Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 11062017 20171106

Ruoff. As always, we take your phone calls. Washington journal is next. Host flags at the Human Capital are at half staff this morning, the day after a First Baptist church in texas became a fight of americas latest. People died when according to authorities, a lone gunman opened fire. You are about the attacker who died yesterday. We spent the first hour of our program on washington journal hearing your reaction to this latest shooting attack in america. Give us a call. Democrats, 202 7488000. Epublicans, 202 7488001 independent callers, 202 7488002. You can also comment on facebook or twitter. Morning to you. Heres the banner headline across the san antonio express. Hime to worship turns to orror. The New York Times armed for war. The New York Times noting that the victims ranged in age from 572 and among the dead were thedren, pregnant women and pastors daughter. The deadliest mass shooting in texas history. Front page of usa today notes that the attacker was found fatally shot a short time later after an attack in a neighboring county. There is no motive for the attack but they didnt officially identified the gunman. Two Law Enforcement officials were not authorized to comment publicly. The New York Times in their information about that man. He served in the air force at a base in new mexico but was courtmartialed in 2000 12 on charges of assaulting his wife and child. Sentenced to 12 months of confinement. Again, the motive in the attack is unclear. Of this morning, there is a lot to investigate. We are getting your reaction today on this latest mass shooting. Democrats, 202 7488000. Republicans, 202 7488001. Independent callers, 202 7488002. Hisident trump shared reaction yesterday. Here is what he had to say. Areur thoughts and prayers with todays horrible and murderers attack. This act of evil occurred as victims and their families were in their place of sacred worship. We cannot indoor the pain and grief that we all feel and we cannot begin to imagine the suffering of those who lost the ones they so dearly loved. Our hearts are broken. But it is dark times and these are dark times. It is dark times such as these when americans do what they do best. We pull together. We join hands and lock arms. Sadness,gh tears and we stand strong. Oh, so strong. Provideistration will full support to the great state and all local authorities investigating this horrible crime. , just a fewn minutes ago with Governor Abbott and we offer our thanks to the andt responders, the fbi all of the many people involved, federal and otherwise. Ultimately they stopped the and rendered immediate, lifesaving aid to certain victims. I will continue to follow. Evelopments all of america is praying to god to help the wounded and families of the victims. We will never live we will never leave their side. We want to hear from you. Lines for democrats, republicans and independent callers. The lines are yours. Catherine is in massachusetts on the line for democrats. Good morning. Place, thethe first pastor is responsible for what happened. He sacrificed his congregation to the son and god. Told man to worship on the first day of eight days. And for these pastors to preach this stuff to the congregation they had no business in there. Your point. To alabama, sandra, your reaction. To me, because i have lived here a long time and congress has voted god out of the country. This generation, i do believe it because oftion putting god out. That would make it better is to allow School Systems to put him back in there. That was ridiculous taking him out of school. Class,went and went to you finished your work early and you went at the 10 commandments. Every day led off with bible and prayer. Cant remember anything like it has been over the last few years. I wish they would go back to smaller schools, not these lake buildings. Then you arels and allowed to punish the children. Put prayer and bible reading back. Host john is in maryland, and independent. Good morning. Give my sympathies and deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones. I think the country should start a dialogue with gun control, automatic weapons need to be banned. There is no reason that i can think about why people want automatic weapons other than for creating atrocities that happened in texas. That is my comment. Thank you for taking my call. Times noted inr their reporting that it is unclear how they obtained the weapon used or why he targeted that church. An ar15es say he used very end, a knockoff of the Standard Service rifle carried by American Military for roughly half a century. They are legally sold in the fire onlytes that semiautomatically and were covered by the ban that went into effect in 1994. Since the ban expired, weapons have been legal to sell in the United States and sales have searched. They sell for about 500 and 900, depending on the model. Former comment now from president barack obama, taking to twitter. May god grant all of us to ask what concrete steps we can take to reduce violence and weaponry in our midst. Obama, he tweeted a few times yesterday. Here on capitol hill and around the country, we do want to hear from you. There is also the governor of texas with a statement out yesterday. Governor abbott saying that while details of this horrific act or under investigation, cecelia and i want to send our thoughts and prayers to all of those who have been affected by this evil act. I want to thank on enforcement for their response and ask that all texans pray for unity during this time of loss. What you think . As we show the flag at half mast at the u. S. Capitol . Caller im glad they put the flag at half staff. I think it is good that somebody thatave been in the church helps with the gun. But i think Congress Needs to pass a ban on assault weapons. Because what do you need them for . Other than to go to war . You think that is politically possible right now . Im assuming you have watched the debates over Gun Legislation in the past . Well, it would be possible if we had more smart gun lobbying agencies that were able to be as effective as the nra and things like that, yes, i do think so. Host senator Dianne Feinstein has been pushing for a bump stock been in the wake of a and she tweeted yesterday that this shooting in vegas comes this shooting yesterday came one month after vegas. Randy is in louisiana on the line for independent callers, go ahead. Caller hello . Ok. Hey. Well. It, ite way i look at seems like every time there is some kind of shooting, they are on some kind of drug. Changing their story about the las vegas shooting. , this could have been orchestrated by the cia or the fbi or the atf. Get we are not going to ahead of the investigation or speculate this morning. We are looking for reaction today. And we will let the investigation play out and we will bring you information from the investigation as we learned. It is continuing and we will keep looking for updates. We do want to hear from the viewers this morning about your reaction. Thomas is in sterling, virginia. Go ahead. Caller im so sorry for this senseless violence. I think the gun debate will continue to matter what and i dont think it should be politicized. I think it is possible that these killings are being done as a need for fame by lone wolfs and i would suggest that their names not be published. And may be in the future, people wont seek doing such things to gain fame. They when you say shouldnt be politicized, what do you mean by that . Isler i dont believe there a current solution with gun control. I think people who want to commit these atrocities are going to do so, one way or another. And i think it is other motivations that cause people to do this, not just the availability of handguns or semiautomatic weapons. In this case, i believe that this person, if they were called shooter x, it might restrict people in the future from committing such a heinous crime. Host steve, good morning. I wanted to Say Something about background checks but your other callers have proud to me to Say Something about semiautomatic weapons. I am a concealed gun owner. If you do away with these weapons, its no different. You still have hunting weapons out there in larger caliber. Its just the highcapacity magazines that they would change. If you did away with the ar then you have hunting weapons. Im sad. And my pastoroer preached yesterday and we are sad. Back to the background check. Versusrable discharge bad conduct discharge, i found out this morning that they are not the same thing. If you have a dishonorable discharge, you cant pass a background check. I am wondering about the bad conduct discharge. You have to go through a general courtmartial to receive that, a dishonorable discharge which shows up on the records but a youugh that term around but said that he had a bad conduct. Host that is what has been reported. The bad conduct but not a dishonorable discharge. They need to extend that to the bad conduct . Host is this something you look at . Gress should caller absolutely. People develop opinions about the church, early on. They might have over pairing they might have overbearing parents who pushed the church and you dont how sick this guy is. You know . Confident are you that congress will look into this and there will be action . Here we are, a month from what happened in las vegas and Dianne Feinstein is expecting frustration for not getting enough support for her bump stock legislation in the wake of that attack . Caller i dont understand it. I dont understand why people want to turn a semiautomatic weapon. I think nothing will really happen. Host kevin from maryland on the line for democrats, good morning. Caller it is about public policy. The guy who did this served a year in jail and with the bump and republicans are im not trying to say that it is just republicans. But look at public policy. This guy bought a gun last year and he was able to buy one of these guns. So it is a decision about who you vote for and their position on these things. Reasonable gun control. We used to have reasonable positions but now you without anything politicians being held hostage to anything. Members believe in reasonable control with background checks but the nra is firearmcompany for the industry. So their goal if you look at the money, it is for the gun industry. The nra is nothing more than a lobby to sell as many guns as possible. And they make it think so that americans are going to get their hunting guns taken away and nobody wants that. But these people keep voting for aree officials, they cowards in the sense of standing up for reasonable gun control. Host what are examples of reasonable gun control . Caller like the bump stocks. How on the world could they ever be allowed . Thewould they ever not watch . Everybody knew there was a device you could do to convert your gun into a semiautomatic but no one spent any time watching tragedy after tragedy public, youren going to have these Mass Shootings. Host that was kevin in maryland. Stronger gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School killings in connecticut. And he released a statement yesterday. The parallel assess that you feel right now the paralysis that you feel right now isnt real. It is a fiction created and methodically cultured by the gun lobby designed to assure that no laws are passed to make america safer because those laws cut into their profits. He said, none of this is inevitable. As my colleagues go to sleep, they need to think about whether the gun industry is worth the blood flowing endlessly into the floors of churches, Elementary Schools and city streets. Ask yourself, how can you say you claim to respect human life when measures of your constituents . That was part of senator chris murphy statement he put out yesterday. You can read his full statement on his website. This morning, we get your reactions to the shooting. One more newspaper from texas, the Dallas Morning News with the headline this morning horrific roger, an independent. Caller thank you cspan for allowing us to voice our feelings and opinions and god bless the families that have suffered loss for all of these horrible murders with guns. I want to say that i hate guns. They are made to kill people. Yes, you can do other things with them but guns are made to kill people first. And why does the headline say terrorist runs over and kills eight people, runs his truck gunmane crowd. But a kills 26 people in a church. Kills 50 people at a concert in las vegas. An elementarys up school of first graders. A gunman does this terrorism. At somebody,a gun you are a terrorist because you terrorized that human being. People, we need peace in our lives. That rid of the guns. You dont need a gun. If you want a gun, join the military. Thank you, that is my thought. Host out of Corpus Christi, gunman kills 26. Caroline from california on the line for republicans, go ahead. Yes, i taught school for almost 45 years and we didnt have shootings. And yet there were guns, ever since the revolutionary war. What happened was, in my the little white hospital and when i was called, they were called in sane asylums a recalled in sane asylums until he could get help for them. But now, everybody has a split personality. They are two people and we give themmedicine and we give hydrocodone and all the things. , having, once the brain taught science, once the brain has absorbed the change with the medicine being strong first grade teachers are telling getnts to take children to drugs in the first grade. Ritalin. That is the beginning. Grass. T kids start with and what do we do . We spend 50 billion getting rid of smoking and our streets and restaurants and schools and all of the many things and places that we go. Almost a smokefree world but the only go out and legalize 17 states . To sell marijuana . Int that was caroline california. A tweet yesterday from gabby gifford, herself the victim of a mass shooting attack when she was home in her district. She said yesterday on twitter that she is praying for lawmakers to find coverage to find courage. This must stop. She is now a strong advocate of increased gun control. Here is a story from the wall street journal today, focusing on Sutherland Springs. A tiny town southeast of san antonio. Everybody knows everyone and it has one main cross street. There arent even any red lights. The town is incorporated. Residents say it is too small to operate to school so children tend to their studies nearby. To threes home churches. And one of those churches is now the site of the latest mass shooting in this country. Paulette on the line for democrats, good morning. Caller i just have a couple of comments. The love of money is the root of all evil. That is why the nra doesnt want to do regulations. Second is that if we treat gun sales like we treat our sales, inquirence and my lasthecks comment is for god to bless us. From domestic and foreign terrorists. Host bobby, go ahead. Caller for three years i worked education in japan with disabled children. I was able to go into the mountains with a friend of mine, japanese. Hunting. We huntedhis gun and to small species of deer and goats and through the hunting process, he explained to me that he was able to get his long guns only after i thought he was joking a 10 year waiting. Check. And a background i said, you have to be kidding me. No, you have to do that to get a shotgun in japan. As i thought about this, i thought about why it is partly cultural, i know that but the japanese dont have such a problem with shooting and killing and firearms. Very seldom, it is very rare. I lived in texas for six years. The deep south for most of my life. The gun culture in the United States is an endemic part of american life. And unless there is better it is going to continue. It is part of american life. Host do you think a 10 year atting time is realistic this point . If not, what is realistic . That could be taken in this environment . Caller what does crazy donnie say about immigration . We need to have hyper advanced investigations for people. So we could apply this for enhanced hyper vigilance on immigration two people acquiring firearms, something reasonable . A good solid year or two of a background check to see if somebody is unstable, such as the gentleman who probably severe from some sort of mental elements. One can assume. Or two, with an enhanced method that crazy does for emigration. Host we get your point. The discussion is happening on twitter as well. Karen writes in if you banned weapons, bad actors will get them through criminal sellers. Bad idea. If hunting rifles are no different then how come we never see them use a bold action deer rifle . Thisaren points to how apparently ended yesterday, saying it was a gun who took the demon down, it keeping him from killing even more. I never owned a gun and i dont have one and i dont want one. Apparently a Good Samaritan did engage the attacker. Did give chase to the attacker. We are still waiting for further information about how he eventually died, whether it was self inflict it or not. Last point, chris murphy, the senator who statement we read earlier address this, as well. Another one of his twitter theowers pointed out that attacker here was engaged by a Good Samaritan and chris murphy wrote yesterday that lets be clear. Nobody stopped the shooting. 26 people are dead in one of the countries Mass Shootings. A sad anniversary yesterday. Eight years to the day of the fort hood rampage. Newspapers did note. Usa today also noted the timeline here of some of the deadliest Mass Shootings in this country in the past 17 months, we have seen three of the worst Mass Shootings end this now counts for one of them. As the Las Vegas Attack and the orlando nightclub attack that killed 49 people. On june 12, 2016. 17 months, those three are among the worst Mass Shootings in American History. Rob is in ohio, go ahead. Caller hello . Host good morning. My comment to you folks is i am a christian and i people who were shot, you are absent from your body and you are present with the lord. And this country will see more and more people killed. And it is because of the absence of god in the country. You have over 300 million guns in this country that have said from the media and the only thing that is being done to resolve anything is that people are hating people. I turn on facebook and i watch abouty own relatives talk who they hate and how this person is nuts and all of these things. We are producing hate. Is the answer . Caller we need to work on our heart. Get back to the basics. You had an elderly woman on earlier who said this country has always had guns and it is part of the makeup of america but until people return to the past, they are not going to solve anything. And our pastor means a godly past. Eliminated god from schools. We have eliminated god from public holdings. And the point is is that our education is atheistic and angry. Everything is angry. 24 7. We can watch our own president s. Not just trump but all of them. Eventually there is something negative said that works up one group of people against another group of people. Now people are worked up against christians and the deplorables. I could go on and on. Obama, when he talked about weaponry earlier but obama, himself, when he was president , he used to racism. And he should have raised above it. All of the black pastors i know preached about love. We are born with the free will to choose what we want to believe. Host that was rob in ohio. We are showing your reaction now from members of congress. Here is ted cruz from texas, saying he is keeping all those he is in prayers and that grateful to the First Responders on the scene. The other senator from texas says it is truly heart breaking prayer fore say a the community there. That it iseports devastating and the people need prayers right now. Is congressman eric swalwell, a democrat from thefornia, pointing out attackers apparent history and bad conduct with discharge from the military in the wake of a Domestic Violence issue saying please, House Republicans, explain to me why we shouldnt know the for selling someone a gun if they have an assault conviction. Saying theykentucky are sending condolences to the Sutherland Springs community. Linda has been waiting in arkansas on the line for democrats. Good morning. Caller good morning. I have a comment. Six years ago, i heard an article about how they were talking about how cities and states keep a specific Crime Statistics take great what is amount of people that are wanted on current warrants. Not the people in jail. Not the people who have gotten out of jail. But current warrants. And at that time, Colorado Springs before they change the marijuana laws and taxes one quarter of the population had current warrants according to a newspaper article. I think that if people knew that, they would have more of a sense as to how big the crime problem is. And we could make more of a judgment. On guns. Think that is something lawmakers should release to the public . Cities and states dont want to be listed as blighted areas. Host so they want to make sure people come and live in the district. Caller bright. And when they find out what the Crime Statistics are, they go somewhere else that has a secret. Westminster, maryland. Good morning. Go ahead. Caller i am a former member of the nra and my view is that at some point in the late 1990s or 2000s, the nra turned from a lobby from hunters to a lobby for the manufacturers. Maybe they always were but that is my impression. Once it went that way, i dropped my membership. And now, the perception to me is control, the of nra touts as complete disarmament. You look at the pattern and it is military style assault rifles that are used in the shootings and those rifles are designed for one purpose. To kill people. Opinion, i think, let the hobbyist and hunters have long rifles but assault rifles, i think in the words one of the colors used, use extreme vetting before you can purchase. Back to ayou think policy issue on current control when you are and nra member and explain the communication to you as a member and how that process worked . And what they told you about legislation and action they took . Caller i cant think of a specific example now but i remember when i moved from one ago, to another 20 years the local nra office was very helpful. The gave me links to find local state laws so that when i moved, everything was done properly. So in that respect, they were helpful. Host thank you for your call. We are taking your calls and getting your reaction in the wake of this latest mass shooting. All minds are open for you to call in. Democrats, 202 7488000. Epublicans, 202 7488001 independent callers, 202 . 488002 we will get back to your calls. Today, there will be the House Republican tax reform bill will begin working its way through the committee process. The house ways and Means Committee take that up today at noon. We will be airing that Committee Meeting live on cspan two and cspan. Org and you can listen on. He cspan radio that is something we will be talking about through the week as the process continues. Also through the week, the president s trip overseas continues. Here are some photos of the president s trip. He was in japan yesterday. In japan, he targeted north korea, seeking to put pressure on north korea. He is scheduled to attend the asian economic summit in vietnam and the philippines where his criticism of the trade agreement will take center stage. Trump will try to persuade china and other nations to cut economic ties with north korea to pressure kim jongun to give up his weapons. The sidelinest on with the president in vietnam. So certainly, there is a lot of interest in that meeting. One other headline from the president s trip, this is the president addressing u. S. Troops at dakota airbase in japan. Trump rallied the troops in flexes military muscle. The photo of the president above that headline from his trip overseas. One other political issue to stay on top of for you in virginia, the close governors to the wire. G down the general election is tomorrow in the state of virginia. Several stories on that in papers today including this from the washington post, the opinion page wondering what the will to hell about trumps power. We will see what happens. The New York Times and their coverage of that race says the tactics in that tight virginia race may become a guide elsewhere as we look ahead to 2018 and 2020. Identity politics come into play in that article by Jonathan Martin and the New York Times if you want to read that today. Back to your calls as we continue to get your reaction in this first segment of the washington journal on that shooting yesterday at a church in texas. In this latestd mass shooting. Dave is in wisconsin on the line for an dependent callers. Go ahead. Caller yes. I am 65 years old. I have owned guns all my life and i am not against guns. But there is more to this than that. These assault type rifles seem to be the weapons of choice in these Mass Shootings with highcapacity clips. And, you know, it wouldnt bother me if they were banned or regulated. And i think some type of sensible regulation i have no problem with that. But there is something going on here. There whofolks out may not understand the lingo an assaultplain what weapon is . What defines that . Ban assault weapons, how do you distinguish them . Caller this is the assault type replica. A rep for of what the military uses. I realize they are only semi automatic but the thing is, they have highcapacity flips. And that differs them from regular semi automatic hunting rifles. It is the magazine capacity. Wrap off 20u could rounds really fast and it probably improves your aim. But that isnt the problem. What im trying to get here is that it is a societal problem. What to drive someone to hate himself and the people around him so much that he is willing to take his own life . And all of other people with him . My heart goes out to these people that have been involved in these Mass Shootings. This is something that we, as a society, we have to look at. What drives people to do this . Adversee seems to be into any kind of research. What is wrong with our society that pushes people to these types of situations . And the Mental Health issue how our and also, society works. The difference between the haves and havenots and, you know, the hate that we seem to have for each other, whether it is the color of our skin or our economic situations. I dont know the answer. But i think we should get really serious about looking into what is behind all of this. You can ban these assault rifles and i think there are enough of them out there right now that these Mass Shootings are baked into the cake. Similar to terrorism. What is behind terrorism . We cant kill enough terrorists to stop terrorism. What are the reasons behind it . Host that was dave and david is in michigan on the line for immigrants. Go ahead. Caller thank you for taking my call. My thoughts and prayers to all of those affected by this. Donald is at fault for this one. The man was obviously mentally ill. Lifted the mentally ill ban that mentally ill people in america now have access to all of the guns that they want. Only because he wants to undo anything that president obama put in. These are bad republican gun laws. They always have been. Republicans did not reinstate the assault and that president clinton put in and disaster donald promised us. If he was elected, all the carnage would stop but yes what . It is getting worse and worse and worse. Because now isis is attacking us on our soil. Half ofe taken over afghanistan and we have been fighting there for 16 years. This is on disaster donald. Host as we said before, there is a lot to learn about motive here. We dont have a motive yet. But as to what david was referring to in terms of the law that trump helped overturn, this was back in february, reporting we did talkk and about this when it happened, the Social Security administration finalized the standing rule in december under president barack obama, this law that that was going into action within its first two months of trump but he repealed it without public display. It prevented certain individuals with Mental Health conditions from buying firearms. Prior to his overturning the rule, four Democratic Senators were up for reelection and had sided with republicans to revoke it. With the revaccination, the Social Security was reported to individuals who are unable to work because of severe mental impairment and cant manage their own Social Security benefits and were ineligible to buy guns. Socialught that those security recipients could pose a danger to themselves or others. Again, that repealed it happen back in february. , aning out in texas independent. Good morning. Caller good morning. I am a veteran. And my thoughts are this. Thenu have to be an guns, you should been drugs because they also kill people. If you want to kill somebody, you dont need a gun to do it. We need to educate our children. Our every educating children . All of the violent videogames, we allow them to watch but we expect them to god into society and behave like human beings . This is what we promote. Host what do you say to those people who say that a gun can kill a lot more people a lot faster, especially these guns with things like bump stocks or large capacity magazines . What do you say to those folks . That a well, i would say truck with a bomb could kill more people. If you want to kill people, you dont need a bomb you dont need a gun to do it. Guns dont kill people. It is the idiot behind the gun who does it. And what we teach our children that are causing the chaos, it is sad but it is the truth. Have a few more tweets here. Robert says the current event will not encourage people to turn over their guns. And jim writes in that you would think by now that congress has that prayers are ineffective. Talking about prayers offered by congress. Our country ist excessive with these types. And says maybe something could be done by the sides of structures offering bullet protection in the wake of this latest mass shooting. Or more headlines from around texas. From the startelegram this is horrific. Is the headline. Is from the gas station where she did work a block away. The front page of the Amarillo Globe news, everybody is going to be affected. A picture of the scene outside the First Baptist church. And one more from the denton cord chronicle, a shooting, texas deadliest. Ind is waiting out international falls, minnesota. The line for republicans. Go ahead. Caller good morning to you. I have heard and listened to the whole discussion and i have to shake my head at people cracking as the nra. I have never heard of an nra member shooting at people. The peopleoblem is before saying it is a societal problem. It truly is a societal problem. Where did they get this information . Who is spreading it . Why are they doing it . Some of these get people talking about donald and stuff like that, you know they ie msnbc and cnn followers, think the media should be held accountable because theyre are the ones doing the brainwashing. But it is the viewer that is self inducing the brainwashing to themselves. And i think that until the media pipes down and quits cracking on about stupidity, you know, we do have a societal problem. If you dont think the media is pushing stupidity, i dont know where else they are getting it. Is that on one side or both sides . Caller one side. Most of the mass shooters are democrats. Do you ever think about that . Host that is not a statistic that i have seen. Where did you get that . Caller absolutely not. I bet when you talk about statistics and they want to talk about statistics being so great, they use per capita numbers. In my county, there are less than 15,000 people in my whole county. So if there is a shooting in my county, which is really rare, it would show that per capita, we are higher than chicago. But wait a minute. Hold the phone. So now we have statistics that are swaying people that are meaningless statistics. If you put a dot where people get shot every day, most of them land in the big 25 blue cities. That is where it happens. Host we get your point. Larry, go ahead. Caller thank you for taking my call. Im concerned from a different angle. Because i am concerned about what happens to all of the people who get injured or are disabled, do they get some kind of special coverage from the government . The va . Erans to at way can be done about the we give health care to people, especially people who are injured in these increasingly popular Mass Shootings . And terrorism . I think people in england and thana would be better off the survivors of the shootings. For taking my call. Host we appreciate the call. Miranda is in tennessee, a republican. Go ahead. Are you with us . We go to frank from new york. Go ahead. This mass shooting is terrible. Not much you can do. But a call or before said there should be more education of weapons and how to use them. Are goingody, if they to get a weapon, they need to have a photo id, just like a drivers license. And then that should be the end of it. Weapons,ee people as they wont walk in and shoot. That is the bottom line. Nra members dont shoot people. It is the wax jobs. If anyone has a weapon, they should have a photo id like a drivers license. Make it legal. Host do you own a gun . Caller yes. I dont carry. I dont have a reason to carry in new york. It is pretty calm. Host by appreciate the call. In denver, colorado. A democrat. Caller yes, this is dave in denver. People were hitting on some of the solutions. That noreal problem is one has even mentioned that it is called religion. Last week, the guy in new york that god islered whatever. Uha akbar or this is admit that religion, nothing will be solved. Until we met that this is at then that look middle east. What is it all about . Religion. And these people calling in to claim to have the divine wisdom . It is sad. It is sad. Dont forget that they are half a chromosome away from a chimpanzee. Keep that. Host what you imply by that . Cocoa they are delusional. Host who is they . Believe in some guy in the sky, you are delusional. Of or jesus. Host you dont think anyone in organized religion should own a gun . Caller i dont think people who are delusional should own guns. R vote host we have five minutes left in this opening segment of the washington journal. We want to keep you updated on a few other stories this morning. This story on senator rand pauls condition, recovering from five broken ribs and bruising to his lungs, unclear when he will return to washington, signaling that the injuries he sustained on friday are more severe than originally thought. He was allegedly attacked by a nextdoor neighbor. A 59yearold who was charged with fourth degree assault. The nature of the dispute remains a mystery to locals who in theth men based southwest kentucky town. Senator rand paul did tweet yesterday about his condition. Saying his wife and he appreciate the overwhelming support after fridays unfortunate event. One other story that is getting thet of attention involves commerce secretary, wilbur ross. He apparently failed to disclose business connections to Vladimir Putins family and inner circle on a required personal financial form earlier this year. That is according to documents from this weekend. He said earlier this year he would retain stakes owned by his private equity firm in a shipping company. He didnt disclose that the company does millions of dollars with a moscowbased chemical company. They have close ties to the kremlin, according to an analysis by the International Consortium of journalists. This ties were revealed weekend in h rove of documents from a bermudabased law firm. The owners, the wall street mary tonotes that Vladimir Putins youngest daughter. In light of all of the russia stories lately is getting a lot of information today in several different major papers around the country. Time for a few more calls in this first segment. But we will have time later in the program to talk about this again about 9 30 this morning. Ohio,as been waiting in on the line for republicans. Go ahead. Caller hello. My name is jane and i am from cincinnati. This is about the guns. Theyt understand why stopped stopped and frisk. I think they would get a lot of people that shouldnt be carrying guns. Host do you think those tactics , stop and frisk, should be used across the country . Caller yes they could. White, black, yellow, green. Whatever. Host go ahead. Caller thank you for taking my call. Of the tv andth movie executives who put up the message about guns, constantly. About how it is macho to shoot people. The texass ago, preceded a days or two with almost an identical scene. And there was a real our last caller now today former members of Congress Join us to discuss their views system, cas political the partisan divide in this country and first on former new congressman an chris gibson will be here to recently his point ed point rally and later Jason Altmire will be ere to discuss his book dead center how political pol divided america and what we can do about it. This morning on. Ashington journal. The cspan bus is traveling on our 50 capitols tour. We were recently in jefferson is , missouri asking what the most important issue in their state. Im concerned about foreign policy. We have had a big complaining iN Administration and big change N Administration and it is different in the last year than eight years so hopefully we can go smoothly. It has been a little rocky at but cspan helps me keep up to date. Im considered about Womens Healthcare. It seems like it is always under attack and i think in order for truly equal we have to have free control of our bodies. With what i this missouri needs is we need good paying jobs. To be able to contribute to society, to contribute to their local area others. Serve one way is by having a really good job. That is something i would like see for the state of missouri. Us try to like to see help more of those who are the our communities. We have a project homeless connect. Other different significant events in our communities. Make an e trying to impact and if that could be done statewide in every community i think it with make our state of the models for the nati nation. That. D love to see my issue is we need more leaders of the world war ii era, i think. On the edge of that. Just have been listening to churchill and visiting fulton, missouri and the people of the 1940s did some wonderful things. On cspan. Washington journal continuation. Army veteran former new york republican chris gibson is back today and on, d. C. Joins us to talk about his recently published back rally uniting the country and revitals the American Dream. Get to the tasks but implement your reaction i reaction in the wake of the shooting in texas and hat your thoughts should be on where congress can go from here and should they move forward on legislation . Guest horrific. Deeply saddening. First of all, my sense is we issue. N enforcement after 29 years in the military gentleman who was discharged, bad conduct ,ischarge for Domestic Violence that comes with it what is lawton buburg amendment. Hat disqualifies somebody from purchasing a firearm. So i dont know what happened from the conviction because he served a ted and he year in confinement and openly eceived a bad conduct discharge. So, i have found since i retired part of the is issue enforcement of the laws on the book. Of whether bad conduct verse suts dishonorable that would still apply . You are convicted of an offense that includes falls under the rubric of the lautenberg amendment which is a event. Ifying host thraeufrbgs for point that out because we had questions earlier. T guest we are all learning and getting first reports. Broader issue with regard to rally point and bringing the we are together is struggling as a people. You talk about the American American dream really has two facets to it, i believe. Flourish iing life and that companies from the pursuit of happiness. In an talk more about that the seconds. Our econd has to do with obligations to even other than. We want to set our children up , and that meant bligations to family, friends, to community and this hybrid political culture has really fraying over time and we see it now. Alienation vels of and isolation and unspeakable acts like there. Leadership at the top can make a difference, the tone we treat ke, the way each other than and use words. Change. To host a couple of headlines from the ast two weeks this broken political system from six that explain why americas politics is so broken. You agree that our politics are broken . Like, when did they become that . Guest in the back i discuss it. Each clear we dont treat other right. But it is a symptom. The problem is we dont do the way we did at the outset. A are a country we believe in nation of laws and we believe in the rule of law and that meant hat the peoples representatives capabilitied ideas, amended bills and took votes. That process brought us together. That came from the constitution, law. Rule of and what we have done over the 70 years and particularly the last 20 is we dont do significant political change to of law any more. We do it through executive resumes d actions and and regulations. That may seem like an academic it is not. When we go through this process to debate and take amendment votes it not only brings legislators together for is a at they vote compromise and keep in mind the onstitution itself was a compromise. We had the new jersey plan, connecticut and compromise. But when they have to go home change in change, life, personal life, marriages, riendships and it is hard in government. But when you vote for change saying this bill is better than he status quo you have to defend it with constituents and you will find the situation where republican and democratic defending are change. We stitch together constituencies. Helps us come together. When we forgo that process and do change through executive and action it makes the president ial election into all or nothing and to the victor the spoils of change and to the loser they question the legitimacy of action. What is tearing us apart. I will illustrate. As a life long republican first family i remember when i was shuttling back and forth to i q about 12 years ago remember the arguments on the left. They said george w. Bush is ffecting change through executive orders and signing statements and that is contra to constitution. I remember thinking they have a point. Then years later we barack obama he urged nt and congress to change he said if you dont change, if you dont and i change i have a pen have a phone. And im going to change it. He same people who are supporting george w. Bush by doing change through executive orders now claim the those were and criticizing bush for using that barack now supporting obama because they like the poli policy. We are in 2007 appear donald done more than any other president. He is only making my point. Piece of pass one significant legislation in 10 months and yet hes claiming hes done more than anybody else. He is making the point that we are tearing the country apart by constitution, he by not bringing strength to the rule of law. Work together like this we will treat each other differently, too. There are two things i mentioned so far. One is the constitution process and the second is the political we treat each other. I argue in this book these are principles and if we restore them we will come together. Is a passage from your book rally point strong words for President Trump while articulated an agenda that connected with the american core he lacks the strength of deeply held views. Once the skwrpbtd makes contact ith washington, d. C. And challenges present themselves he quickly lashes out and pivots supporters and weakening his efforts. Or a person lauded for dominating style he lacks the mental toughness to see through he is not because fully committed in the first place there from a trump voter 2016 election. Guest yes. I thought the choices were endorse and i didnt them during the campaign and if you were to ask me if i have a unfavorable view on looks day i would say unfavorable. Choices the horrific and i truly believe we need to rain the swamp and i argue for political reform, term limits. Campaign financial reform of the right kind, draining the swamp the kind of reform we need to dream, the taxan reform of the right kind and to rising, i feel hised in the bubble next to name but i hope we are never in this situation with two horrific choices. From new york so we have known him many years. True i was in the army but hes other side of these president for example trump was very, very prochoice. You can watch there on video. Here is a guy in the america we the ve he said he was for gun ban. He supported john kerry for video nt were he is on saying incredibly strong things 2007 and y clinton in 2008. My point is that he doesnt have views. Held he is very transactional. Here is the other thing. There is opportunity in this. Imagine president reagan or obama waking up one morning and doing a 180 . That is hard to imagine. Donald trump, where he is monday he could be anywhere thursday while that has certainly called a whiplash there is possibilities for us as a people as an american i want President Trump to succeed. I want our country to succeed as you mentioned in passage, there are things that he ran on incredibly popular. Whether you went to a trump there r a sanders rally is a deep belief that our system is rigged and we need political and we want jobs back in america. You look at his agenda. Or four things are 75 single piecehave a of significant legislation enacted. Host former congressman chris with us rally point the task to unite the country and the American Dream. Oin by democrats 2027488000, republicans 2027488001, and independents 2027488002. Start with ralph in kalamazoo, michigan line for democrats. First. E up go ahead. , first i want to talk about michigans experience with term limits. It has been terrible. Lansing erm limits in state capital. You get six years in the house, eight in the senate. The time the paoeeople when yo house, the to the state house, by the time they learn the ropes and procedures issues they are term limited out. Is a terrible system. The voters dont even know the turnover is so rapid that the dont even know who represents them in lansing, who thehe state senator, who is state house representative. Chairs. Ke musical host let the former Congress Plan take that up because we are imposed a a man who threeterm term limit on himself in congress. This. i believe firmly in by the way, even though i was an infantryman, ralph, i did teach years at west point, so i taught American Government so make a very you cogent argument. I have seen the architects on arguments but we were always meant to be a government of the people, by the people. Nd for the if we under up with a permanent of folks there forever how is that different queen . King and a i moderated on the issue. You may be happy to hear that. I now support 12 years as a term limit in part because of the make. Nts you i do think that 12 years is suffer enough time to afficient enough time to make difference then it is time to bring new blood in. E are all products of our experience. In the military you command, you years and youhree move on. That puts a focus on your service. It is not about yourself but your service. Takes command. Host do you regret leaving congress . No, i found it as a privilege to serve but i also think it was important to move on. So, as i said i have moderated on the issue. A good 12 years is judgment where it addresses issues that ralph makes but yet a government ain of the people. Host there was thought you would move on to run for of the state of new york. You chose not to do that. Why . Guest a couple of reasons. Of which is in terms of our we were as a family, youngest, our son, needed more time with his dad. You are never going to get the years back. He is a junior in high school last year i spent more time with him and i think all of my responsibilities nd i have had many, combat meande commander most important is husband and father. The timing was not right. E graduates in the summer of 2019 so for my wife and i we will look whether it makes sense o get back in National Leadership of any kind. But i have professional obligations. Im teaching at Williams College and that is something i take simple and it is a tkpwraegreat privilege. When we were in combat the most vice ant task was leader president and im involved with extraordinary students and we do leadership and political change and National Security and foreign policy. Make a a great way to difference in a way that brings more balance to my life. Host there is thomas a republican from texas. Caller good morning. I would like to see and gun clubs since i an hardly remember and i have specialized in 1,000yard open competition at camperry, ohio. Perry ohio. Hat i would like to see is our congress and house and senate go head and make a national raptis. Hat would be a National Data base. If you have Domestic Violence, if you have any kind of violence i dont care where it is from, whether military ilitary could contribute to that, too and any Police Department or any gun store can access to that when they sell a firearm. That way you could keep 90 of t problematic people away from firearms. Host should a check of that system apply if you buy your gun at a gun show versus a gun store or Something Like that . Hould everybody have to go through that system . Caller down here in texas, you gun sales at these private shows and i can guarantee you it you go to get a firearm and you have to go same background checks with authorities right the there. You get your drivers license, the whole nine yards and they immediately. Right then and there other states i dont know what they are doing but in texas that is goes. Host thanks for talking about your experience. Guest we have a system now, you for a very thoughtful set of words. Background check. The challenge we have is having he states populated with the data. Earlier in the show i talked bout the lautenberg amendment and disqualifying act of this young man. And so whether or not that was entered into we will find out in the coming days. But one of the issues i heard in six years i served in the house is the states said we money to enough comply to really populate the nix background check. We came together and we made there was appropriations so we increased the funding for hat to help the states with compliance. President obama signed that bill. It was an appropriations bill. I appreciate that. Ost a democrat from connecticut. Caller good morning. And good morning former congressman. A coupleng because for of reasons. Retired e, i am a reference librarian who taught to College Students on oing research and on the importance of dealing with both sides of an issue. Really upsets me with this rb, election is that, yes President Trump did win the , and hillary ege million more ree votes than donald trump. Ever a situation to any at says we dont need it. Eme measures, this is and both parties should be together and not pushing just extreme things and raising up so much controversy. That this is the biggest cannot time and i just conceive of really i cannot in the hat is going on country as if these points on points from the right have any true value. Need to know is what you on your side are willing to side andfrom the other what they are willing to from you. I just when i listen to what on i have actually almost come to tears. America that e most people in the United States care about or love. The i appreciate sentiment very much, betty. Thank you for investing in the being of america and involved in teaching. Part of what i write about in idea, a lot s this of the ideas come from the enlightenment which is that we things, we ottom of seek truth wherever we finds it, robust debate and ultimately take a vote and we live by the results of that vote. I just want to say with regard to exposing students to both that is the essence of my class. You can go online to williams syllabus and e my you will see for i have example i give for something from the left i give an example from the right. Ultimately i want the students to be the deciders. Their beliefs going to be . I urge them to really know what researchtalking about, it. So, toward that end i appreciate that. Thing, what you were alluding to in your comments is electoral e and college. That is another issue that you can angst over. An offense analytical guy but coming from a rural area in new york if we do we with the Electoral College it will change both the politics our policies. Because what will lap is your your ives are happen incentives are set up and if we do away with the electoral wont see candidates going to rural areas. Cities where o most of the votes are. If that ends up being the prize, that the policies will follow soon thereafter. And you will have policies that toward the city and not balanced. So it is a dilemma. I acknowledge that hillary got 2. 1 million more votes than donald trump, but yet this Electoral College and all candidates deal with that framework. Thank you. Very thoughtful comments. Ost baltimore, maryland, joanne independent. Good morning joe, an independent. Good morning. Thank you for taking my call. He only purpose is to talk bout the fact that [inaudible] overnight very brief change of heart before the election. He was in favor of defense of marriage act. Evolution and became in favor of homosexual marriage. Just to correct the record. Host do you have a question on that . Guest the point is that i mentioned three president s in my remarks, george w. Bush, barack obama and donald trump. On the issue of evolution you can see a video of president bama saying he is being pressured from his left to take action on immigration and he king. Look, im not a i cant do there. Im the peoples representative. Ongress needs to effect this containing and he was very change and he was frustrated and a lot of americans were he evolves on that issue and even though he tated i cant issue an executive order on the issue, did so ion, he ultimately. So, i think to your point what i to as a s that we need people to stick to the process, the rule of law. Hard as that is. I think part of what i would argue here in rally point a lot up to us as citizens. We need to engage. It is not just voting. Out of congress im heavily involved in this space doing y publishing but opeds and talking to legislators. Opinions. O express our we need to make congress work. We cant throw our hands up. Hat worries me about the Current Situation people talking about this all my life you congress cant handle it now. So we havefix things to give it to a strong man or woman. Holds dear y who iberty and the thought of prosperity should be concerned about the drift toward authoritarianism. Any time you think one person can solve it you are on the road to tyranny. Dont support that. We need to work through the ssues and not work political change through executive orders and action. It needs to come from right over at the m looking capitol. In that way it is our change. It is a government of the people, by the people for the people. Hy not write there book while still a member of congress. Guest working seven days a week. A lot of these things i mentioned in rally point the eople that know me feel like they have heard me so this is nothing new, just an opportunity to put it together in a book and have it published. It is a fair point you are who followed body me wont be surprised by what is in the book because i have held convictions and they tem from an appreciation for the founding era. We are not trying to bring it back to the 18th century. Im trying to inform us with genius design of the constitution and founding era so the 21st era is our best. Host you wish more members of up while ould speak members and not after they are retired or have announced they are not going to run . Not just speak up but be heavily involved. My record is clear on this. You will see that former senator lugar has an for statesmanship for working with people on both sides and i was either first, third in the country in my terms in congress. A i live by example which is function of leadership. I mentioned leadership. Part of what i did in rally have three ders basic functions. One is to explain what is going may be chaos. Re econds is second is provide a vision to overcome the challenges. Third is to get out front and to example. When i served in the congress knowingly needing to get back to a balanced budget my wife and i voluntarily gave our pension we to the taxpayer because didnt think i should double dip. Leading by t of example knowing i would have to make hard calls. Host we will try to get couple more. Raymond from silver spring, maryland. Democrat. Go ahead. Aller thank you for taking my call. I like your book and i want to what is e swamp and wrong with washington. Hat is that we remember gingrich and clinton and they worked together to balance the a surplus. Created and obama tried to do that with boehn boehner. By the tea party when they came in to shut ey came down the government and prevent anything from happening or done. Ing from getting balancedmagine today a budget with gingrich and clinton wouldnt be possible because of republican party. Bannon trying to make in works by taking the right. Even farther to the guest thank you, raymond. Very important point. If you believe as i important p. If you believe, as i do, that the American Dream is not only about the pursuit of happiness for every Single Person of every background, and that is a natural right that government secure,obligation to but also the obligations the family, community. The obligation, setting up the next generation for success. If you believe that obligation is part of the American Dream, this National Debt is generational theft. Sevoted for the simpsonvo variant. There were only 38 of us in the whole congress that voted for 8 00 p. M. At reenacted that in 2012 that was a compromise law like the constitution. Program but responsible decisions on spending and revenue had we enacted that, we will be back to a balanced budget now, instead of possibility possibly going debt to thelion in blue dogs are talking about potentially offering an amendment to the tax bill that would be revenue neutral. Ronald reagan, who was a hero of mine, his ill, that he worked democrats on, was revenue neutral, so it is progrowth and gets us back a balanced budget. Raymond points out, we just cannot consume. We have to invest and prepare for future generations. If we end up robbing them, we have denied future americans the American Dream. Host last call, line for republicans. Caller as far as term limits go, i thought it sounded like a good idea, but i do not now. Here is the real thing. If you want these people to get out of congress, you have to stop the Insider Trading in congress. These people cut laws and then buy stock in these companies that they know are going to produce these products. Up ave mandatory back backup machines on these have the equipment heavy equipment. They are forced to buy these things, and the stocks go up. Congresspeople are not allowed to personal stocks. Guest good point. My wife and i had no stocks and bonds to make sure we did not have any conflict of interest. We did enact the stock act, which actually was meant to address this. I think it has made a difference, although it there although there appears to be some loopholes. In a perfectat world, we would, in fact, have term limits through the ballot bought box. The problem is this system is rigged. It is rate for incumbents. Rigged for incumbents a lot of the stories miss the bipartisan collusion that goes behind closed doors every years. When you see the drawing of the district lines, it ends up making the system for incumbents. Need to do is, as citizens, reclaim our republic. I respect all points of view on this. That kennyiate agrees with others on some respects. I want to tell you i am assuming today. Rally point is the book. Chris gibson, thank you for coming in. Are joined by another former member of congress, pennsylvania democrat Jason Altmire. He will be here to discuss dead center, how Political Polarization divided america, and what we can do about it. And later, we will focus on the Childrens Health Insurance Program. 50 years ago, the United States was at war in vietnam. This veterans day weekend, American History tv on cspan 3 looks back with 48 hours of coverage, starting saturday at 8 00 a. M. Eastern. We are live from the National Archive to talk with veterans who flew helicopters. Then, we are taking your phone calls and tweets live with historians about the war. At 1 00 p. M. , from the vietnam memorial, a ceremony featuring remarks from the memorial designer. Sunday at 4 00 p. M. On reel america, a 1967 cvs news Vietnam Special report. Whether due to the enemys clever tactics, the weather or the terrain, it means clear that the American Military offensive along the dmz has bogged down, like the marines in the mud. Ben at 6 00 on american artifacts, we will tour the archives. The resident Lyndon Johnson Vietnam Press conference. We made a statement about what we would do if we had communist aggression in that part of the world in 1954. We said we would stand with those people in the face of common danger. And the time came when we had to put up or shut up. We put up. We are there. Watch the vietnam war, 50 years later, this weekend on American History tv on cspan 3. Washington journal continues. Host former Pennsylvania Democratic congressman Jason Altmire joins us now. He recently published his book dead center, how Political Polarization divided america, and what we can do about it. Congressman, in the wake of this shooting in texas yesterday, is there a centrist solution to Mass Shootings and gun violence in this country . Guest it is ironic. I have been doing a lot of writings about polarization and what causes it. What crystallized the fact that i wanted to put this in a book is when the pulse shooting occurred in orlando. The introduction in my book is about the political reaction. Anytime you have Something Like this, you see the best of america in the response. The overwhelming sense of humanity and a shared sense of grief that occurs. People giving a lot of blood, holding vigils. Then, on the political side, you see the worst of america. Forle using the tragedy political advantage, trying to figure out how they can gain in a political argument based on this horrific event we have had. Now, we have had multiple Mass Shootings since then. That is what is most upsetting, in addition to the facts of the tragedy. That we just cannot get beyond the fact that this is not a political event. This is not something we should be striving for political advantage. Together in a shared sense of grief and act upon whatever the nation determines is the best course of action. Host if you were in congress, what would you like to see happen today . Guest there needs to be real discussion about why his is the only country where these things happen . There is a continuing sense where there is not we can do about this. Every country in the world is preventing this. What are they doing that we are not . I think we are not having an honest discussion. I do not know what the answer is to that question, but clearly, other countries are doing a better job at dealing with these mass shooting incidents then we are. Host you are rated the most centrist member of the house of representatives when you were in the house. The fine define what centrist is. Guest they look at the major, most legislative issues that are covered. They ranked members of congress against each other. You have the most liberal, the most conservative, based upon your voting record, and everybody in between. Somebody has to be in the middle. I was in the dead center. That is why my book is called dead center. 217 members to my left, 217 members to my right. I had a district that was very bipartisan. I had both republicans and district. Active in my i heard both points of view. That is key. I brought that with me to washington. Host you argue the american ch moreas a whole is mu like you been on the extremes. What evidence you have that points to that . Guest there is this narrative that we are more divided than we have ever been as a nation. That is not true. Our politics is more divided than ever before, if you look at the voting record him about the American People, just because someone votes republican or democrat or are registered republican or democrat, that does not make them partisan. Most people wake up everyday wondering how the sports team did over the weekend, what activities do they have tonight. They are not living and breathing politics. They want a congress that can get along, that can compromise and negotiate, make accommodations. We do not have that in washington right now. The disconnect is that people who are out in the country there is such a high disapproval rating of congress because they feel they are not being represented, not based upon politics but based upon the desire to compromise and negotiate. Unfortunately, compromise is a dirty word today. You are punished at the ballot at the ballot box because people who show up in closed primaries represent the extremes, not the vast majority of america in the center. Host we will get to some of the solutions you propose. Dead center is the book. Former congressman Jason Altmire, the author, with us. Taking your calls. Democrats, 202 7488000. Republicans can call in at 202 7488001. Independents, 202 7488002. We start in logan, utah. Bob is a democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thanks for letting me thanks for letting me give my opinion. Congress passed some simple bills . You can go out and be totally drunk, totally intoxicated, and still carry a gun. Yet you cannot drive a car. But when you are full of alcohol or drugs, you are insane. So i would like to know why. And thank you for listening to my complaint. Guest i appreciate the callers remarks. This is the discussion, as a country, that we need to have. That is one fairly narrow view of the possibility of gun control. But the debate is larger than that. It, repeatedly, after a National Tragedy like this occurs. From bothresponse sides on what their point of view is. Until we come to terms with the fact that we are the only country in the world where these incidents happened with such regularity, we will not get to the root of the problem. Host talking with omar congressman chris gibson, he proposed to bring america back together to rally the country together one inc. He proposed was term limits for congress. You disagree with that. Why . Guest we already have term limits. In the house, we have twoyear terms. In the senate, we have sixyear terms. Ourselvesfer as up for reelection. The problem is the system is designed to protect and elect partisans. When you look at gerrymandering, you look at the closed primary system, those are all designed specifically to protect the people in power. That is where reform needs to occur. It is interesting when you go through the process of writing a book and i did a lot of research into this it changes your opinion on this. I was not always opposed to term limits. When you look at what has happened to the states that attempted term limits, it does not work. People who go into office immediately start to position up,selves for the next step either to become a lobbyist or run for another office. The people have the most power are the career staff who have been there and the lobbyist. I do not think that is what the American People have in mind when they are thinking about term limits. They are thinking about reinvigorating Congress Every few years. That is not what happens under term limits. The same people remain at the staff level. And what you also find is when you replace a member of congress, more often than not, they are replaced to the extreme. The member comes in is more extreme than the member they replaced. That happens on both sides. So term limits do not work. What i do agree that we need to make elections more competitive, make them more fair, level the playing field. Do away with members of Congress Members of the state legislatures drawing their own seats for members of congress. That is where reform can happen. And reform the primary process, to bring much Greater Vision and a wide swath of america rather than the narrow extremes. Host sean is up early in hawaii this morning, line from independents. Caller i have two things. Our country is huge, with different needs. Geographically speaking, washington is not even in the meat of the country. My Second Opinion is shouldnt government be based on merit and not polarization . Thank you. Guest that is what i talk about in my book. The nation, as a whole, is not nearly as divided as the narrative would lead you to believe you we do have a bitterly divided group of men and women who serve in congress. They represent districts throughout the country. So you do have a geographical disparity on where they come from. One of the wonderful things about congress is everyone has a different point of view. They represent different parts of the country. They have a different employment and educational background. You all come together and make decisions based on that background. But what we have today is a decision where their jobs depend on appealing to the extremes. Their jobs do not depend on appealing to the vast majority of america that gravitates more towards the center to the people who are active on campaigns, who put up yard signs, who show up at townhall meetings, call congressional offices those are the people who show up in the primaries. Unfortunately, that is the most extreme group of citizens our nation has to offer. Until we find a way to open up those primaries, bring in more moderate voices if you are a candidate running for office in a closed primary, the only chance you have to win is to appeal to the extremes. But if youre running for office in an open primary, you have to appeal not just to the extremes but to the people in the center and even people in the other party. When you do that, you are bringing a freshly reinvigorated voice into washington. People who really represent the districts where they come from. And all of america then feels like they are represented. T independence, maturity missouri. Janice. Caller hi. I will try to make this brief and coherent. When i look at the major parties, i am this is the with disgusted with both of them. And i will say here i am very conservative. I am a partisan. What each look at party is trying to do, for good or ill, they are going incompletely opposite directions. I do not know how you can compromise if you think what the other party is trying to do will ruin the country. My opinion is if we all survived the last eight years, you will survive this eight years column down. I just think that when you look at complete opposites look at california and texas. They are going incompletely opposite directions. I do not see a compromise there. Guest the caller self identified as a partisan. I think what is happening in the government today is we have people who represent that point of view on both sides. That is the discussion we have in washington he of those are the type of candidates we are electing to congress. When you have that as your dynamic, the caller is right. You will not have compromise. You will not find a way to Work Together. A political commentator said it best. When you illuminate the Bridge Builders from the process, you will not be able to build more bridges. If the only people we are sending to congress are the you aren the extremes, correct, you will not be able to Work Together. The solution is you have to reform the process to give moderates and centrists a greater voice in the electoral process. Send those Bridge Builders to congress. When you have more centrists, more bills get past. That is not happening today. Host how do you feel about nancys the lucy about nancy pelosi . She was speaker when i was in office. I think she is very committed, skilled. I do not know if the country has ever seen a harder working member of congress. I personally do not feel she is the best leader for the Democratic Party moving forward. I did not support her for speaker when i was in office. I admire her greatly. I just think it is time to bring a younger leader. The democrats have not done well in Congressional Elections in recent cycles. The tactics that have been used have not worked. I think it is time to move forward with different leadership. Host you write during my first campaign, as i traveled across the district, i consistently made the case of moderating and the need to add more centrist voices. But on capitol hill, nancy pelosi was strengthening her grip and working overtime to divide congress into two warring factions. I was in congress for the first time, very similar political dynamic in washington. Drawing that contrast between the way then minority leader pelosi was encouraging her members not to work with the other side, not to sponsor bills. Did not even allow them to participate in the congressional report on katrina, which proved to be an embarrassment for the party and for her. That was not the right way to go politically. But it turned out the wave occurred, a new group came in in 2006 and 2008, driven by an 18 point independent advantage. You had a centrist group of members of Congress Come in. As a result, congress was able to get some things done. Tactics think those should be used this time around. Host around 10 or 15 minutes left with former congressman Jason Altmire. We are talking about his book how Political Polarization divided america, and what we can do about it. Caller every time something happens, we get a little dose of antibiotics. This gun issue is happening every day. The president of the United States says there is a problem. This person is mentally sick. If you are mentally sick, you should not have a gun at all. At the same time, congress is the problem. If you guys cannot get along, how can you expect us, as american citizens, to get along . We have seen the divisions between the democrats and the republicans. When the republicans who live in job, they doave a not care about the democrats or republicans. They need dignity. They need jobs. I travel around a lot of places. I have seen people, how they live. This congress, saying we will do Something Different it is not going to happen. The voters are part of the problem. Because we are expecting results we are voting the same people. That is very sad. Guest the caller makes an excellent point on the voters are ultimately responsible for the congress in the state legislatures. The cause we get in office the people we have elected. Again, part of that is a systemic problem with the way we draw districts, the impact money has on primaries, the fact that americans have sorted themselves and the geographic enclaves where, likeminded communities it is hard to see another point of view. But once again, it is that primary process. To get more moderate voices heard when the voice are counted. If you do that, you will have a very different type of congress then you have today. Host florida, line for republicans. Cspan andise be for allowing citizens to have a voice across the nation. I had an article in my local paper august 4. The title was polarization can be reversed. This is something the a to my heart. I appreciate your efforts, former congressman. In that, i proposed there is the congressional Bipartisan Working Group. Are they dormant . And there is another group, the problem solvers caucus. They seem to be bipartisan. Work . N these not are they rivals . Also, George Mason University has a school of conflict revolution with experts on how to get people to resolve conflict. Can they not be given a contract to help the Bipartisan Working Group or the problemsolving caucus go together in a line and solve problems for our nation . Can you comment on that possibility . Host thank you for the call. I will show you the letter on polarization being reversed we were able to pull it up for you. Guest i appreciate the caller. I make a lot of point in my book, specifically in congress, the centrist, in many cases, have been purged from both parties. Coreave a remaining small, group of people willing to work with the other side. The vast majority, and certainly the leadership in congress, is not interested in that approach at all. When i was in congress, i was a member of the two of the four centrist groups that like to work with the other side. But we have lost a lot of that. Because of the issues i have brought up earlier in this conversation, we now have a congress dominated overwhelmingly by people on the extremes. Yes, there are a few groups who still Work Together in a bipartisan way and talk solutions, but it is not possible to get article mass in these dynamics. As a political candidate, when you go back home and the only people voting in the primary are the extremes, you will be punished at the ballot box. Because he will run against someone who will accuse you of working with the other side, as though that is a bad thing. But in a primary electorate, when you are expected to have 100 ideological loyalty, unfortunately, that is viewed as negative. In 2009, there were 54 blue dogs from 29 states. In 2017, there are 18 blue dogs from 10 states. Guest what is a blue dog to do . You need to hundred 18 votes to pass something out of the house. The best you can do is try to find partners that you can do legislative work with. But when you have 18 members, it is hard to draw attention to the bringing forward. I think in tax reform, the blue dogs and people philosophically similar to the blue dogs will play a role on whether or not that passes or fails. Host in what way . Guest they will be the deciding votes. There are blue dog democrats who are fiscally conservative. When you have a group of people who negotiate or are willing to compromise and talk among themselves, you need those votes to pass the bill. If you want to pass it, you have to compromise. That is a good ring. Host to new jersey, george, independent. Caller thank you for taking my call. Appreciate this show, because the little guy gets to talk to people who have influence. On the subject of term limits, i am against it. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The real power is seniority. Has anyone ever heard of anybody talk about seniority limitations . Where the guys stay in office, but after how are many terms as chairman, he would then be demoted to freshman . There is a concept about that guest term limits for chair. You see a lot of turnover. A current chair announces retirement. You can go to another committee and become chair. That is difficult to do. People do not like you to double dip like that. It can be done. I have not heard something similar as to what the caller , but we are better off with greater turnover with the chairmanship. Someone should be able to hold that the should not be able to hold that position 25 years should not be able to hold that position 25 years. Caller i have three questions. Congressman delaney has recently submitted a bill about getting an independent organization or independent gerrymandering situation, so that republicans do not create republican districts, democrats do not create democratic districts. But everyone kind of agrees. There is also an Organization Called open primaries. Have you heard about how well they are doing . And has there been any talk about a universal candidate fund , so that candidates can be tested on their fiscal responsibility . How well they can manage their finances . And would then manage our finances . Guest the first two issues regarding gerrymandering and open primaries, those are some of the solutions in my book. Wholeheartedly agree. Tose would go a long way helping solve the problem you see in washington. I have nott issue, heard of a similar proposal. But the role of an independent that weative journalist have today, they do a good job g candidates vettin and uncovering those issues if they were to arrise arise. Host what do you say to folks who get frustrated when they feel a number member of congress has to leave before they their mind or challenge the system . Guest it is unfortunate. Usually when that happens, they have made a determination that, a, they do not like serving anymore. They do not like the climate. They do not fit in anymore. That is unfortunate. I had a number of colleagues who theirhat mold, threw hands in the air, and said i am out of here. Or they have come to the conclusion they cannot win in the current environment. But the same reason that occurs is why we are talking about it today. I share that frustration. It seems that people who have a renewed voice and want to move forward in this direction, those are often the people who leave early, because they are unable to get it done. Host did you speak to the changes in the primary system, other institutional changes you would like to see while still in congress . Guest those i knew about. Some of my conclusions came from research i did for the book. I came to a different conclusion on term limits because of the research i did. But it is fair to say my voting record dead center i worked with both sides. I did not support speakers policy best Speaker Pelosi for democratic leadership. Tactic is a military term. Ince when is the legislature become military . Militant . Is no way that were going to get bipartisanship until learn to speak and act interact socially as human warriors. Not guest i appreciate what the said, national d civil or silvil discourse. There was a rally here in washington in september, called National March for civility, i gave the opening address at that. Feel strongly that we need to tone down the rhetoric to find a from the debate some more divisive terms that refers to. I am with you, i think the idea this ple discourse in country driving that debate and finding a way to improve the is very discourse important. Host i think we carried that cspan, if you want to go watch. Ongressman Jason Altmires comments from that are available at cspan. Org. Ast call for you, frank in virginia, line for republicans, frank, go ahead. Caller hello, i agree with the years, i think 12 that would be wonderful, there is a caller there a few minutes about the lled in washington, d. C. Not being in the middle of the country there middle of the he country that the government ought to be, it would be good democrats were locked up in levinworth, kansas. Host chance to respond as we talk about Political Polarization. Always gain, it is interesting on shows like this, shows and ed on twitter lights up. Sides epitomizing the problem ive been discussing. When you hear comments like arent the types of people dominating the electoral process. Veryone should have a voice, but the people who represent middle america, wake up everyday other g about something than politics, living normal lives, they are not the people who determine our representatives, it is people on the extreme and that has to change. Center, how Political Polarization divided america and what we can do about congressman Jason Altmire, is the author. Thank you for your time. Your money weekly segment, well be joined by bloombergs alex ruoff to discuss the Childrens Health Insurance Program. Well be right back. The house ways and Means Committee begins work on their plan today before sending to the for debate and votes. Watch live coverage starting eastern on cspan 2 and cspan. Org. Listen live using the free app. N radio tuesday is election day, with key governor races in new jersey virginia. Watch live coverage of victory and concession speeches from network. He guadgano, y and kim andrepublican ed gillespee, ralph northham. On cspan and listen live on the free cspan radio app. Greekt cspan, where history unfolds daily. Cspan was created by americas Cable Television companies and you by your cable or satellite provider. Washington journal continues. Host each week in this segment of washington journal we take look at how your money is at work and in a different federal program. Focusing on the Childrens Health insurance rogram, better known as chip, joined by alex ruoff of bloomberg, hes here to help xplain where the program stands, what it is, remind us as e start this discussion, who qualifies for chip and what services it provides for folks . Chip is safety net above medicaid. Edicaid serves the poorest americans, but in the 90s there as realization there were families, specifically children, not having employer provide needed nsurance who Health Insurance from the government. So this is just above medicaid. People who are above 150 of 0 , maybe 100, the poverty line, people whose jobs are in the service industry, people who maybe both the service work in industry, really not employer provided Health Insurance, meant to stay above medicaid, similar programs,d, staterun given allotted amounts of money, a granting system and they set up their own programs. 13. 5 total cost yearly billion, 9 million children or covered in the chip program. Were talking about it in your segment, should note special line for chip your family is on the chip program. 2027482003. Independents, 2027488002. Alex ruoff, for the nine million children covered, how much does up, how have to pick much do they pay out of pocket and what sort of services are they getting . Chip is dependent on the states, states really define a are, some have y been pretty innovative with the wrapped ome have around, make sure kids get a big robust more ices, han medicaid, medicaid does array of services i wouldnt say some, defined set of really has to go pretty far. Hildren need dental coverage, pediatric care and children go it is doctor quite often, meant to be very Robust Program pays e federal government more to states, a matching states right now some get 100 of programs paid for, a 90 , the federal government is pulling the tab. Generous, that was the idea. When children are covered from a is rnment program, it important they get robust services. And orin hatch are long believers of that. Host what are the stat . Funding expired september 0, beginning of fiscal year. The federal governments funds expired, they are not giving new money. This does not mean the states have run out, the new sets of the system is built for a little bit runover money that is set ark side for the federal government year. Tra money each those will start to depending some will ate is, dwindle by the end of the year. Five states, i believe they are minnesota, ina, i a, washington, d. C. Gallon blank on the last one, i think it might be nevada, will out by january. That is pretty alarming, specially with this point, states have to prepare for that. One of the tricky issues, they by january, they cant just pull the plug or reeze it, they have to alert beneficiaries starting later this month or member likely in december. Looking states are forward to telling their residents, hey, we might have to enrollment, we might have to roll back your benefits tis alarming, as cuimagine, for a lot of families if that is to happen. Of states do not want it in there, it is an expensive process. Cspan voters know there was a vote on chip in the house, that take this program . Guest it is pretty complicated issue here. Chip he house passed a bill, a fiveyear extension, it came with other health programs, passed largely along party pretty much icans except three voted for it, all but 15 democrats voted for it. Democrats took issue with how the republicans want to pay for this. Ballpark of 15 or 16 billion dollar bill all together a lotid for it by cutting of obamacare funds. Funds really meant to pull out progra a. C. A. Fund h. H. S. T to programs for preventing disease issues. They also voted down the grace you did pay your insurance premiums, short amount time you are given to pay premiums, they will cut it off. Have issue with some of these and feel that a lot of effort ressed this was know,botage obamacare, you way that payfor program shared something with chip they felt they couldnt support, taking money from the Affordable Care act. Host does this bill move in the senate . Guest no, i dont believe so. Democrats who want to support it, they need eight. Hey have been pretty onboard with Affordable Care act there. Leading democrat on the Senate Finance committee, has really been very outspoken saying hes not going to support the cost the house has ut together, hes really working with orin hatch on something they can put together, waiting on that, a lot of unknown and i think a lot of lawmakers are getting are being e they placed, 15 democrats supported this bill and all had a chance the offices last week, a lot of them, more than alf are from states run out of money first. You know, they are nervous, they listen, im worried the program will end, i want to get his going, that is potent, particularly in washington, you dont want to be responsible for causing children to run out of ealth insurance, i dont think that is politically healthy for anyone. There is pressure to get this moving. Host well take some of your questions this morning. We have phone lines for emocrats, republicans, independents, as usual and special line for chip recipie s 202782003 is that number. A are joined by alex ruoff, Health Policy reporter. Mark up first, austin, texas, democrats. Go ahead. Caller hello, who am i speaking with . Alex. You are on with alex ruoff. Kwaukt how you doing . Disabled and my carrier is united healthcare. Out on friday that hey are no longer covering the dental plan on your insurance with united healthcare, but the didnt get it was i no letter until two months ater, i just got the letter on friday, but the thing stopped dental plan. The no one told me or said anything about it. That. As my comment about you know, everyone in austin, texas, the state of texas know longer have dental plan if they have united healthcare. Host did you have questions Childrens Health Insurance Program . Caller i dont have any kids and i was just listening to the program, i just wanted to put that out there. Host got it. Something you cover in your reporting . Anything to what the caller respond p that you can to . Guest im not sure if you are employersponsored insurance or where you purchased it from. Insurers are looking to cut and over again, shifting of benefits, you know, year on year. It is a pretty complicated issue, i have to say depends on things, shifting of networks catches people off guard. Get your ho you insurance from. Bron bronx, new the york. Good morning. Guys, my od morning, heart goes out to the folks out shooting. Ith the my question is, you put on the numbers, i think i and 13e million children and a half billion dollars. Does how does that get federal and squared away . Money forike a lot of that amount of people. Can someone answer that for me . Thank you. Host alex ruoff. Guest yeah, chip is funded largely through the federal overnment, unlike other programs like medicaid or subsidies you might get on the market, most money is federal money and states pay for it. Their own program. Florida you get larger freedom, set out. That chip is an expensive program, yout to be generous because are paying insurance for children, a very specific set of lowincome children. It does try to go an extra mile medicaid. I dont know if you have children, there is medicaid say, childrenwill arent cheap to take care of, they are regularly visited by regular checkups, there is assistance through this nd you are trying to cover these children over set of period. Children does medicaid pick up versus the 9 talked about through chip . Guest complicated. A lot of programs are medicaid and chip programs. I dont have the number sitting large t of me, but a majority of that 9 million are under Medicaid Programs that are programs,edicaid chip this is just host states put the programs together . Yes, since Affordable Care act was passed, expansion somewhat d was supposed to fade out chip. Medicaid was expanded up to chip level of income and the idea was that enough children would be covered under medicaid and new expanded medicaid with people who got there or they would end up on market, they would say, your parents are getting subsidies, would be rolled into private Insurance Programs. Or a number of reasons, that hasnt happened, not every state expanded medicaid, the rollout not been perfect. There has been an argument about the switchover here. Look more expensive, but at largely across this wide wath, you know, it is not more expensive if chip, especially incrediblyedicaid are efficient when you think about Insurance Programs, the number you think ge when across federal programs, private the way , you look at the federal government pays for programs, it is relative lie the way it pays for help. Host mark, a family that is in under the chip program, a chip recipient on from nnorfolk, virginia. How does your family use the chip program . Caller absolutely. We have four children in the chip program. It was help whfl my wife had to to school to pick up her secondary degree. I can tell you, virginia has a super dooper standup job comprehensively across the board the program. You know, from the time you have to the level of the network of doctors and specialists cians, that specialize in pediatric is m, pretty much everybody on board. I give that to the leadership of of virginia. One thing that i think is important to mention, is that as we try to bring remedy to our overall Healthcare System, i it is very critical that if we have any childhood wellness,r talk about its best to get it straight in the very beginning. To basically g snowball into a heavier burden for Healthcare System if we attack it on the front end. Virginia is like number one, you it comes down to being able to administrate that rogram efficiently and organized as it does. Host mark, thank you for sharing your story. Fromdo you want to pick up that . Guest important to this and on edicaid is the focusing on longterm programs and a lot of them have picked this up largely ecause they are talking about the moany they get from the federal government, not having of money or ount not having renew set of programs canmade a few worried about we plan our budgets across, they want to plan the budget across years, sixyear plans for wellness, say, look fwe want to children, covered under we want to grab it years, identify maybe children at highest risk for Health Issues and see if we can get them well over time. What they need years, identify children at highest is budget fiveyear or ur more extension of the program, right now a lot of them have said, we are putting the breaks on some programs, might have to programs eakos concerned where money we are getting from washington. Them, how doern for we plan ahead for budgets . Beingt this money that said a lot of states, virginia, texas is a good example, just money is coming and soldiering on, waiting for washington to act and they are they will. Host are they assuming they will be paid back for what they of pocket as they are waiting for the reauthorization to finish when it does finish . Guest yeah, the money will be recognized through here. Using is not it is federal money, runover funds. States get their own money, we will see change. A lot of states, arizona included, arizona in the past, they have laws on the books here here if the federal government stops giving them money, they will shut the program down. Ago, ppened a few years arizona shut the chip program down when there was a lapse in has ramifications. A lot of states say we cannot one multi billion dollar hit our budget, we have other fund, roads, s to police to pay. Chip is important to them, they money for purposes into their funds. They will be hoping this fund will be setback up, but they do not want to be here. Hey were hoping this money would have come in july. June tdid not happen. In harlingen, texas, line for independents. Go ahead. Good morning, cspan. Im glad you are covering this. Population, especially kids, use chip. It is very important. Curious to know however, and i dont want this to come cross the wrong way like im not caring and i know Preventative Care is very money is, but how much undocumented or prenatal care and potentially csection, that type of thing . Because i am in healthcare, i worked in indiggent clinic, i would see 12 to 15 a day, all undocumented and all get thanksgiving care. Citizens are hearing, we dont have enough money, the budget is running out, you have healthcare, you dont buy healthcare, you will be penalized, this will happen, will happen. So i foresee some issues there, the at are they doing in law, can you traesz that . The only way the benefit could exercised, the laws dont seem to be coming together well. Thanks for the question and call. Guest there are a lot of that ers here focusing on issue. It is a thorny one, one when affordablegether the care act, they had to discuss about how the benefits come subsidies are rolled out and it was a direct decision to say, we want to make their benefits, get benefits and we will check lot of the look out at whether or not these people on the back end of this. The e are verified through healthcare. Gov, or their nsurance markets, but it is a lot of benefit. This way they make sure people get coverd and they come back to push back on the verification side of this. Mean, when much, i this law was rolled out, the focus was on coverage and covered s many people as possible, make sure people got benefits, got care and then something they sort of said, we can go back and do a lot of verification. It is very deliberate point on there, part pushback on it years. E i know when the house passed its and dable care act, repeal replace plan, there was a big republicansa lot of aid, we want to get partnered, make sure none of the tax credits are going to anyone people who are documented americans and there has been a discussion about that. The law itself is not ruled out, it is coverage first. That is the focus and largely make sure people get Insurance Coverage they need. Question off twitter, what age are you covered to if you are enrolled in chip . Guest i believe it is 18, as 18, you you are under get chip. States define this themselves, parents match , income levels. Host darrell, in preston, missouri, line for independents, good morning. Caller good morning, john. Think the program should be totally abolished, especially in medicaid that took for everyone, like my brother lives in new mexico, the whole is on medicaid, why should they get chip . Anybody ont think needs it. They can pay their own medical have. Like we always and maybe they ought to forego a that costs 750 52inch skoocreen t. V. Chip was created to cover a lot of children, children in the children who sort of idea was they dont have experience. States that did take the medicaid money, got to use part of it for chip. States combine their programs, so chip the idea is to phase out chip over time so that states will be and they takestem care of all of the people without Health Insurance who insurance, who need governmentsubsidized program, or chip, the id idea was to grab them all into one pool. That did of reasons, not work out, largely across the country, a lot of states didnt programs n. A lot of ways, yes, medicaid that. Am, accomplished chip is really one of the more popular programs in the country, especially for public Health Insurance program. It enjoys a lot of support, of Great Success stories about, you know, get in do a lot better. A lot of focus and studies do particularly that children within chip do better, they go get better re, dental care tworks out better for us. People, when they run the numbers, it is costeffective to young sodren insurance they have health and care they need. Time for one or two more calls, special line for chip 2027832003. South n greenville, carolina, an independent, good morning. Caller good morning. Caller snu like the last said and ron paul always churches, people who volunteer, donate money, it unconstitutial for pay for be forced to products or services and taxation and theft. Were to add up medium household in america is 50,000 after whole career at a job that is literally 1. 25 million government steals from you via taxation. Of le could take care themselves with that money, edindicates their own children, security. R own private bottom line, the pharmaceutical crooked, very ry corrupt. You have one out of five amphetamines, they committing suicide, serious Health Issues with the drugs they are forcing on the children. Host shawn, take the point, running out of time. Livingston, new jersey. Good morning. Caller good morning. I m truly, truly sad when hear a gentleman like just talking before and the woman before. On you. You christians, are you really christians . It just disturbs me to no end to who are put in situations they have no control illnesses, they get cancer, do you forget they get diabetes . Heart forget they get conditions . What is wrong with you . Oh, no, you are only concerned are not voting yet, god will condemn you they are born, they are go die. Josephine, in new jersey. Schedule aheadhe for chip, is there anything on side lendar on the senate and how much time does that give the two sides to come back up with finalcome plan to send to the president . Guest no schedule so far on the senate side. A lot of people are uneasy about where they are here. Idea, i think a lot of people, the discussion is likely chance nto the good you will run end of the year in federal spending package. Has not been eager to put Standalone Health bills on the floor. Not mcconnell does not sure he is going to do that often this year. Bipartisan support, but it is probably pretty likely t will end up in federal spending bill. It will make states uneasy, once see it there, i dont becoming a problem, i dont see it being a poison pill as long offset are more bipartisan, that is a big mystery here. Keeping close to the vest more so than the house. Find that out next couple weeks, what they plan to do and whatever they put together. Pretty quick. Alex ruoff Health Policy find at, easy enough to alex ruoff. Thanks for your time. Guest thank you. Segment of last washington journal, well return to the top news story of what we talked about in the first hour, the 26 who were in that shooting at the texas church yesterday morning. Eting your reaction, phone lines are open, as usual for democrats, republicans and independents. In now, well be right back. Tonight on the communicators, a look at the congressional hearings this past week with facebook, gooing and he will twitter over russiansponsored political acts effect they had on the twe 2016 election. We have an idea what a number of know of odds purchased, it is possible there were more. Of big accounts that purchased ads on twitter and we on about some action google. What we dont yet know, whether here was collusion with the Trump Campaign in coordination with buying the ads on social dont know if it swayed the election one way or the other. Some wide ranging concerns some lawmakers had about the companies, lack of accountability in the law for them. O for example, you had john kennedy, senator from louisiana, not active on tech issues, privacy. About data data privacy, Consumer Data Privacy is not something that on the ge bearing russian investigation, but it was worrying him and you look at data, too. I think we understood while russia was the focus of the urgent matter, there was broader set of oncerns that is maybe fuelling distrust in big tech platforms. Watch communicators 8 eastern on cspan 2. The cspan bus is traveling across the country on our 50 capitals tour. Stopped in jefferson city, missouri, asking folks what is the most important issue their state. Im kind of concern body foreign policy, weve had a big iN Administration and it s a little different than it has been in the past year, or eight years, rather. Hopefully we can continue to go smoothly. Rocky at the start here, but cspan is what happens up to date on this. Im really concerned about Womens Health care, seems like it is always under attack n. Order for a man to be truly we need free control of our bodies. My issue with what i think missouri needs is we need goodpaying jobs, we need people to society, contribute to their local area and help serve others. By having a really, really good job. That is something id like to see from the state of missouri. Try tould like to see us help more of those that are the communities. Ur we have a project homeless connect. Other different significant events in our ommunity and were trying to make inn impact and that could be done statewide on every it would makehink the tate maybe one of models for the nation. And i would love to see that. My issue is we need more leaders of the world war ii era, i think. Of that on the edge i thought, ive been listening to winston churchill, visiting his museum in fullton, missouri, and it is 40s did wonderful things. On oices from the states cspan. Washington journal continues. At half staff at the. S. Capitol a day after the shooting in Sutherland Springs, site of at town is the americas latest mass shooting. T least 26 people died, at least 20 injured, according to authorities. A lone gunman opening fire, that gunman dying later after being chased by what is being called a Good Samaritan. We are getting your reaction on the washington journal. As usual, 2027488000 for democrats. Republicans. For 20274880 2027488002. To hear your thoughts today after that attack at the church. Victims, age range fr 572. Children, a pregnant pastors 14yearold daughter, at the Baptist Church killed. Headlines from texas newspapers this morning. Express news, time horror. Ors worship turns to the front page of dallas morning horrific tragedy is the headline. Front page of the Corpus Christi caller times, gunman kills 26 and one more from the front page of the horr headline. Front Amarillo Globe news, everybody s going to be affected is the headline. The picture of the baptist Sutherland Springs, the First Baptist church, the ite of americas latest mass shooting. Getting your thoughts this morning. First, salisbury, nothing nothing, lewis, good morning. Kaukts good morning, cspan. Good morning, america. This is a sad day. Any time when there is a loss of life, it is a sad day. To give my condolences fallen victims and family members and all this morning. Is broke, my heart is ruly torn apart of this tragedy. Ut we have to go back and find out what is the cause. Doing these are devastation to america. Administration would get off isis and find out what on with our youth in america. That they retract the. Ental people gunman identified in as devin ews stories kelley. Kelley served in the air force and court marshalled in 2012 on assaulting his wife and child, 12 months onfinement, received bad discharge in 2014, according to the chief of air force Media Operations yesterday. The laws need to change, have control nra over firearms in congress is baffles me. Why to americans think killing americans, over seven, they are going to do something. In vegas. Happened the nra and gun activists should heed. Host how do the laws need to change, you said laws need to specifically . Caller mental patients getting guns. Trump just passed eo, or law or it thing, where he made easier for mentally disturbed firearms. Get he was mentally unstable, the it. S did we had laws set where mentally diagnosed s, once mentally ill should x them off you know. St, it is going to happen again until laws change. Cries for families who are dealing with it and then to say that sandy hook was a hoax. I mean, come on, america, we ave to do something with these guns, man, its just a shame. And ng is going to change sorry, i hate to say this, until a couple senators or house representatives, grandkids get gunman n school or some shoots the congressmans wife in a mall or something. Ronnie salisbury. Health legislation repealed under trump administration. Back in february. Prevent role that would certain individuals from buying firearms, the Social Security finalized that rule in december under program bama, the regulation was that the Social Security administration was required to report the National Criminal background check system, individuals unable to of severe mental impairment and cant manage financial rity benefits and inineligible to buy guns, could pose a danger to themselves or others, that rule december, alized in but pulled back, repealed, back n february under the trump administration. Morgan is in nashville, tennessee, an independent. Morning. Ood caller hi. Think America Needs to readjust value system and instead te on reality of nonreality, the reality is, militarist ic country. Call themcountrys and terrorists. We want to know what is wrong with our kid . Were the biggest military gun distributor in the world, this society. E do as a we sell guns to the world. Idolize the military. Idolize war. And now we want to know what is children . Our why theyre so anti you everything, that is the reason. Petersburg, east good morning. Good morning. I the problem we have in this gun laws are there, but we dont enforce them. Better laws. The not understand why resident would pull back on that law established in december of 2016. It has more to do about him and people of the United States. We need to live better with each other. Each other. Mbrace if we do that, we would have notice what is around us and might notice around of the people us. And i dont know if it is state, god, but y it is states have been giving us so terrible thing necessary our lives, but we are not learning anything. Until we take heed to the we are getting and realize it is a sign we need to our way of life, these things are going to keep happening. I feel for these people. We need to take esponsibility and we need to put better people in congress and in the senate. Think about and yous not political party. We need to love our neighbors, i are green, f you blue, or white, we need to talk look h other, we need to out for our children. Host got your point. Turn now to the congressman from the 15th where t of texas, Sutherland Springs is, that is congressman go congressgonzalez. How is the and community of Sutherland Springs, texas . Congressman they are coming together, i believe they are probably overwhelmed at this time. Heart and prayers are with them. I think the countrys hearts and prayers are with them. Hope this will get them through, they are going through a time. Ult, shocking they lost almost 10 of their small, rural community. When you have an issue like this, that occur necessary america, it is certainly devastating, not only for that community, but for the state and for the country at large. E continue to work through this. Host what do they need today, congressman . Guest well, they need comfort and hope and feeling that the going to stick together and be together and and i ve for each other think stay united and get through this difficult time they will be going through. A lot of questions this morning. On motive there. You are in contact with the this who are running investigation. What is the latest you can tell us about why this happened . Well, i think its certainly early to speculate the has occurred. Hat has been reported is that he was not from this community, he was from a community an hour he came down. Is inlaws apparently attended this congregation and we dont know the exact motive, that is has been ent of what reported. That is what im privy to, as well, at this time. Host congressman, when you get back up to d. C. , what will you asking fellow members of congress . What will we see from congress of this . Ke guest well, we need to have a andid National Conversation of what were dealing with as a country and need to get to the problem of why were dealing with it more than any country in rialized the world. I dont believe it is only gun control, it goes beyond that, we need to think of social fabric of this country and issues causing these type of and certainly look at mental correlation between the ability tond purchase weapons. On this been reported particular individual is he was, had been in the military, he was dishonorably discharged, served ome time in jail, he had been accused for Domestic Violence are all traits that i think should be analyzed before someone is allowed to go in and a gun. E i think we need to have a serious conversation. Tragedies across our country. E come together and we unite and key are cohesive and then we seem to have a short memory and incident, ter the forget about it and go about our business. We need to have a continuous ongoing conversation, to get to a solution, a national solution, will prevent reoccurrence of incidents that are often happening. Host in terms of having that ongoing conversation, do you this time . Anges guest i certainly hope so. Think for the conversation to continue, we are is not limited to any particular geographic or demographic zone, it goes across across nes, it goes generational lines, religious now it iste lines and not just urban areas, it is communities rural and across the country. I think this is something that Everybody Needs to come together need to figure out how we can resolve this and how can from happening. This was not the norm 50 years ago in america and shouldnt be norm today. Host i know you have to run, thank you for your time this morning. Congressman gonzalez, democrat from texas, 15th district, we it. Reciate guest thank you. Host back to your calls until the end of the program today. Getting your reaction in the wake of this latest mass shooting. In illed at that church texas, the flag on top of the nited states capitol at half staff today. Michael, pipestone, minnesota, republicans, go ahead. Caller good morning, john, how are you doing this morning . Host doing well. Hey, i just like to what he just spoke upon. This seems to me to be a Mental Health issue. Been hearing so much about regulating, deregulating, so things, when are we going to take a look at the issue that happened to this all, it n, first of started from his military campaign that he had. Snowballed hing else into this tragedy that we are faced with today. Need to start what happen when is an individual leaves military on discharge when they have mental capacity to it and trail along with him. Think you know we are forget thanksgiving human being took human lives. He had some problems. Worry about gun control and all of that, those come up later, this young man had some emotional issues that we never care of. Host michael in minnesota, worried about gun control. Gabby giffords oman tweeted, im praying for the courage tond face gun violence problem, this must stop. A few other from members of congress, as well. We can show you throughout our we also want to get your thoughts and your reaction. Atlanta, wait nothing georgia, line for democrats. Michelle, go ahead. Like to say i would ts never going to end, democrats, i want you to listen to me. Side. On your this man that sits in the white now, this man that alls himself a president , has always had an agenda toward black and brown people. Now the tables are turned, he didnt like president obama when in office. So now his folks are getting killed. Concerned when black people were gunned down by the olice, but the payback is a mother and look what he called mothers ack players that host watch our language this haveng as we are trying to a productive conversation here. John is in liverpool, new york, democrats, john, good morning. Caller lets get back on gun this is all t me, about gun control in a country hat doesnt have the guts to control. Youre never going to stop shootings, but you can stop Mass Shootings by getting rid of clips, stocks n that turn semiautomatics into automatics. You can wipe out the mass, but you will never eliminate you can certainly control Mass Shootings. O instead of 26 people dying, it could be like eight to 10, youh is still terrible, but still save 15 lives. You know, this is about a ountry that doesnt have the guts to other countries are we live at us, that in all about the Second Amendment, polluted this country know. Uns, you as far as im concerned, the Second Amendment has ruined this but basically if we have any guts at all, were address the weapons that were made for the military should have got into bump blic domain and stocks, no business, automatic eapons, no business in this country. Ost jerry farmington, missouri. Go ahead. Caller terrible, my heart goes out to the victims. Guns are not the problem. There was a vehicle used last week for the same reason and no blamed the vehicles yet. Know why everybody blames the gun when it is the people. With ing has to be done laws. Host what law specifically, jerry . Calle caller host i think we lost jerry. For a few more call necessary this segment of washington journal, before we end at 10 00 today. Getting your reaction to the mass shooting at the texas church, irst baptist this morning. Want to hear your thoughts and reactions. Democrats publicans, and independents, as usual. In louisiana, an independent. Go ahead. Caller yeah, hello. Heart, my thoughts and prayers go out to the amilies of the lost and every victim that was affected by the and these people ramming and running over people vehicles. But doesnt that speak to the otion that there is polarization, there is and, alism in this country you know, what about the notion that through this nation, maybe people motivated by the deology that performing these shootings would force the right to change their viewos gun control. About this host you think that is the case f some of the Mass Shootings, joseph . Caller well, sometimes, like va dont know the but maybe somewhere in their mind, this will force the other side to change their stance on gun control. Possibility. Host joseph in louisiana, this morning. Getting a lot of attention today is from senator chris murphy, democrat from been a strong advocate for increased gun control, especially in the wake sandy hook massacre. He put out a statement yesterday paralysis you feel ight now, inpotent outletness that washs over you, as it crolls across the television screen, is not real tis cultivated by the gun lobby, laws are o ensure no passed to make america safer, the laws would cut into profits. Of this is inevitable. My colleague guess to sleep tonight, they need to think political er the support for the gun industry is worth the blood that flows floor of to the american churches, Elementary Schools, movie theaters and city streets. Yourself, how can you claim you respect human life, while weapon makers over support for measures favored by constituents, f that is part of murphys statement he put out last night. Flag again, half staff over the United States capitol. Calls, inue to take your getting your reaction about the the texas church. Go ahead. Caller yes, good morning. You know, i tried to get on earlier when you had that mentioning nicks data base and how he worked with colleagues to increase funding to the states so they could get data nformation into the base. Watching Senate Hearings on gun control after andy hook and when they were interviewing some psychiatrists and i remember one of them said he had to turn the information in his patients government, hehe would stop putting information files. Is patients nd i know a lot of psychiatrists, theyre evidently hobl hobbled by the hippa laws, i think we can all agree that only thate people do, you know, sort of thing, you have to be nuts to do anything like that. And if the psychiatrists dont want to cooperate and i think have is they ey cant tell a homicidal maniac a harmless village odd out with thed that young kid that shot reagan. Psychiatrist told arah brady, or the shooters parents that the psychiatrist he assured them this was harmless, just a crush on something andr or that hed outgrow it. Pumping roundss reagan. Id and he who does sarah brady go after the psychiatrist . Nra. The i mean, this is, to me, i tried see if this er to gentleman that you had on had withdeas about how to deal this empasse . Host richard in wyoming o. Twitter, of course it is a Mental Health issue, heed keeping ns to control guns from mentally ill. Andn writes in, most honest sad statement on the shooting in texas, the latest mass we have that is what come to. Michael, greenville, north carolina, go ahead. Morning. Good all the issues are really weaved nto a lot of things and we cant separate any one of them. I think our main problem, one unravel is thiso misinformation. Started listening to conservative radio in the 90s how much mazed me, misinformation comes out about all issues. To strengthen our law against libel and slander to make it somehow easy to notwithstand free speech considerations, but this should illegal to just no this uence and then antipress move cemetery making it worse. News, but ll it fake conservative talk radio dealt in misinformation for the last 25 years and that is at our problem. Host barbara, high point, north carolina, line for republicans, go ahead. , caller ill tell you, i listen to all this about the guns, ive guns for over 70 years, never shot anybody. Twothirdshe guns, i look in the mirror. That is your problem right here. Army navy story. Three young blacks stand him to death and still the guns. They didnt need a gun. They had no guidance at home. To re going to have host we are going to have to end it there. We will be back. Have a good monday. A look at the capitol. We will have live coverage on cspan 2. The flag at the capital in halfstaff because of the texas church shooting. 26 people died in Sutherland Springs, texas. President trump made a statement about the texas church shooting. Let me begin by addressing the horrific shooting in Sutherland Springs, texas. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and families of todays horrible and murderous attack. This act of evil occurred as the victims and their families were in their place of sacred worship. We cannot put into words the , and we grief we feel cannot begin to imagine the suffering of those who lost the ones they so dearly love. Our hearts are broken. , and these are dark times, americans do what they do best. We pull together. We joined hands. We lock arms. And throughtears the sadness we stand strong. My administration will provide its full