reform its time to stand up to efforts across our country to undermine worker bargaining power, which has been proven again and again to drive up wages. Republican governors like scott walker have made their names stomping on workers rights. And practically all the republican candidates hope to do the same as president. I will fight back against these meanspirited, misguided attacks. Evidence evidence shows that the decline of unions may be responsible for a third of the increased shall increase of inequality among men. If we want to get serious about raising incomes, we have to get serious about supporting union workers. [applause] ms. Clinton and let me just say a word here about trade. The greek crisis as well as the chinese stock market have reminded us that growth here at home and growth an ocean away are linked in a common Global Economy. Trade has been a major driver of the economy over recent decades, but it has also contributed to hollowing out our Manufacturing Base and many hardworking communities. So we do need to set a high bar for trade agreements. We should support them if they create jobs, raise wages, and advance our national security. And we should be prepared to walk away if they dont. To create fair growth, we need to create opportunity for more americans. I love the saying, Abraham Lincoln, who in many ways was not only the president who saved our union, but the president who understood profoundly the importance of the middle class. And the importance of government playing its role in providing opportunities. He talked about giving americans a fair chance in the race of life. I believe that with all my heart, but i also believe it has to start really early. At birth. High quality earlry learning, especially in the Early Learning especially in the first five years can set children on the course to future success and raise lifetime incomes by 25 . And im committed to seeing every 4yearold in america have access to high quality preschool in the next 10 years. But i want to do more. I want to call for a great outpouring of support from our faith community, our business community, our academic institutions from philanthropy and civic groups and concerned citizens, to really help parents, particularly parents who are facing a lot of obstacles, to really help prepare their own children in that 04 age group. 80 of your brain is physically formed by the age of 3. Thats why families like mine read talk, and sing endlessly to our granddaughter. I have said that her first words are going to be enough with the reading and the talking and the singing. But we do it not only because we love doing it, even though ill admit its a little embarrassing reading a book to a 2 week old or 6 week old, or 10week old we do it because we understand its building her capacity for learning. And the Research Shows by the time she enters kindergarten, she will have heard 30 million more words than a child from a less advantaged background. Think of what we are losing because we are not doing everything we can to reach out to those families. We know again from so Much Research here in the United States and around the world that that early help, that mentoring, that intervention, to help those often stressed out young moms understand more about what they can do an to avoid and to avoid the difficulties that stand in the way of their being able to really get their child off to the best possible start. We also have to invest in our students and teachers at every level and in the coming weeks and months i will lay out specific steps to improve our schools, make college truly affordable, and help americans refinance their student debt. And lets embrace [applause] lets embrace the idea of lifelong learning. In an age of technological change, we need to provide pathways to get skills and credentials for new occupations and create Online Platforms to connect workers to jobs. There are exciting efforts under way and i want to support and scale the one that is show results. As we pursue all these policies, we cant forget our fellow americans hit so hard and left behind by this changing world. From the inner cities, to coal country, to Indian Country talent is universal. You find it everywhere. But opportunity is not. There are nearly six million young people age 16 to 24 in America Today who are not in school or at work. The numbers for young people of color are particularly staggering. A quarter of young black men and nearly 15 of all latino youth, cannot find a job. Weve got to do a better way of coming up to match the growing middle class incomes we want to generate with more pathways into the middle class. I firmly believe that the best Antipoverty Program is a job, but thats hard to say if there arent enough jobs for people that we are trying to helppp lift themselves out of poverty. Thats why i called for reviving the new market tax credit and empowerment zones to create greater incentives to invest in poor and remote areas. [applause] when all americans have the chance to study hard, work hard, and share in our countrys prosperity, thats fair growth. Its what i have always believed in and its what i will fight for as president. Now, the third key driver of income alongside strong growth and fair growth must be longterm growth. Too many pressures in our economy push us toward shorttermism. Many Business Leaders see this. They have talked to me about it. One has called it the problem of quarterly capitalism. They say everythings focused on the next Earnings Report or the shortterm share price. And the result is too little attention on the sources of longterm growth. Research and development, physical capital, and talent. Net business investment, which includes things like factories, machines, and research labs, have declined as a share of the economy. In recent years, some of our Biggest Companies have spent more than half their earnings to buy back their own stock, and another third or more to pay dividends. That doesnt leave a lot left to raise pay or invest in the workers who made those profits possible. Or to make new investments necessary to ensure a companys future success. These trends need to change. And i believe that many Business Leaders are eager to embrace their responsibilities, not just to the days share price but also to workers communities, and ultimately to our country and indeed our planet. Now, im not talking about charity. Im talking about clear eyed capitalism. Many companies have prospered by improving wages and training their workers that then yields higher productivity, better service, and larger profit. Now, its easy to try to cut costs by holding down or even decreasing pay and other investments to inflate quarterly stock prices, but i would argue thats bad for business in the long run and its really bad for our country. Workers are assets. Investing in them pays off. Higher wages pay off. Training pays off. To help more companies do that i propose a new p 1,500 tax credit for every worker they train and hire. And i will soon be proposing a new plan to reform Capital Gains taxes to reward longer Term Investments that create jobs more than just quick trade. But as we all know in the years before the crash, Financial Firms piled risk upon risk, and regulators in washington either couldnt or wouldnt keep up. I was alarmed by this gathering storm and called for addressing the risks of derivatives cracking down on subprime mortgages and improving financial oversight. Under president obamas leadership weve imposed tough new rules that keel with some of the challenges deal with some of the challenges on wall street, but those rules have been under assault by republicans in congress and those running for president. I will fight back against these attacks and protect the reforms weve made. We can do that and still ease burdens on community bavepks to encourage responsible banks to encourage responsible loans to people and local businesses they trust. We have to go beyond doddfrank. To many of our major Financial Institutions are still too complex and too risky, and the problems are not limited to the big banks that get all the headlines. Serious risks are emerging from institutions in the socalled shadow banking system, including hedge funds highfrequency traders nonbank finance companies. So many new kinds of entities which receive little oversight at all. Stories of misconduct by individuals and institutions in the financial industry are shocking. Hsbc, allowing drug cartels to launder money, five major banks pleading guilty to felony charges for conspiring to manipulate Currency Exchange and interest rates, there can be no justification or tolerance for this kind of criminal behavior. [applause] ms. Clinton and while institutions have paid large fines and in some cases admitted guilt too often it has seemed that the human beings responsible get off with limited consequences or none at all even when theyve already pocketed the gains. This is wrong and on my watch it will change. Over the course [applause] ms. Clinton over the course of this campaign, i will offer plans to rein in excessive risks on wall street and ensure that stock markets work for everyday investors not just highfrequency traders and those with the best or fastest connections. I will appoint and empower regulators who understand that too big to fail is still too big a problem. Well ensure [applause] ms. Clinton well ensure that no firm is too complex to manage or oversee and we will prosecute individuals as well as firms when they commit fraud or other criminal wrongdoing. And [applause] ms. Clinton when the government recovers money from corporations or individuals for harming the public, it should go into a separate trust fund to benefit the public. It could for example help modernize infrastructure or even be returned directly to taxpayers. Now, reform is never easy. But weve done it before in our country, and we have to get it right this time. And, yes we need leadership from the financial industry and across the private sector to join with us. Two years ago the head of the chicago mercantile exchange, terry duffy, published an oped in the wall street journal that really caught my attention. He wrote, and i quote, im concerned that those of us in Financial Services have forgotten who we serve and that the public knows it. Some wall streeters can too easily slip into regarding their work as a kind of moneymaking game, divorced from the concerns of main street unquote. I think we should listen to terry duffy. Of course, longterm growth is only possible if the Public Sector steps up as well. So its time to end the era of budget brinksmanship and stop karining from one creaning from one selfinflicted crisis to another. Its time to stop having debates over the small stuff and focus how were going to tackle the big stuff together. How do we respond to technological change in a way that creates more good jobs than it displaces or destroys . Can we sustain a boom in advanced manufacturing . What are the best ways to nurture startups outside the successful corridors like Silicon Valley . Questions like these demand thoughtful and mature debate from our policymakers in government from our leaders in the private sector, our economists, our academics, others that can come together to the table and on behalf of america perform their patriotic duty to make sure our economy keeps working and our middle class keeps growing. [applause] ms. Clinton so government has to be smarter simpler, more focused itself on longTerm Investments than shortterm politics and be a better partner to cities, states and the private sector. Washington has to be a better steward of americas tax dollars and Americans Trust and, please, lets get back to making decisions that rely on evidence more than ideology. [applause] ms. Clinton thats what ill do as president. I will seek out and welcome any good idea that is actually based on reality. [laughter] ms. Clinton i want to have principled and pragmatic and progressive policies that really move us forward together, and i will propose ways to ensure that our fiscal outlook is sustainable, including by continuing to restrain Health Care Costs which remain one of the key drivers of longterm deficit. I will make sure washington learns from how well local governments, businesses and nonprofits are working together in successful cities and towns across america. You know, passing legislation is not the only way to drive progress. As president i will use the power to convene, connect and collaborate, to build partnerships that actually gets things done. Because above all, we have to break out of the poisonous partisan gridlock and focus on the longterm needs of our country. [applause] ms. Clinton i confess. Maybe its the grandmother in me, but i believe that part of Public Service is planting trees under whose shade youll never sit. And the vision ive laid out here today for strong growth, fair growth and longterm growth, all working together will get incomes rising again, will help working families get ahead and stay ahead. That is the test of our time. And im inviting everyone to please join me to do your part. Thats what great countries do. Thats what our country always has done. We rise to challenges. Its not about left, right or center. Its about the future versus the past. Im running for president to build an america for tomorrow, not yesterday. An america built on growth and fairness, an america where if you do your part you will reap the rewards, where we dont leave anyone behind. [applause] ms. Clinton thank you, all. Thank you. I just want to leave you with one more thought. I want every child, every child in our country not just the granddaughter of a former president or a former secretary of state but every child to have the chance to live up to his or her godgiven potential. Please join me in that mission. Lets do it together. Thank you, all so much. [cheers and applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] and wisconsin Governor Scott walker announcing this morning hes running for president as well, sending out a tweet that read im in. That brings the number of candidates seeking the republican nomination to 15. He also released a video declaring his entry into the race. Lets take a look. Theyve said we have to compromise our principles to win. Scott walker showed the path to victory is to run on our principles conservative bold, decisive. A balanced budget. Cut taxes. Beat the special interests. Improved education. Creating jobs. And showed how to fight and win. America needs new fresh leadership with big, overbings bold ideas outside of washington, actually gets things done. Wisconsin, we didnt nibble around the edges. We enacted big bold reforms, gave it to the hardworking taxpayers. Lives are better because of it. We fought and we won and in the republican field there are some who are good fighters. They havent won those battles. There are those that won elections but havent consistently taken on the big fights. Weve showed we can do both. Im running for president to fight and win for the American People. Without sacrificing our principles, we won three elections in four years in a blue state. Did it by leading. Now we need to do the same thing for america. Not too late. We can make our country great again. Join our cause. Help us fight and win for america. Governor Walkers Campaign video, hell be making an official announcement about his president ial campaign tonight. Well take you live to the waukesha expo county in wisconsin at 6 15 p. M. Eastern over on cspan3. This weekend on cspans road to the white house, two Major Political events from iowa and were the only place you can watch or listen to these events in their entirety. Friday night at 8 00 eastern well be live in cedar rapids for the Iowa Democratic party hall of fame dinner. It will mark the first time that all five share the same stage. And beginning at 11 00 a. M. Eastern, well be live from ames where nine leading republican candidates are scheduled to speak. On cspan, cspan radio and cspan. Org. Cspans road to the white house 2016, we take you there. Cspan gives you the best access to congress. Live coverage of the u. S. House, congressional hearings and news conferences. Bringing you events that shape Public Policy and every morning washington journal is live with elected officials policymakers and journalists and your comments by phone, facebook and twitter. Compreep created by americas Cable Companies and brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. And the u. S. House expected back in about 45 minutes, 2 00 eastern time for debate on six measures. Mainly dealing with Small Business administration programs, including one that would require the s. B. A. To resume Disaster Assistance loans for businesses that were affected by Superstorm Sandy back in 2012. Take you to the floor live at 2 00 when they gavel back in. Until then, a look at progressive politics and the president ial race from todays washington journal. Paul orgel joining us in new york city this morning is katrina vanden heuvel, editor and publisher of the nation magazine. Thank you for joining us. Katrina vanden heuvel good morning. Paul orgel Bernie Sanders speaks. You did a little bit of a q a with the candidate. They call it his most revealing interview. The socialist president ial candidate sets out his vision for america. Here is a look at the piece. They write here that in the beginning there were plenty of doubters, but two months into the campaign, everything about the sanders candidacy, the crowds, the poll numbers, the buzz is bigger than expected. It says something about the prospects for progressive politics. What does it say . Katrina vanden heuvel this is a economic populist moment. The economic populist wing of the credit party is ascendant. Someone was going to fill that space in 2016 and Bernie Sanders is filling it. It might have been elizabeth warren. But Bernie Sanders has staked out his ground. He is someone the nation has been covering since he entered congress in 1990. Millions of people are meeting him for the first time. He announced only two months ago. The crowds just grow. Part of it is the mainstream Corporate Media in this country has for a long time sort of police the parameters of the possible i would argue and led to a kind of downsize politics of excluded alternatives. The views Bernie Sanders holds about a more fair country and how to get there, tax increases on the very wealthy, the belief that this country belongs to its citizens and not to billionaires debtfree education safe and secure retirement, expanded Social Security. What does it mean to be a socialist . It is essentially being a social democrat. He would be centerleft in many european countries. It is a modern new deal. I think Bernie Sanders and his issues are very much in sync. According to many polls with Many American views. The Mainstream Media has said that he is french or his views are french. He is fringe or his views are fringe. He was a guest on meet the press for his first time in his 24 years in congress. Where is john mccain is the most frequent guest on meet the press. That does not make sense. There should be a full breath of dth of views. The nation is not endorsing anybody right now, but we want robust debate. And an airing of new ideas. That lift up at a moment when many people Pay Attention to a political system and other times they dont. In 2016, a lot more people will be paying attention than they might have. Paul orgel politico has a piece that says sanderss Senate Colleagues are stunned by his assent. Ascent. Is it the message or the messenger that is catching on . Katrina vanden heuvel very good question. You have a cohort in the senate. People like elizabeth warren, senator jeff merkley, tammy baldwin. These people share his views. But i think the media in this country too often does the horse race to the detriment of giving people the issues. Bernie sanders is running a Serious Campaign with serious ideas and solutions for the problems he sees in this country at a very serious time. In fact a crisis moment for democracy and our economy. I think he has caught the wave. Is he more surprised about how it is all catching on . Perhaps. But he himself has been a very sharp critic of a media which hasnt permitted the full range of views. He says he goes on and talks with reporters. At the end of those interviews people say what do you think of Hillary Clinton, instead of pushing him on his issues. He is not there to criticize Hillary Clinton or raise millions of dollars to create warped opposition ads. He is there to have a serious debate. Is our country ready for such a campaign . I think we are seeing elements of such readiness. But we havent seen it. The other excitement, the day after he announced he raised 1. 5 million. Do i like to measure viability of candidates by their fundraising prowess . Hell no. But he raised 1. 5 million in 24 hours. He raised more than rand paul or ted cruz. I think there is an element of running as a small donor insurgent with real Ideas Campaign that people may be more ready for than many people have understood. Paul orgel phone numbers on the bottom of the screen for katrina vanden heuvel of the nation. The nation is celebrating its 150th anniversary. What does it mean to be 150 and what is new in store for readers these days . Katrina vanden heuvel i find it astonishing. I find it astonishing to survive. Think of the longevity. We were there for the launch of the telegraph. We were there for the launch of twitter. We Just Launched an extraordinary new website. It is very nimble and innovative. We are here largely i think because, though we cover politics and believe in movements which make fundamental transformational change, we are here because we believe in the power of telling truth to people, of challenging the conventional wisdom, of pushing the consensus and raising issues which at one time might seem heretical that at another time seem common sense. We were at the forefront of opposition to the iraq war in 2003. Many liberals were not. We were accused of being antiamerican, which is always what happens when you oppose government in wartime. 10 years later, the opposition to the iraq war, the view that it was a catastrophe for this countriesys security, the can common sense. Martin luther king jr. Was our civil rights correspondent for six years. James boldin wrote a report from occupied territory James Baldwin wrote about policing abuses. Toni morrison has an extraordinary essay in our special issue on the role of writers in the time of fear. We launched chris hayes who i hired at 28. He now has his own show. Melissa harris perry, naomi klein, who was just speaking at the vatican. We have a slew of writers. We have tried to do investigative writing that makes change. We believe in journalism that rights wrongs. The nation, 150 years old, i dont think many other places are going to make it that long. We plan to survive. Katrina vanden heuvel paul orgel we will talk more about Hillary Clinton, coming up. Lets get some calls in. Carol is calling from florida. Independent. Thank you for waiting. Caller good morning katrina. I understand Bernie Sanders was promising 50 million for jobs and i would like to know who will pay for the jobs. What his idea is for paying the deficit down. And the government doesnt create jobs. So what jobs is he talking about exactly . Katrina vanden heuvel i have not seen that exact framing. , good caller. I have seen that he has called for major infrastructure investment, which Hillary Clinton i believe today in her first major address on the economy will also second. I believe Bernie Sanders has put forward budgets. Which i would argue are the most sensible common sense budgets floating around this country. Because they call for beginning to pay down the debt but at the same time making investments in this countrys future. There is a lot of money that sloshes around in terms of tax breaks for oil and gas companies, military companies, pharmaceuticals. These tax breaks arent doing a lot except enriching companies which already are very rich. I think you can find ways to create a budget. By the way a budget is a moral statement, a values principle statement. You can find a way to do a budget that is very responsible and beginning to pay down the deficit and at the same time making investments if you reallocate the money. There is a very interesting idea out there. It is not new. Bernie sanders is one of the proponents. Called a robin hood tax or wall street tax. Tax wall street to invest in main street. I think you can really take on some of the companies which have reaped huge, huge riches to find ways without stopping them, but to just reframe and restrain them and bring that money back to reinvest in the country. What is the ultimate security . A healthy, literate, secure, country. With a rising middle class. Bernie sanders talks a lot about the disappearing, beleaguered middle class. I think that is where budgets should be focused on. Rebuilding a middleclass and true security at home. Paul orgel to the Hillary Clinton speech today that you mention, we will have a live today at 10 00 on cspan. The wall street journal says that clinton will tilt toward the left in his economic plan. She will focus on her differences with republican rivals and accuse them of seeking Growth Without regard to whether the middle class thrives and say that raising incomes for all americans is the defining economic challenge of our time. The speech will also draw implicit contrasts with Bernie Sanders. He is focusing heavily on inequality. Arguing that the economic pie should be divided more fairly and calling for taxes on the wealthy to pay for initiatives to aid the middle class. More on the battle here . Katrina vanden heuvel i hate to do this because i dont think Bernie Sanderss candidacy should be viewed as a foil to Hillary Clinton. You see that too often in the coverage. I think his campaign and issues should stand on their own terms. We will see moving Hillary Clinton to speak more urgently to the defining issue of our time, which is how do you rebuild the middle class . She will not be as straight what she is talking about, first of all, in my mind, is it left wing to argue that people who work 40 hours a week should not live in poverty . That to me is humane. That to me is a politics the pope could support. By the way, the pope traveling around latin america talking about unfettered capitalism makes Bernie Sanders look like a centrist. But that is a different issue. Hillary clinton is going to talk about the bottomup wage stagnation what can be done to rebuild the middle class. She is going to talk about empowering workers. She is not simply going to focus as so we democrats have for too long on the role of technology and globalization. She will make the point that we have this inequality, is not immaculate conceptions. Politics and policy play a role to rebuild an economy that works for everyone. Bernie sanders however gets more to the nub of the problem and it is a position poll that majorities of americans support which is increasing taxes on the very rich. I dont think you can really begin to address the defining crisis of our time which is inequality without taking that up. I know it is heretical, but the nation at 150 years old cover this years ago. President Dwight Eisenhower had a 90 marginal tax rate on the wealthiest in his presidency. No one is calling for that now because we have essentially moved into an era where we are trying to recalibrate after the erosion of the safety net over 4060 years of largely republican assault. So i think Hillary Clintons address will have interesting ideas, but i dont think she is going to talk as friendly as Bernie Sanders does about the importance of taking on banks too big to fail, ensuring they are responsible to the real economy, that they are not defrauding bilking and criminalizing the economy in which they have been so blessed to work in. Paul orgel we will go to michelle in wisconsin, a democrat. You are on with katrina vanden heuvel. Caller good morning. I was calling because i do like Bernie Sanders. He is straight and upfront. He wants to take on wall street and the big banks that tend to put failure in our economy. I believe that for our economy to get a boost and go in the right direction we need to tax the wealthiest people. They seem to get around on these tax breaks and everything. And yet the republicans will say, oh, that is just a tax break and the poor middleclass are getting handouts. Well if the big corporations that are Million Dollar profits and billion dollar profits should be able to pay their taxes on those things, and i am thankful that Bernie Sanders is going to be straight and take on wall street because a lot of our failures in our economy is because of them controlling so much stuff. That we just the poor in the middle class just dont have a chance anymore. I dont understand it. Paul orgel thanks for calling. Katrina vanden heuvel i talked earlier about the ascendancy of a kind of populist wing and i mean that in the best sense of the term. Because there is also a rightwing populism that roams the world. A kind of economic progressive populism that there is far more attention being paid now to the middle class low income workers. Low income people. And we forget, our contributing editors of many years, the great essayist gorbye vidal, one of his favorite expressions was the United States of amnesia. The hyper financial is a should of ourization of our economy these weapons of mass destruction blew up our economy. The reckless casino capitalism that is so much a part of wall street. These exotic instruments which bankers sometimes dont even know about. I think we need to rein that in so there is more connection between the real economy and this wall street economy. There are simple things that are just matters of raw fairness. Why is it as warren buffett, a billionaire, says that he pays fewer taxes than his secretary . There are so many tax breaks because the very richest have something that i would call the income defense industry. They have the best lawyers the best accountants, the best investment advisors. There is no reason that private equity firms should have something called this carried interest tax break where they get off paying far lower taxes on investments Capital Gains tax let me put it simply. Wealth should be taxed at a higher rate than work. And i think it is very unfair in this country that wealth is taxed often at lower rates than work. And so people get shafted. And in that shafting, people like Bernie Sanders find an anchor and a passionger and a passion among millions who want to write the right the wrongs. It is not revenge or vengeance. It is fairness. It is a fair deal that we are trying to get back. Paul orgel lets go to a republican in illinois. John, you are on with the editor and publisher of the nation. Good morning. Caller good morning, sir. Paul orgel what would you like to say . Caller more people should read the federalist papers that was written in 1787. Uhh. About energy, in politics. And uh. What is happening today. It is in the book. Uh. Exactly detail. Articleed. Article number nine is exactly about what happened with the recent lag flag issue. Article number 11 is about commerce in the navy. And uh number 64 is about treaties. Everything that is happening today is in the book. Business should be taxed as commerce. The business should be taxed but not the wealthiest person. That is more like an income tax. And, uh katrina vanden heuvel but good caller whats going on with the corporations is massive tax evasion. Listen, i am not antibusiness. I think there is a role for business. Honest, strong business which helps create jobs. That helpedtoo often these corporations are truly unpatriotic. They shut down factories in communities. They take their money out of the country. So that they dont get taxed. They dont contribute to the revenue base of this country. I think in that lack of patriotism, we need to say lets strike a new deal. And that term new deal i am not using lightly. We need a new deal. A new social contract. And that is something that is very much prodemocracy and very much it seems to me coming back to the federalist papers, at the heart of the best role in this country is a social contract that honors the rights of workers, the contributions of workers, communities, and gives business the right to do well. But this maximization of shortterm profit, which will request is going to talk about the failure to invest longterm in communities the ripping off of profits in order to benefit a few shareholders or to take money and reinvested in profits. All of this is not part of what i think Founding Fathers really thought about when they thought about the role of commerce and business. In this good country. Paul orgel what do you make of this socalled trust gap concerning Hillary Clinton . Is it real in your view . What has caused it in your view . What can be done about it . Katrina vanden heuvel on some level, i try to avoid the personality scrum coverage of campaigns. I want to see where she moves on the issues. But i do think that it is an extraordinary situation. I have never accepted that the clintons are a dynasty. The bushes are a dynasty. Rand paul and ron paul are a dynasty. The clintons are a political marriage. Hillary clinton has had an extraordinary career. I do think in her handling of the emails for example, i think it is not at all clear that any laws were violated. But there was athere was trimming here and there. And the danger, as she, in her first interview last week, she was reading lawyers notes, as opposed to speaking from the heart, it confirms the narrative that has floated around the clintons for a wild. They play by their own rules. It compounds that narrative. It is a problem. I think she has a companion a campaign. There hasnt even been a first debate. I think the debates should be moved up and there should be more of them. I think she has the ability to address that. I think policy, how people will lead a country, a staggering difference between the republicans and democrats on the economic issue. The republicans have tried to roll back health care, cut medicare, lower taxes for the richest. Those are the fundamental issues. Hillary clinton has a chance to speak to the issues more honestly. We hope to get an interview with Hillary Clinton. We would like to interview all of the candidates and post sharp questions. Host we move on to an independent collar. Good morning. Caller good morning. Katrina, you talk about these corporations like they are a democratic system. Theyre are not, they are owned by shareholders. You called it unpatriotic. They are not in a democracy. There is the dividing line. What is the progressive nature of our country, our National Debt is 18 trillion. Where does that end . Where does any sort of trust happen for the average american citizen when it comes to we cant protect our borders, we dont have a country if we cant defend the borders. What are we supposed to say to our kids . We are going to be 25 trillion in debt. The Biggest National Security Risk is our National Debt. Guest i disagree with that. I think one takes the debt seriously, but there is a fetish about the debt. We have the ability to live within our means irresponsible pay down the debt, but do so in a way that is in sync with the values of our country. The fetish with the debt, we have the ability to control our own currency. To revisit policies and regulations that, by the way the corporations didnt see the shortterm maximization of profits as part of the corporate charter, but that is what has happened. Corporations have to operate in a national environment. They dont want to, they want to be free of all politics. But that would lead to anarchy. That would be a true world, if corporations just ran roughshod over sovereignty. They operate by their own rules because they have the money to lubricate systems. They can buy their representatives, to have seven lobbyists for every representative. You cant say that corporations are unto themselves. They are chartered by states. They have to abide by certain rules and regulations. In terms of the border . I dont think this discussion is totally off base. The wrong questions are being asked. Why are people coming here . We need to examine the root causes in the country from which immigrants are coming. They can come into this country in many ways, they have contributed in many ways. I think donald trump is a bully and a big it. He is jumpstarting a conversation that the Republican Party is trying to avert its eyes from. In so many ways, he is threaded through what the Republican Party has become with its strategy, in light of the racist funders and policies and politics and people in the party. They have a lot of soulsearching to do. It is a suicidal politics for the Republican Party. It is an ugly, odious politics. Talking about rightwing populist, you hear that donald trump in europe, he is similar to the neofascists running around france or Eastern European countries. It is a danger sign. I am torn between people media giving him more coverage. Coverage is often a disinfectant, one hopes. He will hopefully falls to if you want to talk debt, he has built his empire on a ponzi scheme. The time he became a folk hero. The folk heroes go down. Host david in florida, democratic caller. Caller good morning katrina how are you this morning . Young lady, i respect your clarity and how you speak. I think america is quite intrigued with how you deal with things. I like to ask you a question and i would like you to give me an answer of whether im right or wrong in the way i thinking. The last segment was on Lgbt Community and what the Supreme Court did. As far as im concerned, underneath the constitution under life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we have a government that is charged with not only taken care of the majority, but also taking care of the minority. When i look at what the Supreme Court did with the decision for the lgbt, i dont see it in a religious way. Religions are not losing any of their rights. I see it as the Supreme Court holding up the rights of the minority, which you are charged to do in the constitution of the United States. Do you agree or disagree . Guest i agree. I dont see any religious liberties being infringed. I see an expansion of freedom. If i might add to what you said, so often, Court Decisions, after a long. Of social movement, social transformation. The court ratifies what has already been going on in communities in various movements , in Free Association of people. Talking about the constitution. I think Court Decisions do protect the rights of minorities, to expand freedom and in that, i agree with you. Host what do you make of the debate over the Confederate Flag . Guest i think it has been healthy for this country. I come back to the United States of amnesia. The nation, dont forget, it was founded by abolitionists committed to ending slavery in the aftermath of the civil war. The great historian of reconstruction, Abraham Lincoln on the unending battle to secure the rights which we are given. But that battle goes on. The Confederate Flag, i see racism and oppression. I think it is remarkable to see what happened in south carolina. It took a terrible tragedy, but that flag came down. And now we need to look hard at the Structural Racism in this country. Reverend william barber, an extraordinary figure if your listeners havent read about him, he is the head of the naacp in North Carolina, he leads moral mondays, and yesterday, in North Carolina they are launching a lawsuit to challenge the restrictions in the Voting Rights act. We are living at a time when the flag, the Confederate Flag and its racist, oppressive citizens and symbolism is coming down, and we are still waited with racism that is embedded in the structure of voting, online voting, hours to vote, a disproportionately affects african americans, the poor, the latino people, young people. Host next call from bill in putnam illinois. Republican. Caller first, a brief comment. I was disappointed that you didnt broadcast anything on freedom it appears you are not going to do a broadcast on scott walker. Host actually, we are. Scott walker we will have him live. Caller on cspan3, not broadcast television. Host that is because the senate will be in session and the house of representatives will be in session, so part of the reason we have a cspan3, and we will have it on in prime time. Does that help . Caller no. Guest you are asking a lot considering if you look at basic cable and broadcast tv. What i said earlier, i would argue that you dont get a good grasp on the different views in this country. I dont agree on much with kim blackwell, but i think the mission of cspan is a valuable one. I said earlier that you are going to have lynne cheney, the cofounder of code pink, that range is vital. At the end of the day, i may represent a point of view of trans partisanship. I think it is vital, above all that there be a robust debate in this country of ideas debate and so in that sense, i think cspan they are doing Hillary Clinton, scott walker. Host all the candidates and the freedom fest. An independent color for our guest. Caller good morning. Cspan the cover of your Current Issue flashed the cover of your Current Issue. Is that related to the bds movement . Has Bernie Sanders taken your pledge . Guest he has not it is not related. It is a climate pledge. It is calling on all candidates running in the president ial campaign to neither except nor list con pain to neither accept or List Campaign donations from oil companies. As we see in these last days, exxon has pumped money into climate denial groups. It is a crisis. That is the pledge that we have put forward. Bernie sanders in our interview he took up the pledge. Governor omalley has taken up the pledge, jill stein has taken it up. We havent heard from the clinton campaign, nor link tasty. None of the republicans were willing to consider it. Host speaking of republicans, i have one more question. Which republican on the gop side would give Hillary Clinton assuming she wins the nomination , the best fight . Guest i have two thoughts. One is the money race. I think we are seeing different campaigns going on. You have the wealth primaries with the donors who are prominent. You have jeb bush raising unprecedented amounts of money. Hillary clinton is aiming to do the same. Scott walker announcing the same. I would say it is the race of big donors, working peoples rights to negotiate living wage and etc. My father, a great political figure who waged many battles he has a keen eye. He knew scott brown was going to win in massachusetts. He is very astute. He thinks marco rubio will give Hillary Clinton a run for the money, excuse the expression. I am not so sure. On the money front, jeb bush is poised. On the other hand, a do a radio show every few weeks with rich lowry. And he says that the lack of enthusiasm for jeb bush is quite astonishing. Host anthony from new york is on the line. Thank you for waiting. Caller hi, thank you for the opportunity. In light of the two callers before. You folks do a remarkable job deciphering all this information. It is like Niagara Falls of information, 365 days a year you are up at 7 00 in the morning. The at the producers, moderators, and im very grateful for that. And whenever people call in with comments that are stupid or inconsiderate, i think to myself that there are people out here who do recognize the hard job that you have at hand. We are grateful for having you. When you look at the media overall, it is frightening. Cspan and nation magazine are some of the only places you can go to to get information that educates and enlightens rather than shapes opinions. More importantly, i would ask katrina vanden heuvel, during the bush administration, it was apparent that the bush and cheney rose to power through enron, they embezzled money. It was between wall street, the energy sector, and they put these people in power to bring the Largest Military Industrial Complex here to comply with what was requested of them. I wondered, there is no accountability. Nobody has been brought to justice. Guest you raise a fundamental question. We should remember enron. It prefigured the blowing up of the Financial System with banks and corporations. The lack of accountability for those who misled us, they let us into the war in iraq. We saw in the last year, in the desire to, instead of negotiating and finding a deal with iran, which would be the most sane outcome, there is no longterm solution to the problems in the middle east, other than a diplomatic one. I do tv with bill kristol often the architect of that debacle, we are back on tv talking about how we have to go to war here how can we extend troops here. It is a recipe for disaster. Im not calling for them to not be allowed on tv. Said that those who call for this disaster shouldnt be allowed on tv. For the wall street financial crisis, for the war in iraq, we need to think hard about what it says about a system that doesnt value of accountability. That, to me, is one of the central questions of our time. The other is the danger that our country when it commits to endless war, rather than finding political, democratic resolution. That should be at the forefront of our mind if we dont want to mortgage our future. Host one last call for our guest. Mike from florida. An independent. Caller hi, i want to know why the people are calling in to say that our government does a great job. Why doesnt the democrats call us call them out on this . Guest i do a weekly column for washington post. Com. Is this the model . Is this what we want our country to be . People dying because they dont have access to medicaid . A governor who puts ideology over the concerns of his citizens . I dont want to get caught up in the size of government. But government should work on behalf of the improvement of peoples lives. One of the theorists said he wanted to strangle government. Any sane society has to have a government that is doing things on behalf of its citizens. Government has been corrupted by money, lobbying, but we dont kill government. We dont say we dont need it. We try to make it work on behalf of people, of the people, by the people, poor the people for the people. We are looking good on Court Decisions, obamacare, lgbt writes, samesex marriage. But at its core, it is a 1 core. It is theyre working for the 1 . Every day, there are decisions that benefit corporations and their rights. Over the peoples rights. I think we need to have some balancing, leveling, fairness. Host our guest has been katrina vanden heuvel, she is in new york. She is the publisher of the nation. It is celebrating the 150th anniversary this month. And the house gavel back in. Working on legislation dealing with Small Business administration. Pray. We give you thanks o god for giving us another day. We ask your blessing upon this assembly and upon all to whom the authority of government is given. Encourage the members of this house, o god, to use their abilities and talents in ways that bring righteousness to this nation and to all people. Ever remind them of the needs of the poor, the homeless, or