On the committees decision to forstigate vetting systems white house staff in the aftermath of the rob porter story and congressman Ryan Costello on republican efforts to reform the informal care act. For the next hour, your thoughts on the School Shooting in florida. That resulted in 17 deaths, 15 hospitalized and the suspect is in custody. The shooting is the deadliest since sandy hook and is now one of the 10 deadliest shootings in modern history. The president tweeted yesterday, condolences and the Florida Governor and members of congress have spoken out about the issue. We will hear from them but we want to hear from you in this first hour. Its about the shooting and the related issues attached to it. Give us your reactions on our social media sites. It was the president of the United States who sent out a tweet about the event yesterday. The florida senators are also weighing in. Bill nelson from florida giving his thoughts if you go to the pages of the Naples Daily News in florida come a story about governor rick scott and his reaction, saying he met with the families of the victims at the School Shooting. Ednesday night host u he set his heart goes out to the affected families. Here is a bit of that press conference with governor rick scott yesterday. [video clip] thing you start thinking about is the families. You think about your own family and the grandparents and parents, the first thing you think about is i hope this never happens to my family. About you are furious. How can this happen in our country, in this state . This is a state focused on keeping all our children safe. You come to the conclusion this is just absolutely, pure evil. Does not tolerate violence. We have Law Enforcement that will always show up to defend our safety. I started having updates from sheriff israel. I talked to president trump, the secretary of homeland security, superintendent rumsey, the commissioner of florida Law Enforcement and i know everybody is working hard to make sure we do everything to keep everybody safe and have a thorough investigation. My prayers are with everybody impacted. I cannot imagine what the theyre sitting there wondering if they lost a family member. A familynow they lost member, i cant imagine how their lives have been changed. Each of thoser and those in the hospital. I pray for their full recovery. All the individuals that unfortunately had to go through this experience, i know there will be grief counselors and im sure it will be very difficult as they think through what happened. And replay in their mind what happened. I cant imagine going through that. Host again, you can give your thoughts on the shooting itself and the gun issues in first hour. Lets start with joe in pennsylvania, a parent, good morning, your first call. Joe from pennsylvania, go ahead. Caller got a comment on this. The Clinton Administration put a stop to the sale of assault weapons. That was an forced up until the bush administration. George bush did away with that. He opened it back up and it went crazy. Now they dont want to do anything with it. Especially the republicans. Thee got the thing with lump stock that goes on the semiautomatic rifle and makes it fully automatic and i have not done anything with that since las vegas. Its never the time to talk about it. Its the same with magazines. Theyve got banana magazines they put in these guns and its amazing the number of rounds they put in them. They cannot limit that. For are all bought and paid from the nra. I used to be in nra member. I recruited so many members i had awards. I dropped out back in the late 1980s. They almost went bankrupt, they were so corrupt. They had to hire Charlton Heston to bring them back from the dead. They have bought and paid for the Republican Party. Host lets go to baltimore, maryland, and educator. I teach in an Elementary School outside of d. C. Feel that there have been so many School Shootings that we have become desensitized. Reaction was just like another one, here we go again. I remember when columbine happened, i was in high school and we had a big assembly and talked about it and we were in grief for weeks. After other school shooters, we have lockdown drills and practice what would happen with an active shooter and now, its like you carry on with your day and you dont know how to react anymore. There have been discussions about teachers having guns in the classroom. And concealed carry. I think thats an enormous responsibility for an educator. I would never want to have that responsibility on myself. Host as far as your school, what kind of drill do you do in a regular basis to prepare for this kind of scenario . Caller we just had a systemwide lockdown drill the other day. We have an announcement to cover our windows and we have the students gather in the furthest corner of the room away from the door and we make sure the windows are closed. Other than that, our doors to the building are locked and you have to buzz in and you are faces on a video camera. That, every day is scary. I have young kids and i think about what its like when they will go to school. They are two years old and nine months. Let terrifying but if you the fear take over your life, you would be paralyzed. Host thats an educator in baltimore. Lets hear from eight viewer in greenville, south carolina, go ahead. Caller good morning and thank you for cspan. To the previous caller [indiscernible] i would like to relate a couple of stories that took place in south carolina. Several years ago, there was an article. This couple took their nineyearold little girl to the shooting range so she could have the experience of firing a fully automatic machine gun. Was a littler behind her and to her right and he told her it was ok to start shooting. She pulled the trigger and the recoil made the gun go up in the barrel point to the instructor and killed him accidentally. The lastntly, within four months, there was an article in the local sports section a father had taken his little girl and she had bagged a box. They showed a picture bagged a buck. She was the cutest little sixyearold in camouflage. I dont have an opinion either way as to have children should be. I would imagine a sixyearold is very aware of gun safety. She may have to help the family get food because they did not kill for sport, they killed for food. Host Edward Perkins says you can make your thoughts known on twitter and our facebook page. From lansing, north carolina, a parent. Caller we dont have no leaders to take care of our country on this. They are all sold out in washington. If we passed a law today where the parents had to learn them something and spank their tales when they get into something and do something wrong instead of giving all the money they get to the lobby ears lobby ears lobbiers. Host how does it relate . Caller they dont have no raising at home. I raise to kids and i work for a living. They are working for a living. We grew up with guns around. They hunted and we hunted. And we still get together and go hunting. I have a grandson. When the weather breaks, is coming up so when we can get out and shoot and he will get out and shoot with us. Host thats dean in north carolina. A picture of the shooter, nicholas cruz. One of the people who commented yesterday was the legislator that represented the parkland area of florida. He was talking about the incident. [video clip] and an arm of my time here in congress trying to do something to stem the tide of gun violence. But here is a suggestion instead of letting this evolving to the typical political discussion with people tweeting at me telling me now is not the time to have a conversation about gun safety and others saying stop trying to interfere with the Second Amendment and others saying its about Mental Health issues, lets talk about all of it. Lets do it in a way thats not political. Forget about commission. Do you think thats possible to do anything that doesnt get politicized . That congressieve has not done anything since sandy hook. Is, everyone has an excuse but everyone also technologies that days like today are awful. This is a terrible, terrible day. , the so grim and the story people i have talked to in the district and the sheriff and the superintendent and the mayor this is as bad as it gets. Itgree, lets not politicize at lets sit down and have the conversation. If you think its about Mental Health, lets figure how to address that. If you think there are steps we can take, commonsense measures that will not interfere with anyone Second Amendment rights, lets talk about that. But by all means, lets not just let this go. The Football Program from Marjory StonemanDouglas High School in florida sent out this tweet it includes a photo. We will go to robert in elkins park, pennsylvania, and educator. Caller im so sorry to speak with you on such a tragedy. I do Teach High School civics in the lower marion district. I hate to use this word, its a cultural divide. Reason. Hrow out every i have students this is an affluent School District but its not about that. Its not about where. People look at the constitution and cling to their guns. Its a gifted civics class and we talk about our current affairs. I dont believe any of them have guns. We are fortunate we dont have metal detectors. I am concerned about mr. Trump. Surrounded in this environment in this country with the political and its not about the nra is an important lobby group, obviously. Its not about one group versus another. Said, the resistance is just people will die. Host we got your point. Alabama, a parent, hi. Caller how are you doing . Page oh, yesterday on the squawk you talk about the economy but those who are putting out the rifle are going through bankruptcy. They had guns that would fire by themselves. If you just pick it up, it would go off. You could be hunting or what everyone want to do, it will go off. There if theut owners of the of the company go through bankruptcy, the owners of the gun would not get money back. Host a line for students, brandon, hello from will from milwaukee. Caller i think what we need to do his arm era last line defenders. We did something similar when 9 11 happened. We gave pilots the options to carry guns. We have not had any incidents from that. I think when he to arm our last line defenders and give them the opportunity to react when something bad does happen and it will happen again. Host so you are talking about teachers . Caller absolutely, certain teachers are willing and if they are qualified, they should be able to carry. As far as milwaukee, does milwaukee or wisconsin do anything along that line nottion mark caller currently. Not with the Public Schools. I dont know about the private schools. In the Public Schools we do not and fortunately, we have not had an incident like that. I dont know why we want to wait before we implement Something Like that. How would you sell this idea to a parent or several parents might be concerned about having the gun presence in the school each and every day . Aside from the fact that it could provide safety. Toler thats where we have use the facts. Every one of the incidences, its never a responsible gun owner that commits mass murder. Its somebody with some that ends upissue doing this. At who are these people doing this, it would give peace of mind for parents. It would not be a bad idea to arm teachers. Thats brandon from milwaukee making the case for the arming of teachers. Agree or disagree with him or add to the conversation. Give us a call and you can post on twitter and facebook. Picks upington times the fact that the suspect was expelled from high school last year, saying he was described as gun obsessed and a troubled kid who had been expelled. Thats from the president s twitter account. On our line for all others, judy in washington, go ahead. Caller thanks for taking my call. It is political. The reason we have all of these assault rifles available to people who are unbalanced is , but most ofess them, are owned by the nra in if you look of how much the Campaign Donations are, you can figure out who is voting for what. At this point, i dont even gunk Congress Allows violence to be studied with government dollars. Thats insane. Thats all i have to say. And educator in pittsburgh, eric is next, hello. Simple, why dont we copy japan. No guns allowed in the public. Who needs this to hunt . What about those who would acquire guns illegally and use them in these instances . How would that impact of that . Caller then they get fined in jail. What they do in japan, no guns allowed in the public. Host california, another educator, go ahead. I am a retired social studies teacher. Wartems from the culture against judeochristian values that has been lodged on america from the left especially from the media and when they break down one taboo after another. They do that every day. How does that directly associate to a School Shooting . Aclur when you have the in Public Schools, you remove the discipline and undermine and itsistian values a step toward chaos. These kids dont have a Strong Foundation is the left wants Political Correctness to be there bible. Thats the problem. This all goes back to be assault on judeochristian values by the left and this culture war. Thats exactly what the problem is. Host this is claire saying theres nothing radical about common sense lot common sense gun legislation. Twitter is available to you if you want to post there. We will continue with these calls, taking a look at the shooting yesterday. 17 killed, 15 hospitalized, we have heard the reaction from members of congress. We are here in reaction from you. The phone lines are available to you. We will show you some other stories making news during the course of this hour. Particularly, whats happening on capitol hill concerning immigration. Thats in the washington post. In usa today our guest on our Newsmakers Program which takes this week and you can see sunday after this program and later in the evening, if you want to find out more about the taping and interview, go to our website, www. Cspan. Org. Brook park, ohio to the topic of the shooting yesterday. A parent, go ahead. Issue i think the key that isnt being looked at is if parents are raising their children and they are sending them to school, the first and foremost thing they can look at is are there guns in the homes of these parents . If there are, what is being addressed . Should be fingerprinted and monitored if there are guns in the home. If they are sending their kids a message saying if you dont like something, its ok to kill a person. A lot of these children go through the stress in school and cannot get these problems solved for counselors and look what happens. The counselors these kids and cannot deal with them and they throw it back to the parents. The parents cant control her children. Even if they have gun safes, these kids are getting so smart that they think the parents have guns so its no big deal if i get one and go to school with it and think i can hurt or injure people at someone elses expense. These parents should be held accountable. The mother was deceased i was told in this case so his cases isolated but there are plenty of kids who have parents and are living at home with guns and that needs to change. They need to have them registered. Int we will go to roland glen bernie, maryland, and educator. Hello . We will go to suzanne in texas on outline for others. Good morning. Caller hi there. The whole thing broke my heart and made me cry. His commonate for sense, background checks, gun control and if 20 dead kindergartners didnt do it for come on, people, common sense gun control. Host why do you think legislators cannot get together on those issues you describe . Caller its the nra. I am a hunting advocate. I know hunters so hunting is fine. These guns are not meant for they are people hunting guns. You should not be able to get those. Parent in mount airy, maryland, joe, good morning. Caller good morning. Most of these things devolve into the different camps. It comes to two popular terms. One is gun control and to his discipline in the school. I think we will go back and forth. A couple of things that do come up like arming teachers. An idea that came up in the past with having a Police Officer in even if theyre one cannot be there all the time. If you are going to suit to do something with the teachers, sortld rather it be some of nonlethal thing like a taser ofs or some other way. I would be worried about additional guns. As for the discipline side, i have heard many stories as a parent and i am in a good county for schools but you see kids with problems saying things and doing things. Almostrue that you feel trapped. Its almost like a societal thing. There is a lack of discipline but maybe some sort of soft registry for kids that are in trouble and have issues that following them in our careers but monitoring them more closely. That might make sense. Host beverly in ohio, good morning. Go ahead. Basic problem is we need the Supreme Court of the United States to get involved with this because this is a constitutional question. The Second Amendment says militia. To form a that out militia, these people are forming a militia. Thats when they should be allowed to have guns if they are going to form a militia. We have standing armies, we dont need a militia. The guns that they sell, they should not allow them to sell these military weapons. Bump stocks and ak 15s our military wit weapons. They should think about banning those everywhere in society. She get the Supreme Court to make the decision, thats what they are for. Host jack in davenport, iowa, good morning. Caller i think we need a new because people need symbols and the symbols that i cheap and would not require legislators to take any stand. Every student, parent, and outraged person can do it. Scared because people are scared and death because people are dead. Where you use the symbol is the next time people sing the national anthem, you can say we now live in the land of the dead and the home of the scared. Dead are the students and the scared are the nra that neither machine guns and the judges that will not take a stand. And the politicians that wont vote. One of the politician speaking out was senator chris murphy of connecticut last night. Was directly impacted by sandy hook. He took to the senate floor to talk about the shooting and the larger issues. [video clip] there is a hard affixing playing out at a high school in south florida as we speak. Horrific scene playing out of high school in south florida. You will see scenes of children running for their lives. Be the 19th School Shooting in this country and we have not even hit march. To the floor to talk about Something Else but let me just note, once again for my this happens nowhere else other than the United States of america. Slaughter,ic of mass this scourge of School Shootings after School Shootings. It only happens not because of coincidence, not because of bad , but as a consequence of error in action. We are responsible. For a level of mass atrocity that happens in this country with zero parallel anywhere else. As a parent, it scares me to that this body does not take seriously the safety of my children. Parents like a lot of in south florida will be asking that same question later today. We pray that the families, the victims, we hope for the best. Frank in fort to lauderdale, you are an educator, hello. Caller good morning, everyone, thank you. Somethings to mind that Mother Teresa said regarding the value of human life. She said when a nation allows a mother to kill her own child, how can you tell people not to kill each other . Both examples of what happened yesterday in Broward County and what Mother Teresa is referring to about the unborn, it seems gross disrespect for human life. It sets a horrible example, abortion sets a bad example for all society. Doesnthink human life have much value except the unborn. Another factor i was recently talking to someone who was hispanic. They told me they have been subject to prejudice in their workplace. This individual told me how he hates certain groups of people. He mentioned how he hates the military because they are so disciplined and strict and how because white people they were the ones who showed prejudice to him at his job. Host lets go to alexandra in maryland, caller good morning and thank you for having me. I have a few points. There was a lady a few colors shouldo said all parents register with the school if they have guns in her home. Interestingemely and that should be investigated if the child starts having problems in school like them being expelled are showing aggression, things like that. Why were theset, parents not investigated first . Why did we miss these signs . Why was he allowed back in school . There is a lot we are missing before we can make a judgment on exactly what happened. Aree, i understand, i have gun and i shoot and im in the military. You know how easy it was for me to get a gun in the state of maryland . I had to show my id and after a five minute check, they gave it to me. I think that is entirely stupid. Everyone should have to go through some sort of background check and a Mental Health check. Absolutely they should. Host can i ask you about the gun you own . What goes through your mind when people describe it as an assault weapon . Caller it absolutely is. But you have to know that the that the person buying the weapon is trained to use the weapon correctly so there is no negligent discharges are things like that. They have the mental capacity to have a gun. Thats white legislation needs to maybe pass a mandatory thing where before you go to a gun, you need to go through mandatory safety course and back rent check. I dont know why republicans think that is a threat to their rights, their Second Amendment rights. Its not stopping you from getting a gun, per se. If you know you are mentally through theu go training because everyone should know how to use a gun, cleaner gun, absolutely what clips are allowed and everything surrounding those circumstances. Host you have probably heard time and again why should we sell that type of weapon anyway . Caller i use it recreationally because i enjoy it but i also take it to a government regulated range. I dont use it in my backyard. I dont use it anywhere in a residential area. I take it to an approved range and thats what i do. I use it to keep my skills sharp because im in the military. You have to keep that skills sharp. Talking about her experience and we will continue with these calls about the shooting that took place yesterday. We want to show you other information throughout the morning. The secretary of Veterans Affairs coming under scrutiny after a report, a scathing report released wednesday that found serious in business trips. The secretary of veterans clings took trips and airfare for his wife and extensive sightseeing. The story says this resulted in a couple of tweets on top of all that, David Shulkin is set to appear before the house Veterans Affairs panel today to talk about the budget and ultimately will be asked these questions. You can see that at 8 00 this morning on cspan3. It arrington, we will hear from don, hello. Caller good morning. That controlling the guns is not going to do it. We just need to go about it some other way. The criminal element are six people will always find a weapon or be able to get one. I dont know what other way to go about it that gun control will not do it in my opinion. Host what are the other ways . People well, weve got who are much smarter than i am. Weve got to get together in these think tanks and obviously go about it another way. They will always be able to get these weapons. People who are not able to get them legally in the streets get them all the time. You have Mass Shootings every year in the big cities because these are illegal weapons. To another person from michigan, this is robert, and educator, hello. Caller hello. Ill tell you what i am seeing. No prayer in the school anymore. , theyyer in the school kicked prayer out of the school. Nobody talks about jesus. Also, it starts at home. If the people dont educate their children in the bible, a certain amount and try to teach them about whats right and wrong, its never going to get better. Guns, like the gentleman said earlier, they will get guns one way or another. Country,e running this they need to be a leader and not just a talker. You can talk all day and it dont get nowhere. There is a lot of talk on this station but nothing seems to change. Its the same old, same old. You tell me what you think and call this number and nothing happens. Going on in america. Like one gentleman said or you said that it does not happen that much in other countries because they enforce the laws they have on the books. They dont make more laws. They cant enforce the ones theyve got. Host lets go to st. Petersburg, florida. Caller good morning. I just want to say this is absolutely terrible. Thing thatible happened in my condolences to the families. I cannot imagine how terrible they must be feeling today. I wanted to respond to a couple of other callers that mentioned arming our educators. I wanted to agree with that. Vigilanteism is a great responsibility we should and to do in thecators schools. I think we should take it a step further, maybe arm the kids. Maybe start from first grade, have a class teaching them how may be with their math books and science books. Add a nine millimeter glock to their book bags and bring that in every day. Host are you being serious . Caller absolutely. Thinkrazy that you would that it would be a great thing to arm instructors a lot of them have no desire to want to and try toplay hero shoot somebody. Trying to protect themselves and their students as well. I think thats a completely stupid idea. The Chicago Tribune this morning the president speaking about that during an event at the white house. Here is a bit from that yesterday. [video clip] why have you not spoken out against a mystic violence . Violence and everybody here knows that. Im totally opposed to Domestic Violence of any kind. Everyone knows that. It almost wouldnt even have to be set. Now that you hear it, you will, thank you all. Lets go to tim in ohio, and educator. Caller hello. Im kind of calling for my dad who died in 95. He was a schoolteacher for 30 years and he said the worst day in School History was the day they took the paddle out of the teachers hands. Hello . Arate school host go ahead. Caller basically, the guys that came to the karate school, they were not very confident in themselves. They lacked a lot of selfconfidence. Arts,aught them martial you can see the selfconfidence grow in them. I think the parents should blame themselves for allowing the schools not to have a paddle or have control. My father saw it coming years ago when they took the paddle out of the teachers hands. Lets go to harold in north carolina, a parent. You are on the air. Caller i think we just let it get out of control. Theres just too many guns out there. Trump even campaigned on Second Amendment rights. Maybe the Second Amendment rights were used against hillary. He said maybe someone should shoot hillary and they let him get away with that. You talk about security clearance in the white house. I think he deserves i dont think he deserves security clearance. There are allegations of him messing with prostitutes. He tried to buy woman some furniture, some married woman. Host we want to keep to the subject and the security clearance is the subject of a couple of stories this morning. You will find that story on nbc this morning. N the Washington Times looking at previous administrations tony is next, antioch, illinois. Caller good morning. I will go off the subject a little later. School,as in [indiscernible] we were taught how to cook food and raise your baby. Is you areg on now blaming parents and teachers in the truth is, its the schools themselves. What has to be done somehow maybe teach kids in school or maybe the military has to teach them, maybe the First Responders have to teach schools starting with kindergarten. Compare our stats to japan. I live outside of chicago and its a war zone here. Nobody is doing nothing about it. Puerto rico is a disaster. Host we will go to san diego, california, jason a parent. Caller good morning, my condolences to all of the kids that were killed. I just want to mention that when barack obama passed the executive order that people who are mentally challenged who are not dealing with a full deck cannot walk into any government assistance or fbi or whatever, those folks cannot walk into a gun store and buy half a dozen assault weapons. Cant buy body armor and by 1000 rounds and walk out. What trump does is he comes in and says yes, i want to make imica safe again will stop going to delete this executive order. It doesnt matter if you have a mentally challenged or crazy person. Youcan buy all of the aks want and thats what he did. This man is crazy. Host cbs news the Attorney Says the family was not aware of troubling social media postings from nicolas cruz. That formerote president ial candidate mitt romney was expected to make an announcement concerning his run for the senate for utah. He has postponed that announcement saying that as a father and grandfather, my heart aches for the victims of todays tragic events. My prayers go out to all the families and loved ones affected by this senseless act of violence. If you go to the Salt Lake Tribune website, there is a story taking a look at mitt romneys decision not to run but also the reaction from the Utah Republican Party about his planned run for the senate seat. You can see that on the Salt Lake Tribune website this morning. North carolina, and educator, good morning. Only am i and educator but im a father and grandfather. I propose the flags in the United States fly at half mast until there is some action taken against this national tragedy. Lets talk about statistics and facts for a moment. 30 deaths per day for gun violence, 20 two vets killing insult per day, 60 deaths due to opioids. In the recent budget, m illuminates millions from back rent checks. Article a in the bill of rights states that guns are for militias. There is no reason to have these weapons of war on our streets. Of guilt that can be assessed. There is guilt for congress, guilt for parents, the gun manufacturers, gun stores, everyone is out to make money and greed off of fear. Violent movies, the aca has cut funding for mental illness. That thingsthing have people said regarding gun control. This is a terrible national tragedy. To the person that said gun control does not work, look at australia and look at japan and look at the united kingdom. Try to buy a gun and australia. You have to go through so many hoops that you cannot get a gun maybe for three or four years. Try to buy a gun in japan or the u. K. , try and buy a gun in the industrialized countries. The firstd to be industrialized nation. This is a sickening tragedy and it needs to stop. None control, banned the ar15s now. Host that is guilt and north carolina. The School Superintendent in florida sent out a tweet about the events of yesterday. Lets go to north carolina, and educator, this is beverly. Caller good morning. I just called to say im a retired educator. ,f its ok to have these guns you dont want gun control, that doesnt matter to america anymore. We have control to protect americans. Control,t want gun then lets not even control the amount of opioids out there. Sick and itsrned all about the almighty dollar. This is a different world we are in. We have a president who became before he even announced that he could kill someone on 5th avenue and it would not matter. Here we are. Host you have a good day. The eternal host the attorney general of florida said it was her office that will pay for the funerals of those buried students. Lets go to ann in georgia. Caller how are you . Thank you for taking our calls. I have two points id like to make. Is many of our congressman received large amounts of dollars from the nra. They are basically bought and paid for. And iupport gun ownership think its a shame that we have so much money in politics. That controls it. The other point i would like to make is about one of the callers who called in to talk about paddling. I have witnessed it. I have seen the results of it. Know that it really doesnt change behavior. Therefore, it is not a valid punishment. I have seen kids come back to my classroom as a teacher after they have just received a paddling. One particular student would get one every friday. He would come back to the classroom rubbing his rear end and giggling about what had happened. He loved the attention. He was asked again rewarded for his misbehavior. Thats what really happens in schools when paddling is used. Ok, the Washington Times reports this will be the last call of a topic. Gary in north carolina, a member of Law Enforcement. Caller good morning. I dont see nothing ever really changing. Until we can get something done the country itself. You of one side of the country that consistently says the other side of the country is bigots, racist, muslim folks, hate the poor, hate black people. When you have the drumming up of hate from one side take nancy pelosi. Host last call on the topic. We will change gear before the house from sin at 9 00. We will be joined by delicate Stacey Plaskett from the u. S. Virgin islands. Making theee decision to investigate the white house vetting system in the aftermath of the rob porter story. Later on, Pennsylvania RepublicanRyan Costello on the future of health care and republican efforts to reform the Affordable Care act. Is coming uption when washington journal continues. This weekend, lynchburg, virginia. James river, the it is home to Liberty University and Thomas Jeffersons retreat. With the help of our cable partners, we will explore the rich literary life and history. P. M. Easternt 5 00 on book tv we will visit the and Spencer House to hear about how this poet at the harlem renaissance to lynchburg. Ann spencer was an american poet associated with the harlem renaissance. That is how harlem comes to lynchburg. There is a whole group of People Associated with that time like ann spencer that people dont know about. And interview the Liberty University president about the origins of the university. Its impact on lynchburg. The role that evangelicals play in politics. In spite of trumps background, they are pleasantly surprised by how he came around to issues important to evangelicals, and how he has been the best president for and, really i think, will end up being one of the best president s we have ever had. Johnson,ersation with whose grandfather hosted a tennis camp for young africanamerican athletes. Interest inted an my grandfather. And, really i somehow, he managed to be a student of the tennis game and transform that learning into a program that would, for decades, provide players an opportunity for africanamericans to integrate into the sport. Beginning at 5 00 p. M. Eastern on book tv on cspan2, and sunday at 2 00 p. M. Cspan3. Breaking with our cable affiliates as we explore america. Washington journal continues. First guest of the morning, delicate Stacey Plaskett delegate Stacey Plaskett from the u. S. Virgin islands. Good morning. Your thoughts on the shooting from yesterday. We have been through this before. What do you think the reaction from congress will be . Will havehink members a moment of silence, they will say that this is a tragedy. Unfortunately, i think that the majority will move on from there and we will talk about the things we have been talking about. This raises so many issues, not only about shooting, gun safety, and gun control, but about Mental Health, support systems in the school, all things that embers of congress should be having hearings, discussions, and bringing bills to the floor for regular order. Host by you think on those issues there cannot be a coming together . Guest we have seen so many of these tragedies occur, whether it be in schools, places abortion, nine clubs every venue we have had Mass Shootings places ofg worship, nightclubs, everything youve we have had Mass Shootings nothing has been done. This will hot them for the rest of their lives. That my colleagues, who have the ability to have discussion and debate, are willing to do so. I member of the House Oversight and reform committee. Trey gowdy announcing that he wants to look at the vetting process. What is your view of the vetting process in light of rob porter . Guest it would appear that the white house and the executive branch has some issues with their vetting. We know that there is an allowance for an interim security clearance. We are aware that old mentally the president has the same someone security clearance. A would appear there quite number of members of the white house who have problems. Have not an usual to people on an interim security clearance for a number of months after a new administration. The amount of members that have antrim security clearances, and the length of time of those interim security clearances are tremendously problematic and raise quite a bit of questions about the safety of the country information. People have questions and flags raised about their security clarence because security , because of issues. Whether they are related to personal behavior, etc. , that need to be vetted through. That is why we have the fbi and the process it goes through. Very concerned for the safety of this country and our own security because of the number of people for whom flags have been raised on their security clearance. Host the chairman announced he would look at it. What was your reaction . Guest surprise. Since the election of Elijah Cummings has issued at least 14 letters to the chairman and the white house related to this topic, which have gone unanswered and have not been taken care of. That led me to believe that this was not an issue that the chairman or the oversight and Government Reform Committee wanted to take up. The say in he has what hearings we have and if they will be if there will be new investigations, along with speaker ryan determining how resources will be run in an investigation. Ive asked for details and to what the investigation means. Is it going to be the majority and minority staff working together . Will there be a panel of members that work on this investigation . Those things have not been fleshed out, for i am not aware of them. It is my understanding that this will be bipartisan in terms of the staff working on the investigation. Says he isan gowdy going to do something, he is usually forthright and goes through with them. I have been frustrated with the amount of briefings we had rather than hearings. He is more amenable to having closeddoor sessions where members meet with individuals and ask questions. It is his belief there is less grandstanding and politics in that venue. My concern is that when members come out of it they can spin that to how they wish rather than the general public getting a sense of their own. Host 202 7488001, republicans. 202 7488000, democrats. 202 7488002, independents. Robdo you think it took porter to bring this to the committee . Guest that is someone so close to the president to have a flag in his security clearance. We asked for information as to why he was kept on in the manner that he was after having so many flags on his security clearance. I cannot say with the breaking point is, but sometimes it is a small thing, the feather that finally pushes something over the cliff. Host when it comes to security clearances, what should disqualify, even on the personal side . Guest that is what we have experts for. Isil recently that another member of the white house resigned because of his security i saw a recently that another member of the white house resigned because of his security clearance. Is that something that should disqualify someone . There are various degrees of thought. We have all of the agencies that go through this to determine, will they be compromised in the position in which they are holding . Host do you think that there is an issue with the process, the length of time . Is there a way to streamline it and make it more efficient . Guest that is what the government and oversight reform out. Ttee is trying to find that is why we have issued the request for the files and asked chairman gowdy to have the hearings so that we can determine if something needs to be changed. So many people think that the oversight and Government Reform Committee,s a gotcha that we should be reforming government. We need to understand what happened in the past so we can fix it for the future. Our first question comes from jeff and nebraska, the republican line. Go ahead. Caller when they changed over from the white house he we v860 theyto the went to the marine corps and said that they wanted 20 radio operators out of the marine with the president and provide communications for the white house. I was one of those individuals. I was next to the president. I know what this guy is going through. They stopped my clearance 4 different times and told me, they had to tell me, they couldnt tell anyone else, but they told me you have to figure this out. It was about parking tickets, one time in 1954 disturbing the peace in salem, west virginia. It was ridiculous why they would stop the clearances. When they stop it, they do not start until you come back with the answer. I cannot believe that anybody that people do not know this. Host thank you for telling us your story. Guest 2 things to what he was saying. Of, there is a long period clearances. Urity i had it happen to me at the Justice Department as a political appointee. The Oversight Government Reform Committee needs to look at the process to see if there needs to be changes. That is on the one line of questioning. For many of us, the issue is not that it took this long, but the number of people in sensitive positions. Rob porter is seeing every piece of paper coming before the president as his secretary. That puts him in a position to be at a level in which he could be compromising the security of our country. Buts not just one person, numerous people in the white house who are in sensitive positions. That in its totality is why this is problematic. Host joe is the next. Caller good morning. The white house knew about this guy. They knew for months. It is all going to come to light, all of this, pretty quickly. I was cleared for topsecret. I was in the air force security service, a 19yearold sergeant. The office of special investigation went to my high school, people that i worked for in the summers, they asked about my character. You are either cleared or you were not. It was done quickly. I i was a young wife beater, would have been off the radar quickly. This white house thinks they can do anything that they want to without any oversight. I wonder what mr. Trump is hiding. What do the russians really have on him . Why wont he show us his tax returns . He is not worthy of a clearance. Guest what did the white house know and when did it know it. It raises the issue of character in some respects. In particular with the chief of staff, general kelly. We went into the white house understanding that this was someone who would bring order and discipline into the white house because there was concern on both sides of the aisle that there had not then that kind of order in the white house upped to date uptodate. General kelly is someone that is allowing things and exacerbating the issue. Whether it is statements about a member of congress that turned out not to be factually correct in terms of what was said or not said by that member of congress. Statements that he makes about dreamers. We now understand that he may have very well been not only aware of what the allegations were and what the issues were with regard with mr. Porter that hehite house, but went talking to members of the press and others gave erroneous dates on when he knew the information. Host democrats line. James, you are on. Caller have a couple of things that i will say quickly. All of the listeners and all the colors that will call in. We are going through a trying 45 president. Come october, i dont know what your religious belief is, but i prayed on it. That died, myuals heart goes out to them. We did nothing because of the nra. We can tame the beast. Is 666, the sign of the devil in the beginning. . The turnover in guest the house that is something im hopeful for host the turnover in the house . Guest that is something that for. Opeful their working hard to organize and put mechanisms in place at the Grassroots Level to do that. I think we are at a disadvantage because of how many lines were drawn quite a number of years ago that makes it a push for us and an uphill battle, but i think that it can be done. For democrats right now it is to try to get a message out there that lets americans know what the Democratic Party is working on and what we are doing, to not get so much in the weeds in speaking in policy. The Democratic Party is trying to show americans what this tax bill is going to do to them. What so many policies of the regimental toare everyday americans. I think that that message is resonating. Detrimental to everyday americans. I think that message is resonating. President unveiling his plans for infrastructure. Allowing states to get access to money. What you think about this plan . Aest i think that it is hollow plan. You cannot have a federal infrastructure plan that does not put federal dollars and. Incentivizing people to go into building is one thing, but to put the onus on the states is a nonstarter. I think that the leadership of transportation, as well as other members, met with the president yesterday to talk about his. Nfrastructure plan there seems to be some confusion as to whether or not the president is for or not for a gas tax. The newmber of Democratic Coalition and cochair of the Infrastructure Task force. We are interested not only in increasing funding by the to fix ourernment crumbling infrastructure, but also an Infrastructure Bank and putting serious money into the areas that have been left behind. ,reas, like the Virgin Islands which will not be able to provide 80 of the funding necessary to build our roads and ports the way they should be. Durham, north carolina, independent line, richard, good morning. Caller i would like to say to the Virgin Islands delegate today that the biggest problem that we face in America Today is the race problem. Permeatingoblem is everything that happens in this country am top to bottom. Thised to really recognize. ,eing led by the United States israel, eastern europe, western europe, all is infected by the race problem. Even the issue yesterday with the guns is affected by the race problem. Until we make up our minds to solve the race problem, we are not going to solve any of these problems. It is only going to get worse with the election that put trump in. We have relatively few delegates in the Electoral College of color. White, and they a gerrymandered Voting System that is rigged from top to bottom. We do nothink that have a race problem today, there has always been race in this country. If you look at the foundation of the country and how it was built, what we are seeing today is that this is coming to a head and we are hearing it in a louder fashion. Are not as cautious as expressing issues of race and animus towards other people. I see it in the immigration policy where they are pitting dreamers against those of african, caribbean, and other dissents, whether you will allow diversity lotteries. Speech it in much of the that was given to us at the state of the Union Address. Trying to color the dreamers as gang members. Of thethat individuals nfl who were speaking out in a patriotic manner, in my mind, were unamerican. An issue that goes back almost 300 years and is now just coming to a head. Host republican line. Caller good morning. You. Reciate sometimes i agree, sometimes i disagree. The vetting in the white house, i dont believe any of it. I believe there is a conspiracy. Every day the president is attacked. Out. Nk the truth will come im glad trey gowdy is investigating the fbi. Also, i do not believe that there is a race problem. I am white. I did not vote for obama, but i tolerated him and respected him as our president for eight years. I think it is violating disrespectful that every day the president is bullied. I really think that he wants to help the dreamers. I think that the democrats, it is very sad, they have gone so far left that all they do is obstruct. I do not believe that there is a race problem in the country. We took care of that years ago. Im very grateful that she has an opinion and feels free to express it. I do not necessarily agree with the opinions she has. We do have a race problem. I have four sons that are black young men who have been doing the right thing, yet every time they go out in the evening i am concerned for their life. That is not because they are doing anything bad, but for the color of their skin. You you talk about that tolerated president obama, that speaks volumes that you would think that someone as educated and sound of mind as he was that he needed to be tolerated as an individual and the president. First, lets be clear that trey gowdy is not investigating the fbi. He is investigating the process. To say that the president is being bullied is not true at all. I think that there are issues with which the president has operated that are outside not just the norm but the process. He is being pulled back into the process, because there is a reason that our founders put it in place. It is the institution of the United States that is more important than an individual. That is what this president will know at the end of the day. Thelly, when you talk about democrats being obstructionist, i think that the democrats are standing to a set of principles and values that they hold. When the president is willing to work within that value, we are willing to work with him. That is why you had a bipartisan budget that passed last week. Throughout the eight years of president obama the leadership of the Republican Party said publicly that we will obstruct and not get him anything that he is looking for. That, to me, is the ultimate in obstructionism. Host remind viewers of your relationship with james comey. Guest james comey was my boss. I was the appointee at the Justice Department. I worked for the Deputy Attorney general. James comey asked me to stay on and work with him. Wasrestingly, chris wray the chief of staff for Larry Thompson when i worked on that staff with about 12 attorneys working for him. I had a very Good Relationship with chris wray. I considered him a friend. I think that he is an amazing, upstanding american and will do what is necessary for the institution of the fbi. Host when he tells the version of the vetting of rob porter, do you believe him in what the process played out . Is contradictory to the white house and to the chief of staff. He is an appointee of the president. I think that chris wray is not just looking to uphold the fbi, integrity ofat the the process takes place. When he gave the timeline under oath, i believe the timeline he has given. And john kelly and the president have spoken, they have not spoken under oath under pain of perjury and criminal charges. Chris wray did that. When we year the president or john kelly under oath, i will have to weigh what they say at that point. Host the president s treatment of not only the fbi but james comey still, what do you think . Guest i think our president is a smart man, and he understands if he continues to chip that the fbi and question his integrity that when it comes after him there are Many Americans like the caller who will not believe what the fbi says because he has made an effort over the last year to impugn the integrity of that institution and what it does. So that its credibility is now in question. Host next, we will talk about thebook the making of president. Guest im so past that election. We are where we are now. We need to work with what we have. It is like crying over spilt milk. I have Great Respect for him and worked for him. I think he believes in the integrity of the American People. Attorney, i dont think it was appropriate for him to make any of the statements that he made. Whether it was the first one saying that they had an investigation or the second one reason we are reopening the investigation. Heart of the feeling he had to come out was in part because of , the attorney general general at the time, was recused from the matter and could not make statements herself. Host hello. Hello, everybody. I am wondering aloud, even if most ofider requests, those are legitimate in my point of view, if you look at the past 10 products that somebody declassified, in most cases they were all political gain in some way shape or form. Imo the opinion that we have to have a bill or bureaucracy where ,hey handle all of the vetting classification, declassification of products from our country. Host lets leave it there. Guest i think what the colors talking about is in some incidents, the most recent is the memo coming out of this intelligence committee. , democrats were shocked that there was this memo that was going to be not only drafted, but potentially released by the republicans. This is something that has not been done in the past with classified information. What we have not done in the past is that we do have a system in place, the National Security , saying, agencies that they thought it was problematic and a bad idea to release the memo. It was done anyway. We have checks and balances in our government. I think that there is now becoming a lack of respect for each branch of government and people overstepping their bounds. I believe the republicans overstepped their bounds. With the democrats were trying to do was to bring balance by having their own memo put out, which we felt refuted and brought light to some instances drafted by that was the republicans. I think there needs to be an enormous amount of self correction done by congress. We are outside the norms of government. I believe they are taking a cue from what is happening down the road at pennsylvania avenue. Dd from michigan. Caller how are you doing . I have a problem with the fbi and the Democratic Party, and mainstream media. It seems like they are all democrats and the media is the propaganda arm of the democrats, including cspan. Ave actively try to unseat duly elected president. No one is talking about how bad the fbi has treated president trump, regardless of him saying he did not trust the committee, he has a right to do that. Guest i do not think that the democrats are trying to unseat. Good or bad nancy pelosi, the leader of the Democratic Party and the democrats in the houses that she does not want to talk about impeachment. The president is the president and she is willing to work with him. She has gone to the white house on numerous occasions to do that. Ive never signed on to any impeachment bills. Majority of democrats have not done that. We are trying to work with the president we have, donald j. Trump, the 45th president of the United States. Most of us have moved on with that. The distrust of the fbi, the fbi is not trying to beat up on the president , but they are trying to follow the law. If the president is outside of the law, i think god that the fbi will not only check the president , but each american that is not going to follow the laws put in place by the people of the United States. Host give the status report on the Virgin Islands post hurricane. Grateful that Congress Passed a bill that gave us disaster funding and support, particularly in medicaid which allows us breathing room to build. In terms of disaster and what is we areng on the ground, compromised and a lot of areas. Our hospitals are not functioning properly. Most dialysis patients are off. Our children, we have lost nine schools so children are on a split shift where they are in and sharing hours space. Im hopeful that with this money we will begin to rebuild. It will take many years. We have seen examples of this am a whether it was new york and new jersey through sandy, louisiana and mississippi havegh katina, but we do things in place to do that. Host thank you for your time. Conversation with the Pennsylvania Republican representative Ryan Costello to talk about the future of health care and efforts to reform the Affordable Care act when we return. Weekend on American History tv on cspan3, saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on lectures in history, the former Virginia GovernorDouglas Wilder at virginia commonwealth university. I have one definition i use for politics. Can anyone guess what it is . What one word would define politics . Money. Give me something that is a proposition before any tribunal that does not involve money. Eastern at the. West point history for oral history, Henry Hank Thomas was a combat veteran during the vietnam war. My grandfather served in world war i. My father served in world war ii. Always, for a black man, when you served it was your military service that you hoped would as arm your bona fideness redblooded american citizen. America, with the cspan conference we look back to 1988 when president reagan spoke at a cpac dinner. Whate American People know limited government, tax cuts, and a move towards privatization have meant. It has meant the largest peacetime expansion in our history. I can guarantee they will not want to throw that away to a return to budgets beholden by the liberal special interests. Watch American History tv every weekend on cspan3. Q a, on the book on the power clash between the u. S. , china, and the pacific. There is a public shaming. China has lost a lot of face. It is hard for westerners to understand what that means to the culture, especially for someone as big and proud as china. They came away with a never again mentality. After that, they set off on a mindset of we will build up our navy and our Missile Defense forces in such a way that we are never in a space like this again we never lose face like this again. Washington journal continues. Costello, a republican, also on the energy and commerce committee. We start by talking about the shooting in florida. Your initial thoughts. If there is a role for Congress Going forward . Uest it is horrific i dont know what other word to use. The role of congress, if we go back to the Church Shooting in texas, when that happened i think that i was doing an interview that night and did not know what a bump stock was. Upon learning that came to believe on the heels of las that the texas role of congress, if there is happenedive to what will be understanding what the facts are and ascertaining what ore of legislation, if any, in the atf regulatory environment, what could should be done. I think the bump stocks should not be legal. If they are to be utilized, they should go through the same as if you were to get a fully automatic rifle, which is a rigorous process. Almost impossible to get. Until we know more about the details of what happened, it is difficult to see what the role of congress would be in response to this specific shooting. I only spelt that we should have background checks on all purchases. I always felt that we should have background checks on all purchases. I have legislation to say that states upload to the system so that if you are not allowed to purchase a gun that there is no nothing falls through the cracks. That is a big piece of it. Host if you want to ask questions, the phone lines will be on the screen. Republicans, 202 7488001. Democrats, 202 7488000. Ndependents, 202 7488002 health care is what we has to to come on about. Can you tell us what your interest is . Important piece of legislation. The republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act, which i voted against for a couple of reasons, did not get signed into law. We are looking at 2019 Health Insurance rates, which will make its way through the state Health Insurance commission and to the agency here so that next october new Health Insurance rates will come out for americans. The president , against the recommendations of many of us, decided to do away with costsharing reduction payment, which has the effect of raising Health Insurance rates for many low to middle income americans. , we haveg rid of csr the ability to reduce Health Insurance payments by 20 for Many Americans. That is coupled with 10 billion a year that would be taxed to states so they can implement their own Reinsurance Programs for anything from preventative care, maternity coverage, Mental Health whatever states feel they have to do to bring down rates on what is known as a federal fall back. You have the federal government being the backstop for those that are the most costly to the Health Insurance system, so that that has the impact across the board of lowering Health Insurance payments. I hope it would be a Pilot Program so that we know the best way to go about reducing and stabilizing the Health Insurance marketplace. A republican or democrat, everyone feels there is too much volatility yeartoyear and we need to do a better job in that arena, coupled with other things on reducing the cost of health care, which is different from Health Insurance costs. Host we have heard republicans it. On dismantling what would give stability to the Current System . Tost if youre going repeal, you need to demonstrate you will replace it with something better. Youegardless of whether dont like the Affordable Care act or not, what all the should volatile is a highly Health Insurance marketplace with unpredictable Health Insurance premiums spikes yeartoyear. What this does is for two years provide that stability we need. That does not mean we shouldnt, we should, continue to have debate in congress and hear from patient advocate Health Insurance providers, consumers, doctors, everyone in the supply chain of the Health Care System in our country, to find improvements to our Health Care System. Whether that means we change the name of the law and some of it remains, we revamp it probably, are we make incremental changes, most americans dont care whether im a republican or democrat, or if it is named the Affordable Care act or Something Else. They just want their Health Insurance to be stable, less expensive, and they want to know that the Health Care System is functioning at a more optimal level than it is now. Host how much support for your specific legislation has come from the speaker and the chairman of your committee . Guest i do not want to speak to the speaker comment other than to say that i believe there is committeeom the signed on. Of all greg walden has not, but indicated he is supportive. I have support for this bill amongst those in leadership, and i believe leadership looks favorably upon the idea. Withn to meet later senator collins, senator alexander, chairman walden to work out tweaks between the collins and alexander bills in the senate with mine in the house or that we have a unified approach. We are probably facing a march spending bill. S the idea is to wrap the tenants of this bill, this one specifically or a lot of pieces of it, into that spending bill. Host if it goes to the president desk, you are depending on his support . Guest i would encourage the president to sign it. Host other indications that he would veto . Guest i have not heard that, no. Host good morning. Caller i have a simple question. Congressman, i would like to ask this question. I do not want a scripted answer. Are you in favor of singlepayer, yes or no . Guest no. Caller i do not want to hear a scripted answer, yes or no. Host he just said no. Guest no. Caller let me hear it offline. Host he said it twice. You have your answer. Caller my problem with the whole thing, this is what im trying to say, this is what im now, i wake up in the morning and i breathe the air, i drink the water, and i dont have control of what you are putting in the water, the air, for the food. It makes me sick. Why should the government take care of my health care when you are causing the Health Problems . Guest the fda does have oversight and approval of drugs, food safety, some of that goes to the usda. The epa implements and enforces the clean air and clean water acts. I think what the caller was getting at, is why is the government involved in health care . I think everything from medicare cms which covers what will and will not be paid for, as well as the fda approval of drugs, the federal government does have a role in our lives. Regulations can go too far, but they are also there to make sure that the health, safety, and welfare of our country is what it is. Were looking to improve that in a way that does not stifle growth. Forant a Safe Community ourselves, our kids, our grandkids. Host virginia independent line. Caller my question is twofold. A quick comment. I do not think we need to change health care. We need to look at what we havent take stock of but we have. Find the specific areas where the Health Care System is failing. My problem is the changes that Congress Keeps making is i do not know if they are in the best interest of the American People versus the insurance industry. I think every congressman before they tell us their plan is to tell us how much money they take from the insurance company, Prescription Drug company, all of the companies that have such high stakes in the game. How much money in contributions have you taken from the Prescription Drug companies and Insurance Companies . Im sure you will say i dont know the exact figure, so guesstimate. Guest that is my answer. I dont know the exact figure. If you go online and type in my name, you will be pushed to a website called open secrets for who does and does not contribute to me. We need more transparency from outside organizations, who often find political campaigns without the candidates in knowing what is going on. I do think, and this is important, there are a lot of democrats in congress that i do not agree with from an ideological perspective, but i do not question their motivation or integrity. If you are a member of congress, you are making a lot of sacrifices to do this job. It is an honor and an obligation. Im doing it because i feel like i can make a positive contribution to my community and country come as does every other member of congress. The main point that i want to hone in on, which i agree with, is on the element of bush and we do to improve the Health Care System . I agree with you. Especially over the next two years that our focus should be improving incrementally the challenges associated with our Health Care System, weathered is part of the whether it is part of the Affordable Care act, or i have another bill dealing with a graduate medical education. We will have a doctor shortage lessby 2030 will result in doctors than we need for our society. I would like to do medicare sponsored graduate medical education slots, that after you go to medical school and during your residency, we need to increase that number by 3000 every year. It is a bipartisan bill. The main cosponsor is joe crowley, the chairman of the democratic conference. I cannot imagine that he will i cannot imagine he will not be supporting me when i go for reelection. Your job is to not focus on how you will be reelected, for job is to improve the welfare of the country and work with others who you may not agree with on other items, but you have to find out where you do agree so we can move our country forward. I would also say to improve the credibility of congress. Congress has a low approval rating. The best way to deal with that and bring about more credibility and trust from the American People is to make sure you are working with everyone as best you can and to find commonality. Host there is a story about idaho, the state regulator who runs health care there wants to make changes within the aca, saying that the department of insurance became the first regulator where injuries began offering statebased plans. That practice is banned under the aca. What you think about that approach through the aca . Guest i think state Health Insurance commissioners need more flexibility. When the rubber hits the road you have the 10 essential Health Benefits under the Affordable Care act. I think those 10 essential Health Benefits should be part of every Health Insurance plan. On preexisting conditions, i do not think that a state should carve out preexisting conditions so that if you have a preexisting condition a Health Insurance company would be able to charge you more. To the extent to which the Health Insurance commissioner is practicing flexibility to bring down cost is fine, but if you are undermining the integrity of the essential Health Benefits or putting in different price in buckets for patients based on if they have a preexisting condition or not, that is problematic and would lead to price segregation or patient segregation in the Health Insurance system. Where you can do something very efficient, and what my bill is intended to do, is if you have a Reinsurance Program so you do not have price discrimination for those with preexisting conditions, but can treat them differently so that the federal fall back and reinsurance model is used to bring down their costs without driving up the costs of those without preexisting conditions. That is how invisible risk pools in the reinsurance model would work. There is a way to do it that is appropriate and a way that could lead to a pernicious impact on our Health Insurance system or those who need Health Insurance the most. Pennsylvania. Ng, guest in the city or the suburbs of reading . Caller . In the city thank you for having me. I would say that we are paying copay 40 for specialist. When we got a bill from the insurance company, which i assume is the cost sharing part , is this the csr we are talking about that you would like to eliminate . That would be nice. It would be eliminating an extra having a blood test done and things like that. They keep sending us the csr, the cost sharing part, i think. I would like to find out if this is the one he would like to eliminate to help us out with the cost. Thank you. Guest the short answer without looking at your bill is i dont know. Csr payments are intended to reduce the cost of your Health Insurance premium, not your deductible. You will have a monthly premium and you will see your deductible, for your copay rather. If youre talking about your copays, what you would be looking to do next year is to get a Health Insurance plan that would have a lower deductible for dr. Visitation. Doctor visitation. What i would be looking to do is to provide what is called premium assistance. Host representative, the president in the state of the Union Address the individual mandate, how it was handled under the tax law. Listen to what he had to say. [video clip] we eliminated an especially tax that fell mostly on americans making less than 50,000 a year, forcing them to pay tremendous penalties because they could not afford governmentorder health plans. Of theal the core disastrous obamacare, the individual mandate is now gone. [applause] host what do you think about that approach . Guest the president was correct on wh was most impactedo by the individual mandate. 80 of those paying the penalty make less than 50,000 a year. The counter argument to why we should not have repealed it, is that this will lead to more it will create more uninsured. That is not accurate in the following respect. This does not mean you cannot purchase Health Insurance, it just means if you choose not to you will not pay a penalty. Incidentally, we reauthorize the childrens Health Insurance program for six years. I think it was added to to 10 years. Some of the savings we found was a consequence of getting rid of the individual mandate. But we need to do to stabilize the Health Insurance is to mystery institute csrs and allow our states to be creative in having a Reinsurance Program. The individual mandate would be separate from that. I always question the constitutionality of the individual mandate, but the Supreme Court upheld it. The president was factually accurate with what he said. There is political rhetoric disastrous and things of that nature, but he was correct on who pay the individual mandate penalty. It was those who do not make a lot of money. Host there was an effort to replace the aca with the American Health care act. Where did you vote. Guest against it on the floor. I voted for the framework out of committee, but what did not happen for me as we did not increase the tax credit so that if you would move off of Medicaid Expansion or receiving a subsidy, the credit that you would have received under the republican bill was not commensurate with what you had previously. I thought that would lead to a lot of folks that could not purchase Health Insurance. It would have created a state waiver so that states would not have had to offer, or be compelled to offer, the essential Health Benefits package. There was also under preexisting conditions the ability for states to price them differently. For those reasons, i felt like it missed the mark on some of the patient protections in the Affordable Care act which i feel are good and sound from a risksharing perspective in the Health Insurance industry. Host hi. Caller good morning. This is my second time about the it took mecare act. 14 years to get on disability. I have a mom who is 84 years old. She had open heart. I took her to the doctor yesterday and she is doing fine. This is all being paid for by insurance. We are fine. , i called wicker i talked to somebody on the phone and they wrote me a letter. I have voted against the Affordable Care act since 2009. I wish the president , all republicans, i wish they could walk in our shoes. They need to visit Nursing Homes , they need to be in mississippi where we are. Good point. Here is what i think. I think that every american should have access to affordable Health Insurance coverage. If that is your litmus test, you can evaluate any proposal through that lens. That means that for someone who does not make a lot of money, we need Health Insurance system that enables them access to affordable Health Insurance. If you qualify for medicaid, that is one thing. If you dont, and many dont, dont like the term, but the working poor. If you have a job at dont make a lot of money, your budget is very tight. We need to make sure that those who have those tight budgets have access to affordable Health Insurance coverage that leads to access to health care. Some of the criticisms, valid they are, of the Affordable Care act is that many had Health Insurance coverage but not access because of the cost of the deductible. This is a work in progress. Our Health Care System is very complex, and healthcare politics can be very heated. I think that cooler heads need to prevail. What im trying to do with my bill is to provide stability to the Health Insurance marketplace so that those who purchase Health Insurance, particularly on the exchanges in october, do not get sticker shock. As well as many Small Businesses who year to year, i used to own a small business, and if we had a good year we were able to give raises. Often, that was offset by the increase in premiums on health care coverage. We have to Work Together better in washington, d. C. Your point is very well taken. Talk aboutt to immigration politics. There was reports that immigration to deal with daca. What do you think about it and is it something you can support . Guest i would like to see the Senate Passed the bill. When the Senate Passes a bill, send it to the house. Have that be the framework. If that needs to be marked up in the house to get a majority and then sent back to the senate, thats fine. I think that in this environment, that 60 vote threshold in the senate needs to guide us if were going to get to the finish line. Has 4 pillars, to me there are at least 2, addressing daca with a permanent solution and more border security. I do not want americans to think that only means a big wall on the southern border. There is a lot in the way of technology that can be done to better secure our borders. In my district, i have a lot of agricultural and hightech workers. Esa reform is something we need to address as well. A visa reform is something we need to address as well. The sixth district, thank you for joining us. We are about to go to the house of representatives. President trump will address the mass shooting at 11 00 this morning. We now go to the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. The chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. The clerk the speakers rooms, washington, d. C. February 15, 2018. I hereby appoint the honorable michael k. Simpson to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. Signed, paul d. Ryan, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore the offered offd