On capitol hill with lawmakers fielding questions about healthcare and well spend some time talking with veterans only and get your experience with the v. A. System. If you live in the Eastern Central part dial it at 2027488000, 2027488001 or send us a tweet or go to facebook. Com or send an email. Veterans only and the lines are open. Take a look at the numbers. This is from the Veterans Affairs department. These are the number of veterans that get benefits and healthcare through the v. A. System. About 9 million are enrolled in the v. A. Healthcare system and nearly 7 million have a Life Insurance policy administered by the v. A. And four4 million are active and 1 million get education benefits and. 3 million receiving a v. A. Pension and about. 1 v. A. Vocational rehabilitation beneficiaries. That is the different benefits and healthcare that the v. A. Offers. Heres the veteran population about 22 million veterans 9 of those are female. The rest males. Look how it breaks down by wars. 7. 2 million from the vietnam million and 7 million from the gulf war, about 5. 5 million from peace time and the korean conflict 1. 9 and warldorld war ii. What is your experience with the v. A. System . James, youre up first. Good morning. Caller yes, my experience with the v. A. Here the medical part of it is pretty good, but the compensation part for posttraumatic syndrome is like if you go and you try to get if you are getting some benefits and go and try to go after that they target you and theyll take some compensation from somewhere else and deny you. Thats the biggest experience. One other thing to say, i started going because of posttraumatic stress that was the worst decision i made because it brought all this stuff back and im still suffering from the experience of dealing with people under the same having the same experience. I probably would have been better not even participating with the groups. I was 24 weeks up in western d. C. And that was the worst experience for me because it brought all this stuff back. Host we heard that yesterday, james, we had congressman on. He sits on Veterans Affairs. He said he heard the same thing because they go with posttraumatic stress disorder and open it all up and theres not consistent care to deal with it once youve brought all those thoughts and emotions back up. Caller yeah, well thats true and they changed healthcare on you. Ive had about two that was connected with this and they changed up and i guess they went to the private sector. But any rate, basically i get good care but theres a big fear out here now among veterans about benefits being cut off i mean Compensation Benefits being cut off. Thank you very much for let me speak. Host there is this story. Many veterans have ptsd 40 years after wars end. Decades after the u. S. War in vietnam more than one in ten from the conflict still experience at least some symptoms of posttraumatic disorder. One third also suffer from major depressive disorder. For some mounting Health Problems and cognitive function can be ex ex is a paoeur rated. Good morning to you. Go ahead. Caller it leaves people with problems and the veterans with a terrible problem because its antiquated. I dont know what will fix it but we have people who are suffering financially and medically because of host because of the antiquated medical records . Caller thats exactly what im saying, maam. Host explain. What was your experience . Caller we had people here in the vietnam era that were forced into the military. Im sorry, i have my t. V. Off but i think youre talking while im talking. Host just talk through the phone. Dont look at the t. V. Caller maam, the system was overburdened during the vietnam war and it just could not handle what was going on with it. I think were having a problem again. Host okay. Yeah, i dont know if many of you saw our show yesterday because we had congressman on before the Veterans Affairs secretary bob mcdonald testified on capitol hill and he talked about how the v. A. Needs to plug a budget gap they had with money that Congress Passed a year ago with deal with the wait times at v. A. Hospitals. They passed 16 billion to deal with that issue. They allowed veterans who had been waiting more than a certain amount of days to seek care outside the v. A. System. Heres what the secretary said. A year ago today at my Senate Confirmation hearing i was charged to ensure the v. A. Is refocused on providing veterans with the highest Quality Service that theyve earned. I welcome that opportunity. For the last year ive been working with a great and growing team of excellent people to fulfill that sacred duty. Since my swearing in, nine of the 17 top leaders in v. A. Are all new. We have to get the right people on the bus and we have to get them in the right seats on the bus. Because of their hard work v. A. s increased veterans access to care and completed 7 million more adjustments this year than last year. 2. 5 million within v. A. And 4. 5 million within the community. 7 million more than last year and 4. 5 in the community and 2. 5 million inside v. A. We increased v. A. Care authority races including choice by 44 since we started accelerating access to care a year ago. Thats 900,000 more authorizations than the previous year. While choice has been a small proportion of of that 4. 5 million its on the rise and utilization has doubled in the last month. Today because of growth and access the department is struggling to meet veterans needs through the end of the fiscal year. We need your help. Youve already appropriated funds to meet these needs but you havent given me the flexibility or the authority to use them. Without flexibility well have no option at the end of july but to defer all remaining non choice care in the community authorizations until october, provide staff for loan notices and notify vendors we cannot pay them as we shut down hospital and clinics across the country. These are unfortunate conclusions to an otherwise productive year of progress. Host bob mcdonald saying the agency faces a short fall. If they dont plug it theyll have to system matticly shut down v. A. s across the country. Caller i wanted to say good morning to you. I was in vietnam in 1972 and 73. Whats the problem is theyre like a train without brakes on it. Ill tell you what the problem is. When i was in the hospital a couple of years ago my hospital bill was about 40,000. I was working at the time and i had health insurance. They played all but 3,000 of it. I thought va would pick up the remaining 3,000 because they wanted to pay the 40,000 which i thought was ludicrous. Theyre actually people in the v. A. That deliberately sabotage each other and thats really im not trying to sound like a donald trump or a nut case but my experience is theres no common sense to things and i have to have another test done on me. I need to see a doctor at the local hospital. Instead of seeing this doctor they want to spend me to illinois clinic which doesnt make any sense because like i told the schedule lady, why are you sending me there when i need to see the doctor here . Its just one of these ridiculous it doesnt make any sense. Host she responds thats protocol . Caller well, no. She agreed with me actually. She just thought, youre right. Doesnt make any sense. I had eye care. I think thats our biggest problem and its really not the kind of care because theyre short staffed but the problem is is that they just they dont have enough people on staff. A lot of im 62 years old and to be honest with you, we dont the people need a hospital here and thats our biggest downfall because these folks here cant take care of everybody and thats why we have the internal problems and then a few sabotage the whole system and try to be difficult. Host evansville you say you need a v. A. Hospital in that area how far do you have to travel to the closest one . Caller you got to go to illinois which is a pretty good drive, probably two and a half, 3 hour drive and thats we got here we got two big hospitals that could handle its a medical town, they could really take a lot of burden over the v. A. If it they allow veterans to get outside help. Host so go private. Caller i mean for here it would make and help the v. A. Folks out and they wouldnt have all the difficulties. We have good people in our v. A. Its part of the human race, youll have a little bad and good regardless of the business and work you have, but the whole problem is, what puts so much stress on these folks they dont have enough staff to help veterans out and thats not their fault. Host i just want to show you and others this map because illinois youre in indiana, but right next to you, you have a sizeable veterans population, 350 to 550,000, but youve got states around with sizeable veterans population. The real dark red is nearly 2 million in some of these states. Look at texas and california and others. Louis, do you see and sense a large veteran population . Caller oh yeah. I have a loftt of friends that are vietnam vet and iraqi vet and i help a lot of my buddies and a lot of guys dont understand the v. A. And ive been going to the v. A. For almost 25 years and its slowly grown. Im not discrediting the v. A. In illinois. Its a beautiful hospital but there arent any population its like putting a hospital in the corn field and all these veterans have to travel a long distance. Host take a look at it compared to indiana. A lot more veterans in illinois. Caller but marian is a very small town and thats really have to us guys take a van or drive over there, thats really we have no emergency room in our clinic either, so here if you have to go to the hospital you have to you just hope and pray the v. A. Will pay the bill because a lot of times the v. A. Will tell you no. I would apply for medicare or medicaid if i had a problem because i cant be stuck with a remaining hospital bill because the v. A. Decided they wanted to stiff me and not pay the bill. I dont have that kind of trust that you should have and thats one of my biggest issues. I just wanted to share a few things with you on that. Host all right. Served in vietnam. Take a look at the hospital facilities in this country. The Outpatient Clinics about 819. There are 300 vet centers and 150 v. A. Hospitals and 131 cemeteries and 56 regional offices. Robert were talking to veterans. What has been your experience. Caller good morning, maam. How you been. Thanks for taking my call. Im retired u. S. Army vet and i used the v. A. And different locations in roanoke and West Virginia and Northern Virginia and ive had such a bad experience with that i just dont use them anymore. I go to the on post through the military system. They cant look at the computers and they cant look at your records. They dont have the same system. How do you pay for it then, robert . Caller im retired army, so the military still picks up our tab. And the v. A. Actually tries to they look at it like youre trying to get over on the system or something. My injuries are military related and it took me so long to finally get them to acknowledge the fact that i have military related injuries. As a matter of fact, that was just this year and i still dont i still dont like using them because i think theyre overloaded as far as it takes them so long to get back with you. And the system is so hard to negotiate that to me its just too much trouble. I dont even use them anymore. Host robert, then how long did it take you to recognize that your injury was military related . How many years . Caller i got out in 98 so they just now awarded me 40 for my back. I didnt negotiate the system right. I dont know. I know that i submitted i had three claims before they finally acknowledged what was going on. Host so explain for viewers 40 . What were you getting before that . What does 40 mean and what were you getting before that . Caller i believe its like 40 of your base pay. Before that when i initially got out they awarded 20 . I had herniated disks, two herniated disks in my back. Host well go on to bob in jacksonville, texas. Tell us your story, bob. Caller good morning, greta. Pardon me, i got a frog in my throat. Thank you for taking my call. And i hope i can relate my experiences. I got a couple. First of all i needed i was in the navy in 1952 to 56. Part of it in korea. I had to have a colorado on oscopyosco cohropb 0spy. It was going to require two trips, maybe three to have it done at the temple hospital. It was going to take me 630 miles to get the colonoscopy and i couldnt do it. I arranged it through a private doctor and it cost me money. I fell and broke my arm and i called the clinic here which is in palestine which they told me i had to come there to have it xrayed. I said cant i go to an emergency room . No, weve got an xray machine so youve got to come here. I said what if and its broke. I didnt know it was broken at the time. They the male nurse said youll have to go to temple to get it set and fixed. Well, thats another 340 mile round trip. It was just i just couldnt afford to use the v. A. Host did you not for what happened . Did you go to private care and pay for it . Caller i had to. But you know i couldnt go to temple because the only way i could do it was to pay for it. They wont pay me for gasoline or mileage or the motel that i was going to have to have to have this done. Host how much did you spend in your own money for this . Caller i dont know. I didnt keep track of it but i did have another insurance policy through my work, but my point was i tried to use the v. A. And the first thing they did in 2003 they passed a law saying that if you made a certain amount of money you had to do a means test if you applied for the v. A. After 2003. And that was my case. But i made about i make about 25,000 a year. My wife and i on Social Security and what i got from my retirement, and so they said i made too much so i was going to have to pay doctor visits pay a copay on doctor visits. I did that. Finally i just said, hey i just im not going to deal with this so i dropped out of the v. A. Host thank you for sharing your story. Ill get some voices in. Ted from oregon, youre next. When did you serve . Caller i was a plumber active Duty Air Force from the 78 until 84 and then into the reserves. Ive been a plumber all my days and at 57 im going to retire. Ive been getting my healthcare at the v. A. Ever since i got out of active duty. Ive never had a problem with the v. A. Besides peg abeing a plumber ive got all these extra licenses. Ive done all kind of hospital work both at the v. A. And in civilian hospitals and to me this point has been moot from the very first day. When the v. A. Makes a mistake or has an issue, they make it aware for all the world to see. When a civilian hospital makes a mistake its an unknown for all. And this has been proved to me over and over. And i dont care what civilian Health System it is. Ive got nothing but stellar results from the v. A. Host okay. In North Carolina. Your experience. Caller hello, greta. How are you . Host good morning. Caller good morning. I pretty much agree with that guy from oregon. Im a vietnam air vet served 82nd airborne and the v. A. Has treated me so good. I mean i cant complain about their medical care or anything like that and im so sorry to hear about my brothers having such a hassle. Host so let me ask you then, when you call, do you experience wait times . Do you get to see some of the same doctors . Those are some of the same complaints. Caller ive not had a wait time period at all. 30 days for a specialist and i can call the communitybased Outpatient Clinic in franklin, North Carolina and see my doctor pretty much the next day. Host i thought you were done there. Apologies. Well go on to cape coral, florida. Veterans only this morning getting your experience with the v. A. System. This is how we divided the line. If youre a veteran and live in the Eastern Central part of the system dial in 2027488000 or 2027488001. Caller doctor at the hospital wanted to perform a small surgery on my prostate. The v. A. Would not pay for that and they said i had to go through the v. A. In the last five years, i have went to tampa nine times with the v. A. Paying me gas money, renting a room and seeing a doctor and ive been to miami six times with the v. A. Paying for hospital room and mileage and all. The whole five years ive been sick terribly sick, in my bed, couldnt get out of my house and finally i had to go to the regular doctor and within three months of going to a regular doctor in cape coral, they done everyone of the same tests it took me five years to get to do in the v. A. To perform the small surgery and the outpatient surgery that i had to pay for over my medicare and im feeling wonderful. But the v. A. Literally told me to go home and die. They could not fix me. That they had no idea what was wrong with me and could not repair me and the whole time it was my prostate. I have a military Service Related disability but they could not find out what was wrong with me and could not fix me. Host thats clifford in cape coral, florida. David in indiana. Good morning to you, david. When did you serve . Caller in vietnam 72. Host okay. Whats been your experience . Caller okay. Everything that youre hearing from all the veterans everywhere, wheres all our representation when all this is going on. Why arent they doing something . Where is john mc cain at . Why do these serbvice people have to go through this day and day out. Everybody knows it. Theyre paying Football Players money. Wheres our benefits at . Why did my wife spend six years six years and you know what our rep says . You may have two more years to wait. Why is that . Host okay. All right. David, brian in addision ohio. Good morning to you. Caller good morning, greta, how are you . Host good morning. Caller a lot of veterans are deceived because a lot of these hospitals are attached to United States which are teaching hospitals. I have had originally had kidney surgery in california from the v. A. , and to this day that was in 91. This is 2015 and i still have problems because the way that the v. A. Works is residents do the surgeries and if there needs to be help to make sure that they get it right, the actual head of the department the chief doctor can only work on you for 30 minutes. And i found this out because of my kidney problems that i had. So what i ended up doing i wound up seeing that same doctor on the outside because the doctor told me that they could not do what i needed to have done at the v. A. , so i went to see him on the outpatient basis with my own insurance and he still didnt make it better. So now heres the chief and i still have the same problems. And i see this every day greta every day at the v. A. And i feel so bad for these young kids coming back and theyre waiting in line for prosthetics whatever they need, they are waiting. They dont deserve it. Host all right, brian. Talking about waiting at the v. A. Healthcare stems. Were talking to veterans only this morning. To get your experience with the v. A. System. The previous caller brought up john mc cain. Thats been at the heart of the tension between donald trump and john mc cain is what he has done for veterans issues. This is a story this morning the headline trump orders flag ordered at half mass at his properties. Do not thats what the story says. In addition to mr. Trump has established a hotline and email address for veterans to share stories about the need to reform our veterans administration. Thats what the press release said from the trump campaign. Thats why they set up the hotline. Take a look at what happened yesterday as many of you know on tuesday the billionaire gave out the personal cell phone number of Lindsay Graham and responded on twitter saying i need a new phone and yesterday the senator from South Carolina put together this video. Or if all else fails you can always give your number to the donald. This is for all the veterans. Host senator Lindsay Graham destroying his flip phone after con donald trump gave out his personal cell phone number. The front page story this morning, heros prevented horrible massacre. The attack would have been a lot worse if not for the service men who fought back. The marines able there able to respond and save many at that Recruitment Center in chattanooga. Thats the Atlanta Journal constitution. And then this story purple hearts to the chattanooga victims. 20 marines and two Navy Corpsman py watt way second story there, calling on president obama to head a coalition responsible for building an armed force capable of stamping out the terrorist sanctuary in syria. Calling for a full coalition of countries to fight the islamic state. Also up on capitol hill this morning, some other news for you. San francisco moves to cancel its sanctuary policy. This comes as congress is set to vote today to impose sanctions on cities that have the sanctuary policies. So that in the Washington Times. Well talk about that more on the washington journal. And also this story. Congress eyes oil sales for highway funding. Senate is considering legislation that would partly replenish the trust fund with 9 billion worth of sales from the reserve which at 691 barrels of oil close to to its kpaft capacity. That could be part of the highway bill which by the way passed a procedurally hurdle yesterday in the senate. This bill put together by Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell and democrat barbara boxer. It passed 6234 to begin debate. That is moving in the senate, the 6th year funding for the Highway Trust Fund and the house passed a five month extension. So the two sides have to come together before next week when that money expires. And then heres the headline in many of the papers. U. S. Disability program is nearly broke. To address that in the Washington Times this morning, congressman is suggesting that they merge trust funds. Thats in the Washington Times. He sees this as a short term Social Security fix is lawmakers can get beyond the politics of this. He wants to merge the two trust funds. Thats what is coming up on capitol hill as well as the Iran Nuclear Deal hearing. John kerry will be up there along with Energy Secretary and treasury secretary and happening at 10 00 a. M. Eastern time on cspan3. Those cabinet officials were behind closed doors trying to convince lawmakers to support this nuclear deal. Back to our calls with all of you. Veterans only this morning. Whats your experience like with the v. A. System. Bill good morning to you, bill. Go ahead. Caller ive had a did experience at the v. A. System. The people there are very they bend over backwards and dont have to wait long or anything. The paperwork is humongous there. The doctors have to theyre like stenographers theyre doing more paperwork than taking care of their patients. And the nurses everybody and and everybody. Its all paperwork and no wonder they should give us vouchers letting us go to our own doctors. The reason i stopped going there is almost 30 miles each way. They should let us go to our doctors and hospitals and they were doing much better than the v. A. System. Host bill, the choice act which would allow people who have been waiting for long times to go see their own doctors in their areas to seek private care. Gregory, good morning. When did you serve, gregory . Caller i served the u. S. Navy from 1985 to 88. Host whats your experience like . Caller its been good and bad. I went out to ive just been traveling around to different v. A. s because i was in washington waiting three years to be able to taledeal with issues and i went to california. I got burned real bad and they turned me completely away. Its 100 Service Connected and man if i wouldnt have got me a good lawyer i wouldnt have got that. I thank god for that. Its just sad that the the v. A. We served our country and going through all the problems is crazy. Host todd, good morning. Caller good morning. Ill give you my experience that just happened recently. I work at ford motor company. I was getting i was feeling sicker and weaker. I went to the v. A. In detroit and they said, well, we dont do dental work unless its 30 days after active duty. You dont get dental care anymore. So they gave me antibiotics and i had pain in my back and got sicker and sicker and collapsed. They sent me to the v. A. And said we cant find nothing wrong. So a week ago last sunday the ems comes it my place and takes me to a private hospital and do a c. T. Scan and find five millimeter kidney stone and they said im surprised that the v. A. Didnt even do any tests. Now i got to wait three months just to see my primary physician. All i got to say about it is thank god i have blue cross and im pretty much done with the v. A. Host charles in new mexico. In ruidoso downs. Caller from 1960 through 1966 and 1 year in vietnam from 65 to 66. I want to know i was wanting to tell you i get excellent care at the v. A. Hospital but i got terrible care at the v. A. Hospital in denver. In denver they diagnosed me with a rapid heart beat but did nothing for it. Host maybe you can call back on a better line. Your phone is breaking up. President bowobama travelling to kenya ask going to ethiopia. Its irling civil rights leaders. The president will address a meeting on international entrepreneurialship. The boston globe this morning and headline in many of the papers. Billions but how many . Pinning down trumps fortune. He has reported what he needs to report but many of the papers saying its difficult to pin down how much hes actually worth. Donald trump says 10 billion and forbes says 4. 1 billion. The forbes values his brand at 125 million. The paper is saying difficult to pin down how much hes worth. Some of the headlines in the papers this morning as we continue to get your thoughts on talking to veterans only this morning. I want to tell but this. President obama is pushing for renewal of the exportimport bank. Big Companies Airline companies et cetera. Take a look at what proponents are doing. This is a full page ad in the journal. These are the countries that have working exportimport banks. This country does not. Congress let the authorization expire. Some attach it to the highway bill theyre working on to get it reauthorized. This put together by the u. S. Chamber here in washington. Veteran, billy, when did you serve in the military . Caller 196971. I go to the bruce w. Carter facility in miami. One suggestion would be to bring the head of the hospital out into the parking lot and have an open forum where veterans can ask questions and tell him whats going wrong with it. I was in the military and out because i was gay and went before a review board and wept back in. John mc cain is the biggest mouth against military and thirdly, ive had Excellent Service with the v. A. My only complaint is the clerical, theyre the worst. Theyre rude and they could careless. But as far as the v. A. In miami i think theyre absolutely outstanding. Host okay. Jim, in indiana. Jim, your experience. Caller yeah i served from 66 to 68 and my biggest complaint is its more than 40 miles in 30 days, i fall through the cracks because i have one locally that is only 15 minutes from my home. Ive only seen a physician there twice and my problem is because im that close all my primary doctors are somewhere between 90 and 130 miles away. But i cant go outside locally. It puts a hardship on me and my family to have to travel that far and getting to a point where im fed up with it and im getting hassled by them now because ive complained and its just getting ridiculous. Theyre being rude and obnoxious and im fed up with it. And i think its ridiculous to go all that way for my two primary doctors because all i got locally is a nurse practitioner. When i go in there they say, we got to send you out of town. Host jim in indiana. Couple of headlines on minimum wage. New york enacts 15 wage. And then the Washington Post reports that the district is likely to vote on 15 wage. The minimum is headed for a 2016 ballot initiative. The city is poised to join the National Debate on pay. The District Of Columbia could be voting on 15 wages. While james in bristol tennessee. Whats been your experience . Caller 1968 through 1970 vietnam era over in germany. My complaint is this, i set up an appointment to see my doctor and when i got over there with my appointment she complained she would be late getting home and she jumped all over me about setting up one at that time frame, so a lot of the veterans were complaining about her so they replaced her with another doctor. I tried to get a hold with the v. A. And i havent heard from the v. A. In where from six months to a year so i got my private insurance. Host thank all the veterans for calling in today for watching and of course serving our country. The Financial Times this morning as this headline alzheimers breakthroughs hope to give promise to farm pha revival. Later california democrat brad sherman will be here to discuss that Iran Nuclear Deal and how congress will proceed. That conversation continues right after this break. Hes always to the right and almost always in the wrong. Anything complicated confuses him. Film makers Robert Gordon talk about their documentary on the 1968 debate between conservative william f. Buckley over war politics, god and sex. Today i believe theres someone saying the numbers are dwindling. Talk about hot topic, hot salacious topic number two. Whereas then i dont think that was the norm in it t. V. And these guy didnt need that. 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 wouldnt have a moderator jumping in every five seconds. Washington journal continues. Host we want to welcome a new face to the program this morning. Congressman Carlos Curbelo serving his first term. Serves on the transportation infrastructure committee. I want to ask you about immigration issues and sanctuary cities. The house will vote today on legislation that would according to the Washington Times with hold grants from jurisdiction thats shield Illegal Immigrants. Greta, look im a major proponent of Immigration Reform and this legislation is enexpired by the tragic death, horrendous murder that took place in San Francisco just a few days ago. I understand the sentiment we want to do something or show that congress is being proactive, however sanctuary city is one of the per niche should yous symptoms. If we want to put an end to all this and bring order to immigration in the United States, this bill today really isnt a solution. Its a bandaid. It addresses those cities that refuse to cooperate with the federal government, but it does so by punishing law enforcement. So im not sure that this is the best way forward and what im calling for and what im advocating for is Real Solutions to our immigration system. This bill today will not secure the border and not reform our visa system and not help us account for the 1113 Million People that are living here illegally. Thats what we need to focus on. This isnt a real solution. Host are you a no vote . I havent decided yet but im not enthusiastic about this legislation. Host what have you heard youre a republican who has set up a pact to help promote republicans who are for Immigration Reform to address the whole system. What have you heard from leadership about getting something on the floor and when it might happen. It is more than likely after 2016 . Our leaders know that this has to tkpwretget done. They know its an important issue for our party. The question is how do we do it and how do we build enough trust with president obama to get it done. Before this last election, speaker of the house told the president , please dont move on immigration on your own. Give us a shot to do it. President moved unilaterally anyway. That was very damaging to the prospects of Immigration Reform. However there is a Significant Group of us working very hard every day to build momentum for this issue and say, look, we cant just focus on whether it be sanctuary cities orvisa caps. We need to look at the whole stkpepl Pay Attention how its failing our economy and country and fix it and thats what were continuing to continued a sroe advocating. Host how much money do you have . We raised almost 100,000. Host how much in your coalition trying to push reform . I dont have a hard number but we supported over 30 members of congress and all of them told me personally, yes this is an important issue and i want to work on it. So i take them at their word. Host you said its important for the party as well. I want to play what donald trump had to say on tuesday about his immigration remarks that he made recently. Donald trump we brought something up that wasnt discussed by anybody, democrat, republican, wasnt discussed. The problem were having in this country is tremendous with the border and Border Security and lack thereof and Illegal Immigrants. Everybody is talking about it and theyre saying i was right and people criticizing me two weeks ago are calling me and saying off the record mr. Trump you were right and even reporters. [applause] even reporters calm of them called i would say would you go on the record . No, no, no, we dont want to do that. And last week as you know, we had a tremendous rally in phoenix, arizona and it was unable 15,000 people and they came for a reason and it was illegal immigration. Theyre being decimated and want it to stop. I want people to come through the country but they have to do it through the legal process. Hes trying to sound a little reasonable after making ridiculous and absurd and unacceptable remarks. Hes saying people agree with him that immigration is a problem and needs to be addressed and certainly most americans believe that. And weve seen that in polling. What we dont agree with him on is the disparaging remarks that he made about mexicans and Mexican Americans. I have many Mexican American friends and theyre some of the hardest working people in this country and they came here to work. I understand that mr. Trump hires many of them in his many different businesses, so mr. Trump has been a Destructive Force on the political scene. He was kind of distorting what the debate has really been about and the bottom line is like so many others and i include president obama and other democrats and republicans as well he has used immigration for personal political gain by making outrageous statements in the case of the president in 2008. Ive criticize him over and over for this. He promised during the campaign. He said in my first year as president well address Immigration Reform and democrats have the whole house and had control of the house and 60 votes in the senate and refused to act. Why . So they could use immigration as a political football. Whether its mr. Trump and other democrats and republicans i condemn anyone who uses this topic which is very serious for political gain. Should he get out of the race if of course he should. Hes an serious candidate and doing this to get attention. I have raised a number of irssues about him. Hes criticizing Hillary Clinton in an aggressive way. Everybody knows hes close to the clintons. Hes contributed to the Clinton Foundation and the campaigns. His campaign is not about the country or the future of america, its about him. Hes very selfish and he should get out of this race so that we can have a serious debate and listen to serious candidates that have the honest and sincere solutions. Host donald trump will tour the border theby the way, you can look for our coverage of this on cspan. Org. What do you make of that . Guest he should apologize. There are many mexicanamericans who live in that part of the country and he should apologize. He should recognize their contributions to the country and he should announce he is getting out of the race. Host we want to also talk about u. S. Cuban relations because that is obviously an issue earlier this week when the embassy in washington reopened for the first time in 50 years. John kerry attending the ceremony there. We want to show you and our viewers what he had to say. [video clip] secretary kerry change israeli easy, especially when earlier is rarely easy, especially when earlier positions are so deeply ingrained. Although we can and must learn from the past, nothing is more futile than trying to live in the past. President obama believes, and so do i, that our citizens benefit far more from policies that aim to shape a better future. There is, after all, nothing to be lost and much to be gained by encouraging travel between our nations. The free flow of information and ideas. The resumption of commerce and the removal of obstacles that have made it harder for families to visit their loved ones. Make no mistake, the process of fully normalizing relations between United States and cuba will go on. It may be long and complex. But along the way, we are sure to encounter a bump here and there. And moments even of frustration. Patients will be required. Pat pacience will be required. Host your reaction. Guest i have been willing to work with the administration on a number of issues. We have done immigrations but ive just think this administration is taking our country down a very dangerous path. This is the administration of these deeply flawed negotiations with iran that have resume ended up in a deeply flawed agreement. I think a low point for Foreign Affairs in this country. And in the case of cuba, this is the administration that in exchange for alan gross, an american who is unjustly held hostage by the cuban government they have given the cuban government everything that government ever wanted and then some. Three convicted skies spies one of whom was convicted to conspiring to murder american citizens. Removal from the left list of safe sponsors of terrorism, even though they include have ties to north korea. We have given them sanctions relief, full diplomatic sanctions. All why . As a reward to the cuban government for having held alan gross hostage or five years . Because this is how this all started. I think it is a major mistake. Mr. Kerry says that we cannot live in the past, and i agree. We have to live in the present. And the facts today are that cuba is led by a military dictatorship that is responsible for the death of american citizens. Faerber 24th, 1996, the cuban government shot down two cessnas flown by american citizens over international waters. They were in their 20s and 30s. This is the same cuban government that was shipping arms illegally to north korea just a couple of years ago. This is the same cuban government that today continues to be catholic in our hemisphere continues to wreak havoc in our hemisphere. And now, almost a failed state because the cuban government. So why is president obama and secretary kerry why do they insist on continuing to reward this government with unilateral concessions and asking for nothing in return . The cuban government continues beating people on the streets of havana imprisoning dissidents. I just understand the logic. Host you represent the 26th district in florida. 70 of her district is latino. How many cubanamericans does that almost all committed americans, what are they telling you . About these relations because some polls show younger cubanamericans believe this embargo is not working. Guest about half the latinos in my district are cubanamericans. What i have found is that the more people know about the reality that is todays cuba the more people know about the history of the u. S. Cuba relations, the more they are opposed to what the Obama Administration is doing. Sure, some of the polls say, well 6 in 10 americans think we should try something. When that question is asked by itself, should we try Something Different with regards to cuba, if someone doesnt really know the history doesnt know all the details, everything that is going on, they would be likely to say yesterday because they know it has been a long conflict. But the bottom line is that the policy that i want for the United States is a policy based on the fact today, not the fantasyland that secretary kerry was describing. This is an enemy of the United States and we need to be very careful how we proceed. Host lets get a viewers involved. We have patrick in virginia, a democrat. Caller yes, my question to the congressman is that first of all, a death of american is a death. Whether in the hands of an illegal immigrant or in the hands of a twisted young man in South Carolina, or anybody, it is the death of an american. What i dont understand is how the congress was very swift to move on the deaths of the lady tragically you know someone who has supposed the been deported five times, yet at the same time the congress has not taken any action on the Confederate Flag on federal grounds. Host we will take your point patrick. Guest yeah, that is an interesting connection that the caller has made. Look, i dont think the Confederate Flag has any place on government property. And in florida, we have saw a great example of leadership. In 2001, long before we were having this intense debate today, governor jeb bush said this flag is part of our history, but it does not unify our citizens and it does not represent our state today. So he got it and put it in a museum. And that is what we should do here. That flag represents an army that lost the war and we are the United States of america and we should be united under one flag. So even though i dont understan d the connection between that and the unfortunate event of San Francisco, and understand the sentiment. Host we will go to miami, john a republican. Caller i just wanted to thank the congressman for his comments earlier and underline what i hear from secretary of state kerry. First off, this cuba policy is a retread of the policies of the 1970s, clinton policies of the 1990s that ended in american lives being lost. Fidel castro sent thousands of murders to the United States in an effort to take the good cubans that were fleeing tyranny. In the 1990s, as the congressman has indicated planes were shot down, massacres were committed in cuba, as bill clinton was engaged in trying to normalize relations with cuba. And now with this administration, not only with north korea smuggling weapons by the regime, but also to columbia just in february of 2015 this year. The question for the congressman is this. We saw earlier this week how his father in 2003 match with secretary of state colin power powell, how she was threatened with being physically removed from the state department if she asked the question with the secretary of state john kerry. And the Cuban Foreign minister. Who was a properly credentialed as a journalist. As congress thinking about looking at the hearings on the threat of espionage considering that they have intelligence that has promoted back in the 1960s plans to bomb macys and other targets in new york . And furthermore, how this administration is purging cuban dissidents as we just earlier this week. Thank you. Guest thank you very much for the call. We are going to do greta everything we can to hold the Administration Accountable on cuba policy. But people have to understand. Foreign policy and diplomacy in the United States is handled by the executives. So we are somewhat limited in what we can do; however, there is already a bill in the house and a companion legislation in the senate that is being sponsored by thornberry, the chairman of house armed services. That seeks to prevent the cuban military and Intelligence Services from benefiting from any of the concessions or the loosened restrictions that president obama has put into place. And we have made the state department very aware of our concerns with regards to cuban espionage. The fbi has recognized that cuba maintains one of the most robust spy networks in the United States out of any country in the world. That new Cuban Embassy and the expanded flexibility that the embassy will not have operating as an embassy is also its very dangerous because, you know, cuban spies are not going to have greater latitude and have more resources at their disposal. So the caller from raises some very important points and we are focused here every day on seeing how we can put the brakes on all of this cuban policy that the Obama Administration is changing. Host augusta georgia, william, and independent. Caller i am going to try and remain calm as best i can hear. [laughter] but i think i am thinking for really speaking for really millions of people. I call myself a constitutional conservative and the congressman is the kind of republican that drives us away from the republican party. Donald trump has touched a nerve , and if you dont believe this congressman, you just keep it up on telling him to forget about that he is a clown, all of these other comments. We are tired of this. He is touching and their and you referred a nerve and you referred to mexicanamericans. Like you do like some of the others in the republican ruling class, and also the democrats is you equate illegal immigration with regular true immigrants. We are talking about Illegal Immigrants, and you know good and well congressman, that mr. Trump was not saying that all mexican, even the illegal mexicans, are right. But you tell that to the family of kate steinle and these others that have testified. You, sir, are the reason that many of us are leaving behind. I will not vote for jeb bush is he is the nominee if he is the nominee. Host ok, congressman. Guest i have to be very honest and say that i think anyone who is seriously considering supporting donald trump for the candidacy really has to reevaluate what theyre vision is for the country. Mr. Trump is a candidate who is not advancing any solutions. He is saying silly things, trying to draw attention to himself. He is trying to inspire fear and anger in people, as we just heard from the caller. I get it, there is a lot that frustrates me as a member of congress. I think illegal immigration is a very serious problem in this country. I am focused on solutions, not on rhetoric, not on getting people angry, not on getting people excited. Not just on sober solutions. We can through either one bill or 10 bills i dont care how it gets done, secure our border reform our visa system, make sure that we account for everyone in this country. If there are any criminals, like the man who murdered that young lady in San Francisco, those people have to be either put in jail or sent away to their countries. And if they come back to our country, they have to be put in jail for even longer. But to say that the donald trump is the solution or somehow enlightened our country, it is quite the opposite. He has done a lot of harm and really contributed nothing because i have not heard one thing goes one single solution. Host new york, john, a democrat. Caller hi, i have a question. You all started this i hate to say this, but that republican right there, i dont know if it is him or whatever, but you all started it. You all give donald trump you opened up this pandoras box. If you did not say to donald trump, stop saying that obama is not a american, you wouldnt have this problem. You would never have this problem. And you would not have, oh where is your birth certificate, and all this junk. You opened up a pandoras box. Host what do you mean, john . By not squelching donald trump four years ago . Caller yes, yes. If they do not if they do not take say to donald trump, stop it, obama is american, he was born here, his mother is white, his father is black. If the republicans would have put their foot down and said to donald trump, he is american and you can forget about his birth certificate. Host ok, john, we got your point. It is a point that harry reid made on the floor the other day, too, saying where would where republicans when donald trump made these remarks about Illegal Immigrants coming into this country . They were quick to criticize him over the john mccain remarks. Caller guest look, we can try to use donald trump to harm the republican party. I i call upon the clintons today to return all the contributions that donald trump ever made to them, to their foundations, to the campaign. I want them to, you know, regret that they attended his wedding. But this is a silly game. I dont represent donald trump. I have never supported him. I have never been a part of the movement. I criticized his immigration comments. I criticized his comments with regards to veterans. We do a disservice to our country by talking about donald trump all day. And we reward him because this is exact what he wants. Host michelle in minneapolis, a republican. Caller good morning. Thanks for having me on. You know, i i am out here in minneapolis and friends and i we are frustrated in that everybody wants comprehensive comprehensive health care. It is a mess. Lets do things individually. Lets get the people in congress to go on the record, mandatory employer verification, be set entry exit, very easy. Individual bills. Let people go on the record and let obama or Hillary Clinton say that they are against mandatory employer verification. Or entry exit visa. You can get a 10th grader to write a program to have an entry exit. The hard part is going to be finding the people once they dont show up. Once they show up on the list of people who shouldve been left out. And also, skillsbased immigration, not familybased immigration. I was thinking about going to australia 40 years ago. I had to prove that to my employer i had an employer that i could get a transfer with and work in australia. Not this family thing. If anything, we need skilled labor, not just anybody. Host congressman. Guest she has wonderful ideas for Immigration Reform, and i agree with her. I dont care if we do it in 1 bill or 10 bills, the goal is to get it done. And republicans and democrats need to Work Together on this. There is a lot that we agree on. So my position is, lets start moving it. We will get it out of the house. Im sure the senate can agree to a lot of these. And im sure the president will sign a lot of these bills. Like she says, if the president is against securing the border well, that he will have to veto the bill. If he is against the visa system that is worthy of the greatest nation in the world, the most sophisticated country in the world, then let him veto it. I doubt he will. I dont think everybody understands we ought to know who is here, when they arrive, and whether or not they have left. So those are the types of ideas that we need. Again, i have been very flexible on this. I support a conference of the. I understand the challenges that michelle raises with copperheads of legislation. And sometimes people took things into it that are undesirable. Tuck things into it that are undesirable. Host in louisiana, joe, a democrat. You are on the air with congressman Carlos Curbelo republican of florida. Caller ok. We have this man appeared. He is a democrat ok, and he is [indiscernible] what are the options . If we dont stop this, we are going to have a Nuclear Weapon. They made the mistake already. [indiscernible] all these bombs and gas and all that stuff host we will take your point on iran. Guest i would be honored to be in immigrant, but i was exit born in this country. My parents are immigrants and i am very proud of that. Host where are they from . Guest my parents were born in cuba and the came here in the 1960s. On iran, i am very concerned with what the administration is doing. We have an agreement, at least one agreement because now it has been revealed that there is at least a couple side agreements of that that have not been made public, but we have an agreement that, in my view, is going to endorse iran as the hegemonic power in the middle east. This is a country that now under the sanctions regime with limited resources, its doing a lot to expanded footprint in the region to promote its proxy states, like syria, and by way of this agreement, iran is only going to grow stronger. And its going to be able to promote even more terrorism. And arm other terrorist groups. So i am very concerned with this agreement. I think we had iran right really wanted them. The sanctions were working. That is the only reason that they announced the intention to negotiate, which gave them immediate sanctions relief. I think that when we have their where we want them, we should have extracted all the concessions that we needed. Which is for iran to completely abandon, without any question, its nuclear program. I dont support an invasion of iran or anything of that nature. We just need to have a credible military threat, which does not mean in invasion of the country, but just that the United States and its allies are prepared to act if iran does continue working towards a Nuclear Weapon. Host louisiana, willy, a democrat. Good morning to you. Caller good morning. I was in vietnam 1965 to 1966, wounded. When back in 1969. 250,000 wounded. And nobody, i could go to vietnam right now and this guy was to hold something against cuba . And i want to say one more thing. He is talking about john mccain. I never thought about john mccain, i dont consider him no hero. I consider him a young soldier those are the heroes, but i respect his service. Host ok, willy. Heard you on that. Congressman, do you have any thoughts echo thoughts . Guest i consider anybody who sacrificed for this served for this country a hero. That includes john mccain. But we really need to, when it comes to our military, could put that aside and appreciate all of them. Host a republican, good morning to you. Caller hi. I have a really quick question host did you say four . You have to give me two because we are running out of time. Caller ok. He made two comments about trump. One was he hires immigrants that and did he say there were legal or illegal in his opinion . Number two, he said he is running for political reasons. And he says he doesnt have to do this and [indiscernible] host we will take those two comments. Guest so i assume that they are legal immigrants, unless he would be breaking the law. He can answer that. With regards to mr. Trump giving a voice, yeah, i dont really understand that. We all have a voice and we all express our frustrations. And people today have more outlets than ever before to express themselves. And be heard because we have social media today, which we didnt have decade ago a decade ago. We, more than people that give us a voice or echo what we say, i think we need people that will deliver solutions for our frustrations. And there are many good republican candidates focused on a plan for the future of this country. A way to change the course of this country from what we have seen the last about 70 is now which we dont agree with. Mr. Trump is not one of those people. Mr. Trump has not advanced one serious solution for the future of this country and i think he is going to get exposed in the upcoming debates. Host myrtle beach, South Carolina, bill, and independent. Caller good morning, greta. This guy, i dont know how old he is, but i was hearing him earlier what he was talking about cuba shooting down the cessnas. In 1967, and i didnt know this until i learned it from cspan and then researched it further 1967 israel shot up one of our battleships in lieu of being able to blame it on egypt. And there was a whole big scandal rates there. As far as these big spy networks how, hell the have blanketed the United States. Host bill, how do know that . Caller well, my son growing up. On the beach used to growing up here on the beach used to date a couple of israeli girls and that is who owns all the stores. And there was a big deal of them not paying into the system, but sending all the money over to israel. And i dont understand or know i know there was a big scandal over that. Host bill talking about just myrtle beach, but then saying it is in the entire east coast. Guest i think what he is try to do is criticize my position on cuba policy. Look, i just think we should treat the cuban government for what it is, which is an enemy of this country. The cuban government the list of what it has done to hurt american interests throughout the years is quite long. And what i told the president in a very respectful way when i spent some time with him in april was, you know, do we want to go back to the days where the cuban government was cashrich and had a robust military to pointer of the world . Was aggressively exporting revolutions, training Guerrilla Forces in our hemisphere and sending them to a number of latin american countries . That is what these men do when the have money. And the men who did that back then, the same men who had Nuclear Missiles installed in cuba and pointed at us, they are the same men in power. You cannot even make the argument that there is a new generation. It is 89yearold fidel castro and 85yearold raul castro that are running cuba. So i dont expect men of that age to all of a sudden become enlightened and become proamerican dictators. Host we will hear from phil next in massachusetts, and independent. Caller i have two questions, representative. Who used the nuclear bomb before . And two, you said that iran is our enemy. Well, i consider israel our enemy, as well as saudi arabia. They are big sponsors of terrorism. And every time israel does something to upset us with the palestinians, when you say to go against our policies as well because we want them to stop building in the west bank . Host congressman . Guest israel is this countrys greatest ally. It is the only democracy in the middle east that respects human rights. Everyone in israel, whether you are in israeli im sorry, whether you are jewish arab, whatever your race or ethnicity is, you have a vote. You have a voice. And your human rights are respected. That is not true of any other country in that part of the world. Israel votes with the United States almost lockstep in the United Nations. The support our interests all over the world. They are really one of our most important partners in the world. So i think the gentleman has it backwards. The israelis are our friends. The iranians are our enemies. Host his view is that he sees the conflict between israel and palestine as terrorism. Guest yeah, and and there are other people that feel that way. And i do think there is some terrorism and it is dipaola simians that attack palestinians that attack innocent israelis. I have been to israel. I have witnessed how hard it is for israelis to live in their own country. There is no question that israel is the ancestral home of the jewish people. There is plenty of evidence in history and in the bible that that demonstrates that. You know, it is the palestinians unfortunately, and not all of them. They are misled by their leaders. That launch host you are talking about hamas . Guest i am talking about hamas but im also talking, if we look at historically, the plo. The has been a lot of violence directed at israel. Israel had has had to build walls, literally, to protect its citizens. I have been there. I have seen it. I have been in East Jerusalem and it is really sad, what are israeli brotherhood have to live with. Host lets talk about the highway funding because the senate is on track right now after clearing a procedural hurdle yesterday to vote on a sixyear funding stream for the Highway Trust Fund. They passed a fivemonth patch. Guest as a member of the House Committee on transportation infrastructure, it is good to see all this activity with regards to a longterm bill. For about seven or eight years, congress has been passing these shortterm extensions that really dont provide the certainty to the transportation infrastructure industry that it needs to hire people and to complete big projects that will really help alleviate Traffic Congestion all over this country. So, what i see happening and maybe im wrong is that the senate will end up taking the house passed fivemonth houses fivemonth extension for the Highway Trust Fund so that in the fall, together we can all work on a longterm highway bill, a sixyear bill that is fully paid for. That is the goal chairman ryan and chairman shuster, my chairman, are in constant communication. And i think that is their joint goal. Host and part of the think that they are eyeing is a onetime tax on Multinational Companies as a way to fund the highway funding or the Highway Trust Fund. Would you be on board with that . Guest i think so. I think it is the cleanest way to pay for this, given the political circumstances. There is not too much of an appetite in congress to raise the gas tax or the gas user fee. There may be a time for that in the future, but not today. So i think that using revenues from american profits corporate profits that are deemed repatriated provides a solution. Host congressman Carlos Curbelo , hope you enjoy talking to our viewers this money. Come back again. We will take a short break. When we come back, we will talk with california democrat brad sherman on this Iran Nuclear Deal. Later, we are going to talk about here in use in this country heroin use in this country. Well talk with dr. Barbara dr. Deborah at the centers for Disease Control and prevention. We will be right back. This weekend on the cspan networks, politics, books, and American History. Cspans live coverage of the National Governors association with its opening session discussing how governors can best deliver effective results. That is followed by a session on state strategies on tourism and economic development. Guess include determine of the board of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the ceo of the Rocky Mountain out foundation. Saturday morning on cspan starting at 9 45. With guests including former u. S. Representative from california mary bono. And later, the governors will discuss how to stimulate their states economy with u. S. Department of labor secretary thomas perez. And sunday evening at 6 35 eastern, an interview with former governor of rhode island lincoln chafee. On cspan two, saturday night at 10 00 eastern, ralph nader on the many unanswered letters he sent to president s george w. Bush and barack obama about domestic and foreign policies. And sunday afternoon at 3 30, on new orleans 10 years after hurricane katrina. And on American History tv, and cspan3 come cspan3, we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 medicare bill. Our coverage includes all bj counsel and family and how the president was able to get the bill passed. And the signing of the bill at the Harry S Truman president ial library. And although also this weekend, u. S. Armys Cyber Command historian Lawrence Kaplan on history of computers hackers, and the governments response to computer abuses. Get our complete schedule at cspan. Org. Washington journal continues. Host congressman brad sherman joins us this morning. Thank you. You are able to ask two cabinet secretaries, who were negotiating this Iran Nuclear Deal, some questions. What did you ask . Guest i asked they spent most of the time saying, what happens if the deal goes into effect . It is possible i dont think it is likely but it is possible that we override the president possibly go president s veto. And taking away the president s right to waive them. So the question i asked was mostly responded to, but not answered at all by secretary jack lew, is well, if that is the law, if the statutes say that you have to impose sanctions and these are not sanctions on iran, these are sanctions on european banks and japanese Oil Companies. Our friends. And so, certainly wall street is not going to want the sanctions to actually be enforced. And i asked, would you follow the law even though it was a policy that you are here to tell us is a really bad policy . And they simply refused to respond. And most people think, or, the president follows the law. When it comes to sanctions, the opposite is usually the case. During the george w. Bush administration, he deliberately violated the law to protect irans business partners. Every day he was in office for eight years. And thats how strange because the last president was so verbose, but sanctions are not a matter of getting tough on iran. Those are easy sanctions. Those sanctions even continue for the most part. Sanctions back then and now are about sanctioning International Oil companies. And george w. Bush simply wasnt willing to name, let alone disadvantage any International Oil company could host you believe the house oil company. Host you believe the house has enough votes to override a veto . Guest no, i dont. Host so what happens then . Guest this deal is the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good is they get rid of their stockpile. 95 . An f for more than a handful of bonds. Plus, they decommission two thirds of a centrifuges. And those are good things that no one else, no other plan will get us immediately. You have the bad, which is they get their hands on what the press is reporting as 100 to 120 billion. Some will argue it is a bit less. And what will they do with that money . Well, first, they made a lot of promises to their own people. They will spend some on their own economy. Second, there will be a lot of corruption because this is the government into ran tehran. Third, they are going to kill an awful many of sunni muslims. And fourth they will use this money to kill americans and kiss it and kill israelis. So we had the good and the bad. But the ugly part is next decade. When they are allowed to have an unlimited number of centrifuges. It is easy to claim they are for peaceful purposes because if you really want a lot of electricity, you need a ton of centrifuges. And unlimited quality of centrifuges. In the president s words, the breakout time goes to zero. So what i think is important is what while we might accept the good in the bad in the next year, we have to prevent the ugly. We need a subsequent administration to force a renegotiation. Host we are talking to representative brad sherman democrat of california. I want to save you what the president had to say recently. But he talked about this Iran Nuclear Deal and the need for it. Take a listen. [video clip] president obama with this deal we come out cut out every single one of irans pathways to a nuclear program. Without a deal, those paths remain open and iran could move closer to a nuclear bomb. With this deal, we gain unprecedented access to advanced Nuclear Facilities and monitor them 20 47. Without a deal, we dont get that. With that deal, if iran treats sanctions snapped back on. Without a deal, the sanctions unravel. With this deal we have a chance to resolve the challenge of iran trying to get a Nuclear Weapon peacefully. Without it, we risk eating into other complex in the middle east. Now, if iran tries to get a bomb despite this agreement, 10 years from now in 20 years from now the american president will be in a stronger position to take whatever additional steps are necessary, including any option of military action to prevent that from happening. And those are the facts. That is the choice. And for the sake of our national security, the sake of future generations, we need to the right choice on this critical issue. Host congressman. Guest everybody in washington overstates their case. It used to annoy me. Im getting used to it after 19 years. For example president says the deal provides 24 7 inspection. That is 24 7 inspections of declared sites. And not even the largest declared site, but we get 20 47. We get not 20 47, but 24 7 but access to declared sites. And diplomats and, for that process, 24 days seems quick but there are some some of their nuclear program, even in 24 days, if you got there, you could detect it. But other aspects, they could clean up more quickly than i could clean out my garage. Host the secretary of state john kerry and the Energy Secretary right today in the papers in the oped section, the case for the nuclear deal with iran. And they do what you just are from the president. Without a deal, iran has this. With a deal, this could happen. What do you say to people who say, this is better than not having anything . Guest well, i am going in a slightly different position in the sense that it is not a matter of grading the president. Pundits and journalists can play the game, well, what would another president have done in june of 2015 . What should our policy could have could our policy have been . It is not like the president is going to wake up tomorrow and reject this deal. And if that happens, then you have a big conflict. Where congress is on one side and on the other side you have iran, russia china, britain, europe india, and the president of the United States. And whether congress can force all those other entities, including the president , to do his will is questionable. So, the question is not could we could the president have done better. That is an interesting historical arguments, but can congress improve americas foreignpolicy by immediately going to political war with the president on this issue . Host what about the United Nations echo what impact United Nations . What impact does that have . Guest it gives us a reason to be angry, and never want to rejected. And it gives us a sobering reason to be to say, well, we cannot rejected. On an emotional level, the president is demonstrating that even if congress wanted 100 20 to 0, that controls only the u. S. Statutes. So if the entire American Public was on this side, our vote for the u. N. Would be on that side. On the one hand, that makes me angry. On the other hand, it tells me that it may be a better policy to live with this deal for the remainder of this administration because the president may have the power to give iran almost all the benefits of the deal with the next year and a half. Host are you going to vote yes or no . Guest there are three different votes. And the first one could be, do you approve of the deal . That is nonbinding and i would certainly vote no on that because its effect would be to tell the world that this wasnt just what is called an executive agreement, but an executive legislative agreement which is only a couple notches below a treaty. I want this to be as nonbinding on the next president as possible. And so congress should do nothing to say that in the next decade even today, we are demanding the next vote would be to disapprove. He announced the veto threat at the same time he announced the deal. And the question is, do we override the veto . And it seems like a similar thing. If you dont approve of the deal, dont you want to override the president s veto . I think it may turn out to be good policy for the United States to pull out of this deal after. When you have a president that wants to. And keep in mind, this deal is not binding on iran. This is not a treaty. This is not being ratified. It is a day by day thing on both sides. Host lets get to our first call scotty in West Virginia. An independent. Caller thank you, maam. Congressman, you have Better Congress a while. I have two questions and a comment. First question is about the electoral votes. It is based on population and citizenship. Why dont you all change that . Number two, all these super pack moneys get money from super pac moneys get money from iran and they spend millions and millions of dollars to buy the presidency to take intro deals like this in front of Congress Just two i dont know, make the American People think they are doing something when in all actuality they are not doing nothing except wasting taxpayers money. Host ok, got it. Congressman. Guest the Electoral College is unfair to large states like california because every state no matter how small, gets at least three votes. There are other reasons why we probably ought to popularly elect the president. I do think the Electoral College, for example congressional districts should be based on population, not based on eligible voters. You know, there is that old rock n roll song, i would like to help you, son, but you are too young to vote. What the cogs mint tells the young man who the congressman tells the young man in the song. And my colleagues each one of us should have the same number of residents, the same workload. As to International Money going into our campaigns, we have got to blow up these secret super packs pacs which are even worse than super pacs. And that is where foreign money can find its way, but the other way that foreign money finds its way is when the u. S. Subsidiary of a foreign Business Enterprise contributes to a regular pack or a secret super pac. Host paul is next paula is next. Caller hi. Mi on the air . Host you are on the air. Caller i have a question for you. I dont know if you have ever heard this, but have you ever heard of a keep your friends close and your enemies closer . Guest of course. Caller this is what obama is doing what this Iran Nuclear Deal. Either they do it on their own and we have no word in it,in its, or we are going to be able to be there one way or the other. Some form or fashion. Host i thought you were done there, sorry. Congressman . Guest i it is a nice saying. It might work in some aspects of interpersonal politics. I dont know how you would imply that to the situation. Host mark on twitter is our congress smarter than the p5 1 . And what is the alternative to this deal . Guest well, the p5 1 is basically people who have been elected in various countries will have risen through the russian political system or the chinese political system. Or people appointed by those who have risen in the system. And so i dont know whether our 535 governmental officials are smarter than the the dozen in moscow or the dozen in beijing or the dozen in brussels that have been part of this deal. As to what we do without this, a lot of the people criticizing the deal imagine themselves as president of the United States. And as congress simultaneously. That is to say, how could we steer the entire u. S. Government to a better result . The president has already made up his mind. If we are going to steer this ship in another direction, it is going to be over his objection and he has a lot of power to stop it. So the question for me is not, how could america have a policy that barack obama will not let us have, but what can congress do nor we had this president who has is mine pretty well made up . Just in case theres any doubt he thinks this is a good deal. And as a, you know, the other policy is congress by two thirds vote reposes sanctions on those foreign banks and those Foreign Oil Companies that do business with iran. Maybe that puts some immediate pressure on irans economy although they are only four months away from a nuclear bomb. I do not know how japan or china is going to react if the president says it is reasonable for them to do business with iran and Congress Says it is not only so unreasonable, we are going to perhaps blow up our financial and business relations with you. It is very hard for a european government to say, we are going to count till to Congress Even though we agree with president obama that we should be going in another direction. Host texas, carol, independent. Caller good morning. Thank you for cspan and thank you for taking my call. Good morning, congressman sherman. I just have some questions and ill take your answer on the air. One of the things is you have mentioned a lot of other countries who are part of the the five countries plus one who negotiated the Iran Nuclear Deal. But i watch the British Parliament on cspan, and they are overwhelmingly in favor of this deal. And they dont regret it as 20 months of negotiations, they regarded as 12 years of negotiations. To reach this deal. So i think when we need to remember that one of our biggest allies is definitely for this deal. And i think that no other president at least that i know of in the United States, there is not running as republicans that would negotiate or be able to reach this deal. I think it is a landmark deal. I think it is a historical deal. The other question is, you know, how do you overcome as a congressman or how do deal with congressman who declare their opposition to this deal and they havent even read it . I mean, do you think there is too much animosity directed toward the president and the white house just based on their personal feelings echo feelings . Guest i hope i have been clear, or big allies and trading partners who arent allies, like china and russia, they are for this deal. And they plan to have profitable business relations so they are not just fourth, they see money in it for themselves. And that is why i was saying it would be so difficult for congress to turn to britain, as the gentleman mentioned, and say, do you think it is a good deal . The president of the United States thinks it is a good deal and we are going to disrupt trade to britain and the United States if you move forward with the deal that our president is telling you to move forward with. So, yes, it is a major factor that all of the countries whose sanctions matter big it is a good deal. As to those who announce their opposition there is an abyss was the president among some that will cut judgment. There is also love and respect a desire to follow that will affect some judgment. I support the president most of the time on most issues, particularly domestic issues. So this i cannot rely on my gut feeling. As to reading, not reading the agreement, people should read the agreement. Every few paragraphs, there is a reference to a document that is another 100 pages for you to read and understand. And technical material in the areas of International Law and physics. So reading the agreement is just the beginning. Host and also, sir, the Washington Times fast that republicans want access to technical arrangements. Our lawmakers being denied are lawmakers being denied technical access act being denied access to these technical arrangements . Guest we have a copy and there is a copy in the basement. This deal the kerry agreed to a structure in which important pillars of the deal are not signed by the United States, utter separates ideals that we rely on, but they are between the iae and iran. Iaea and iran. They are not even clear that kerry has read the documents. Because it is a deal between this International Agency and iran. So relying on it is not clear. Although the Top Administration people have access to it. And it is rick or that congress does not have access to it. To have agreed to a deal that relies upon its ideals that you dont get to read is one of the disadvantages of this agreement. Host there is also this campaign for congressional backing of iran deal begins. What kind of pressure are you feeling . The story is about how the president is reaching out to House Democrats but not only that, the israeli ambassador is reaching out to House Democrats. You have a lobbying group who support the deal, the jewish group in d. C. You have a pack who opposes it. Wondering what kind of pressure you are feeling on this . Guest well, i do not feel any pressure because this has been issue that i have worked on most for 19 years. So i think i will make up my own mind. But im not making up my own mind as to whether the president did a good job. I am not a president ial history. The question is, how can Congress Make things better or make things worse . Just after a few months in congress, this was back in 1997 i went on record and i said the Iran Nuclear Program in 1997 was the number one threat to American National security. I have been working on that premise for 19 years. I think that the president has an advantage between now and july 30, and that is because the entire administration is here. They can see us, they can call us in. Just yesterday we had a closed session, so there were no aids, no iphones, no aides, no iphones, and up on the stage of the esteemed secretaries, and the relevant official from the intelligence community. What incredible access. There are lobbyists in this town that kill to get a oneonone, to get a chance to speak to one member. Imagine you are about estate and you have 300 and there is a meeting like this most every day, members being summoned to the white house. Host with the president. Guest i guess. I think the president has enough votes on this that he may be able to choose his own golf partners. Yes, but starting july 31, we all leave town. And at that point, that special advantage is gone. And i will be doing meetings with this group of constituents and i know they are going to say. So it becomes an even race, both sides on television, both sides on in our office, both sides reaching us and everywhere we can, that we will be in 435 places. And the white house will lose hope yield advantage. Host opponents would need not only to muster a maturity of the house and 60 senators to approve a resolution of disapproval, but also to persuade two thirds of the senate to override a promised residential veto. Senator ben cardin of maryland said he has spoken at length with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of israel just before the iran deal was announced, but the ambassadors of the western powers that signed on to the deal met with the committees leaders on tuesday. So both sides getting an guest i should point out, not a single democrat has publicly announced in either the house or the senate that they would vote to override a president ial veto. They said earlier in three separate votes, and thats the third one. Thats the one that puts us at war with the president and with iran and with europe all the same time. So far you know, there are an awful lot of people still studying the agreement. There are democrats in the house to support the agreement. But if you are just doing the whip count and you are making that list of which democrat is going to vote to override, you need about at one third of the democrats to override, in addition to all the republicans. So far we are right at zero. I know one secretly, one. But thats i think the prospect of overriding a veto is going to be difficult during difficult. Host campbell georgia, youre on the air. Caller thank you so much for taking my call. There is a way to assuage the very real fears of the American Public that were typified by a call on the open phones on tuesday which on the surface it sounded crazy. Ill tell you that was. Ill tell you who it was. It was someone who went online to learn survival kills skills. A fellow called and who says there is going to be no 2016 election because president obama is going to declare martial law and we will all end up in shiva fema concentration camps. We need very strongly to reinstitute a Civil Defense program. I can 2008 we put out the National Response framework with new guidelines for first responders, but nothing for the American Public. Host ok, we will take that. Civil defense. Guest i think judy is talking about the president calling marshall love and still martial law and delaying or abolishing the president ial election, thats a little crazy. As to Civil Defense, you are too young to know this. Back in my day we faced the possible onslaught of the soviet union. If there had been 1000 thermoNuclear Weapons deployed you know, we would have been wiped out. Even then we did Civil Defense drills. We had Civil Defense. Today is a Nuclear Weapon whether it be a loose nuke, whether it be some crazy and pakistan. There is a show on hbo the focus is on this. Whether it be around iran next decade. There would be one nuclear bomb and the survivors would immediately be helped by everyone. Survival is quite possible. We dont have fallout, we dont tell our kids what to do. I think that it is really bad politics to turn to the American People and say, this government isnt perfect. It is possible that one nuclear bomb will be exploded in one nuclear city and we are preparing for it. It would be terrible. Because the American People expect their government to tell them that we worked things out and that is absolutely impossible, dont worry, go to bed dear. If there was ever a time when Civil Defense might save lives it is the century not the end of last century. Host on the wall street journal oped page today, mitt romney who ran for president , as you know writes, the calamity of obamas iran deal. He is opposed to it. Rick and annapolis, go ahead rick. Caller congressman sherman, i am so proud of your unwavering support for israel. I am just a little perplexed when mr. Netanyahu came to congress and the entire congress stood up and class and and collapsed collapsed cla pped and carried on. Everyone democrat, republican or 100 opposed to netanyahu. Heres what, i just cant believe it. That the president of the United States, for the last 50 years has been 100 for israel. And now this president and mr. Kerry, and Wendy Sherman i dont know shes any relation. Guest no relation. Caller i hope not. They have no stuck an ice pick now stuck an ice pick in the eye of mr. Netanyahu. Host mr. Sherman, whether you go ahead. Guest i was part of the Small Committee that was given the honor of escorting the Prime Minister of israel into the house chambers. It is not true that every member of congress stood up and cheered at everything the Prime Minister of israel had to say. In fact there were about 50 of my colleagues who announced they were boycotting and not standing up. The idea that every president has been proisrael is historically not true. It was eisenhower that forced the israelis to withdraw from sinai back in 1956. The last president , george w. Bush, had an absolutely terrible policy on iran. For eight years he blocked every effort to pass new sanctions on iran. People think this is genuine male pattern bold baldness, but this is just banging my head against every wall in washington trying to pass sanctions. President george bush deliberately intentionally decide and refused to enforce the iran sanctions act which had been passed in the early 1990s. The reason for that doesnt mean i mean, george w. Bush doesnt love you ran. The u. S. Was not shy. At the iran sanctions act is sanctions on Oil Companies that can do business in iran. George w. Bush was not willing to use the single most effective legislative tool that america had against iran, which was to sanction those Oil Companies that do business there. This idea that all president s have done what israel what is in israels interest, is simply not true. Host by the way, usa today says oil falls below 30,000 of therell. A barrel. Brett, you are next. Caller yes maam. I appreciate you guys taking my call. I appreciate mr. Sherman. I guess his being able to articulate his views. Although kim and i are on alternate and of the spectrum he knows more about this than i do. My question for you, mr. Sherman, how can we trust iran when they have pretty much broken every sanction. They have refused the iaea access to their facilities in the past. They have a rampant record. Also, my second question is, how do we stomach a country that is run by the ayatollah, that constantly leads a nation in cheers of death to america death to israel. How can we fall asleep at night trusting that they are actually going to do what they say theyre going to do . My last comment is, is our president willing to take the blame if in fact one day they do get a Nuclear Weapon . That is what i would like to know. Guest the president has announced he is willing to take the blame. We cannot fall asleep night or day. We cannot trust iran. This deal is structured in a way that some of the most important elements can be verified and can be verified up front. The best part of the deal are the first to six months, when we will observe them shipping their stockpile overseas and decommissioning two thirds of their centrifuges. Thats all fine. But you go to their next decade which i call ugly, and that is where they are allowed to have a huge industrial enrichment facility, with maybe 100,000 or even more centrifuges. Not just the was i have now, but i are eights but ir8s which they are working on. Lets say you have a big bag of red blocks, and thats the material you need to build a nuclear war bomb. First you monitor me really carefully to make sure that nobody cheats, and nobody ever accumulates that much. But in year 11 two years to year 15 of this deal, it ran can have a bakery bigger then la brea. Imagine someone operating a huge bakery every day and you are trying to prevent them from accumulating a huge bag full of bread crumbs. It ran will be a Nuclear State in the next decade unless we renegotiate, or whatever this deal. Host in georgia, bob, a democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning. First let me say there are four holes in this. I like to say to the people to who support it, i like that but my theory is it is going to pass. It is going to go to congress Hillary Clinton when she is elected she is going to support it. But the congress, all the republicans will vote against it. Most of all the democrats except for the jewish democrats are going to vote against it. But senator schumer especially, i think he is going to vote against it. He will be running the senate when harry leaves. I just think that they have got their hands so soft. I think you are a jewish congressperson, and i want a guarantee you are going to vote against it, you are going to vote to override it. Thats my theory. Guest i will say this. Im probably more skeptical of the deal than many democrats, many jewish democrats. I would suspect that when it comes to a vote to override the presidency so, president s veto, a very substantial number of jewish democrats would vote against that. As to the polls, it depends on how u. S. Would question. J street had a poll where they asked would you support a deal that would support a rant from ever getting a Nuclear Weapon, and everybody said yes. Opponents of the deal ask a question that says, can we trust a ran to follow a deal, and everybody says no. Nobody trusts iran. Some are skeptical that this deal will achieve those either shortterm or longterm. You can get any answer you want on a pole. As to the idea that jewish democrats are a model list and are all going to vote together, where there are three jews there are four opinions. Host politico has this story iran lobbying blitz targets jewish democrats. The Obama Administration and israel are lobbying hard. What do you make of that headline . Guest if i did not want a chance to get the best information, talk to the most knowledgeable people, i would not have run for congress. I cant complain that the president wants to talk to, or that john kerry wants to talk to us. I dont think that is the cross fires. They are not throwing bombs that is, there are throwing position papers. Host robert in columbia South Carolina, a democrat. Caller thank you cspan. Good morning. I am a vietnam veteran, from 67 to 87. I wanted to get on the last segment where was not able to. I wanted to talk about the veterans at the v. A. And how it relates to iran. Can you guys give me some feedback on that please . Host robert, which you mean it relates to a ran . Two iran to iran . Caller you got two ways go. You can either give people a chance for respect, when we are dealing with a ran iran and north korea it gets propagated. But the simple fact is that everybody everywhere needs a chance, the opportunity to save some face and have some respect. Host so robert, you see the alternative as war . Caller if you dont talk to people, if you dont try to relate to them and contract with them, and agree, then the alternative is war. We had were in the 60s. We are still dealing with veteran affairs, with veterans that came back from the 60s wars that president kennedy and president johnson did a terrible thing for. Host got it robert. Congressman . Guest robert first thank you for your service. Second, we want to avoid war. Third, we will not be taking military action against iran. If we do it definitely will not be and cannot be the deployment of ground forces. Or anything like vietnam. It would be a matter of either bombing Nuclear Sites or threatening to bomb strategic and economic sites. You mentioned north korea. I should point out that there we declared that north korea will not be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon in the last administration. He got a handful of Nuclear Weapons. As to treating all countries with respect, i would say that everybody on every side of this agrees that we should contract conduct negotiations with iran as they have been respectful. The finest diplomatic sites in switzerland, everybody agrees that you need to pressure and threaten a ran as this is ms. Ration has done. The only argument are how much pressure and what do you accept of the talks . I think it would almost be disrespectful to the ran iran if you did not try to organize pressure and did not take them seriously. Host more to come on this debate. Congressman, i appreciate you talking to our viewers. Coming up next, we are going to turn our attention to heroin use in this country with new report showing a rise in every demographic. We will talk to dr. Debra houry about that right after this break. Considered underrated by many first lady historians, Caroline Harrison was an accomplished artist to check up china painting and carried that interest to the white house, establishing its china collection. She was interested in womens issues and help to raise funds for Johns Hopkins university on the condition that it admit women. And she was the first president of general of the daughters of the American Revolution until 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. From Martha Washington to michelle obama. Sundays at eight ago a. M. Eastern on american 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv. Cspan gives you the best access to congress. Live coverage of congressional hearings and news conferences, bringing you events that shape public policy. And every morning, washington journal is live with elected officials, policymakers, with your comments on facebook and twitter. Cspan, created by american Cable Companies and brought to you as a local service by your local satellite provider. Washington journal continues. Host we are back. Heroin use in this country are on the rise. We are talking with the cdc about this. Joining us from atlanta this morning, dr. Debra houry who is the director of the National Center for disease prevention and control. Injury prevention and control. Dr. Debra houry, the headline from the report, heroin use is up. Guest we have seen that heroin deaths are growing up. Going up. In the past years, heroin deaths have doubled. It is really across all of society we are seeing a growing up in going up in men women , all incomes. There is this group of 18 to 25 that is really troubling, but it does impact all of society. It could be her sister, your brother, a coworker. We really need to focus on what we can do about this problem. Host is it an epidemic, and why . Why the rise . Guest i would call it an epidemic. The cdc considers anything in epidemic when the numbers are going out that more than expected. When you see deaths quadrupling, that would be an epidemic. The numbers have are going up because you see a link to prescription opioids. People who have abused prescription opioids are about 40 times more likely to also abuse heroin. Where we see perception opioid overdoses, we also see heroin overdoses. Host why the connection . What is going on with this connection to painkillers . Guest heroin is an opioid and it acts on the same receptors in the brain as many of the Prescription Medication opioids. People who are taking perception opioid may not realize how do addictive and how addictive and dangerous they are and then go on to try heroin because it is more potent and cheaper. Host you also show that people who are addicted to cocaine, 50 times more likely. People who are they to marijuana, three times. You were addicted to alcohol two times. Guest yes. I think what this shows is that all of these different substances link to the heroine issue. People may have some addiction and the problem even more. What i think is important to realize with the heroin epidemic two, is a lot of these people do take more than one substance as you have pointed out. If you are taking more than one of these inputs you more at risk for death. Again, these are not controlled substances. You do not know what you are taking when you take heroin. Host why is there then, people are addicted to alcohol. People are addicted to other drugs. The uc the death rates go up in those other addictions . What is it about heroin and heroine related deaths . Guest heroine is a very deadly drug. It slows your breathing and it can stop you from breathing. I have actually done been a practicing emergency room doctor for over a decade. I have seen people come in with a heroin overdose and they stop reading. You can give them a medication to reverse it, and heroin is so deadly. So potent. I get when you are buying heroin on the street you dont necessarily know what form it is coming in and different types. Like the black tar heroin, can be a lot more concentrated and a lot more potent. It is also being mixed with other substances like sentinel that can make it even more deadly. Host where is this happening . Guest heroin problems in vermont. Host but where across the country . Is it everywhere that you are seeing problems arise . Guest its really everywhere. We have been monitoring for the past 10 years and it has spread across the United States. There are some airy as we are seeing it more pronounced, but the rates are going up across the United States. Host why not other drugs, like cocaine or painkillers . Why are people turning to heroin versus the painkillers that you talk about . Guest people are turning to those prints painkillers as well. Perception opioid. There are about 2 Million People that abuse opioids. What we are seeing is that about 4 of those who go on to try heroin get addicted to it. Then they continue to abuse perception opioid prescription opioids and heroine and that have overdue overdoses from that. Host does the cdc track the cost of other drugs . Guest prescription opioids are heroine . Host both. Guest this is one of the things that we things that we have been working with several other agencies on. We have heard from our colleagues that the prices of heroin are pretty cheap. After 10 at times, compared to an opioid medication where a prescription can run up to 100. Again, perceptions and change based on the type of insurance you have and the medication. With heroine i think there has been an increase supply to the United States, which is also impacting this problem. Host have you learned from your colleagues and other agencies where that supply is coming from . Guest i have not spoken to them about where it is coming from. Host take a look at the chart of the demographics. It you have seen a rise in heroin use over all demographics. I want to show my viewers this. When you look at it by mail and by female. 100 increase in females using heroine. Look at the age. Nonhispanic whites, 114 increase. Who is using heroine who wasnt using it before, and what you make about . Guest i think really who is using it now as wasnt using it before, more women are. This is income. 20,000 and higher, more of the middle class are using it. This fits right into prescription opioids. This is the group that has been taking the opioids and getting addicted. As we are seeing an spread across all age groups and all incomes it has become a really pervasive problem in the United States. If you dont have health insurance, host if you dont have health insurance, what does that number look like america what does the number look like . Guest we are seeing that as well. It could be a marker for poverty, heroine could be cheaper than that opioid. Its one of those things where i think it is important to note that it really impacts all demographics. That is why we are so concerned about this, as it is really spreading. Host lets get to calls. Michelle is up first in monticello indiana. A democrat. Caller i think the biggest problem we have in this country is a poor and broken educational system. We have to start teaching kids when they are four years old about addictions, whether its addicted to buying things, tv toys candy, junk food, and then later on talk about drug addiction. Im a suitable. They are pushing and pushing pharmaceuticals down our throats , with ritalin for children. Its crazy. Just because they wanted to sit still in class and be spoonfed the teaching to test methodology. I homeschool my son and my son knows all about how the brain works and what forms and what drugs due to the brain. I caught him this starting at age four with a mentor who was a neuroscientist that i reached out to. This is what we have to do with parents. We are responsible to teach our children when they are young and to teach them what Public School is for and what it is all about not just throw them at the school and expects the teachers to babysit them and take care of them. Host lets not go too far down the road of education policy. But on this point of educating the public about drug use . Guest i think it is a very important point, and michelle thank you for that comment. I am the mother of a sixyearold daughter and i could not agree more. I talked to her all the time about different issues and although she is young we have talked about drugs. I do think addiction is an important problem in this country. When we focus on heroin we realize there are three different ways to fix the problem. One is to stop people from getting addicted in the first place. Too, is those who are addicted make sure there is appropriate medication and a Treatment Program for them. And three make sure we have the medication to reduce that openness. I think educating the public is really important. That is one of the reasons why the cdc is out talking about this issue. Host dr. Debra houry, our guess this morning. From california, thank you. Caller thank you for taking my call. It is very nice listening to the Program Every morning. But dr. Houry, why is it all of a sudden so drastic a problem . Just now that it is spreading across society in general . I mean, why wasnt it a problem before, for like the last 50 years, when it was only affecting the bottom section of society. I mean, part of my term there not infection. Host we got your point. Dr. Houry . Guest we have always been concerned about addiction and overdoses. Right now i would say the sheer numbers. I am in your dock an er doc, it breaks my heart. Why we have seen this is because of an increase in opioid prescription that is being prescribed. More people are getting a prescription to opioids and then taking heroin later. A way we can impact that is to stop prescribing. The cdc is committed to this and we are developing a debt a system for prescribing these opioids. Host from washington, an independent color. Caller hi. I had a severe injury. I went from aspirin to there was not enough oxycontin in the world. I said to have my knee and be tainted. Ive heard doctors say well we dont see anything. Im left with excruciating pain and you think about jumping in front of a semion the interstate. Youve got to think, well what is worse. Somebody in front of a semi, or taking heroin . I dont want to do that. Ive never done anything like that, there is a place for drug abuse. But there is no place to go to get my pain properly treated. Guest this is a difficult problem that we are wrestling with. We do want to make sure that patients get appropriate pain treatment. What we are realizing is that we have to focus on other methods of tree pain treatment. There are other types of medication that can impact your pain nerve pain. If people do require opioids we can make sure that they are not on other medications, like muscle relaxants, at the same time that can make them more likely to have an unintentional overdose. Host does the cdc have guidelines for opioid prescriptions . Are you issuing new ones, what authority do you have over doctors . Guest we have been working on these guidelines. We are aware of what an issue it is happening in the country right now. The guidelines will be coming out in early 2016 for doctors. We do not have regular third Regulatory Authority over doctors, but we are working closely with many medical boards to give them tools that they can have at their fingertips. Again, as someone who has worked in a medical setting, having those tools to you can make practicing medicine safely and effectively, is really important. Host lets talk about the third bullet point on responding to the heroin epidemic. That is reversing heroin overdose. Talk about this drug. Guest the lock so naloxone is a drug that is effective at reversing the symptoms of heroin overdose. I have given it myself to patients who have come in with an overdose, and it does reverse the overdose. The issue is, you have to be there shortly after someone has overdosed to be able to save their life. It is a lifesaving drug and really important. My goal and the cdcs goal is to get people before they get to that point. Host are you saying ambulance drivers, hospitals, dont have access to this drug . Guest most analyst angular stripers and hospitals do. In some places they are looking at Training Police to be able to administer it, and laypeople as well. Host in california, mary, a democrat. Good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call. I think your narrative is a little bit skewed. The increase in heroin at least here in california is due to the tremendous increase of illegals coming across the border. It really does not have much to do with doctors writing prescriptions. Im a veteran with a brain injury. I have a lot of familiarity with these different methods of Pain Management that you are talking about. At least for neuropathic injury there is very seldom a drug effective at controlling neuropathic pain. It is not a result of over prescription. It is a result of no border control. Host dr. Houry . Guest you are right. It is multifaceted. One of the Things Writing this is the increased supply a parent. But the other thing is the increased demand. That increased demand is coming from people who are addicted to opioids or other drugs. It is not that expensive. People are trying it. It is a deadly drug. Host dr. , here is a tweet from one of our viewers, stella. She writes that it ruins families. It also hurts those who need narcotic pain meds. Doctors are refusing prescriptions for fear of a penalty. Guest this is where the prescribing guidelines will come in really handy. It gives guidelines on doses when you can really prescribe. Doctors want to do what is best for their patients. They care about patient safety. We want to first do no harm. It is important to treat pain and do it in a safe way. Host regina, richmond virginia. An independent. Youre next. Caller good morning. I just attended a heroin summit. According to their statistics, more whites are abusing the drug than any other race. I wanted to know, how come there is an epidemic now with more whites using the drug . I just wanted to know, in the black community, with the crack cocaine, what makes the difference now . There are input individuals abusing drugs across all races that it appears to me now that more whites are abusing the drug. I will take my answer off the air. Guest thank you. What i would say to that, again, the clark crack cocaine epidemic was very serious. It was linked with Heart Disease and other issues. I think addiction is a competition issue. Working with our colleagues at the Mental Health administration, they have done a lot of work on this issue. At cdc we are more focused on the unintentional overdoses. That is where heroin comes into play. For us it is really seeing the alarming increases. Again, across all demographics but a quadrupling of deaths across the last decade. Marijuana, crack cocaine absolutely still a problem but we have not seen the sharp increase in those drugs as we have heroin. Host we go next to harry, in pennsylvania. A republican. Good morning. Caller yes. I am a 68yearold opium at opioid addicts. I have been doing it for 30 years. I am also fairly active. I bike and play tennis. I dont take much. I think small amounts. I take small amounts. I had a surgery many years ago and got addicted to this. I have peers who also do it in their 70s, they do 10, 20, 30 milligrams a day. I dont do more than 10 milligrams a day. I swim a mile, just two days ago. It is much better for you than alcohol is the point i want to make. The reason for the heroin increase is because our legislators and the police have this National Registry that make it very tough to get opioids anymore. That is why a lot of people are turning to heroin. Thats all i have to say. Host ok, harry. Guest i really want to thank you for sharing your story. Your point about being longterm user is important. I think that people who are on longterm opioids really need to work with their doctor to manage their pain without being at risk for overdose. I think if you can show the you are not on other medications there is a difference to that. Versus if you have more slope breeding, or other side effects. Thank you for sharing your story. Host our guest is dr. Debra houry. She is joining us from atlanta this morning to talk about the cdcs new report on heroin use heroine related deaths. It is up hundred and 86 . Take a look at this. The Obama Administration has committed over to milk billion dollars 2 billion to drug treatment. This map shows what drugs people are addicted to. The green states are marijuana. The red states heroine. Yellow, no information white, no information. It shows this rising use of heroin across the country. Kirk from springfield, an independent. Caller thank you for taking my call. I have a couple of things to say. One of the things i want to discuss is you mentioned supply and how the country starts with heroine. In the 1800s the british were in afghanistan, they had a serious opium problem. Back in the 70s and early 80s, the soviets were in afghanistan. They had a serious opium and heroin problem. Now here we are. The same thing is happening. I believe its related and i dont know why. The other thing i wanted to ask the doctor, is maybe she would explain, most heroin addicts are trying not to get high, they are trying not to get sick. If she could explain the withdrawals, how terrible they are, maybe people can understand the addiction a little better. Thank you right much and Bernie Sanders for president. Guest yes. Heroin and opioid addiction, when you withdraw it from it, you can get very sick from it. Vomiting diarrhea, shakes. People need to be hospitalized at times for what is wrong from this. There are ways to help withdrawal and that his medication that assist with treatment. That is something that can help minimize the problems. That is why it is really important to get off the heroin at the opioids but to do it in conjunction with a physician. Host dawn in maryland, a democrat. Don. Caller this is such a critical problem. I work at a nonprofit Residential Program as i see people and families trying to recover from addiction. My question for dr. Houry is, i have been reading more about the development of synthetic heroin and how it can be made in the lab with very simple ingredients. This means we would not have to use the poppies from afghanistan or the south american markets for heroin. I wonder, i know it is early in the making. I wonder if dr. You could comment on that, how it could make the problem so much worse. Think you for a great show. Host don, before you go i have a question for you. About the families and the people that you see at your facility. What are the reasons that they tell you that they have turned to heroine . Caller theres a bunch. One, it is so cheap. Some of your callers have made the case that it is cheaper than opiates and what have you. The heroine of market is pretty insidious. You can try it for free. The potency is up. Next thing you know youre hooked and addicted. It is all over the map. I think one thing youre caller said earlier about the crack epidemic, that was geographically confined to a lot of major urban aerie is and some suburban arius. Heroin, i just saw your map. I think every state should be a red state, because every place has been hit with that. It is common, it is cheap. It has some attraction. Unfortunately some young people do not see it as a risk. They say well, everybody is trying it. I assure you it is a lot more prevalent than people think. In maryland for example, 5 of all ninth graders have tried heroine. Some young people look at it and say, well i can do it and it will kill me. Next thing they are in way over their head. Host dr. Houry . Guest thank you don. With regards susan that caroline that is an airy as i am not as familiar with at this point. I read the same article as you have and i know we have a work group that is forming to look at this. I think what really impressed me since joining the cdc is the concerted federal effort. We work closely with additional agencies on this. Again, the cdc focuses on the Public Health aspect. We work with the white house drug control policy, santa sansa, and thats an aerie that area that im sure will be upandcoming. Host what can states do . Guest states can work so that people have easier access to the program. At that way when some of comes in asking for prescription you can see if they are a frequent user. There are also some that may be outliers and maybe have some education around how often they are prescribing. States can also work with state medicaid around having safer prescribing programs and guidelines. Washington state did this recently and it has already noticed a tremendous decrease in the number of overdoses, by having a Guideline Program around prescribing. Similarly making sure that there is appropriate access and training around namoxil, making sure people have training. Host of you are on twitter says this. It will be interesting to see how society approaches the growth of heroin use. Will we be punitive like we were with cracked . Frank in new jersey, you are next. Caller im wondering what you think about the prohibition of Illegal Drugs generally, and whether our efforts to totally banned the use of Illegal Drugs are working and our utilization of the criminal Justice System as the primary government vehicle for enforcing that prohibition. Whether it is just time to start to introduce facilities that maybe allow heroin users to come in without any penalty or punitive action through the criminal Justice System. Maybe allow the support systems and clean needle use, that kind of stuff in those facilities. Maybe try to talk these people out of using heroin, maybe a maintenance truck or Something Like that. Social support services. Just generally, you are opinion on the effects of prohibition and the use of the criminal Justice System to stop the social problem. Is there a different way we can go with this . Guest my background is more focused on the clinical treatment or prevention, and i think you have a really good point about the overall issue. I think we need to look at heroin as a disease and focus on getting Addiction Treatment for heroin users. As we saw in scott county, indiana, there are all sorts of unintended confidences to injecting drugs. There was an hiv outbreak from it. When we do identify heroin users, we have to screen them for hiv and other infectious diseases, getting them access to treatment as you suggested. Just really making sure that we have a holistic view of how we can help them. Host from california, robert, a republican. Caller good morning dr. Houry and thank you for taking my call. I has been on painkillers for the last five years. I had an injury at work. My question to you dr. Houry my question is, how does a doctor distinguish for patients to know whether they are going to be addicted to pain medication or if there is an actual need for it . The reason is that my doctor is very careful about screening and i have to give a urine sample. That is to help do the screenings. I just want to share the information to the public, that it is the doctors responsibility, i feel, to help screen those patients that may abuse painkillers. I will take your answer over thank you. Guest thank you. I think urine Drug Screening tests can be helpful because you can see if someone is already taking an opioid or other drugs. The perception drug monitoring program, you can see if it a patient has recently had a discussion. They do need treatment for their pain, but i think it is important for them to consider the length of treatment. A monthlong treatment for an initial injury, it could be a shorter term, or lower dose. Host caitlin on twitter says, states need more funding for better rehab programs. In tennessee, bridget, a democrat. Good morning. Caller thank you for having me on. I think this is an important issue and what i am hearing from individuals, a lot of them are talking about the problem, not the solution. Since due to the fact that there are so many more baby boomers more diseases that are now being diagnosed in individuals who can live a longer lifespan. I myself have systemic lupus with some other convocations. I have a consultation of lupus complication of lupus from years ago when all they gave you was steroids. I am in pain every day. I have been on narcotics for quite a while, but i have been very careful with my doctor. I think there is a difference between being addicted to opioids and to being tolerant of them. I have never taken any other drugs with it, i dont get screened, i have to do the key pee test. From some of your comments, some of these problems is a lot lack of insurance for those who dont have money. They will go and buy heroin because it is more cheap. It would solve this problem if we were able to give individuals who truly need Treatment Access to a legitimate doctor or a Pain Management clinic. That way they could actually be monitored and covered. I think that is one of the biggest problems we have. Individuals who actually need help are unable to get it. Now because of those individuals , it is difficult for those who are legitimately in need of opioids, they are unable to get it. Guest yes. Access to a physician absolutely. They can help monitor, change medication as needed. For those who can taper off medication at some point, all of that is very important to do with a physician. Access to a physician is key. Or other types of Health Providers or clinics. I think states are really coming along way in this, and i am very thankful and optimistic with regards to our 2016 budget. Both the senate and the house have put an increase so we are able to do work in assyria. As you pointed out it is really important that we get on top of this epidemic. Host how much money does the cdc spent on researching this epidemic . Guest for fy 15, were spending 20 million. We will be working with state Health Departments to help track the problem. We will develop more userfriendly aspect to the monitoring program. We will roll out guidelines. It also has a component called it the Rapid Response problem. States can look at communities that may have an epidemic, or if they want to do a public outreach. Host john in virginia, democrat line. Go ahead. Caller thank you for having me. I have been clean for 20 years. I stopped using when i was 49 years old. I am 69 now. A lot of the points that were made, i agree with. There are a lot of dynamics that go into this. I agree with the comment that the individual made disagree with the comment that the individual made. That was tried 20 years ago, it did not work. They did distribute clean needles and stuff like that. The better solution is [indiscernible]. I have believed ive seen this with other drugs. Guest you took the words right out of my mouth. That is just so key. If we can focus on safe prescribing so that patients do not necessarily take opioids as their first line treatment for pain. There are other treatments that we can do first. I think the public can be more aware. That is why we are doing these studies and these papers. Prescription opioids can be deadly and they can then go on people can use them and then go on to try heroin and other drugs. We can make sure that opioids are appropriately given monitors, we can really have an impact on this problem. Host this to california, maria republican. You are next. Caller good morning. My situation is a little different but i just wanted to share my story. I have a lower back injury, and my doctor at a certain point refused to see me. Obamacare just completely raised our insurance 75 . It took me six months while i was out of work because of my injury. I was refused any pain medication and i could not afford to get a visit with him. For six months i was drinking, straight. That caused tremendous problems with me and my family, just trying to get daytoday without pain medication. I dont know if there is a doctor if a doctor has a legal right to have compassion for his patients because of a situation. Its not like i was an ongoing patient. I did not have a record of obvious pain issues. Host maria, with the emergency room and option for you . Caller no. I was not able to go to an emergency room. It was terrible. I dont know how patients and doctors are supposed to have a relationship. If you have an existing injury and you definitely need pain medication. Host can you address that . Guest i think it is really about having communication between providers and patients. It is easy to get the prescription for pain medication. It is tough to have a discussion around what else we can do, have you tried a different medication . If you do get a prescription for that pain medication, is it the right thing, can you pay for a . I think it takes some time at the patients bedside to find out. I have been in the system. I know how tough it is. A lot of the time, with this short time. We have. The more time doctors can spend talking with patients about the risk is risks and benefits of the system medication, that is what really need to do. Host marietta california caroline. Caller hi. Thank you for taking my call. I am a patient and i have been taking it opioids and opioid for about eight years from a for a spinal injury due to a car accident. I have noticed in the last couple of years, dealing with the pharmacy when i go to fill my prescription. Even though it is the same pharmacy, if they dont have the quantity and i have to go somewhere else, i am often treated like a criminal. One person told me, because i did not have it filled at their office, one month prior, i could not have it filled their. Even though i explained to them that the other pharmacy did not have the quantity. Host caroline i am going to jump in because the house is about to gavel in. Just quickly here for one of our viewers, saying doctors will be scrutinized if they are thought to be using their comic scripts too often. Please clarify. Can you talk to about the doctors and discover new that they are getting . Guest ere we really need to Work Together. They can utilize the spirit the Prescription Drug monitoring program, and also their patients might be getting perceptions from other doctors. That is what the caller may experience. A lot of times you have what they called dr. Shopping, where someone might go to more than one pharmacy. This woman thousand she was not doing this at all, but that is where you have a risk for over this. Doctors want to make sure that they are taking care of their patients and the patient is not getting their medication from summer else. If you have two medications at the same time, that really put you at risk for overdose. Pharmacies are now using this program as well, to check and make sure that there are not more doses out there. Again, i think it is about really being careful. Having a conversation with the patients checking the monitoring program. Host lets go to tony and ohio. Can you make a quick check of can you make a quick . Caller yes. I hurt my back back in 2002 and my doctor he gave me opiate for pain for almost four years. I changed doctors because the other doctor just suspended me for some reason. He gave me a three month supply. When i went to the other doctor he referred me to Pain Management. Well, Pain Management said they had a whole history of what it was and what kind of treatment i have had. I have been through all that acupuncture, spinal discs degenerated discs. Host tony, i apologize for having to cut you off at the house is about to gavel in. Guest pain is a consultative problem. There are different ways to treat it. Our concern is really, those that get addicted to opioids and overdose or go on to become addicted to heroin. We can stop this people from getting addicted in the first place, we can help treat those that are addicted, and reversing and overdose when it is happening. Host a lot of interest in this topic, so for our viewers, if you want to learn more, go to cdc. Gov addiction. That does it for the washington journal, the house is about to gavel in for their legislative session. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org]
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