Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20240622

Thursday at 10 00 a. M. On cspan3. Before that conversation, we start with politics and your view of donald trump. Democrats, 2027488000. Republicans, 2027488001. Independents, 2027488002. You can send us a tweet cspanwj facebook. Com cspan or email journal cspan. Org. I went to show you what donald trump had to say yesterday and South Carolina. He took on his gop rivals starting with the Texas Governor rick perry. He also called Lindsey Graham a stiff and an idiot. Heres what he had to say. [video clip] mr. Trump so they say they did not like the way, i am a little loud. I am a little too strong. They do not like it. Then i watch this idiot Lindsey Graham on television and he calls me a jackass. They all said id never run. Well, he will never file his form papers. Filed my papers. Well he will never file his financials. My financials, well, it is like 98 pages. A lot of these politicians have not filed them and they are like half a page. I am the only one that has filed, practically. That was one of the things you have to do to get in the debate. Everyone is thinking we will keep trump out of the debates because he will never file his financials. He does not want people to see that maybe hes not as wealthy as people thought. Turns out i am much wealthier. I wanted to file. Host donald trump and South Carolina campaigning and defending his tone and being out in the polls. The Washington Post with the headline tough talk may now be a bane. Reaction from senator Lindsey Grahams office. His Campaign Spokesperson saying, donald trump continues to show hes illprepared to be commanderinchief. The two people most excited about all trumps candidacy are barack obama and Hillary Clinton. Because of trumps campaign, we are not talking about obamas horrible deal with iran or Hillary Clintons plans to continue obamas failed security agenda. What are your thoughts . Detroit, democrat, good morning. Caller good morning. How are you . Host doing well. Caller on donald trump i think what he is sort of tapping into is kind of the vitriolic hatred. And dare i say it, i think a lot of the hatred he tapping into comes primarily from white people whoa re angry about everything from immigrants and minorities and things like that. What he has been saying, especially about john mccain as much as i disagree with mccain on a lot of these things, i think trump is totally out of line when he tries to disparage his record as a war hero and everything. And like i said, what he taps into is the a lot of the hatred coming primarily from white people. Host ok. Craig in iowa, republican. First caucus state. What do you think of donald trump . Caller the problem is, the media does not tell the whole story. They act like another party. They ought to be under the laws of a party. They do not talk about what senator mccain said about 15,000 arizona and that wanted to hear donald trump. Senator mccain called them crazy. The media never touches upon that. I think the republicans have to stop going after donald trump. It is really making them look bad. Weve got to start learning to Work Together as fellow americans. The Republican Party cannot even Work Together. How do we expect to start working together as americans . Making the best decisions for the American People. It is all about power, money and votes. It is destroying this country. It has got to stop. Everybody ought to be fired. Host what do you think . How does he play in iowa . Caller people really like him because he tells the truth. Sure, any time people start calling him names, hes going to come back because thats the type of person he is. Anybody that can build the empire he has built and deal with everybody here has dealt with all of the world if he had someone running with him like bobby jindal or something what a pair they would make. Straighten out this country. This country is being destroyed. We have got to start caring. There are entities that want to take us over, destroy everything the country is about and put us under bondage and sharia law. Weve got to get our heads out of the sand or we going to lose what this country is about. Host take a look at what harry reid from nevada, the minority leader for the democrats, had to say about donald trump. He came to the senate floor yesterday morning. Heres how democrats view this. [video clip] harry reid my relationship with senator mccain is one where i have great admiration for him. For his strength of character. For his moral courage in vietnam. So mr. President in the aftermath of these remarks about john mccain, republicans have been falling all over themselves to criticize donald trump. But it makes me wonder where were all the same republicans when mr. Trump slate of millions . A month ago, trump said, when mexico sends its people, they are not sending their best. They are sending people that have lots of problems. They are bringing those problems to us. They are bringing drugs crime they are bringing rapists. That is his quote. When trump insulted the senator from arizona, a member of his own party, republicans could not announce him fast enough. But when trump called emigrants immigrants rapists, there was nothing but silence. There is an ugly truth behind that silence. When it comes to immigration policy and frankly, most other policy there is no difference between the Republican Party and donald trump. Host the leader of the Democratic Party in the senate there. Making hay of what trump had to say and how republicans reacted. Getting your view on donald trump. The polls say hes up. Pundits say he should get out. What is your take . In the Washington Post, during his speech, trumps elevated a poll that showed him leading the republican field nationally with 24 . He bragged he was up over scott walker. The same poll contained warning signs. The poll was conducted thursdaysunday, sunday, the day after the comments, support dropped sharply. It goes on to say this, South Carolina might have been the worst place for trump to land. The palmetto state handed mccain a victory in 2008. Largely on the strength of his appeal as the only veteran. The marine corps recruit depot Parris Island is if a few miles from where trump spoke. The Financial Times notes 4 other candidates herman cain, rick perry, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum had the support of one in five republicans at some stage. Ms. Michele bachmann surged to fit before collapsing. Randy in illinois, what do you make . Caller we finally have a candidate talking for the poor and middle class people and for the veterans. Hes finally saying in laymans terms that we can understand. He can come right out and tell the truth. It is the truth. It is that it is now that hes telling lies, it is that he tells it like it is. We are tired of these people running and telling us Different Things they cannot promise that. Donald trump could promise on what he says. Hes not lying when he talks about other people. Hes just telling it the way it is. I can understand. That is what we need. A john doe in there. Host do you think he could, if he won the republican nomination, do you think he could beat a hypothetical matchup. Heller Clinton Hillary clinton . Caller it is like obama, he did not have no money behind him. He was from chicago and i thought he would not need money. When he got into the presidency, rich people got to him and started handing him money. Donald trump is not need those people. He has got the money. He does not need these rich people to tell him what to do. Host that if the argument he has been making. Saying that he has 10 billion a conservative estimate. And that he will not be bought. In fort washington, maryland, a democrat. You are next. Caller good morning. Donald trump to me is the clown i think he is just a rich one. When he was doing the birther situation, not one of these republicans stood up and denounced the horrible things he was saying about president obama. He has got a lot of money and a big mouth and he is going to use it. Hes having fun. He could care less about this country. In a matchup, he would not win. He is going to be alive in the debate. I cannot wait hes going to be eaten alive in the debate. I cannot wait. Hes the gift that keeps on giving for the Democratic Party. Keep talking, trump. Host you want him to stay in the race. Randy, texas republican. Good morning. Caller donald Trump Reminds me of former president ronald reagan. He speaks his mind. In 2008, Political Correctness is exactly why mccain lost. The establishment told him do not offend anybody, do not offend the president. Donald trump is going to go very far. By the way, im a veteran. I was not offended by what he said. I think mccain is a bad political leader. He is a war hero but he is a bad political leader. Anytime you can lose against president obama in 2008, this is ridiculous. That is my comment. Host greg in wisconsin, also a republican. Go ahead. Caller the comments john mccain has made, excuse me, the comments about john mccain, i do not think they are fair. At the same time, i do not think donald trump is qualified to be the leader of the United States. Hes got a lot of money. Hes got a big mouth. That may got us in more trouble than john kerry and obama have gotten us into. Host you do not think hes qualified . Because of his tone and the way he speaks . You think that disqualifies him . Caller i think it is because he feels like hes on his own Little Island and he can do and say what he pleases. Regardless of what other people think, he is going to speak his mind. I applaud him for that, even if i disagree with some of his comments. Host who do you like from this field of now 16 after john kasich jumps in . Caller i like mike huckabee. Host tell us why. Caller i think the country needs another person with a backbone. Every president has said God Bless America. So many of the president s have said God Bless America and then they do things that take god out of the country. They change things and a redo the constitution how many times. And its, i do not agree with amnesty for 4 million illegal immigrants. I welcome immigrants, but go through the right channels. Host let me ask you, is a candidate that speaks about religion and god important to you . Is that the Biggest Issue for you . John kasich from ohio, hes one that speaks about religion a lot. He said yesterday in his announcement pray for me. Caller i pray for everyone. I pray for the people that they are calling terrorists. I hope god opens their eyes and their hearts. They may say all these comments about allah, but they follow mohammed. God never preached kill and murder and whatnot. So we know mohammed did that. He preached like out the infidels. Mohammed is not allah. Host im going to leave it there so we can talk about donald trump. We are getting your view of him. The pundits say, including the Des Moines Register, with their editorial on monday that said he should end his campaign. Trump should pull the plug on his side ship. The wall street journal put on their own editorial criticizing the billionaire. And some are saying he should get out. Posed show right now that hes up. Polls show right now that hes up. John kasich did jump into the race yesterday. Hes number 16. Take a look at how he presented his campaign and his vision for this country. [video clip] john kasich im here to ask you for your prayers, for your support, for your efforts. Because i have decided to run for president of the United States. [cheers and applause] john kasich you know, they ask you all the time, like it is a trick question or something. Why do you want to do this . It is like they are going to catch you. [laughter] john kasich if you cannot answer that question, you ought to be back at the 50 yard line at ohio state wondering about your future. I do this because, first of all we are not born to serve others i want you to thick about this. If we are not born to serve others what are we born to do . I do this for my family, of course. For my neighbors. For my friends of many years. Many of whom are working with me today, 30 or 40 years later. I really do it for everyone. And i have to humbly tell you and i mean humbly tell you, that i believe i do have the skills. And i have the experience. [cheers and applause] john kasich i have the experience and the testing. Host Ohio Governor saying that he humbly saying that he has experienced. Usa today noting that with the Ohio Governor jumping in, it makes the ranks of gop field impressive. 8 current or former governors 5 current or former senators. Businessman donald trump and neurosurgeon ben carson. A poll found that 40 of americans said governors have the experience most needed to be president. Senators were preferred by 23 . This is in a recent poll done by usa today and suffolk university. Getting your thoughts on donald trump. Andre in texas, independent, you are next. Go ahead. Caller i think trump is no more than a sideshow carnival barker. Hes a narcissistic man. Hes not said anything about what he would do to make Social Security solvent to defeat boko haram or isis. Hes up in the polls, but when numbers start to fall, hes going to sit there and say if the pollsters, they are making the numbers up because i am winning. Then when that comes to that, it aint, you could not get 30 Million People to vote for him. He has to convince 270, the electoral college. I do not think donald trump has substance to convince those people. Host willy in annapolis democrat. Caller im a democrat. I think the republicans are getting a dose of their own medicine. Give them hell, donald. Host john in nebraska, independent. Good morning. Caller how are you doing . Host you are on the air. Caller andre, i want to second what andre said about this carnival barker. I think i heard a woman say it was scary. The reason i thought that, i think somebody with that kind of aggressive i mean, it is almost like im not a conspiratorial type person. But Bernie Sanders, the senator from vermont, was making a real bigg m move. He suddenly completely drops off the map. Hillary clinton isnt so excited about how the republicans have this idiot, donald trump, who inherited 150 billion a did not pull himself up from his bootstraps like steve jobs, warren buffett, ted turner mark cuban people that pulled themselves up from nothing or almost nothing. I do not know why we are listening to this guy. The thing that scares me, hes almost like 1933 munich. That guy is a fascist at least or authoritarian in his demeanor. I think he would be very scary. We need to end this and get back to somebody like Bernie Sanders who is addressing the populist issues. Donald trump, the people with the iq of 85101 are listening to this multibillionaire who does not care of wit. Im not a conspiratorial theorist, but i do believe Hillary Clinton may be kind of a, i dont know how you say it, her, she might be kind of glowing a little bit to know that sanders is getting completely put off the map. Host that is what senator Lindsey Graham said yesterday through a spokesperson. That the two people liking Donald Trumps campaign most are barack obama and Hillary Clinton. Speaking of senator sanders, the wall street journal headline says this. While lagging behind Democratic Front runner Hillary Clinton in national polls, the senates only self described socialist is rising in primary state polls. 21 in iowa and 30 in New Hampshire according to the latest data compiled by real clear politics. Some of the boomlet can be explained but a wing looking for an alternative to mrs. Clinton. The Political Landscape has been shifting from the left and the right. Hes been talking about the gap between the rich and the poor since he came to congress in 1991. Donald trump getting large crowds, 15,000 in arizona. Heres a tweet from donald trump yesterday. This is what a crowd of over 2000 south carolinians who want to make America Great again looks like. Cnn saying there were about 1100 people in attendance. Donald trump on facebook, responding to the Des Moines Register telling him he should end his campaign. Hes not surprised, it is one of the most liberal newspapers in the u. S. The Des Moines Register will do anything for a headline in this poorly written not endorsement. It got them some desperately needed ink that is what donald trump had to say on facebook. He also said this about rick perry. Did an absolutely horrible job of securing the border. Governor as it has since been terrific. That is what donald trump said there. Lindsey graham responding to donald trump giving out his personal cell phone in South Carolina. The senator going to twitter to say probably getting a new phone. Hillary clinton yesterday, she responded to the Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell in kentucky saying she is using the gender card. She tweeted senator mcconnell thinks unlocking the potential of half the population is playing the gender card. We think it is uneconomic nobrainer. Hillary clinton with that tweet. By the way, the Houston Chronicle front page courtesy of the newseum noting the former Texas Governor rick perry shoots from the hip, the lone ranger perry fires back. He said i will stand up to him like i would stand up to vladimir putin, talking about donald trump. In harrisburg, pennsylvania, a republican. What do you think of donald trump . Caller i am a black woman. I think donald trump is wonderful. He has the skills and the mindset to run this country. We need to stop with the status quo and run this country like it should be run. If i saw donald trump, i would give him a kiss on the cheek. I like him. Host do you think he can win in a general election . Caller i think he can. The republicans are trying to antagonize him to have him go back and forth, but it is not going to work. Host all right. Ruth marcus in the Washington Post says this, heres why you dont have to worry about trump becoming president. I predict the polls will be his high water mark. Conducted before respondents knew of trumps slur against john mccain. The poll contains the seeds of trumps demised. 62 of surveyed said they would definitely not vote for him. Comparable numbers for jeb bush and Hillary Clinton are in the low 40s. 56 of those surveyed said trump does not reflect the core values of the Republican Party. Dina, michigan, democrat. Good morning. Caller theres a lot of outrage about what trump said about john mccain. I wonder where was the outrage when john kerry was raked over the coals . There were thousands of prisoners of war in the vietnam war. There is only one here among them . I bet the guys sticking up for mccain cannot name 3 other prisoners of that time. One more thing, with dick cheney and trump, they both had from the vietnam war. I wish someone would look up and see what happens to the 10 people who had to take their place for the deferments host ok. By the way come on military records, a piece in the Washington Post. Questions linger about trumps draft deferment. A few weeks after his 22nd birthday, trump received a notice from the federal government. On july 9, his local draft board scrawled a 1a, classifying him as available for military service and for the previous 4 years, trump had avoided the draft by obtaining deferment so he could study at 400 at f ordham university. He was suddenly vulnerable to constriction. To conscription. In 1968, he reported for a physical examination and was medically disqualified. The letter does not detail why trump failed the exam. The Selective Service destroyed all medical records after the draft ended in it says that when trump registered for the draft, he had just graduated as a decorated cadet from the New York Military Academy where he played football and basketball the story talks about the campaign saying he was medically discharged because he had bone spurs in his feet. So that in the Washington Post this morning, if youre interested in learning more about that. Were going to keep getting your thought heres this morning on donald trump. Whats your view of him . Some other quick headlines from the paper at the wall street journal front page. Overseas taxation overhaul. Top lawmakers and the white house are in early stages of discussing ambitious overhauls. This being led in the house by the ways and means chairman paul ryan so more on that as the wall street journal noted. It could be part of a highway spending bill. It failed its first test, a sixyear bill, a bipartisan in the senate yesterday. Congress wanted more time to review it. Its over 1,000 pages long. The majority leader worked with senator barber Barbara Boxer to put this bill together. They could be working on saturday and sunday to get this through the senate. The house passed a fivemonth extension so the two chambers still have to come together before funding expires at the end of the month. We will talk more with tom rice of South Carolina. He sits on the house transportation and infrastructure committee. On iran, u. S. A. Today front page there has a story about the lobbying for supporting and opposing this iran deal. And then also from the enter section of the New York Times this morning, iran lawmakers delay vote on their nuke pact for 80 days. The power their delay was seen as a way to position the americans to get blame if congress repudiates the agreement which iran in the six big powers on july 14. John kerry will be up on capitol hill today behind closed doors talking to lawmakers and then theyll be before the cameras on thursday. We will have coverage of that. So that in the papers today on iran and as well as whats happening over in the senate. Were getting your thoughts this morning on donald trump. What is your v. C. U. Him . The New York Times has a front page story saying that Rupert Murdoch does not have a positive view of the billionaire. Its a lengthy story about the twos relationship. Murdoch taking to twitter over the comments made by donald trump. Heres what he sad to say about illegal immigration he says that el pasos safest city in the u. S. Trump is wrong. This is what murdoch had to say after trump made the comments about giancarlo john mccain the crown jewel of mr. Murdochs print Company Published a scathing editorial calling mr. Trump a catastrophe. Mr. Trump responded by trashing the journal on twitter. Look how small the pages have become. Looks like a tabloid. New york times noting that mr. Trump and roger ales are friends and hes called one of the greatest geniuses in history. They had a private lunch in new york. John, lakeland florida, a democrat. John your view in donald trump. Go ahead. Caller that lady from pennsylvania was right on. Im a democrat. I dont think Bernie Sanders will get the nomination. So im going with donald trump. I watched that show saturday when he was on stage and al franklin ran him down. Donald trump did say giancarlo was a warrior. John mccain was a warrior. And then john mccain called him crazy. There were some jets vets in the audience and he called them crazy into. Jeb bush wrote a left to the swift club down there and thanked them for running john kerry down so george bush could be a president. I used to be a rendleman until 2000 when george bush lied about going to the war. Thats why i went to democrat. Now, i can go back to rendleman because showing the truth is showing the truth. Host ok, john. Jeb bush leads rebound owe and hill harper Hillary Clinton in the florida fundraising race. Wayne in new jersey, independent. What do you think about donald trump . Caller im just wondering when hes going to be exposed for all the corporations that he owned that he put into bankruptcy while he was stealing his billons of dollars from those businesses. I mean, weve had the trump marina in new jersey. Trump plaza and now the taj ma jal thats being with the help of carl icahn, one of his good buddies has bailed that out. Thats how he acquires his billons. But then he leaves in the wake all the people that suffer for losing all the jobs. This is the type of guy you want in the us who . I mean really, guys. Youve really got to expose his business practice because thats what he brags about. Host all right, wayne. Gary in North Carolina a rendleman. Gary good morning. Youre on. Caller thank you. Caller i just like that hes stirring the pot and let everybody talk about it. I dont know about Hillary Clinton. Ever since her husband got up there and lied in front of everybody and said he wasnt lying. I dont have much use for him. I think i just want to hear more of what he got to say. See where they stand. Host we told you the wall street journal had a scathing oped against donald trump on sunday night. This morning, the wall street Journal Editorial Board i mean, makes the case for kassig. And they say he should run of his ohio record. Thats how his strength lies. And they note this. That his staff includes strategists john weve ever and fred davis. They specialize in getting republican candidates in running the nonrepublicans then again, they say, no republican has ever won the white house without carrying the swing state of ohio and perhaps, mr. Kasich can take his buckeye success nationally. Thats the wall street journal this morning. Washington post also weighing in on john kasich becoming the 16th republican throwing his hat in the ring yesterday. They said john kasich joins the race and they say mr. Kasichs route to the g. O. P. Nomination would run through New Hampshire where its tone could play well in town hall meeting. Yet that tone could be a curse. It may be that his style doesnt fit with the g. O. P. s current ethos. If one of the most serious candidates in the state to attract real attention while donald trump surges. By the way, that debate taking place august 6 in cleveland. And you have got to be above 10 to make it on the stage. Gary excuse me, robert in pittsburgh pennsylvania, democrat. Robert, good morning to you. What do you think . Caller well all i have to say this country, we have amnesia. Two people i want to talk about. And im also a retired ven. And number one you know, when kerry was running for president i mean, the swift votes came out and you didnt hear no all these republicans are screaming about john mccain, which i think hes a hero but however john mccain i mean, kerry was a hero too. He had three purple hearts, he got a bronze star and nobody screamed, either john mccain or lizzy graham. Nobody said nothing. But we have a short memory in this country. And by the way, everybodys complaining about obama. Remember, your 40k is up the roof. When you talk about obama, think about your 40k when you decide to retire or get your money. Host all right robert. Speaking of john kerry, former Senate Foreign relations chairman, the boston globe this morning noting that he is feeling the senates sting. Friend john mccain leads the fight over the iran deal and hes feeling the pressure from his former colleagues on that. He will be it on capitol hill today. And then hell face the Foreign Relations committee on thursday. The Washington Post this morning airstrike killed a senior al qaeda. This taking place in early july. And then also the Washington Post with the front page story this morning. U. S. Is not naming china in that data hack at the o. P. M. That affected 20 million americans. Theyre not naming china because the newspaper says that the official cited factors including exposing details of the United States own espionage in cyberspace capabilities. On capitol hill yesterday, the Washington Times with the story that victims families slam sanctuary cities. They were testifying on capitol hill yesterday pleading with congress to take action against criminal illegals. And it says that the former citys mayor senator dianne feinstein, now the senator from new york issued a bill to punish cities trying to deport serious criminals. And Washington Times notes the house will vote on a bill by representative Duncan Hunter to withhold funding from several Grant Programs from any city that refuses to cooperate on immigration. And the senator from iowa said hes working on his own bill that would not only withhold funding from sanctuary cities but impose a mandatory fiveyear prison sentence on any illegal immigrant after having been deported. Also want to let you know about up on capitol hill today the veteran affairs secretary, bob mcdonald will but there testifying before the House Veterans Affairs committee and well have coverage of that at 10 00 a. M. Eastern time on cspan3. Were going to talking about veteran issues coming up here in a couple of minutes. But well go to ron and get a few more phone calls in from pennsylvania, an independent. Your view of donald trump. Caller good morning. I think hes an ok guy. Everybodys got this and that to say about him. What he wants to do about immigration is take the issue first and then go on to other things. But i dont understand about politics. Why do you have to be a millionaire or a billionaire to run for president . Thats how it seems kind of ridiculous. But anyway, it just seems like the millionaires club. You got the wilsons dont like the johnsons because they have more money. Theyve got different views. Were all americans and were fighting each other. And immigration thing is hes right on that. 100 . And if anybody doubts it, get the newspaper or news article from long island out in the hamptons, go back 10 years and then progress through the police reports. And every time you see something that went d. U. I. s, murders this that and the other, always a mexican that shouldnt be here. Host all right, ron. Jimmy from atlanta, an independent. Hi jimmy. Caller how are you doing this morning . First, tell the guy that the people coming into america and going back into mexico. People dont really read. Second, donald trump could win because he speaks like barack obama spoke years ago. He has the peoples attitude. He has the peoples momentum and hes stirring the people up. Hes saying the things that people want to hear because hes outside of the d. C. Politically correct box. And thats what people want to hear. Thats why donald trump could win now. Donald trump policy. Those are to be desired, probably, right . But thats the part that a lot of people are mentioning. Why are we talking about daily . Donald trump donald trump, donald trump. We assume hillary and some of the other republicans but were talking donald trump daily minutely. And the thing and ill start with this. Most of the things that hes saying are factual. He meant to say john mccain wasnt a war hero but he said that john mccain is not doing nothing which he is not. John mccain is a war hero but he was saying that john mccain is not doing anything for veterans. Host ok. Jimmy, were going to talking about Veterans Issues after this short break. A couple of headlines. The chicago suntimes. Hollow victory. An Appeals Court throws out five counts against the former governor and while his sentence may change its unlikely he will be released any time soon. And out of chicago, courtesy of the museum, the Chicago Tribune says Appeals Court tosses five blagojevich counts and he is like lick to stay locked up serving 14 years. When we come back, the democrat of texas and the Armed Services will be here to talk about Veterans Issues. And then later, tom rice of South Carolina will be here to talk about highway funding. More of that hen we come back right after this break. Hes always to the right and almost always in the right. Anything complicated confuses him. Filmmakers Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville talk about their documentary on the 1968 debates between conservatives over war politics, god and sex. Theres not someone in there here. Very unlikely today, you know. Today, i believe theres someone saying, you know, the numbers are dwindling, talk about hot topic, hot salacious topic number two. You know, whereas then, i dont think that was the norm in tv at the time. And i dont think these guys needed as morgan said. These guys didnt need that. The moderator i think was really kind of embarrassed by this. He was moderating but he disappears for sometimes five or more minutes at a time. I mean, today, you wouldnt have a moderator not jumping in every 30 seconds. So really, everybody at abc just stood back and let the fire burn. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern and pacific on espns q a. Cspans q a. Washington journal continues. Host and we are joined by congressman beto orourke, served on the Veterans Affairs committee and also on the Armed Services committee. Second term in congress. Thank you, sir, for being here to talk about these issues. Guest thanks for having me on. Host we will divide the lines and also have a special line for veterans this morning. We want to hear from you. President obama talking at the vfw yesterday about issues facing veterans. I want to show a little bit of what he had to say and get your reaction. Where are the new resources, the v. A. Has hired thousands of new positions, nurses, staff. Theyre opening more clinics. So all the veterans who spoke up i want you to know we heard you. We changed the rule. Now, if it takes you more than 40 miles to drive to a v. A. Facility, well help you go to a doctor outside of the v. A. [applause] today the v. A. Is handling millions more apoints. Inside and outside the v. A. And delivering more care. On average, veterans are waiting just a few days for an appointment. And thats all good news. Veterans continue to tell us that once they get through the door the care is often very good. A lot of folks across the v. A. , many of them veterans themselves work hard every single day to do right by our veterans and we thank them. But weve got to acknowledge our work is not done. We still have a big challenge. Even with all these new resources, the v. A. Still struggling to keep one the surge of veterans were seeking care. Host congressman, the president saying veterans are waiting just a few days. That wording right there is the headline in the Washington Times this morning saying that by the president saying that, that has baffled veterans, republican lawmakers saying that does not match reality. Guest yeah, in this case, unfortunately, the president has some bad information. When i talked to veterans in my district in el paso, texas, they tell me that its very hard to get into the v. A. And when they are able to obtain an appointment, that apolicy is off canceled or rescheduled or they find out the day of that their doctors no longer available. We conducted a survey with the margin of error of just under 4 in el paso and found that veterans on average are waiting more than two months for primary Health Care Appointments and more than two months for mental Health Care Appointments and most shockingly, more than a third of veterans in el paso cant get in to see a Mental Health Care Specialist at all. And at a time when 22 veterans take their own lives, its not enough to have the Choice Program and to have that additional funding. Its not enough to point to the v. A. s own statistic which is i dont know if we can really trust them. And its really important that we listen to veterans and veterans are telling us they cant get in to get the care that they need. Host what is going on . You mentioned the choice act. This is something that congress came together on after the phoenix v. A. Hospital was exposed and the waiting list there and more money. Why has not not resolved the issue . Guest the choice act was passed almost a year ago. It was august of 2014 implemented starting in november of that year. The v. A. And i believe o. M. B. Expected all 16 billion of the choice act to be committed by the First Quarter of this coming year. We had a hearing that found that only 500 million of 16 billion had been spent. And today the secretarys going to be before us on the Veterans Affairs Committee Asking to move 3 billion of that uncommitted choice money over to their budget gap that we just learned about this month. Host wait. So he wants to move the choice money for something unrelated . Guest correct. We just learned and they tell us that they have just learned that the v. A. , that theyre underbudget by 3 billion and if we do not plug that gap, they will begin to shut clinic and hospital doors by the end of next month. And further notice furlough notices will go out in a couple of weeks. Its alarming in a number of levels. Its alarming because an already poor access problem could be made much, much worse. But at a time where so much scrutiny and attention and focus and resources are directed at the v. A. For us to learn this late a month into the last quarter that were out of money 3 billion short to complete the end of the year at a time that we have record spending for the v. A. Is just inexplicable. So im really interested in hearing what the secretary has to say today. But i always bring it back to the reason the v. A. Exists in the first place in el paso, texas, talking to veterans who cant get in to see a doctor or a Mental Health Care Specialist is leading to their own suffering to hardship on their families to stresses in our communities. And weve got to have that accountability from the v. A. That followthrough and that performance and this is where congress and the v. A. Might be able to Work Together. I think we need to think through in different Business Model for the v. A. I dont know that Additional Resources are going to be enough. I think were going to have think about how we leverage more of the care and capacity that sends Community Like el paso that complement what is the v. A. Is doing. Host while row and others will be questioning the secretary when he appears before the House Veterans Affairs committee this morning, 10 00 a. M. Eastern time, well have coverage of that on cspan3. Are you talking about when youre saying complementing Veterans Affairs health care right now, are you talking about privatizing the Veterans Affairs medical part of their of their benefit . Guest no. Im not talking about privatizing. But im talking about doing what to a degree, the v. A. s already doing in a much more intelligent rational way in el paso and thats the best example for me to use to understand the el paso envelope so well. One third of their budget is committed to community carom theyre already sending veterans out from services ranging from oncology to Mental Health to physical rehabilitation out in the community. Theres a better way to do this where the v. A. Could choose to specialize and prioritize certain combat and Service Connected issues and disabilities and im thinking posttraumatic stress, military sexual trauma and do those at the v. A. And have the v. A. Become the center of excellence for that. And if youre going to refer care outside of the community, perhaps you refer care out that is comparable to conditions and issues that the general population has. So diabetes, you come into the v. A. With the flu. You need to get your teeth fixed. Perhaps the v. A. Can take care of that but lets refer care out thats comparable to the general population. But if you come back from afghanistan today or you came back from v. M. A. 30 years ago and you vietnam 30 years ago i want to know that youre seen at the v. A. The same day as necessary that you called for thepoint appointment and then you have continuity and consistency in that treatment. We hear from veterans who come in for initial instake and appointment and are not seen by anyone ever again. And i hear from some psychologists that in some cases, it might be better for that veteran to not come in in the first place and uncork all those emotions and feelings and trauma that have been held inside whether it was for the last year or the last 35 years if theyre not going to get that quality level of care. So i think the v. A. Really has an opportunity to do something really really well that veterans, at least those that i speak with in my community desperately need and have certainly earned. And then the communities there for those services and treatment that are comparable to what you and i and the general population might need. Host sounds like personal privatization. Guest yeah, or doing what a very thoughtful strategic way versus what is today, a very haphazard way. It is not working for anyone. Host phone lines are lighting up. Congressman telling us that the Veterans Affairs secretary is going tell lawmakers today that they face a shortfall by 3 billion, that they need money that was set aside for veterans medical care to fill that gap. What are your questions and comments on this . Well go to milton in West Virginia, a democrat. Youre up first. Caller good morning, greta. First thing i want to say is that you know, talk is cheap. He can sit there and say all the things theyre going to do but im talking about for my son. He was in the first desert storm. It took us 15 years to get the v. A. To do something for him. Now, hes 100 disabled. Hes got ptsd. Hes went through about 15 therapists a psychiatrist, and they give him somebody right now, hes got a pregnant woman. Shes going to have a baby. So shes going to leave him so theyll put somebody else in her place. And he has to dipping all that stuff again, explain it to this person. He does that every time that they give him somebody new. So he is not given any help because they keep digging it up every time they give him a different representative to take care of him. This is ridiculous and these people sit here and talk about its nothing but b. S. They do not do nothing to help the veteran. Guest yeah, well, milton, first of all thank you for calling in and through you, i want to thank your son for his service and tell you that the experience that you just shared with us is absolutely unacceptable and unfortunately is shared by many veterans across the country furthermore, i agree with the of that talk is cheap and it is not enough for congress and people in the ba to say we will do better. And it is not enough for the president to say we need to do better. We actually need to do better. Im offering a proposal and solution which is that if Mental Health care, including tooting ptsd is really important, then we need to prioritize it. We heard from the secretary earlier this year that he is trying to hire 20,004 Veterans Health administration. A thousand positions that are funded, authorized. 20,000 positions that are funded and authorized. My proposal is that for your son , milton, and others suffering from pts and dramatic right injury and to need Mental Health care, that is a priority and thats prioritize that. Lets prioritize back in Capital Expenditures for the v. A. , pts, military sexual trauma, and in part of the bargain, which is not going to be popular and probably not politically easy to take on is to reverse some of that care that is not related to military sexual trauma in the signature conditions and bones from radel and service in this country to care and community. Not every veteran is going to like that and the the a may not like that but we will have to make tough decisions and we can no longer just talk about it and their money. We saw the 16 billion committed last year has really not turned into greater access or lower weight time for veterans. In fact, we are seeing weight times increase wait times increase and not decrease, following the scandal in phoenix and revelations that we and other members of congress brought to light about issues in our community. Guest host we are talking about congress we are talking with congressman beto orourke on health care. You have the National Unemployment rate at 5. 3 and four iraq and iran offender in unemployment, 7. 2 . The amount of homelessness, 49,933. Mark is a veteran in bronx, new york. An independent. Caller good morning, greta. Thank you for cspan. Good morning, congressman. I had the same problem that milton had in West Virginia for years and i had stopped going to the v. A. , but they changed everything about 20 years ago at the bronx v. A. And the James J Peters system. Im getting excellent Mental Health care there now. I have had one doctor for 15, 20 years or Something Like that. I am properly medicated and the other day i had to go there because i had an ulcer on my tongue. I emailed my doctor and he said to come in right away. I went in they examined me, they gave me an ammonia shot, they sent me up to, nose, and throat. The examined me, they claimed my ears, they sent me to dental, i went to dental and they filed down my tooth that was close to bolster on my tongue and all of that in three hours. You should take a page and see what they are doing there at the James J Peters v. A. Because it was terrific. Host ok, mark. Guest id love to come out to the bronx and see the change at the James J Peters facility in the bronx. I want to find out where the v. A. Is succeeding and apply that success to our issues in el paso where we just found out last week we had the worst way time in the country. 141 Mental Health facilities within the v. A. Throughout the countries and we rank 141st in the country which means that veterans are delayed in getting care they are effectively denied in getting care and there are real consequences. In the bronx with marked or other parts of the country, we seek to the a succeeding and much to get what they did right. Some of what we learned already is that the Top Performing the as of the country are affiliated or in some way partnered with academic medical institutions. El paso, we are lucky and they are part of our proposal to improve the care in that community. Mark, it gives me an opportunity to thank the the a, the doctors, the frontline staff, the Mental Health Care Specialists and in many cases, they are veterans and in many cases earning far below what they can earn even in other federal departments and agencies and certainly in the private sector, but they do this because they care for veterans and they want to serve those of veterans. I think they have a really difficult job, not just in resources but in the model that is not working today. I love hearing about Success Stories and i appreciate mark. Host augusta georgia, a democrat. Good morning, you are on the air. Caller good morning, god bless you. I saw you in june 2013 in el paso. I was actually one of their constituents in el paso at the v. A. In el paso. After relocating to augustine, i would have to say kudos to the staff at the ba there in el paso at the v. A. In el paso. In 2013, as a newly discharged soldier, they treated me with so much care and respect that it was surprising to me to hear the older veterans to bring up issues and concerns. I counted it to being a newly separated servicemember however, after being out for two years, the el paso v. A. , anytime i come into town, they are always willing to give me red carpet service, so i really take my hat off to them that, especially in light of the tragedy. Like i brought up in june 2013 at one of those town hall meetings, congressman, was that i truly believe that one of the main issues that the v. A. Is having is stemming from the toxic leadership on the department out of the house. You have so many servicemembers who are being separated expeditiously because we are trying to downsize the armed forces that they are actually not getting the proper care that they need on the department. I brought that up to your attention in june 2013. Host lets take that up now. Guest first of all, thank you for calling in an thank you for your service. It is to hear a familiar voice from el paso and i hope things are going well in augusta georgia. I am always pleased to hear anecdotes of good experiences that a veteran had, especially at the el paso the eighth i have pursued with the president s comments that when veterans are able to get in and obtain that appointment and it is honored and they are able to see that dr. Or care provider it is typically a good experience. I think our effort on the v. A. Committee and certainly the secretary and president committed and we want to make sure more people have an opportunity to have that experience and shawna brought up an interesting point which is the connection between the department of defense policy decisions that we make and that spirit that end up impacting with the v. A. Does and whether that is a drawdown of our armed forces especially the u. S. Army. Something i dont really agree with on National Security basis given the threats we face around the world, but there is a second order consequence of people who are transitioning out earlier than they had expected to. Maybe too quickly and not prepared for civilian life whether that is treatment and care at the v. A. , getting a job or connecting with disabilities benefits that they have earned where the v. A. Today is north of 200 days on average to resolve a disability claim. If you are appealing over 2. 5 years to get a response back. The last thing, greta, on this probably the most important decision that we make as lawmakers and as a country and within the department of defense is how and when we go to war. These wars we have to understand whether it is in afghanistan and iraq or whether it is back to vietnam and korea for these veterans to come back from these countries significantly changed in many cases. Somewhat lifelong disabilities and need for treatment at a v. A. That is under capacity and incapable of taking care of them. I think that needs to way, in any decision we make, whether it is today in the middle east, tomorrow in another part of the world with another conflict or war, before we send men and women into harms way, lets ensure that when they come back he can take care of them. Host leila on twitter wants to know, who has been accountable for the problems that the v. A. . Do you support events over unions . Do support vetws over unions . Guest i dont think that is the case here. She is probably talking about and accountability bill that has been offered by the chairman of the v. A. Committee and i want to begin by commending him for addressing this issue. I mentioned earlier that i dont know if we can spend enough money to fix the v. A. It is not a resource issue primarily and i dont think we can fire enough people to fix the v. A. We will not be able to fire our way out of this, but yes we do need to hold people accountable. It is astonishing to see some of these egregious examples of lost reasons and misconduct. For example the v. A. Hospital in denver, i think originally possibly had 1 million and 600 million and now 1. 7 billion over 1 billion over budget and no one was fired. The person responsible was allowed to retire. To see examples of people not being held accountable in the v. A. All the time, so, yes certainly people should be fired and there should be consequences. As the comment on twitter might suggest, removing civilservice protections, i do not think that is the way to go. I do think we need to see accountability, i think we need to see people take responsibility for their actions. I do not know that you can change the culture and organizations in large at the v. A. It has a discretionary budget and i dont know if you can change that overnight. I commend the chairman and others who are focused on this who are working on changing the culture to value excellence accountability, and responsibility. Where today, i think we have impunity far too often. Host on twitter they say, you can do all the money in the world to it but the percentage falls away down which leaves nothing for vets. Given everything you have said and our reaction from twitter audience, give a grade two v. A. Asked after bob mcdonald. How is he done so far . Guest he has been on the job right around a year. I think he is completely committed. I think his integrity is unquestionable. I think the team he has assembled with gibson is one of the best that you can bring to the problems at the v. A. And yet when i look at those issues that matter the most to me on veterans been able to adapt in a timely fashion, Mental Health care access when you have record numbers of suicides in veterans who are suffering of the consequence of not getting in, we are failing. I do not want to give the secretary himself a grade, but i would give the v. A. A great event a grade of an f. we are failing. We need to come back having their end of the bargain with this country unable and unwilling, despite the lip service from the president to members of congress to the v. A. To the country, we have been unwilling to make the top decisions necessary to deliver that care. I am willing to start Offering Solutions and this proposal would prioritize Mental Health care access, treatment for tbi pds military sexual trauma, and that comes at a cost. The dollar cost around the country but it is also a tradeoff in terms of service and care that veterans currently get, those were able to get in and be seen for any problem at the v. A. Today. I think in the future we will have to look of our Community Care for issues and conditions that are comparable popular in the general population. Not easy to say but we can say that we should spend more but weve got to do a better job and to expect a different result is the definition of insanity. Host mats in baltimore. Independent, good morning to you. Caller hi, i would like to expand the coverage the little. Im a world war ii veteran and i have been very fortunate and i have had very little action do for the medical part of the v. A. The rest of the v. A. Has eroded from a Service Organization handling 50 million 15 million veterans from world war ii until bureaucracy. Once the transition is made, it is almost impossible to reverse it as a congressman so wisely said. The thing is that that is the way to approach it. Not to approach it with money as we know is futile. It is to get it back to where it was a Service Organization. You triage the people coming in just the way you do in a field hospital. You find out which of these need immediate care, which have deferred care, which have low care and those people are informed as to what the situation is. Host ok, we will take that. Smith . Congressman . Guest thank you for your service. Great to hear from a will or two. I think that point alone goes straight to some of the pressures the v. A. Faces. Today, we are committed, we should be committed and should be taking care of veterans Whose Service stretches back to 1940. We know going back to world war i that the peak period for service v. A. From the to those veterans were in the 1950s to early 1960s. We have not even hit demands for the vietnam era veterans. We have just seen p demand for world war ii and we have not scratched the surface of veterans who served in wars in the gulf and in the middle east. I think matts suggestions are all too rational and common sense, well, lets treat this as an issue of triage referring care work and best be delivered and ensure timeliness, access quality of care, and great value for the taxpayer. I think cost has got to be a factor because when you use of resources like spending over 1 billion over budget in colorado, those resources come from veterans in new york, texas throughout the country. I think getting greater value for the veteran, for the taxpayer has got to be in important component. Host we will hear from a republican in new mexico. Good morning. Caller good morning, how are you today . Host fine, what is your question or comment for the congressman . Caller my comment is i am very familiar with care with Mental Health issues and my heart goes out to the guys that cannot get help Mental Health. One of the answers might be to hiring good not psychiatrist necessarily but good psychologists because they are in charge of knowing what is going on with you and taking good notes. I know a lot of people do not like to hear about psychologists , but they are really valuable in the part that they usually see you before the psychiatrist. Host congressman . Guest i think she makes a great point here that it is important we get psychiatrist and also important that we get psychologist. Important that we get social workers, important that we get there this. It is important that we have the complete Treatment Team at the v. A. To see people at a time when they need to be seen and to have that continuity and consistency of care. To do that, we cannot continue business as usual. We are going to have to pay the psychiatrist and psychologist more than what we are paying them not to attractive to the v. A. In the first place and then retained them once they are there. That may come at some cost to other project and programs within the v. A. Maybe we cannot be building these billiondollar plus medical facilities across the country. Maybe we have to work with existing medical facilities, build more clinics, located with private providers. If we are going to take care Mental Health, which i really do think is a priority in the v. A. Right now, not to the exclusion of Everything Else but if it is a priority, it is the most important thing. Then we will have to act with the budget accordingly. I appreciate the point made there. Host take a look at this chart for together by l. A. Times with numbers from the Veterans Affairs department. The suicide gap via Mental Health they vary by gender and veteran status. Nearly 174 thousand suicides in 23 states between 2000 and 2010. Women in the darker shade of green and men in the lighter shade. These are among people who never served, women killed themselves far less often than men. Take a look at this among veterans, the suicide rates are much higher but also much closer. Eric in fairfax, virginia. The public in. You are on there with the congressman. Caller thank you for cspan and to our particular call. I am a combat vendor and i am a combat veteran and served as a marine. I guess we are ok but the message i would like to give to the congressman is i understand that you will have the secretary for veteran affairs at the committee today. What i do not want to see is what we typically do in washington and that is to take the logical fallacy of attacking lets attack the secretary. He is doing with the proper much bigger than he is. As you stated earlier, the culture at the v. A. Is broken and it is a daunting task to change the course the culture of an organization that large. I think we need to focus on what problems kelly fix . Because we are not going to fix them all. The point i want to make, i know we do not have a lot of time, do not attack the secretary. Lets attack the problem and lets get our veterans taking care of because right now, i would rate the v. A. With an f. host congressman . Guest thank you for your service and i want to thank your son as well and im glad both of you are here and ok. I really appreciate his comments about not engaging in that attack because it is not constructive. Just know we are closer to the desired goal of improving the v. A. , access to veterans quality of care, and outcome once they are seen by the Community Provider after a v. A. Referral. It is easy to do that, point the finger. The blame for the responsibility for turning the v. A. Around life not just with the secretary but with congress which authorizes resources, appropriate the resources and through law, it decides how the resources will be used. You asked me to grade the secretary earlier and i had greeted the v. A. As an f. I would include congress and the past year administrations, including this one in terms of actually turning things around. We grade not on effort in this country, we should not great on effort we should grade on results and the results are far too many veterans have been abysmal. I think turning that around will be more than just taking the secretary to town. It will be coming up with solutions. None of them easy and probably most of them politically difficult, but solutions nonetheless that are going to help veterans get what they have earned. Host the speaker of the house often treats but Veterans Issues and talks about the administration failing on this. Have you heard from the chairman of veterans affair, jeff miller, that legislation will come to the floor . That there is solution being put forward . Guest yes. He has got an accountability bill which i think even he would admit is not the full solution. You hear these egregious cases of v. A. Employees making terrible mistakes for engaging in crime or fraud and malfeasance who are allowed to retire, and that is galling to all of us. I commend him for working on that. I do not know if we will be able to fire our way out of the problem but he is trying to address accountability. In terms of a conference hope reform package that looks at access and prioritizes Mental Health care, addresses accountability and responsibility within the v. A. Both sides of the v. A. Committee, democrats and republicans, and both sides together are working on that right now. One year after choice, which many of us believed was going to be to turn this around when youre after choice, which has not done that, i think many of us, myself included, are coming to the conclusion that the problems in the v. A. Are much more fundamental and systemic and are going to need a much bolder solution than simply more resources for the administration. Host remind viewers of the choice act was how much money . Guest 16 billion. 10 billions of that was to purchase care in the community. As the president said in the clip you played earlier, if you waited over 30 days and you live 40 miles from the clinic or nearest medical facility you could use the Choice Program to see a doctor in the community. What we found in our survey in el paso, most veterans do not even understand, have not been educated by the v. A. About eligibility for the Choice Program, partly because of that, we are not seen the utilization. The money is going and spent and the secretary today will ask us to pay 3 billion v. A. Dollars from choice and put it into the general fund. Theyve got to explain dollars of the choice act and it was 60 million total to hire more staff in the v. A. They have not been able to do that. A very tough challenge in defense of the secretary of the of the a and the challenges they need to me nonetheless. Host five minutes left that congressman beto orourke. Democrat from texas. Charles, you are up next. Also a veteran. Good morning. Caller good morning. Guest good morning. Caller my name is charles. I would like to v. A. Give some comments about the about the v. A. Host we are listening, charles. Caller thank you for having me on. I have been with the v. A. For probably about 30 years. I am 70 years old and they have done a lot for me. I think that the best directory have had was in safety you are given the new director more things to work with which you should have kept the old ones and give him the same things. Now, i have had bad things happen to me in the v. A. , but i corrected them because i was i am the commander of the purple hearts and i had just a little bit more people that i can talk to to get it done. The v. A. Is now and the doctors coming into the v. A. Have a protocol and they want to go by what the protocol of each individual or age patient. These protocols do not pertain to every individual. I will give you one example, i want i went and she told the, well, you got to do this, you got to do that, and you got to do this. To keep my i said, i have been doing that and i said, i wanted Something Else to be done and she said, well, this is not my protocol, this is and i do not believe in. Host lets take that issue a. Sounds of bureaucracy in health care. Guest first of all, charles, to write for your service and sharing the anecdote. One of the larger points to take from his comments is that he has been saying he has been seen at the ba for 30 years now and overall, please of the care of a concerned about the bureaucracy and overly prescriptive manner in which people are taking care of. I think that is legitimate concern. I think as old as the v. A. Is and as large as that bureaucracy has become, that is certainly going to be a byproduct of that. Again, there is no better time than now to truly shape that up and fundamentally reform the v. A. Ask difficult questions like should some veterans for some conditions be treated in the community primarily in said about the v. A. . And could the v. A. Break out of its existing mold of bureaucracy and become a center of excellence for some unique serviceconnected issues . Where if you come back with pts or to be our military sexual trauma or a number of other signature conditions and wounds from service, you will be seen immediately, you will get worldclass treatment and outstanding outcomes. If your conditions are comparable to the general population perhaps you are seen after v. A. Perhaps that is we a primary position is or it takes place in the community. I think that is a significant change but i do not think it is too much to ask in order to prioritize those issues and conditions in veterans who really need that help. Host our next phone call from veterans, david in florida, an independent. Hi, david. Caller yes, what suggestion right away is, you suggest that we pay into medicare. We cannot afford to pay the other percent, so that is useless. Give us that 20 , let us go on medicare, and ease that. You just said that the secretary is turning money back and because he did not have enough people for veterans choice. You wrote the god dam but also we cannot qualify. You wrote it to the nearest facility, not where we go for care. Host all right, david. Guest david is making a great point. David, thank you for your service. I actually am a cosponsor of the bill offered by macarthur of new jersey that would do away with the limitations that david is pointing out where you have to live more than 40 miles away you have to have been in care for over 30 days before you get in. Macarthurs bill, which im a big proponent and supporter of which would remove were sections when it comes to Mental Health access. We are beginning to change some of those restrictions that i agree are overly onerous and preventing veterans from using the choice act. Host thomas is in wisconsin. An independent and veteran. Good morning to you. Caller good morning. I you is navy veteran from the vietnam era. When it comes to accountability, people say fire them. The reason they were hired in the first place is because they were highly talented people. If you fire them, you give up on that talent then you have to spend all this money to rehire them. Why dont they start thinking of retraining them like the military does . The u. S. Navy is still the best organization in the world, no matter what the marines say. Retrain them. We have already spent the money on them, make that accountability within inside the circle like the military does. Guest hes making a good point, and i do think that that is part of strategy at the v. A. Today is to improve training and the processes that they had in place. The point does need to be made that there does have to be accountability and some of that account ability is going to be admitting when you have failed in their job. Host cliff, you are next, augusta georgia. A democrat and a veteran. Caller thank you for taking my call. Congressman over, a question for you. Why is it that we veterans cannot receive dental care. When i enlisted they were the first ones to go into my mouth now i cant after 25 years i cant get no dental care. Isnt that important to your whole health . Guest it is. The v. A. , for many veterans is taking care of all their issues, from mental to primary to dental. As you are illustrating through your question in your comment some people are not able to get that. The v. A. If they v. A. Does not have capacity for dental for example could that not be referred out to the community where that capacity does exist . It may prove to be difficult for some who receive all treatment and all caps at the v. A. To now receive some of that at the v. A. And some of that in the community. But if that gets you into get the care that you have earned and that you need, then i say we have to do it. Unless someone has a better proposal, we have to go with the goods but less than of working in the community. Host ill ask you about something you will be per dissipating and in august, the 10k race at the u. S. Mexican border. Guest yes, on a completely different topic, i represent the community of el paso. About 3 Million People speaking was and spanish, both nationalities enjoyed the two cultures. It is really important to the larger economy of north america. 90 billion in u. S. And mexican trade comes through our ports of entry which are connected to jobs throughout the u. S. We are having a u. S. Mexico summit august 6 and seventh in el paso. Secretary were harlow, the commissioner of cbp, and other leaders in the u. S. And mexico on Financial Issues will be there. We will cap the conference off on august 8, early saturday morning, with the 10k run that will start in el paso, go through our downtown, cross the international bridge into mexico, into warez juarez, go through landmarks they are including the cathedral. It is the first binational race tween the two countries since 9 11. I think it is an important symbolic signal that the border is returning to some level of normalcy and hope after years where we have really locked that down and securitized the situation. Not to the detriment of just communities like mine, which by the way is the safest in the United States. You quoted Rupert Murdoch earlier in the show tweeting. But ultimately is important for the larger success of the United States. Host what you make about Donald Trumps remarks about immigrants coming into this country . Guest the most charitable thing i can say is that has opened an opportunity for those of us who understand the issue, because we live in communities like el paso, to share with the rest of the world let that part of the reason el paso is the Safest Community in America Today is because we have so many migrants and immigrants, first, second, Third Generation and beyond, living in our community. These are people who have come to the u. S. To participate and contribute to the american dream. To get ahead, to work hard and and do better for themselves and their families. We thank mr. Trump for bringing that to light and allowing us to share that. Host it sounds like the billionaire is headed to the texas border. He will travel thursday to the u. S. Mexico border. He will go to laredo texas. Guest thats wonderful. I think he can only come away from the experience with a better understanding of why the border is so important to the u. S. , light is one of the safest places in the u. S. We invite him to join us on august 8 and run that 10k. We would be happy to run that race with him. Host sounds like the house will vote later this week on legislation put forward by representative Duncan Hunter to withhold funding from any cities that refuse to cooperate on immigration. That the family of that young woman testifying on capitol hill pleading for Immigration Reform yesterday. Guest no one cannot argue that Immigration Reform is needed republican or democrat. Kudos to those who are putting forth proposals. In this case though i defer to the experts. I talked to Police Chiefs sheriffs like our sheriff in el paso, sheriff wilds. He says for him to do his job and to keep el paso the Safest Community in the country, he needs the ability to work with everyone in the Community Whether they are u. S. Citizens or whether they are undocumented. As someone fears that by persuading an investigation by testifying in court that they will be prosecuted for immigration violations, and they are not going to come forward. The Police Chiefs throughout the country are saying do not put immigration issues with local Law Enforcement. If you do that you will make both worse. Mr. Hunters proposal is not some thing i can support. I will defer to the Law Enforcement issues. Host so el paso is a sanctuary city . Guest i dont know what the technical definition of a century city is, but sheriff wilds for example, when they are conducting an investigation, they do not ask the immigration status of the people there working with. Host congressman orourke we thank you for participating in this conversation with us. Coming up, we will go across the aisle and talk with tom rice from South Carolina. Later we will talk with the Bipartisan Policy Center, they are out with their latest on the healthy congress index. How did the gop controlled house and senate do in the first half of the hundred and 44th senate. We will find out what you can do to improve the senate. All that and more coming up after this break. Its almost as if they were matter and antimatter. Freedom breeds inequality. Filmmakers Robert Gordon and morgan et al. Talk about their documentary, best of enemies, about debates between buckley and corbett all over war, politics, god, and sex. Its very unlike today. Today i believe there is someone saying the numbers are dwindling. Talk about hot topics, hot salacious topics. Whereas then, i dont think that was the norm in tv at the time and i dont think these guys needed it. As morgan says, these guys didnt need it. I think he was really kind of embarrassed by this. He was moderating, but he disappears for sometimes five or more minutes at a time. Today you would not have a monitor not jumping in every 30 seconds. I think really everybody at abc just stood back and let the firebird. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern and pacific on cspans key day. Q a considered underrated by many first lady historians, Caroline Henderson was a harrison was an accomplished artist who took up china painting. She was interested in womens issues and helped raise funds for Johns Hopkins university on the condition that are it admit women. She was she died in the white house from tuberculosis. Caroline harrison, this sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, on cspans original series, first ladies influence and image. Examining the public and private lives of the women who fill the position of first lady and their influence on the presidency. From Martha Washington to michelle obama. On cspan3. Washington journal continues. Host we are back with congressman tom rice, republican, South Carolina. He sits on the transportation and infrastructure committee. The senate is trying to work through a sixyear highway funding bill. The house passed a fivemonth extension. The current funding stream expires next week. How can this get resolved . Guest thats a great question and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. My focus in congress has been on american competitiveness and jobs certainly as a structure is one of the main things that makes us competitive in the world. Our competitiveness has slipped relative to other countries, certainly in the last 15 years or 20 years. We need to work hard to regain that. One of the ways that we can do that is to continue to improve our instructor. Another sideline issue, or i guess closely related issue, is the uncertainty that washington creates with all these mandate fixes. One of the most troubling calls i got in my two and a half years in congress was a call last june from my South Carolina secretary of transportation. They said i understand the Highway Trust Fund is going to expire in august. What does that mean . And i supposed to not take any new contracts . Im i supposed to contact the, cancel the contract that i have . You configured and assure her that, oh certainly, congress will do something, but these days it seems that you cant rely on congress to do anything. All of these and eight fixes that the fda, that was something that we finally got out of the process of being inundated bandaided after 15 years. Weve now done patches to the Highway Trust Fund. I want to relieve that uncertainty. I have put forth a bill, it is revenue neutral. It does not raise any taxes. It moves taxes from the general fund to the Highway Trust Fund. The way it does that is it raises the gas tax by . 10 which costs the average driver hundred 30 a year and then gives a hundred 30 year on the income tax credit. Host how do you pay for a . Youre getting a tax credit. Guest it moves the money out of the general fund. There is a deficit in the general fund. What we are doing with these packages is transferring money periodically out of the general fund. What im trying to do is create certainty for the Highway Trust Fund so my secretary back home does not have to worry when she reads the paper. Host will that cover the gap . Guest it will cover the gap completely and create an excess of about 10 billion over the next six years. What do your host what to do your colleagues think . Guest i dont know how receptive my leadership is at this point, but i will tell you at this point that the uncertainty in my opinion is as bad or worse than a lot of the other problems that we face. In my opinion going back to american competitiveness we see 3. 3 gdp growth right now. It has been dropping. Cbs said they predicted our 10 year growth to be 3. 1 . Then it went down to 2. 9 . I believe that a lot of the reason for that is because we have not solved these problems. There are four or five basic problems that this country faces. If we could take those off the table, i think instead of 2. 3 we would be at 4 . One of those is the Highway Trust Fund. Another is the Social Security trust fund. You know what the problem with federal trust fund is . They are not funded and you cant trust them. Other than that they are great. Immigration is another one that needs to be taken off the table. And tax reform. The thing that bothers me about these things, is everybody agrees they are problems. The president , congress, the house, the senate. The people. Republicans, democrats. Everybody when they give their political speeches, they talk about these things. And yet nobody is Offering Solutions for them. Im going to start putting a solutions, this is the first one. Host we are talking about the highway plan and infrastructure in your communities. Congress needs to address this by next week. The house passed another fivemonth extension. The senate is working on a sixyear deal. You are fixing speaking of the dock six, how boehner and Speaker Pelosi came together to get that off the table. Senator senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell has teamed up with texas senator Barbara Boxer on a deal. What do you not like about how they have dealt with this . Guest i have not seen the deal. I am open to any process that they may offer. I have offered up my ideal my ideas, revenue neutral, but i want to see anyone other ideas that anyone else has. We need to have the political courage to deal with these four overhangs to our economy. If we could grow our economy at 4 instead of 2. 3 , then all these kids coming out of college would not have such a hard time finding jobs. Some of these people that have left the workforce and given up would come back in the workforce. Youd see our economy flourish. I think it is entirely within the power of the washington political establishment, if they only had the political will to do it. It would certainly be great if the president , who is the best person to lead this effort, which is take a leadership role. Host you said you had not seen the senate bill, it is over 1000 pages. Democrats yesterday, Senate Democrats filibustering a move by the majority leader to put it on the floor, saying they want time to read it. The majority leader saying you better read quickly because he wants to put it on the floor today. A sixyear funding stream for the Highway Trust Fund, again, the house passed a fivemonth extension. That is our conversation, we are listening to tom rice. Bill in new jersey, and independent. Caller good morning. My question simply is our roads our bridges, our tunnels, and our airports need repair. We have to raise the revenue to do those repairs no matter the cost and that revenue needs to be raised with to social programs. Guest well, i hear you and i would take issue with that. If you looks, our revenues are as high nominally as they have ever been. We are bringing in more dollars than we ever had half, number one. Over two, there is a percentage of gdp which is really the more accurate way to measure revenues. We are above our 40 year average. I dont think the problem is in revenues. I think the problem is in spending. That is why my provision is revenue neutral. Host mary in pennsylvania, and democrat. Caller i just have to say that you are full of baloney. We give so much money to corporate welfare and neither the republicans nor the democrats wants to be bothered with trying to get rid of those loopholes. If we got rid of those loopholes we would have plenty of money for infrastructure. You people are all paid by these corporations, and you will not touch their loopholes or their tax breaks. Host take a look at the front page of the wall street journal , this morning. Lawmakers are in the beginning of discussing and ambitious tax overhaul. This is part of an effort to find money for a longterm highway overhaul. Highway bill. Guest certainly. Again i am open to any ideas that anyone has for getting a permanent fix to the Highway Trust Fund. If it is, there has been a lot of talk about free shoring money that is held back by multinational corporations. How realistic that is, im not sure. There has been talk about offshore drilling, im not sure. Everyone is looking for other solutions been raising revenue. You said that i am paid by corporate interests, which is absolute nonsense, number one. Number two, i watched to assure him that i am all in favor of tax reform, and i am all in favor of our system, our tax code was written 50 or 60 years ago. At the time it was competitive. Today it is not competitive with the rest of the world. It hurts American Business trying to create american jobs here. It absolutely prevents companies from moving here from overseas because they have to pay more taxes. We have the highest Corporate Tax rate in the world. Our tax code is riddled with exemptions and reductions that dont make a lot of sense. Everybody calls those loopholes. There are deductions and credits in the tax code, some of them i would classify as a loophole but most of them, 95 of them, were put there for a good reason. There are times when we need for example, to encourage energy production. When we thought we were running out of oil. Accelerated depreciation for various things its versions for different types of product exclusions for different types of product. That being said, not all of these things what i classify as loopholes. If it were me what i would do is lower the tax rate below 25 . Yet it down to the international norm, and do away with a lot of the deductions and credits. What i dont want to do is call these loopholes because most of these things were put in as valid, to encourage production of energy or other things the country needed at the time. Host this is what the top lawmakers in the are discussing, how to fund the Highway Trust Fund. Topics include whether to eliminate the u. S. System of taxing companies on their worldwide income, what safeguards to adopt to prevent future abuses, and whether to provide special tax treatment. It goes on to say, there is already one airy as clear agreement. They could raise revenue for highways by imposing a onetime tax on income being held offshore. Caller good morning. The question is this. Do we have in the American Public having a safety issue . That is one of the bigger things to always deal with with transportation, is the safety issue. Here we, the largest country in the world in reference to how we do business around the world but yet china takes our money and puts their Transportation System in place and we still cannot get it together in congress because they are worrying about who is up one who is down one. How do you protect the American Public . Guest well, i agree with you that there is too much concern about the next election and not enough concern about actually moving things forward, which is why i put forth this proposal to provide permanent funding for the Highway Trust Fund or it. Host don, montana. Youre next. Caller hi congressman, i would like you to give a grade to these agencies. Highway transportation epa board of education, irs. They all come up with an s f. Give the money back to the states or dont even let it get out of the states. That way you wont have to make all these tough decisions that cost us money. Thank you. Guest thank you for the question. I would support the evolution of most of the Highway Trust Fund money to the states. I do think the federal government has some role in the Transportation System. I dont think the interstate system is completely out. Right here in washington you can see if you look outside the window that the interstate system could use improvement. It could certainly use improvement in my home state. I would not support complete devolution, but most of the money and the Highway Trust Fund is tribute to the states now. Host this is what the few Charitable Trust put together pew Charitable Trust put together. 25 comes from the federal government about 64 billion. 20 comes from the state. Local government spending, about 35 . Cato institute putting together paperwork calling on the government to get out completely as you are saying. They say states can fill the gap. Guest well, the highways Highway Trust Fund money comes out of the states with the gas tax and most of it goes back to the states. I only point is that there needs to be a national Transportation System like the interstate system, and the federal government has some role in building that out and in maintenance. That would be my only hold back on complete devolution to the states. Host by the way, the Congressional Budget Office putting together these numbers. You can look at it take dating back to 2000. There were surpluses, there was revenue in there. You can see that it has dropped down and it has continued to drop down, adding the price tag at about 100 billion needed for the next six years. Guest again, my proposal would pay for the next six years. It would raise the gas tax by . 10 and take it through the next six years, take the that issue off the table. You have to keep in mind the last time the gas taxes raised was 1993 and they did not index it. Host steve o on twitter says why do you believe in regressive taxes on the people for cop poor gas taxes, are winners for the people . Guest my solution would be to give a rebate to the people, and it phases out at 75,000. It is not for the 1 . It is for the masses. Host the Washington Times says that the senate is on a collision course for the with the house. All sides agree on the need for longterm bill, but the trick is finding enough money without raising taxes, something the gop has rolled out. A sixyear extension would require about 90 billion in new money. Do you want to respond that . Guest my bill does not raise funding taxes and it provides a sixyear funding. They say the trick is finding that solution, i have put that solution on the table. Im certainly willing to listen to anyone elses idea, that we have got to take the Highway Trust Funds continued potential for bankruptcy off the table. Host why isnt this getting traction, then . Guest i think anytime you mention any type of tax increase, even if it is offset people run for the doors. Host we will go to robert, a democrat in tuscaloosa, alabama. Caller i just want to ask a couple of questions before i go to the highway. Why du refer to the government do you refer to the government as washington, and why when you run do you never say i am going to demolish this position . Every year all of you run you never say im going to demolish this position was i win. Secondly, with the highways, we have the worst highways that i have seen in my lifetime and i am almost 80 years old. One other thing. You dont have to answer it. Why is it that you dont want to pay the highway bill . Is it because you people want to let the president get his lesson . Argue ashamed arent you ashamed . Thank you for listening. Host a lot there. Guest im not even really sure to how to respond to all that. Im certainly not against the president for the color of his skin. Id do wish he would i do wish he would lead on some of these issues. Im not really sure what that question was. Again i have put forth a proposal with respect to i agree with you, our highways need repair. A are in bad shape. I have put forward a proposal that will deal with that. I do believe we need to start worrying more about the less next election and more about the country. This is one way to take the Highway Trust Fund bankruptcy off the table. Host last week . Guest last week i voted against it. I voted for it because it was the first time it came up in congress. When this temporary patch came up last week i voted against it. We need a permanent fix. I have put a permanent fix on the table. This is not the only possible solution, but we have got to take this off the table. It hurts competitiveness, it hurts our economy, it hurts jobs. If we had this off the table and we were working on infrastructure instead of our jeep gdp growth being 2. 2 , it might be 2. 6 . And that means hundreds of thousands more jobs for our kids coming out of school. Host we are talking about and protector in your state and your community, with congressman tom rice taking your questions this morning. Unrest faces a deadline to approve new funding for the Highway Trust Fund. Patchwork repairs have snarled the nations roads. Breakdown have become routine on aging transit systems. Democrats, 202 7488000. Republicans, 202 7488001. And independents, 202 7488002. Wendy, you are on the air. Caller first of all, i want to thank you for not going with a bandaid solution. As a hardworking american and a taxpayer. We are former elected delegates under george bush, the first four years. I just want to say the gridlock has to stop. We did people. We are taxpayers. We pay for this stuff. We all use the roads. We all fly in airplanes. I am an inhome daycare provider. I have done my job for 20 years now. I am in april a world community. My parents have to use those roads every day. God bless you, you continue your efforts and quit the bandaids. We all are american taxpayers, we deserve more. Host ok wendy. Guest thank you maam, very much. Let me say, we all get up and we campaign and we talk about issues that face the country. Infrastructure is certainly one of those. The Highway Trust Fund everybody, republicans and democrats. Democrats get up and talk about Social Security, and tax reform. Then we get here to washington and nobody does anything about it. I completely agree with what you said. I think there is huge frustration in the public when we see people talking about these problems and not offering any solutions. I have offered a solution. A permanent fix for the Highway Trust Fund. I have thought about ways to actually get this done. This conversation earlier, about devolution of the Highway Trust Fund to the states, great idea. Anytime you can take a little bureaucracy out, wonderful. What is the chance that that will happen in this congress . Zilch. Zero. I try to find something that would actually happen. I take my proposal is an easy fix. It will result in an improved Transportation System. It will grow our gdp, and it will give our young people jobs. I will be Offering Solutions to do other things as well. I got into government not to talk but to offer solutions. Host what you make us some of your colleagues in the house and senate trying to attach unrelated items to the this debate over the highway funds . The iran deal. The issue with planned parenthood antiabortion videos. What you make of that . Guest some of those issues certainly i would support and some of them i wouldnt. But they shouldnt be attached to the highway fund. It is too important. Host take a look at the hill newspaper. Ted cruz from texas, running for president. He is threatening to tie the iran deal to the highway bill. Caller good morning. To ask my congressman, good morning, tom rice. Host guest how are you my friend . Caller im fine. Ill tell you why. I will never when you were running there was that issue with i73, pathways to progress. How is that coming along . Guest we are still working on the permitting. That is a torturous process, another example of the failure of federal bureaucracy. It takes 10 years to get a road approved with the current environmental laws. That is something that certainly needs to be looked at, and something that makes us less competitive us less competitive. We are working through that process and we are getting much closer. I will also say that that is an example of how the federal government still has a role in highway transportation. That is an example of an interstate that is badly needed. I73 in South Carolina and one that the federal government has a role in seeing constructed. But let me, nothing there, and that is the torturous approval process. I saw one of these International Rating agencies that rated transportation in the United States. We are 46th in the world. It has gotten completely absurd. Too many people are allowed to hold up permitting for little or no reason. There is a perfect example of that in my home county right now, where the local government is building a road called international drive. The day before the permit was to be issued, one of the environmental groups filed a protest. It is really not so much to save the environment as it is, it appears to me, to obstruct process. One of the scariest hearings ive had in congress is when the people from port other Port Everglades came into the transportation subcommittee. They said that they had been working on getting their permits for the airport, which will allow them to state a bit in the world. Or they cant use those deep water ships. If they want to be competitive in the world they have to have their porch. They have been using to get working to get their permit for 16 years. That is absolutely unacceptable. The charleston port in South Carolina, they have been under study now for five years. Everybody knew going into that that ultimately that permit would be allowed. But why it takes five years for us to get these environmental permits out of the way is just absurd. It holds back our competitiveness. It holds back our gdp, and it cost jobs. This entire process needs to be trashed and revamped. Host we will go to john in tennessee, a republican. Caller hello. My complement on your trying to bring a fresh start to the problem. Host yet guest yes sir. Thank you. Caller obviously the money has been consumed in things other than transportation. But i wanted to throw this idea to you. One is, that fix the you have proposed, im open to that but i also wanted to have the alternative that we find another way to fix that problem when we have three branches of government that are working together. So that we dont throw another gas tax burden on the people. Number two if you were going to send your child to a school, would you send them to the one that is worst in your neighborhood or area . Guest i take the best. Caller why where we have the Worst Service in the country, is in government, to the people . Host we got your point. Congressman . Guest i agree with you that government will never deliver with it the same efficiency and quality of private enterprise. People who are working for the government, it is not their money and they are not incentivized based on profit. I agree with you that to the extent that we can we need to privatize. I think that maybe where you are headed. Going back to my proposal for the Highway Trust Fund again im not placing any additional tax burden on the people. My proposal is revenue neutral. It does not grow government. It does not bring any additional revenue to the government. All it does is move money from the general fund into the Highway Trust Fund and give certainty to the Highway Trust Fund so that our states can go ahead with their Infrastructure Projects without having to worry about whether or not theyre going to get free distribution of their highway gas tax money back. Without worrying about whether the Highway Trust Fund is safe. Again, the Highway Trust Fund, the last time the gas tax with increased was 1994. It was not in indexed. That was 22 years ago. My proposal would raise the gas tax by . 10 a gallon, which costs the average driver 130 a year. And it would give a tax credit of 130. It is a revenue neutral proposal. Amsterdam host amsterdam new york, democrat. Caller hi congressman. I just wanted to go back to ask the question. I was under the impression that it was up to the congress and the senate to pass the bills. This has been a very uneffective congress as far as that goes. You keep saying you have introduced a lot of ills but they just seem to be position papers, because you cant get something passed that is acceptable to the president number one. Even that is acceptable within your party to pass up and it goes to the president s desk. I know all about the filibusters and things like that, but still this is what we heard what we had a Democratic Congress and senate, that they should be able to pass their bills. I have the same expression held for republicans, lets play it fair. Why havent you pass the bills that are necessary to get this government going and get them to the president s desk in a manner that is acceptable that he can sign . Host ok. Congressman . Guest this congress but has been far far more productive since the republicans took the senate. I dont know the number of bills that have been passed or what has been signed by the president , and the congress has done a lot more work in these last six months. I agree with you that with respect to these fundamental issues on infrastructure and the highway Security Trust fund, immigration, and tax reform, that there has not been enough progress. Another bay area of american competitiveness is trade. You can see the president has taken a leadership role in trying to push a trade agenda to make us more competitive. I appreciate that and congress responded. The president also talks about infrastructure, Social Security trust fund, immigration, tax reform, and yet he does not take a lead role in those things. If you would take a lead role, if he would try to be a leader, that i believe we would have a lot more success in taking these issues off the table. I have offered my solution to the Highway Trust Fund, and i am willing to listen to anymore ideas that anyone has. Host by the way, coming up here, we are going to be talking about the first half of the 114 th congress. The Bipartisan Group is out with their healthy congress report. Also we will get all of your ideas on how you would improve congress. We have that conversation coming up, but first he will continue here talking about highway funding. We go to cornelius in chicago, a republican. Caller good morning. I would like to be real quick. I cant wait until the American People comes to realize that the Republican Party has no intention of governing. The point is that they know that in 25 to 30 years caucasians will be minorities when it comes to the population of this country. When that happens they will never, or they will have a very hard time winning any elections. Their plan is to roll back all progressive laws and shrink and bankrupt this country so that there will be Nothing Available for forward thinking people. Host lets get a response. Guest i think thats absolutely untrue in every single respect including the fact that he was a republican. I think republicans are very are trying to put forth an agenda with respect to the president s trade policy. Obviously we did the heavy lifting and we got that done with respect to the doc fix that was the first real entitlement reform that has been done in over a decade. I would like to see some movement on the other four issues. That i think hold our economy back and stop error economy from growing. Host from pennsylvania, check, a democrat. Caller good morning. How are you congressman . Guest good, how are you. Caller i just had a suggestion. Dont you guys only works three days a week now, because you are all running for office . How about you only suspended the speeches and you dont go on vacation all summer until you actually pass something. Guest well, i suspect we will pass something on the Highway Trust Fund before the august work. Period. I will say that i would like to spend a little bit more time in washington myself. Typically we are in washington three weeks out of the month. That is not a vacation, my friend. You have to have office hours in the district, you have to be in front of all the boards they want to see, you have to meet with business interests. You have to do your job as a congressman. If you dont have meetings with your constituents that you cant represent them. Host california, polly. An independents. Polly, you are on the air. Caller i would just like to say, whatever happened to this money why is the money being used on Something Else . Guest i think there was a huge rush to spend that money, and i think the result of that was that only a fraction of it was actually used for what it was intended to be used for. I figure with a huge amount of fraud and abuse and it was completely mishandled. I agree with you. I would like to see why we are not using that money for an because that money is gone. I wish we had that money here, that we would not have rode our deficit to the extent that we have. Host another issue i want to ask you about, this is in the New York Times. Bipartisan debate falters over the removal of Confederate Flag from federal land. There has been no visible progress and the issue with unexpectedly paralyzed has unexpectedly paralyzed build on the house floor. What is your view here . Guest i have not been involved with the negotiation. I think certainly with respect to the confederate confederate battlefields, that certainly the Confederate Flag which is part of that history the Confederate Flag should be displayed on graves of confederate soldiers. The federal policy, as i understand it, and i have not looked into this in any great detail, is that they can be placed on graves one day of the year. That is certainly a reasonable proposal. Host were you for removing the Confederate Flag from the Capitol Grounds in South Carolina . Guest i was. Let me preface that with this. I have lived my entire life in South Carolina. I have two ancestors, at least, that i know about, that fought in the confederate war the civil war for the confederate side. I certainly understand and appreciate the history. There are certainly great part in South Carolinas history and parts that maybe arent as does great. But guess what, nobodys perfect. When the governor made her announcement, i went and stood with her when she made her talk. I do think that flag is a huge part of our history. It needs to be done in an honorable place, but that it does not need to be on the statehouse grounds. Host we will move on. Alexander, a republican. Caller good morning. I would like to say and pennsylvania we have the highest road tax in the nation. Our gas tax is . 70 per gallon for gas, into diesel is . 90. We are actually paying twice as much as many other states. When they raise it they should raise it by the state. If you put another dime on, it is going to be one dollar for us. We can drive across the border and our gas will go down . 30 a gallon, just like that. Food for thought. Thank you ray much. Host thank you. Guest i appreciate the question. I cant really response to pennsylvanias policy on fuel tax. I keep in mind, once again, my proposal would cost you a net zero. You would pay 130 a year in gas tax and you would get that back. It would cost you a net zero. Host deborah, milton florida, a democrat. Caller good morning. Host hi. Caller id like to Say Something about the highway bill. Sir, president obama since he has been in office has put forward ajit after budget budget after budget. Jobs for young people jobs for old people. You cant say you wish he would lead. President obama has led us time and time again. You guys wont get anything done and help people get jobs. Its a shame. President obama, i feel so bad for him, that he has done a but he has done a damn good job. Republicans want do anything to help him because he is our first black president. Host the congressman responded to that earlier. Guest yesman. The color of his skin has nothing to do with my opinion of him. Certainly president obama has had his high point and his low points. If he have a specific proposal for something for the Highway Trust Fund, i have not seen it. I think every structure is one of the most very important fundamental things that can come out of washington that can help grow our economy. I have not seen a specific proposal from the president. I have seen a working very hard to get his trade bill passed. And thats great, we got tba. I see him working very hard now on the run deal the iran deal which will result in iran Getting Nuclear Weapons 10 years from now. I have not seen him doing anything for the Highway Trust Fund. Host james is next, our last year for the congressman. Caller i spent 16 years working in savanna river, South Carolina. Guest how are you . Caller pretty good. I will remind you that you are big government. Imo voter. You are big government. You are the problem. Host james, can you give us a specific . Can you give us an example . Caller they will write a good bill and they will put a writer on it which the put a rider on it which the democrats wont pass. Help get things together and get something through congress. Host congressman . He talks about attaching unrelated items to legislation that republicans no democrats wont want to vote for. Guest i have put forward bill after bill after bill that would reform entitlements and so forth. I do agree that there is too much time spent passing bills that Everybody Knows are not going to pass, that the president ultimately will not sign. There are too many votes cast to try to cast the other side in a good light or a bad light. This is done by both parties routinely. We should take a lot more effort to put forth positive proposals to push the country forward and grow the economy. This proposal that i have made in my opinion, is something that is very doable. It doesnt raise any more taxes but it gives money to the Highway Trust Fund. It will grow our economy. It will create jobs. I think it is a very very commonsense proposal. I certainly will listen to anybody elses idea. Host congressman tom rice, thank you for being here and talking to our viewers. Guest thank you ray much of having a font. Host coming up next were going to talk about the bipartisan center. We want you to be part of this conversation and tell us how you would improve congress. We will get to that right after this short break. Cspan gives you the best access to congress. Live coverage of the u. S. House congressional hearings, and news conferences. Ringing you events that shape public policy. Every morning, washington journal is alive with elected officials, policymakers, and journalist, your comments by phone, facebook, and twitter. Cspan, created by americas cable companies. Considered underrated by many first lady historians, caroline hat Caroline Harrison was in a conflict artist who took up china painting and carries that interest to the white house, establishing its china collection. She was interested in womens issues and help raise funds for Johns Hopkins university, on the condition that it admit women. She died in the white house from tuberculosis. Caroline harrison, this sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspans original series, first ladies, influence and image. Examining the public and private lives of the women who filled the position of first lady and their influence on the presidency. Martha washington to michelle obama. Sundays on 8 00 p. M. Eastern, on American History tv, on cspan3. Washington journal continues. Host we are back. Our topic here. How would you improve congress . We will have all of you weigh in on that. John fortier, he is here. He is from the democracy bipartisan project. You took a look at the first sixmonth of the hundred and 14th 114th congress. How is congress doing . Guest we had a look at it. How could we improve the political system, how could we improve congress . Some of our recommendations are congress should we hear more. Congress certainly works a lot. I think the criticism that the members are not working is very unfair, but they should be here in washington for concentrated. Periods of time. We think also that the debate has suffered in congress in a number of ways. In the house but especially in the senate where the amendment process was shut down. Members of both parties worry that they really could not put up their proposals as amendments to bills and a lot of debate was being shut down by filibusters or by the majority or minority shutting down debate. Finally, if you think about schoolhouse rock, maybe you watched that show when you were younger. That was a simple way of describing a good legislative process. You really work on legislation and committees, you take the time, both sides have input, you get expert opinion. You have an open floor were Committee Members can put in their two cents. Then when the senate and the house disagree, you would go to resolve the differences before sending the bill to the president. We try to measure all those things. How the debate, how the committees are doing. I think generally there are some good sides in the six months compared to the last congress. Host lets break it down a little bit. When you first of this report last year, you found that over the course of three months in 2014 congress only spent 53 of hisin session. Business days in session. Guest only 60 or 70 days were spent in the last couple of years. That is really not a lot of time. We had thought that three weeks here, and a week home, which translates to about a hundred 50 days in washington each quarter. The senate has done pretty well. It was 73 days, 71 days. These are really working days. We dont count the days where they are just here and there is nobody on the floor, it is a pro forma day. That is a pretty good number, and as i mentioned, they also are working at home in their district. We know that. You know they are working hard. But we believe a concentrated. Of time here in washington is helpful. There are also some result in congress that would come from the fruit of being here more, seeing each other. Host what about the house . Guest house is up just a tiny bit. I think the house could do better. The house is up to 70 days this congress up from 68 and 69 the last couple of congresses. You can look back to earlier congresses were they were there more. The senate has been in session doing a little more business in washington. Host what about regular order . Why is it important . Guest a lot of people like the term regular order. I guess i like to say it this way very we have moved in the last 20 or 30 years too much more centralized leadership in congress. The worstcase scenario is if you have, at the end of the day there is no deal on something and the president or the speaker of the house, or the majority leader huddle in a room and they cut a deal. Then they say to all of their members, now you pass this. That really does not allow a lot of input. Again, the committees is our where things begin. Having the time to her from experts, get the members who know the topics well to amended at that level. Number two, that you go to the floor, that you have some openness at the debate. I think the senate has really moved in a way to have more amendments. That is a good story. The house, i think there is good activity, but maybe some limiting of debate in a way that we would like to see a little bit less of. Finally, we have not had a lot of this, but where you get to the end of this process and the senate has one version and the house has another version. Why dont we go to committee more often . That is the way for both chambers to resolve things. It is a messy process but taking a shortcut is ultimately not in the interest of either party. Host host the senate has a sixyear funding string that they want to get through a bipartisan bill. Mitch mcconnell worked on it with Barbara Boxer from california. House passes a fivemonth extension. Guest ultimately you will have to resolve that one way or another. One body gives in and will take their version. We dont think that should never happen but many major issues the bodies have worked hard on these compromises but there is still another step to get to the president. A Conference Committee where it is appropriate i think is an important step. That is where the house brings its leaders of both sides involved with passing the bill in the senate brings its leaders from both sides and they try to reach some sort of common agreement that then congress can pass. It is the last face of compromise before you get to the president s signature. Host how is this congress doing on regular order . Guest the committees are very active. That is something we have seen. The Committee Work and the number of bills that have made it through committee is up in both the house and senate. The last couple of congresses, we had low numbers. The house was only 66 bills at this point in time six months in. 98 in the 112. 145. I think part of that has to do with the republicans now having control in both chambers and wanting to get bills they found being stopped before being back on the floor. We applaud that. The committees are being active and putting things out there that they are working through the process that they should rather than waiting this lastminute negotiation between leaders that nobody has major input into. Host we are talking about ways to improve congress. The Bipartisan Policy Center with recommendations they have made that outlets update on the healthy congress index. We want to get your take on this. How would you improve congress . More working days . More bipartisan meetings . What are your thoughts on this . What else to you think this 114th congress is not doing that you think he should be doing that you recommended in the past . Guest there are a couple of things that could be better. The house could be in session a little more. Senate is doing well. When we get to the debate on the floor, there are some good things. The senate is allowing a lot of amendments. The house of representatives has had more closed or structured rule. To explain that and the simple way, you can have a debate over a bill where there is a completely open amendment assess where anyone can add any amendment they like, but you can say there are only five for each side or almost no debate. Take or leave the bill as it is. We have seen more activity on the house floor and more debate, but we have seen more closed rules than we would like. We like to see the debate open up and have more chance for members of outsized amend the bills members of both sides to amend the bills. Getting into the details of the filibuster, we try to measure those i cut off the debate to get to the bill to vote to break a filibuster. Those numbers are up a little bit. We have a lot of bills being considered. It is hard to blame that. A majority depends on the case. I think we are still not getting to as many bills as we might. The parties disagree. We like to see more debate. Host what about bipartisanship and having lawmakers spend more time together crossing the aisle and having up to the white house . Guest two of our members of our commission were Senate Majority leaders. They make the point of the need for many more bipartisan meetings with bipartisan caucuses. The parties, the members of the parties, the caucus meet together. Sometimes too much of that meeting stirs up party tension. When the members were senators come in on tuesday one of the first thing they do is get together as republicans and democrats and come out of those meetings ready to go in a partisan way. In the early 2000s, the leaders it was useful to have a cooling down time. Why not sometimes have a caucus of both parties . We do that on big occasions. Why not have the president sometimes come to address the caucus and have both sides there . To hear from the whole body sometimes rather than just one party. Host tim from virginia a democrat, how would you improve congress . Caller i think the good thing would be if we are going to use the military going to the other countries, let us take a bill with us to figure out what it will cost and tell them you will pay half when we get there and have when the job is done. We cannot afford to police the world. On some of these social programs, it is so easy to fix. When the kid comes out of the hospital, start taking taxes then. Dont wait 18 years. Fix Social Security and probably give a little money for health care that the whole country needs. I think those would be a couple of good things to start with. Guest in our commission we are not taking a position on those particular issue like war and entitlements are although those are extremely important functions. If you are getting into the budget process, we made some recommendations about that and there are some additional recommendations coming out of an economic commission. It is not what it should be. One thing we recommend is going to a twoyear budget cycle. That seems like inside baseball that but we spent a lot of time each year arguing trying to get through many appropriation bills and getting a budget asked. Budget passed. Then we start all over again next year. You have the ability to have oversight in the middle of that time so you are not always thinking about a one year when plan. It is something we hope to see. Host john, good morning. Caller good morning. I would like to make a comment on my observation. I papered it was attention to what is going on in congress and a couple of years ago, the postmaster general came there and the post office was losing a lot of money. Congress regulates the post office but does not fund it. They called the postmaster general and he made some recommendations. The senate almost immediately got on this. It was Susan Collins a republican and joe lieberman, an independent. I watched the whole process through committee. I thought this was just how my government is supposed to work. It seemed a perfect. It seemed perfect. They had all kinds of amendments and they voted on it on all these amendments. They passed it by over 80 of the senators voted for this. I thought this worked perfect. It went to the house and that was the last you heard of it. Guest i think you point out a couple of things. There can be very important relationships between a Committee Chairman and the working member. Somehow those working relationship and much of what a committees jurisdiction is to oversee an area of government, to watch with the federal executive base is doing or even outside agencies like the post office. If you see a Committee Working well with the leaders of both sides willing to do oversight sure they may disagree on some things, but to spend a serious time overseeing, you will see a good result. Whether that always works in both houses, we believe at the end of the day both houses have to take these things seriously and the differences are real. Sometimes we might go to Conference Committees to resolve them. That is part of the process. I think you see many members with the relationships between chairman and ranking members. Host this viewer on twitter says representatives and senators should have some qualification for the committees on which they serve. John in pennsylvania, an independent. Whether you think . What do you think . Caller i think what we need to do is look at the whole situation in the country. Here, they split a competitive district in have. They gave mike kelly the whole western part of terie, the eastern half of the state was given to another rep. These districts become that of they did the same thing in ohio. There is no cooperation between the two. How will you get things that . We have gerrymandering. I would try to get competitive districts back, so our government can work. Host got it. Guest we are talking about congress with a few look back to the entire report of our commission, we did take on several areas. When was congress that one one was congress. We talked about redistricting. We had a good agreement between republicans and democrats on our commission. We felt like there were some things to be done better in that regard. As a political scientist, i think these are important questions. Political scientists will tell you you still will not have districts that are all competitive or everyone in the middle. Part of what has gone on in america is not only that congress is more left and right the people live together in certain areas. Democrats live in democratic neighborhoods. The drawing of the lines will not solve. Both parties should have it really is too often that one party has control of the legislature and governorship and writes the map and sticks it to the other party. Secondly, you mentioned some geographic concerns. We try to put limitations on the map drawing process by requiring districts to have more natural geographic features rather than just crazy districts that squiggle around. It is not easy to do. One thing it does is it makes it impossible for people to be too creative. Some visits are very creative. Having more limitation, we are for the. That. You go to california or arizona that have models that are more completely out of the difference. Our commission believes having both parties have a say in those maps made sense. Redistricting and how we draw the lines are part of the solution. Host we are talking with john fortier the director for the Bipartisan Policy Centers democracy project. The group has put together recommendations on how to improve congress. We are turning to you to have you take part in this conversation. How do you improve congress . Sharon is next, a republican. Caller hello and thank you for taking my call. I think we could limit the terms that they run for. Two terms and that is it. I think most of these congressmen have been in office for for years for 15 years 25 years. They get comfortable with the lobby. I really disgusted with congress. I dont think they have done anything in the eight years that this president has been in office. It is a continual fight. It is really frustrating to watch everyday. They absolutely do nothing. I feel sorry for obama. Host part of what you do with this index is for people to be able to have metrics to measure congress and what they are doing. She says they have done nothing. Guest we do not measure that. I think we are too early to say that we are measuring a process of getting the bills through committee. There have been some successes. There is a framework for debating on even though the parties will argue with that. We have seen a little bit more hope with this congress. If i turn to the question about term limits, i think our commission debated this. We did not share your concern for term limits. We were worried in the other direction. On the federal level, we have no term limits. You have to amend the constitution to do that and that is hard to do but we have seen it in some state legislatures. The worry is you take away the expertise of members that they build up over a long amount of time. Someone say the system is corrupt lobbyist are too in bed, but with the Research Shows is the opposite. If you have people that are brandnew, they are much more subject to lobbyists who will have the earsir ears. We are not for term limits on this commission. Having legislature is soluble in getting things done. Host one on twitter says this. Stan in baltimore, a democrat. You are next. Caller the previous caller as my complete opinion. I still believe term limits would make a difference. Yes, there could be a small issue with inexperience. We have people in the congress and senate to have been there for 25 or he or more years 25 or 30 or more years. That is ridiculous. These people make a career out of being a senator or congressman. There is no way anybody can prove that to me. Host eric is next from alexandria virginia. Caller term limits are a horrible idea. People dont understand how complex the legislative process is, but you need the expertise. I think the most fundamental problem i have observed in congress is particularly in the house. It is structured in such a way that you cannot build consensus. So much power is listed in the majority that it has more incentive to reach compromise or consensus. Their objective has to be to get into power again because they have virtually no control. We have seen the senate headed in that direction. I think it is a structural problem with respect to how congress is arranged. Guest i think it is good in a way but it goes back to the beginning of our country and how we conceived the petition. The house was thought of more of an institution elected on two years. It could change in one election. The senate has to change over several elections. It often requires more consensus. You had to get through two different bodies to get something done. Being a minority in the house is not a great experience because you are really subject much more to the whims of the majority who are able to pass things over your objection. We do call for the Committee Process and a more open debate process on the floor. That is a place where the majority and minority can have more input. Within that framework, i dont think you will see the framework role of the minority that the senate does but it can be improved if we went to a more traditional is that where there would be some minority input. We see some signs of that. Host a democrat from connecticut, good morning to you. Caller good morning. Basically congress has become a cash cow for people who like to us around election time, whether it is every two years or six years or every four years for the presidency. I dont understand how the American People can put up with this. This is horrible. It is horrible to be subjected to the amount of gridlock that we the people dont belong dealing with. It is overboard. I do not think there is any solution. The process is almost impossible. People have given up, really. Guest congress is very unpopular. Your views are not uncommon. With us in Approval Ratings of congress as low as 9 or so. It is up a little bit from that right now. The president you may like his policies or not with the president speak with one voice. Congress speaks with many. It is difficult. The framers did make it difficult to get majorities. Different elections in two different bodies and in the president ss signature to get something done. That is not as easy as in some countries with a single parliament where the executive as part of that. I think thats part of the frustration. Given that, there are ways to work within that. What we are calling for is some process where all of those wishes are better. Getting the voices of 100 senators and 435 representatives from two different parties that disagree on a lot of things to come together is a hard thing but some commonsense measures as to how the legislative process can work but it would make the process better. I do not expect congress to jump way up in Approval Ratings but i see some hope now. I see the process will allow the process to go forward but it will always be considered messier than the executive branch. Host how would you improve congress . Doug in new york and what are your thoughts . Caller my thoughts would be to amend the constitution and have president obama share a third term that serve a third term serve a third term. I am wondering about jim being part of the commission. Was he convicted of some political shenanigans . I am not clear on that one. I wish that the constitution would be amended so that the president could serve a third term. It is the only chance we have as a nation. Host i am not sure what you were referring to when it comes to the former senator. Guest we had members of both parties in the commission. Without it would be important for the commission to be widely represented. We did not want a commission of just people who agreed with each other. Your point about term limits the president , we did not take that up but i think it is a good one. We put in an amendment to the constitution after Franklin Roosevelt had won 4 terms of the presidency thinking those too much but there is a question of whether a president is a lame duck or not. As soon as he started a second term, everyone knows you cannot run for a third term. Some of your power as president is gone. Our commission did not think that on. I personally agree with you. I think it would be better for president to be able to run for a third term or maybe even a fourth term in that the people decide. You would find very few people going up are running for three terms. We have for many years a tradition started by washington and jefferson that they would serve a couple of terms but would not go longer than that. That was a better situation than we are today where there was a tradition but no fixed run again rule that you could run again. If email run again congress will also have to do with the president in a different way. Host john a republican, you are next. Caller thank you for taking my call. Is a former schoolteacher we always thought our kids that compromise was the best way to get something mutually agreedupon. We have a president now that demands everything his weayay instead of compromising. Host we will leave it there. Guest this system we have of separation of powers is frustrating. If one of the players you feel is not willing to go along. For those who do not Like Congress or the president , it is a messy process. I think forcing the players to have a more open debate in Congress Getting more input from across the aisle getting something before it gets to the president s death will get it a better chance of getting the president s desk will get it done. There is a strong feeling of the players in the various positions, but we think the president does play an Important Role here. We mentioned on certain days he comes to meet with congress and spend more time in the legislative process and for congress to have a more robust process would mitigate the problem. Host kyle an independent, with you think. Caller we have heard the same thoughts and frustrations. People are concentrating on the actual elections instead of the legislative process. I think that is right. When we we can take away the incumbents damage is to make it illegal to directly solicit campaign contributions. We can call it the grand trump bill. Guest our commission did take up this issue of Campaign Finance. We had a very broadbased membership. We had agreement on some of the problems with it and some smaller agreement on the solutions. We did not have a grand set of recommendations. One thing our members agreed on this was true of republicans and democrats was that members of congress are spending too much time raising money. There is a gauze between how much time you are spending legislating and the real need to run for election. Our members thought that balance has shifted too far. As for what to do about it, some states will so you can only raise money when the legislature is not in session not wanting to make a connection between people passing laws in receiving campaign contributions. We did not decide that for or against. We really did not find a way to come to a solution. Parties have different views about Campaign Finance or are reform and what is the right way to go. With it feel this is a problem we didnt feel this is a we did feel this is a problem. Caller going straight back to what the speaker said about Campaign Financing the majority of elected officials spent time raising money. Im surprised you did not find a solution because all these people were elected with these corporationns money. It is putting them in power. When its a look at it again and see that money is corrupting our system. It is impairing our ability to pass legislation even though we have all these voices and so many different systems and checks and balances. It is though not quite all these other interests for economic development3. Host i will leave it there so i can squeeze in judy from new york, a democrat. Caller good morning. No term limits. It is up to the people to vote people out. It makes people he lazy. When he to get rid of the republicans out of congress because they are obstructing. We should be listened to elizabeth warrens speech i heard the other day. It should be 51 votes in the senate. We need to change the way we do elections. Money should not be speech. Someone who has a lot of money has more speech than i do of has very little money. You should listen to the people. When 70 want gun control and Different Things, they are not listening to the people. One million more democrats were voted for an hour last congress and the republicans have the majority. That is ridiculous. Guest i will take the campaignfinance question again. The Collar Industries there are different opinions on how to reform the system. Not raising for private sources or equalizing or limiting the amounts that people can raise. On the more potent and a libertarian side, you have worries that the limits are too low. We should have higher limits that allow people to raise some discourse amount of money at larger chunks and not spend so much money raising it is they are worried of raising lots of checks. We did worry about outside groups. Outside independent groups are spending a lot of money on campaigns. We did not have a solution for that. Host we have to leave it there. John fortier, the director of Bipartisan Policy Centers democracy project. Thank you for your time. The house is gathering and for their live session. The speakers rooms, washington, d. C. July 22,