Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20130802

Host representative steny hoyer of maryland, the number two House Democrat host this is how the New York Times concludes its front page article host that again its from the New York Times. Here is the wall street journal specifically on a spending bill issue that came up this week. Senate spending bill blocked host well, we want to get your views on the federal budget and the process as the Congress Gets ready to recess. They are in today, and after that, five weeks off. The federal budget is uncertain as congress recesses. For republicans, 202 5853880 for democrats, and 202 5853882 for independents. You can also contact us through social media, cspanwj is our twitter and appeared you consider email if youd like to journal cspan. Org. Hill newhell savor this morning host that is from the hill newspaper. And from politico this morning john boehner calls for a shortterm continuing resolution. Heres a little bit from the speaker from yesterday. [video clip] the appropriators have a tough job over the last couple of years. They have taken a lot of tough votes in their committee. So i understand the frustration that they are dealing with. But i just want to make clear the sequestration is going to remain in effect until the president agrees to cut some toorms that will allow us remove it. The president insisted on the sequester, and none of us wanted, none of us like it. There are smarter ways to cut spending. The house has moved twice over the last year and a half to replace the sequester. We saw no action in the United States senate. So if they want the sequester to go, we will have to get serious about our longterm spending problem. Host that was a little bit of Speaker Boehner from yesterday. On our facebook page, a lot of conversation already going on. Cut jay, he says everything but basic services. Jimmy says, if obama cared, he would be a better president. He dont, so here we go again. Jeff says nothing new from this pathetic congress. Theiams comments let government shutdown, maybe they will be able to screw us, spy on us, or cover their scandals up. Who am i kidding, they will find a way to do that anyway. Another says eliminate republicans in the house, eliminate the problem. And tom says they should have their pay suspended for not doing their job. Oregon on our, democrat line. What do you think about the federal budget and federal budget process as it stands . I think they are just playing games with us because they try to do this once before. My question is, as a senior citizen, i get my Social Security from my bank. If that money does not know when, and i live in housing, which is also government, how might going to pay my rent . As far as people that have automatic payments that come out of their accounts, those are going to go unpaid, and there will be fees from the banks. But we will stack up before we ever know if we will get any money. When will we get our money if they close the government . , is Social Security, are they going to put me on the street . Host that is ruby in eugene, oregon. From politico senator tom coburn continued his criticism of infection of his party host robert is a republican in baltimore. Caller hi. This budget thing is a mess. The house passes lots and lots of budget things that never get picked up in the senate, and the Senate Finally passes a budget, and the house will not take it up. You know, we have got to pass it in both houses of congress, so somebody has got to Start Talking to somebody to figure out what they can get through. At least ink god, my opinion, for sequestration. At least that is limiting the amount of spending that is going on out there. I like the fact that the president wants to take credit for deficit reduction, but it is because of the sequestration how ithe complains about is actually happening. So i do not know. Something has got to happen because the 17 trillion is something that, you know, i do not think any american can wrap their head around as far as a national debt. The reality is eventually that ruby was just talking about it, eventually those checks are not going out. Those checks are not going out to the people that need them. Thiss the congress fixes because the administration has not offered any meaningful solution to this problem. I think somebody needs to get the big boy pants on and do something about it. Int that is robert baltimore. Robert, thank you for calling in. A couple more facebook comments. And cut the whole budget make all feds fill out a requisition for payments with a Job Description of their duties and exactly what they do from start to quit. Xavier says the government just received a record 2. 7 trillion in tax revenue, but that is not enough to operate from . That means there is a major problem with this government. Bobby is a democrat in urbana, illinois. Hi, bobby. Caller hello. My comment is the republicans have not done nothing since we have president obama in office. I think it is a shame. Theyre going on a reset, they have a conference all day. People have got to realize that whenever they talk about cutting about spending, they talk about cutting your benefits like Social Security. They want to cut that. It is not obama that wants to do it. It is those doggone republicans. It is a shame that we got these evil in office and all they are doing is holding up progress. I thank you very much. Donna in york, pennsylvania, republican. Caller how are you this morning . Host good. Congress, if they are out for five weeks again, that is all a thing to do is go out and leave all the time. And another thing, they should not shut down the government, they should just stop the money going into obamacare. We do not need obamacare. Thank you. Host cnn did an analysis about congress, and here is the headline congress in d. C. Far less than it used to be. It is by lisa desjardins. Host that is a little bit from the cnn article. The next voice we are going to dale, from pennsylvania. Caller i wanted to call about the guy who said the deficit is only decreasing because of the sequestration. That is not your. You have to stop that is not true. You have to stop listening to those people on fox news and the other liars. The deficit has decreased every year since obama has been in office. Detroit, youention hear about the vagrancy, they put on the labor unions and the government there and so forth. Is a placeriver called windsor, candidates, where Ford Motor Company have a major plant. That plan does not have to pay for the medical benefits for the workers. That is why ford is very successful. Youve got to look at everything within that aim. Just General Motors did not know what they were doing. Motors the general pushing brooms making 100 an hour. I tell you what, funny one of those jobs, and i will give you 20 of my pay every week. Thank you very much. Host the next call independent line. Valerie, you are on the washington journal. Caller good morning. Benjamin should quit listening to the liars on msnbc. What i really called to see as i do not see how there will ever be a copper mines when you have one side that look believes in Big Government and one and more spending and one side that leaves in Smaller Government and less spending. I do not see how there can never be a copper mine. A compromise. They are two totally different, nothing in common. Host valerie, where do you stand on that . Caller i stand for i want Smaller Government and less spending. Countryhaving half the on entitlements. I am a selfemployed, Small Business owner. I work my ass off. I mean, sorry. I cannot even tell you how many hours i work. Just seeing 47 whatever of the people who are not working at all, and so many people working parttime not of their own choice, i am for getting the government out of our every single waking moment and every breath we take and getting less control of us. Let us just live our lives. I am totally against what is happening what right now. Host what kind of business you have . Caller i am in communications. Host and how does the government affect your working life . Caller well, i have a lot of customers. I work for many different types of business because i installed wiring for phones and computers and voicemail systems, computer networks. I work for just about any kind of business you can think of. And i have lost in this administration 50 of my customers. That has been because theyre no longer there. They have gone out of business. They have not been able to afford staying in business. They cannot pay what they cannot of all of the high costs everything, the regulations have driven them out of business or in i have lost out of business. I have lots half of my customers. Most of them are gone or hanging on with skeleton crews. I know their parking lots are in deep. Warehouses that have Construction Supplies and things. There is hardly anybody there. Things just a are not going good. I dollyou, i do not care what in bc msnbc tells you. It is not that good up there. You have people that are surviving but not thriving. There is a big difference. Host valerie, one more question, from your perspective in hawaii, what discovers look like . Caller the state congress or federal host u. S. Congress. From your perspective in hawaii, how does the u. S. Congress by karen washington look like . Caller u. S. Congress, that goes back to the very beginning of what i said. I dont see how theyre going to come to any agreements because you have two different ways one wants bigger government, one wants smaller, one wants more spending, i feel like they i guess theyre both doing what their constituents are asking them to do. ,ne side one thing, spend more more government, the other side being the opposite. So i guess they really kind of are doing what we are asking them. Were just asking them to do two opposite things. Ost thank you, valerie we appreciate it. This is from a recent pew poll that came out. They were asking they were talking to the members of the Republican Party about their party and how they wanted to see it go, and they say move in a more conservative or moderate directional policy. 40 to host larry in canton, massachusetts, the federal budget rosses and the federal budget is uncertainty as Congress Gets ready to is uncertain as congress is ready to reset spirit what are your thoughts . Caller good morning. I am a republican, black man. I own my business am i am doing well appear, i do not see anything that suggests that i will be able to cut back on the budget. You have all the of these folks here now. You can throw them off. Cant throw you them off. I agree that you need to scale back your how to do that is debatable. I think giving the president obama a hand, he played well. He could have done it better. But overall, i am pleased with the direction of the country. I do not think we went from a gloom and doom period. Some people are doing well, some are doing some are not feared overall, some are not. Overall, most of my friends are doing well and i am doing well here. My company is doing well, so are my employees. So again, there are some sectors that are not doing that well. That i will agree with you on that. Overall, it is not a gloom and doom situation in america. That is my personal view. I think that in time, it will work itself out. Title we the must do something about the entitlement program. If it were not for obama, it has been this way for a wild you cannot blame him about folks who are getting all of these so called Free Services in my opinion. Host what kind of business . Caller we are in mental health. Host and why are you republican . Caller because i believe in their tenets, their principles, Smaller Government, i believe in that. Strong military, i believe not. But they work hard. Throw my neighbors overboard because im doing well. One time i was not doing so well. So because im doing well now, do i say to hell with them and throw them aboard . I dont think so. So we have got to have a better approach how we help you use programs come the state understand you have a lot of folks out here give support because if you give them free stuff, there was a advantage of it. But i do not say because im doing well now, to heck with them. All right, larry, thank you for your time. Back to the Pew Research Poll of republicans. All republicans agree with the , thearty 37 say yes registered republicans, 42 . Always vote in the primary it goes up to nearly half, 49 . Disagree with or no opinion of the tea party, 60 . The next call is lenny, a democrat in prescott, arizona. Lenny, you are on the washington journal, talking about the federal budget and the federal budget process. Caller good morning. I would like to assert that i know exactly what is going on here. Let me run it by you. Thedefine the word word as fast as him. Is fascism. Fascism is the dismantling of government including programs and services through corporate takeover and privatization of public assets with belligerent and primitive patriotism. That is what is going on here. Want to do is privatized for corporate profits our assets, national parks, transportation, postal service. They want to privatize it for corporate profits, which means our taxes will skyrocket. So the Big Government, small government thing that debate is they want to privatize our democracy. That is what im here to assert. I hope everybody heard that definition. Host that was lenny in prescott, arizona. Heres the front page of the Washington Post this morning no budget deal in sight as congress nears break. Host leaders of both parties say they want to avoid these outcomes. Republicans have so far refused to open official negotiations with democrats over either a budget blueprint for 2014 or over suspend specific spending bill host that is from the Washington Post this morning. This article is in the New York Times. This is about what the house is going to be doing this morning. They come in at 9 00 a. M. Republicans reveal effort to cripple healthcare law. Robert pear writes host rudy, ontario, california on our independent line. What are your thoughts about this discussion this morning . Good morning to everyone. I have a couple of comments. One of them is that we are discussing a federal budget, but we are using a message to look at it. I am an independent because i believe that we need to really look at the system under which we live, which is capitalism. It is something you dont ever hear about. The wall street journal on by Rupert Murdoch does not ever mention capitalism. There is no one in television that mentions the system under which we live. Which says that we must live a certain amount of profits. When you try to make a budget for the government, the government does not run like a business. People, both democrats and republicans, want to run it like a business because it has been run like a business since the civil war. We will go back and all the things that were made, they were made in, they are still being made now. So the people have benefited from the civil war our stomach and the money. Civil war are still making the money. They want to use the budget to do how they can further things for their friends who put them in office. And who are their friends . Make aple who want to profit. When you legalize greed, and this is what is going on now, we are legalizing greed. You have wall street, not one person, they say they cant confirm, they can put them in our ear why is that . They pass laws and they tell you straight out i am doing wrong, but it is the law. So who make things laws who makes these laws . Leave itre going to there. That is rudy in ontario, california. Get over it next week ghetto if youll be shut down the government, they will not be reelected in november. Another newspaper host top gop tax writers like senator john thune say comments like schumers make them even more skeptical. Michigan. In you are on the washington journal. Caller sir, how are you doing . Host good. Caller thank you for allowing me to be on the air, and i really love the network. I listen to the litany of in, fox news,g csm msnbc, cnn, obviously the agendaannels will have and they both have a narrative that they push, which is dividing conquer. And argue is divide and conquer and argue. Our budget, the last time i look, we bring in two point 4 trillion of the country and revenue from the taxpayers. Trillion of the country and revenue from taxpayers. Were at 60 trillion in debt. Medicare liability of the 85 trillion. Eclipsedoan debt just 1 trillion. Credit card debt is approaching 1 trillion. I cannot understand why people are sitting here arguing. We all have gotten here on a different ship. Were now on the same boat. We will all sink together. I am ae democrats republican, yes, am i proud, no. Have they helped manifest debt along with the democrats . Absolutely. But we will be sitting here fighting over democrat, republican. Our country is completely game bankrupt today. And my daughters future outcome does not seem to well at 11 years old. It is crazy. I wish that people would come together. The goal of the parties is to divide. Said, wel like i all got on a different ship but we are here on the same boat. Our country is completely bankrupt. Host that is smart and on our republican line. This is from the smoking gun this morning host in light of what was happening, it seems obvious to ask ms. Cretu to delete e mails. On a regularos basis, lots of family photos with her nieces, who she adores, family reunions, her wedding anthem bathing suit photos, nothing improper. This will they french at that electronically became very personal and then back to normal this was a friendship that became very personal and then went back to normal. Host here is the photo in question that they are talking about. There is secretary powell and the romanian diplomat. This again is from the smoking gun this morning. Incompetent, california, democrats line. Your thoughts on the federal budget process. Compton,is in california. Caller oh, hi, thank you for taking my call. I have been wondering how many people have been laid off because of cutting Government Spending. That is adding to the unemployment. Businesseso causing to go out of business because when the people are unemployed, they do not have any money to spend. People have more we dont have less people in the United States, do we . You need more help. And you do need government to do it because people are not going to help people. The majority of them. They are selfish. They only want to themselves. For thank you, eddie calling in. Barbara tweets no one noticed our major problems started with the tea party being in power and tried to destroy government. Job 1 turn is on each other. Allher writes we are discussed with commerce, but these same think opposite people keep getting reelected. Most peculiar. M politico this morning poll predicts tight race. Mitch mcconnell and Allison Grimes are running in a 2014en kentucky state race host this is also from morning new gingrich, i am on a team paul cruz host another 1 why rand paul in Chris Christie went to war connecticut onn our independent line. Were talking about the federal budget process this morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I enjoy your show. Basically, all i see is two guys fighting, excuse me, to parties fighting and getting nothing done. They should give their payback for not accomplishing anything during this session. You have unfunded mandates, filibusters, and people that like to hear themselves talk. They do not keep their campaign or their oath of office they out and out lie to the public to get elected. I used to think of myself as middle class. Yet i could never get elected to congress because i am not a millionaire. You have to be a millionaire to get elected to congress now. And, you know, host we are going to leave it there, the connection is getting kind of crinkled. Can is in georgia, republican is in georgia, republican line. Caller good morning and thank you for taking my call. I have been listening to some of the comments that the callers describing how government layoffs. Result in more and the lady from, i think arizona, referring to the republicans efforts to cut back on the size of government as being fascism. This is idiocy. If i ran my household, my personal budget the way the federal government spends money in excess of what it takes in, i would be in jail. I would be a homeless person. That theimportant republicans continue to exert ,fforts to control and limit reduce the size of the entitlement programs that are bankrupting america. Yes, i believe in government to support the functions that keep security, defense, infrastructure needs to be but when mr. Obama talks about we need to have more investment, we ought to remind ourselves of the infamous expression used years ago these are the tax andspend democrats come and Charles Schumer is working so hard to raise tax rates on the socalled rich. The 39. 6 , shows you that the democrats are unwilling to help improve our country. We have some of the highest if not the highest Corporate Tax rates of any industrialized nation in the world. So these are the taxes democrats and mr. Obama and his cohorts want to enlarge the size of government so that we would be like a socialist country. And we saw the countries in the european union, greece, italy, others default because when the cow runs dry, who is going to support all of these people who are relying on Government Spending . Dollars that are supporting those programs. Host from the Washington Times this morning, x freddie irisfficial tapped to lead irs. Here is his picture, and here is a little but of his resume. Host that is a little bit of his resume. Thisrom usa today morning democratic super packs outraged gop in a stark reversal of 2012. Times thisw york morning obama narrows field for fed chair. Larry summers, janet yellen, and a third candidate that they refer to as a dark horse, his kohn, a former coh fed vice chair. Senate again confirms dempsey as a joint chiefs chair. The Senate Conference chairman of the joint chiefs martin density to a second twoyear term by voice vote on thursday. This is also from the hell go represented it from the issa, representative subpoena state department for benghazi documents host that is in the hill if you want to read further on that issue. Judy, democrat, what are your thoughts about the federal udget process yo process . Caller we keep electing the same people over and over. I believe in term limits. I really, truly believe that we will solve our problems if we could get new people in their. In there. We keep electing the same people. So were getting the same results. Are much moretion openminded and educated, and i think we need new blood in there , and we would solve our problems. Thank you for taking my call. Host now, if you would like to continue this conversation, quite an active conversation going on on our facebook page. Facebook. Com cspan. You can continue the conversation there. Weew more articles before break for our first guest this morning. This from the front page of the Financial Times americans spending more time on digital devices been tv screens host that is just a little bit from that article. This is from usa today this morning wiener and spitzer void by like voters. Buoyed by black voters. Host that is from usa today this morning. We have two members of congress coming up this morning that we will talk about some of the issues we talked about this morning, and about some other specific issues. Isresentative lee terry currently in his eighth term, republican from nebraska. One of the x or issues we will talk to him about it the xl pipeline proposal. After that, representative Tony Cardenas is a democrat from ella 40. He is in his first term. Were going to talk to him about immigration as well as other issues. First, we want to show you about something that will be airing on booktv in American History tv this weekend. For the past year or so, we have been featuring different cities on these two networks, looking at their history and some of their Literary History as well. This weekend, it is carson city, nevada on the booktv and American History tv. Heres a little bit of what you will see this weekend. Plus, you know, we have a cut a good mix of elderly folks and young folk, about 25 of already of our population is hispanic. Gold was the progenitor of how United States got started because we financed the civil war for the north. As you can probably guess since we are the capital, one of the Major Industries as the political environment. Carson city is home to all three branches of government the supreme court, the legislative, and the lieutenant governor. Another part is tour is on. We have a lot of people who come to look at the train and our surrounding area and look at our landmarks. We have Light Industrial companies who are probably next to our Healthcare Systems in the carson city probably our largest employment basin carson. It is a good quality of life. Times got hard in 2008, really hard, and it is important in my view that carson city be able to weather the storm without flying back on hill. We have a challenge right now on our wastewater system because it is getting old and we are now finding that we have to raise the capital to replace that wastewater system. The other thing is just making sure that we stay ahead of the economy, to attract people, to attract companies, to attract younger people with families. That is a challenge. Want to Times Companies Cover Economic developed purposes, have some cash or money, we do not have anything to give. What we have is quality of life. That is what we promote here. Span, the sweet and on c live coverage of the National Governors Association Annual summer meeting in milwaukee, wisconsin. This year, they discuss national and the structure in the global economy. Sunday, live at noon on cspan2. Booktvs indepth, your question for authors and head of pediatric neurosurgery at johns hopkins, then carson. And on cspan3s American History tv, 1968 from the assassination of Martin Luther king junior and Robert Kennedy to the tet offensive sunday at 1 00. Continues. Journal host now on your screen is congressman lee terry, a republican from nebraska, a member of the energy and congress committee. Represent omaha. We were talking about the budget process this morning in our for segment of the washington journal, and the fact that the congress is leaving and there are some budget issues coming up and the potential shutdown october 1. What are your thoughts . Well, this happens every year this time of year where we start worrying about the continuing resolution because the appropriation bills have not been passed. We have past four or five in the house, struggling to even do that. And so it just means september its going to be an interesting month. Host what is a happen every year . And what would you like to see happen in september . With regard to a c. R. Guest it happens every year because there are different philosophies on passing appropriation bills between a house in the senate. It seems like we always get to this point, but this year seems obamacaretic because many of my colleagues on both sides of the capital want to use this as the waterloo, this is where they want to put the stake in the ground on obamacare to defund it. That level to have of discussion in september when we get back. Whether or not we are going to do that. Host what about what the speaker had to say yesterday about a continuing resolution and that sequencers and should stay in place . Guest absolutely. Sequestration number one has to say in place third those are the only budget cuts that we have certainly a get machete approach is inappropriate. Maybe we can work on doing it the right way. But we need to keep those cuts in place. Speaker is trying to work to have the least dramatic october 1 or september 30. That is his job. I wish him well and that, but it is going to be difficult. Terry, aresentative couple of the articles that we saw in this mornings paper were about divides within the Republican Party among a the rand paulChris Christie kerfuffle. Ea party is there Division Within the party as well yo . Guest there are a range of philosophies within the Republican Party as well as any Democratic Party. We seem to get more attention for hours, maybe rightfully so because it does seem more dramatic. Onthat puts more pressure the speaker and the majority leader to build the coalition, so to speak. I think it is healthy to have the range of philosophies from libertarian to more moderate republicans, but most of us are in just kind of the traditional, mainstream republican. That is the majority of the party. But i like friday. Host like variety. Host if you would like to produce they in our conversation of a couple more issues. Including the issue of this mornings vote. What is the bill that the house will be voting on this morning you go this morning . The irs healthcare bill. Guest the bill is to hopefully prevent the irs from being the masters of obamacare. Many of us are very concerned,specially after the scandal where politics has overcome his sensibilities, that they can do. He same thing they will be the enforcers, so they will have all of the healthcare data, whether you are signed up or not. That is part of the data hub, all of that information is funneled to the irs, and we want that issure that protected and that the irs has less involvement in our healthcare. Host and something thats goes right through your state, the xl pipeline. What is the status of the xl pipeline . Guest limbo is the status. The president recently has made some comments that lead us to believe he is leaning against the pipeline. He made some rather dramatic comments on the lack of jobs being creative being created that were totally out of thin air. We dont know where he came up with them or why he came up with them. That leads me to think that they will either continue to eight ignore it atr best or kill it. Two weeks ago, we passed my keystone bill. Maybe the senate will be in a position in september to do the same. Host why are you supportive of the Keystone Pipeline . About Energy Security for me, and the jobs are a bonus. I would love to see us get off of the oil. There is enough oil coming in canada that we can completely offset Venezuelan Oil coming into the United States. The fact is both the studies from the state department as well as others show that we will have tens of thousands of , and thenon jobs according to the state department study, as much as 42,000 spinoff jobs during the construction. Host when you look at the map and you see how it dissects the state of nebraska, what is the impact, environmental and other impacts . The Environmental Impact is the focal point right now. Point was to study the ecological impact i found that they would be minimal. Transcanada has added extra safety precautions into this pipeline to assure or do their best to prevent any leaks. If there were elite, it would be smaller than other pipelines. Terry is our guest, republican from nebraska. Phone numbers are on the screen if you would like to produce pate in our conversation. Ena, republican mike. Caller i live in pennsylvania. It is regarding the sequester. I dont understand why they have to attack the hardworking person that is worked all their life and try to make something of themselves. It is senseless when they needed to do Something Else other than a taxi hardworking person. They need to start drilling for oil, they need to stop shipping our factories overseas. They need to start letting people work that want to work. Host all right, i think we got the point. Lee terry . Guest i agree that we need to focus more on jobs and job creation, which we have lost 5 Million Manufacturing jobs. To sevenlast six years, and we need to get this back. So you are right on point. I think that should be the focus. In fact, on tax reform, again gettingurers manufacturers back. Tax reform is important. It is what we have part is that the keystone xl that will to 10,000ectly 6000 construction workers when you add in the southern route. Those are the types of projects they get people off of the bench and into construction and working again. So throwing no sites of jobs to the sky is just wrong. We need to embrace more of those, and energy is a host eric is in freeport, texas , democrat. Caller everyday filthy rich sell 40e Oil Executives million gallons of gasoline and diesel to foreign companies. Foreign countries. They buy over a million barrel of crude oil from 9 11 murderers and sell them to communist. You dont want to say a word about it. Why is it you do not want to talk about Energy Exports . To approve the pipe as far as oklahoma so it is easy to sell to americans and harder to sell to foreigners and we should a. M. The sale of gasoline, diesel, and natural gas to foreign companies. Thank you. Think well, i personally exports of our access is good and healthy for our economy. They create jobs, two. I want to make sure from the Keystone Pipeline to that the oil transported from canada through that pipeline does stay in the United States. The reality is, it goes to i think as many as six or seven refineries from kansas, oklahoma, texas, to louisiana. Doubt that the vast majority if not 100 of the gasoline will be distributed within the United States and not put on. Do export diesel because we dont use the soul like europe does. So, we have had a symbiotic relationship. We send them our diesel and they send us their gasoline. And also some of the lubricant and Manufacturing Products that thatight products from oil we dont use will be exported, too. Those are actually healthy for our economy. Host representative terry, an issue that does affect nebraska but you do not necessarily think about nebraska when you talk about immigration. How does it affect nebraska . Personally on the issue of immigration and how would you like to see it . Guest it does affect nebraska. Plants inlot of we rely on that hispanic labor. We have had a good share of immigrants into both omaha, my district, as well as other cities throughout nebraska. Where i am is, we need reform. We absolutely need to attack this issue. This is and i think pretty much the consensus of the republican conference, too it is hard to get to how do we deal with 11 million or 12 million here when we still have not resolved the issues of Border Security and those that are hiring the undocumented workers. Stop secure the borders, have memorable a measurable goals along the border and have a tough ee verify, and i would go as far as biometrics, then we could get to the next phase. I personally want to see those in place or at least a trigger before we get to the next phases. If we do that, i am willing to put on to the table a path away, maybe not as an ship but at least a legal status. But we need to have Border Security and either verify forced the first. Host when you hold town meetings, what are the one or two issues that are brought up . Guest i have no doubt that during my town halls in august that immigration will be number one. Mailsr from stories and e sent into my district that Climate Change will be an issue. Since i am the Keystone Pipeline guy, i assume i might have people traveling to omaha to express their concerns about the Keystone Pipeline and using oil that is supposedly having a bigger affect on the climate. Host what about the nsa issue we have been facing in washington . Guest it is an interesting issue that concerns me. But it is interesting when i am home, i dont hear it much. Small group ofa people. But when i am just at the coffee shop, that doesnt come up. Up a lot. Mes host jake in fairhaven, massachusetts. Independent line. Lee terry. Republican of nebraska. All her cohow is it going . Caller i was a going . I think the major deal as people think they should make a lot more money than they should. I think they should give a good cap scott two people working parttime tax cut for people working parttime jobs but not making a lot of money. Get aple would want to parttime job or maybe not such a great job. I think that would put more money in their pocket. I notice when people get their tax returns and whatnot, they put all that money back into whatever buying a new tv or whatever. I think that would help the economy out. I talk to people and they think they should be making 20, 30 an hour because they think they deserve it. But really what i think it is, if they gave a good tax break to the parttimers and the people making the 40,000. Good point, jake. The reality is we need to completely reform our tax code. I would say if we if you are a part timer, the only tax being paid is the one in your Social Security and medicare account for your future. When you reach 65 or maybe a little bit older, if there any reforms, if you are a young person. We need to reform our tax code. There are two philosophies that are competing right now. Art of the argument on tax the republicans are looking at how do we make our country and our businesses and our people more competitive in a global economy. When other companies have countries have lowered the Corporate Tax rates and individual rates to be more competitive and stealing away our manufacturing jobs . Or is it being used as a social issue to redistribute income into the unit in the United States . I fall in the competitive side. Lets have a tax code that makes us more competitive. Lets grow good paying jobs and that will increase wages. Thats the story on how to increase wages. Host representative terry, a ewer tweets in guest well, that is going to be part of the debate. But the reality is, we need to employerstem where theyheck on whether or not are documented or undocumented, legal or not. There has to be a system there. They hired them, if that system is in place and they go and hire an undocumented worker, i think the law should come down hard on them. But they have to have that ability. In a viewer tweets well, it is priced at the world market. That split hairs with you it is put on the world market, but there is no doubt that gasoline and oil is a commodity. Whether you are selling it in omaha, nebraska, or lubbock, texas, the reality is it is priced at a world level. But it can be distributed in the United States. The dirty oil aspect of it. Thet of all, it is equal to Venezuelan Oil coming in, at least for the refining purposes. It is basically the same heavy crude. Yes, it is a heavy crude. But that is the majority of our imports right now now are heavy crude. Haymarket, is in virginia. Republican. Caller good morning. Cold effect cold direct coal laclede makes energy we cannest use. I always get aerial chuckle out of people saying the oil is 30. That is why they call it refining. We are taking all of the pollutants out of the gasoline and making it clean and putting it in our cars. It is not rocket science, it is refining. For people not to understand it only 40 scientists who believe in global warning. Provenscientists have that the scare tactics of the Global Warming extremists to be nothing but a fraud. I dont know why we keep talking about something that simply does fact thatin the Global Warming does not have any Scientific Evidence to prove it. Guest i kind of fall in the category of, if we can make it cleaner and use it more efficiently, then we should. I think that is a conservative value. So, i have no problem making our vehicles more energy efficient. But you are right on the oil aspect and all of it is somewhat dirty, and that is what refining is about. The impuritiesut and make it into a usable type of fuel. We need to keep that. It has to be part of our portfolio. A diverse fuel portfolio. That is why we i support natural gas going into transportation. Which is a cleaner fuel made in america. Host representative terry, i want to get your reaction to in theheadline Washington Post on the current budget impasse. Guest well, that is one of our values. When i talked earlier about that we do have a spectrum of views within our Republican Party which is good that i think united is Smaller Government, less spending. At has been a republican mantra forever that has been a republican mantra forever. The issue is, how do we when we have an administration and a senate that wants to keep spending more, it really highlights the differences between the parties will we stand for less spending and really fight for it. That is what is going to happen again will we get to the cr and then the debt ceiling in november. We will have a fight over spending. Host how would you grade the 113th congress of far . Guest i will give the house a b. I do not know if i have ever rated the senate above a d. They just take things any more i am used tothan in the house and it seems to have been aggravated over the last couple of years, the last couple of sessions. And it is very frustrating. It seems to be in the senate the president does not want it on his desk, nothing gets through the senate. Host will in vermilion, ohio. Democrats like. Caller representative terry, a couple of quick points. Why do you republicans always been everything . Why cant you come out and tell the truth . A couple of examples. Corporate tax rate. I hear republican saying we have the highest Corporate Tax rate. What they never ever say is that the effective Corporate Tax rate in america is actually one of the lowest in the world. Take out right off and the doctrines and that sort of thing we have one of the lowest Corporate Tax rates in the world. Of american corporations dont even pay federal taxes. The second point i would like to make is the Keystone Pipeline. You and i both know that the American People are going to take all the risk for this pipeline but almost all the products from that pipeline the vast majority is going to be shipped overseas at a higher profit. It will not be used by the American People. Thank you for listening. Guest i dont know if there is a point there that i would agree with. The facts clearly show that the oil is going to refineries in the u. S. That will mostly be distributed. Process where the the gasoline is going to mostly stay here, its not 100 of it. Yes, there have been oil products always exported out of the United States, even when we had the deep east reliance on opec oil. It does make us more energy secure. What was the first part of that . I did not get it written down. One of our democratic talking points that i would also disagree with. Of overtook med because that is just the bullet points that the environmentalists are putting up. Host the Corporate Tax rate. Corporate tax rate. I disagree that the effective tax rates are the lowest in the world compared to other flat taxes around the country. Major companies in the United States were just in omaha, nebraska, taking effective tax rates in the 30s. We had testimony in front of my committee i chaired the manufacturing and trade we had atee and manufacturer of car parts in michigans testified that they wonder why they dont just move across the border to canada which has a 15 flat tax. That is a reallife story of how our tax code is actually hurting manufacturing. Host catfishkim tweets in very good. Good questions. I actually met with our u. S. Dealmakers and transcanada on using u. S. Steel. Most of it is u. S. Steel and transcanada says that they cant get enough u. S. Steel and they have to supplement what they import. We have asked them to use as much u. S. Steel as possible. Michael doyle, a democrat from pittsburgh, was actually part of those discussions as well, and a real advocate. I thank mike doyle for allowing me to team up with him on the effort. The aquifer one runs from kansas,kota, nebraska, oklahoma, down to texas. It is a rocky formation that holds water. It is important to our agriculture in nebraska. And we have to protect it. I am glad we had conversations with transcanada and the pipeline. They are adopting additional safety issue equipment and engineering to protect the aquifer. The two studies that have been done on how the pipeline would affect the aquifer says that the risks are minimal. Tweets inandemocrat guest well, if we build the itlitions and votes so, is more than just what the tea party once. It has to be what the majority wants. So, we are small government. Willo, if you are asking republicans vote for more government and more spending . No, it is against our philosophy. Host grace is in long beach, new york, on the independent line. Good morning. You are on washington journal. Caller i remember the alaskan pipeline. Guest yes. Caller they hired a lot of people. Then they started messing with the peoples money. What is going to happen with this the line host we got a bad connection but i think we got the point. She is talking about the Alaska Pipeline. It sounds like she dont pretty negative. The alaskan pipeline has been a great asset to the United States. If you ask most of the tribal people in alaska, they have benefited from it greatly. Not only from the direct jobs but the payments to the tribes for going through their lands. Aspects with the alaskan pipeline now is it is running only about half capacity. Out ave to figure host why is that . Guest the north shore oil is diminishing, so we have to be able to expand. There is a lot of oil out there that we can get to. That is part of the ad more anwar debate. We can fill up the capacity if we are allowed to expand safe ecological filling. But the wages are the highest wages. There are people before the field explosions not explosions, per see the boom in oil in north dakota, they would go to alaska to work on the pipeline because of the great salaries that were paid. Host have there been ecological problems with the Alaska Pipeline . Guest there have probably been some leaks, but in fact, i cant bring up one story where there has been negative ecological impacts. In fact, the only one i can think of is the positive one, that the caribou population has increased i hate to say it this way, kind of crude. Ture of the pipeline, and thedle around it population increases. Something about warm and reproduction go together. Host dayton, ohio. Bill, republican line. Caller how are you . Guest great, how are you today . Thatr i love your comment clean and efficient is conservative. Stick with that. I am really proud of that comment. What i am calling about is the phony argument is there is not enough natural Gas Infrastructure to have natural gas cars. Would be, everyday i take a shower with a natural gas water heater. I cook steak on my natural gas grill. A wife seems to manage natural gas oven pretty handily. Why cant i fill up my car in my garage . I can even contract for the natural gas on an annual basis and know exactly how much i am going to spend on fuel every year. The argument that you have to have a bunch of gas stations out aere so you cant start is phony argument that i think is brought on by the people who cokes, because if you do not have the good to the minimart to buy gas, you smokes, andkes, potato chips. I think the real argument is they are really just fighting it off because the infrastructure in place is what they are defending rather than arguing isnt infrastructure to provide natural gas. Host we will leave it there. Omaha i have friends in that have actually put in fueling stations in their garage. , they can hook up their natural gas vehicle. And you are right, there are only a few natural gas vehicles on the market today. And it takes about 6,000 to create the fueling station with a natural gas in your own garage. Ofhink the sweet spot getting the infrastructure and i do believe you need to have the infrastructure along. And the smokes and cokes people, i am meeting with them. They are anxious for this transformation. They dont mind it. At least the discussions i have had. In fact, along the interstate systems, many of the truck stops are putting in natural gas refueling stations. Right now we just put one at the of omaha. Ight outside probably by next year you will be able to go from chicago to denver on natural gas. So, the infrastructure is slowly coming out. We are working with the chairman of the transportation committee. We want to take some efforts to try to encourage more of the infrastructure along our interstate corridors. Because of we can get the trucks and the fleets to move over, then i think it will trickle down to consumers, and regular drivers like you. Final tweet for you, congressman. Barbour tweets in tweets well, i dont think we want to privatize everything. But i would say with education, we are not talking about privatizing education but bringing it back to the local communities and empowering parents. But there are some things government is doing that i think the private sector could handle fine and should be doing. That is part of our philosophy. We think businesses and corporations, some have done evil things. When you talk about skilling and enron and those types of people. Reality is, i this is a Free Enterprise country. And was built on freedom business and good, hardworking people and entrepreneurs. I like that model and it has made us the most successful country in the world. Host representative lee terry, currently in his eighth term representing omaha. Cornhusker through and through. Went to the university of nebraska in lincoln and got his law degree from Creighton University law school in omaha. Thanks for being on the washington journal. Guest thank you. Host coming up next, we will introduce you to a firstterm member of congress, and his name is Tony Cardenas and he represents the 29th district in Southern California. As washington journal continues. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] live coverage of the National Governors Association Annual summer meeting in milwaukee, wisconsin. The see of the nations governors discussed infrastructure and the global economy. ,unday, live at noon on cspan2 book tv with questions for author and head up. Pediatric neurosurgery at johns hopkins, ben carson. And on American History tv, 1968 from the assassinations of Martin Luther king, junior, and Robert Kennedy to the tet offensive. Sunday at 1 00. What are the milestone years for first ladies through history . Well, i would say certainly mrs. Adams, her period. The first to live in the white house. She was a very opinionated and bright lady. Capable lady. Side, dollycial madison and the melodrama of the burning of the house. Other firste ladies, but you go through a period where there really arent many first ladies. I would take it up from there to president you can impress a niece. Everyone the would remember some of the some of the old people, they would say that was the greatest white house that ever happened. More with the white house historian William Seale sunday night at 8 00 p. M. On cspans q a. Washington journal continues. To introduce you now to representative Tony Cardenas, a democrat from california, first termer here in congress. Tell us tell me about yourself congressman, tell me about yourself. Guest glad to be a congressman. But first and foremost, husband, father, neighbor, and friend in my community and i came up here to hopefully try to get some things done and move this country forward. I used to run a business. Very proud of that. I also have my engineering degree. Ready to tackle big problems, if necessary. I spent some time in the state legislature in california as budget chairman and also 10 years and city council. Host what kind of business . Guest a real estate brokerage. Firsttime homebuyers right in the district. It was really fun watching people truly, truly achieve the American Dream of homeownership and hard work in bluecollar families. I really enjoyed that and im glad to represent them. Host have you had a chance to use your engineering degree yet here in congress . Caller oh, yes. Any engineer whether electrical like me or mechanical or civil, basically what they train you to do in Engineering School at the university is to take a problem and take it to and find aree solution. I use it all the time. Reald it when i was a estate broker. Host like you mentioned, you spent time in the California State Assembly and you work on the l. A. City council as well. Now you are in the federal government. What is your impression here of congress a year and a half in . I am a bit frustrated. We dont see enough substantive bills get on the floor for a vote. We are suffering through sequester still. I think it is really important that we try to Work Together and get some good work done. Pass a budget, maybe. Something that americans used to take for granted and congress used to do regularly on an annual basis, and we have not done it for a few years. Host what do you think about the budget process as a member of the Budget Committee . It is a good process in the sense we can deliberate in committee and things of that nature. But what is sad is we have not taken it to the conference committee, where it should be. That is where the Senate Passed at their budget and the house passes our budget and we get together and we hammer out the details, and people come out and they announce how not everybody got everything they wanted but at least we have a budget and the country can move forward. Host Speaker Boehner, talked a little bit about some of the budget he talked about the budget issues and he talked about sequestration. I want to play that and get your response. [video clip] , theyvepropriators had a tough job over the past couple of years. And theyve taken a lot of tough votes in their committee. So, i understand the frustration that they are dealing with. But i just want to make clear, the sequestration is going to remain in effect until the president agrees to cuts and reforms that will allow us to remove it. The president insisted on the sequester. None of us want it. None of us like it. There are smarter ways to cut spending. The house has moved twice over the last year and a half to replace the sequester. We saw no action in the United States senate. If they want the sequester to go, weve got to get serious about our longterm spending problem. Host congressman . Caller guest aced on what he said, i think his equation has a lot missing. When he said until the president well, when it comes to the budget, the president does not do. The legislature does. We craft a budget and then we send it to the president. We have not done that. That is what we need to do first. So, this pointing fingers or blaming one of the other branches of government for not agreeing to a budget well, that is what tough legislatures do. We hammer out the president can argue about it and veto certain portions of it. It is our job to legislate first. The American Public understands we have three branches of government. When one branch tends to want to punt the ball or blame someone else for the work we are required to do, that is where things start to fall apart. The onus is on us and on this house of congress. The Senate Passed their budget. It is this house the does not want to go to conference. Host the house passed a budget when . April . Did you vote for that budget . Guest no. Host to the process work . Guest i know i had two amendments. One was to be able to write off the mortgage interest on their homes. That is the biggest right off for the average bluecollar american and back at voted down in committee along with 20 others. It was whatrocess, it was. We passed a budget onto the floor. It was incomplete. At the same time, we do have a process. But the process is not finished. Lets go to conference and hammer it out. Happens after they announced we are going to conference, individual members can speak on the floor and actually tried to work on the budget. That is something that leaves less control for the speaker and for the majority party. I think that some people seem to be happy with sequester even though the Congressional Budget Office announced that if we allow the sequester sciquest to go forward for another year, we could lose a jobs. Affects issue that Southern California is immigration. What do you think of the process . Guest i will like to see the process the more like what the senate did. The senate hammered out a comprehensive Immigration Reform bill. That bill passed the house with bipartisan votes. Leadershipe, the refused to have a comprehensive solution to Immigration Reform. We have the hightech industry saying, please pass a bill. Saying,people that are please pass a comprehensive Immigration Reform bill. We have states along the border saying to beef up the border. Once again, it was a compromise. I work with the united farmworkers and with the farm owners and they hammered out a component of that bill that not everybody was happy with. But something they could live with. We cannot continue to have a broken immigration system and think that the economy is not affected. If we finally get certain going to seee are jobs, jobs, jobs for american citizens. We will see 11 Million People come out of the shadows and contributing to this economy and we are going to see it will benefit all of america, instead of empathy saying forget about in china. Ting up Shop Companies will stay here because they have workers together making america stronger. Is ourony cardenas guest. Phone numbers are up on the screen. We will begin with a call from houston on the republican line. Please go ahead. Caner i want to know how they can amnesty people that broke the law . If you do not have an id, they will arrest you and take you to jail. But they ignore these people. They really took over this town in houston. It is true. You really need to come down to texas and look. I do not think the employees are going to enforce that heverify everify. Outcome ife a good they do grant amnesty. Host i think we got the idea. Representative . Guest the senate bill is not amnesty. It is a comprehensive Immigration Reform bill covering many aspects of the row consistent we have today. When this caller i have been to houston. Houston has a lot of americans working there and a lot of people working hard. They have an economy that is doing ok. If somebody wants to point a finger and say those people do not belong here, i think they are avoiding the truth. There are a lot of good, hard working people that have come to this country for centuries. Some people think that is a bad thing. It is a good thing. I do not know anyone can say they are 100 born here for the last few years. Or twoericans are one generations removed for somebody coming here and starting a new life and have american sons and daughters that are contributing to this country. The caller seems frustrated. What is most important is that we get the economy back on the move. Everybody is entitled to an opinion. Houston is going to do just fine with a comprehensive Immigration Reform. Houston will do better tomorrow than they are doing today. Host the socalled job numbers just came out. Here it is. The number of unemployed persons, 11. 5 million. Agednemployment rate, 7. 4 down in july. Reaction . Guest that is good. We are going in the right direction. Congress is not doing its job. If we passed bills and work on the issues that matter, like ending sequestration, you would see those numbers perhaps double. Host what is the Economic Situation in your district . Guest the san fernando valley. My district still has some unemployment. Things have gotten better. I have been to manufacturing lands in my district. Manufacturing plants are making product. You see people glad to have a job and glad to be working. It is important that we understand that that is what we should be all about. It is about the economy and jobs. The house is not doing its job. In temple hills, maryland, democrat. Caller i have a pet peeve seeing the program the way it is going now. I had been a religious follower of cspan since 1980. It appears to me the Program Changed where the first person you have on is a republican. He is dealing with the issues and everything you want to. Then you bring the democrat on. He deals with the particular committee that he is on. He is on the budget and other things. He is limited in what he wants to talk about. Thing when you talk about , wejobs and the committees would not have this problem with respect to energy if we would nationalize it like everybody else. It wouldnt be an issue. Process all your whatever and send it overseas and we have to pay for it on the open market like everybody else . We could control that if we nationalized energy. When people call about the Corporate Tax rate, Corporate Tax is 14 . I do not care what it is. That was the tax rate. Host we got your points, melvin. Guest thank you. I wish i could have more things to vote on on the floor of congress. We have passed very few bills in congress. I share your frustration. I would like to do more. The speaker decides what we can vote up or down on. We need to have more things come to the floor. When it comes to energy, i will answer that question. I do not think we should privatize energy in this country. Host privatize or nationalize . Guest i do not think we should nationalize it. That was the question. It is private. With the proper regulation, we can do right by the environment. We can produce energy in a responsible way. I think it is important that we need to look at the tax code up and down. People like to see that go to work 40 hours a week and somebody sits down and allows their money to make money in this country in the system that they depend on, too. At home and the only pay taxes when it comes to their Corporate Tax rate or dividends and capital gains. They are using the streets and roads that are paid for by everybody. We should make sure that we close the tax loopholes for some of the corporations some of the largest operations in america have made the biggest profits known to man but they pay little or no taxes. That does not make sense. They are using the infrastructure we all paid for. Lets pay our fair share. Host you serve on the National Resources committee. Previous guest, we talked about the xl pipeline with our previous guest, lee terry. What is your view on xl . Guest some amendments were made to try to make sure it has a balance. It has a balance for the environment is taken into account. The Safety Measures need to be adhered to by law. Why would were produce oil here and then the final product comes from another country and we have to compete for the price of that product . Pay the priceg to environmentally of having to make these tough decisions, we should have some assurances that that product will have a domestic market use and not just saying lets just pass it through the United States and take these environmental risks and then other countries are benefiting from all the sacrifices we are making for this pipeline. Host you serve on the oversight and government reform. What do you think about the benghazi hearings . Guest look at the tape and the chairman, darrell issa. Darrell issa is on a witch hunt. Every time something comes up, he tries to link it to the administration. His own witnesses say that is not the case. Him and some of his colleagues 20, 30the question 10, ways. Some mistakes have been made. When it comes to the irs, a minority of applications that arent not provide for that would not that were not dealt with in a timely matter. They asked for a report that only focuses on the conservative applications. I say that that is a witch hunt. You have over 200 applications that were handled in a properly and taking too long and asking too many questions. Less than half were actually conservative applications. The only thing the committee wants to put before us is to talk about those applications. A wastea which hunt and of the american tax dollar and a waste of their time to sit in the committee watching people try to figure out some way to get somebody to tell a lie. The people have repeated 10 and 15 and 20 different ways the same outcome and the same answer. Yes, some people made some mistakes. It was not from the top. Lets move on. Host bret from new york. Caller thank you for cspan. I had some questions regarding the budget. After listening to that partisan rant and talk about darrell issa being on it which hunt, i want to ask you some names . The irs scandal leads right up to the white house. Sne member took office two day before this order for the irs was given. Tois pitiful for democrats say that mistakes were made. A mistake is made when it happens to one or two people. It happened during an Election Year and prevented these organizations from becoming actively involved in what was a close election. We talk about money and you talk about the democrats bringing their budget. I am a younger guy. I know i will be left with a legacy of 16 trillion in debt when this administration is done. You are saying we need more money. I felt the budgets were agreed to years ago. What exactly is it you need more money for . What about the last money given to the Democratic Party in the shape of the stimulus . Guest when you look at the trillion in cuts were made by the last congress. Yes, the democrats voted for that, as well. When it comes to darrell issa, i was not talking about darrell issa and the budget but darrell issa being the chairman of the oversight committee. Just look at the tape and look at the questions that were asked and the answers that were made. We have an irs department which is very large. We have just over a couple hundred applications. Waseems like everybody handled with similar scrutiny. Unfortunately, to the length they should not have been subjected to. Happen. To liberal and conservative applications host republican line from new york, youre on with Tony Cardenas. Caller i would like to tell you what i feel about the problems this country has. It is our elected officials. You talk about immigration. I remember seeing kennedy on the floor of the house over 20 years ago promising the American People if they would only give us amnesty this one time to 3 million american illegal aliens that they would be part of the bill where employers would have a way of knowing if somebody was here illegally. It took over four years before verify. E aliens cap come here taking jobs from americans. Every single package i see going through congress there has been republicans try to put in amendments like for transportation. They tried to put in amendment saying that any group, any employers going on to our ports would have to have would have to everify them. Democrats put the kibosh on th em. I am sitting across from a Nuclear Power plant. The rules and regulations that were put through congress about who could go and work on Nuclear Power plants, the companys the republicans try to get an amendment that any Company Going on a Nuclear Power plant would have to use vert we got your point on e ify. Guest we need to have a comprehensive Immigration Reform. The senate bill has inappropriate standard for e verify spelled out. That is something a lot of employers i have been working with employers and they are yelling us they want everif that actually works. They want that safety net for themselves. They want to make sure that the employers they do have, that they can put them to work and not have to worry about getting fined. When it comes to things like that, i do not agree with much of what the caller said. A lot of what was said was not factual. We have a broken immigration system. Lets fix it. The senate showed us it can be done. To put forn willing a copper chance of immigration bill so far. I hope that the Law Enforcement officers and the chambers of thisrce will say, lets do and they get to the members and let them know when you get back to congress in september, that pass a comprehensive immigration bill and move on. The lee story today about nsa in the crosshairs. A little bit from the story. Some have expressed outrage about the actions of edward snowden. Host what is your take . Guest i think it has gotten out of control. Something that we never experience in this country when 9 11 occurred. Some politicians chose to go ahead and allow scare tactics to convince the American Public that we need to do something very extreme. This is something that has to do with violating peoples by the city. Laws were passed to allow that to happen. That is the result of what you get you make those extreme decisions that make their way into law. Host is there a discussion in your caucus . Guest the consensus is that we are very frustrated that little by little we are getting some answers. The questions have been asked for many years now. The questions were asked and there are people that come forward. They answer it a certain way depending on how you ask the question. We asked the questions sophisticated questions have been asked and little little we are getting some information. What is frustrating is we just want some straight answers. It is taking forever for us to get them. Doug. We have a tweet from well, it is stalled and progress is not happening. What the motive is, i do not know. I hope to see a comprehensive immigration bill so i can vote for it. Caller charles is next. Caller good morning. Think the biggest problem we have is greed in this country. It seemed republicans would have more support if more than just a few at the top seemed to prosper. If we let big business pollute that well and pay zero taxes, only a few ever seem to prosper. I have a simple analogy here. Before the civil war, southern plantation owners were great job creators. Although they werent too big on paying wages. When the plantation owner had a real big year, did the slaves ever get a bonus . Did the slaves ever get a raise . When the slaves became too old or injured to work, was there a Retirement Plan . Was there a medical plan . Lets just say they were all actively in charge what would you like the congressman to respond to . Caller how are we going to get over this . Host we got the point about greed and people at the top. Guest he mentioned congress. Congress is a body of lawmakers. Congress is a legislative body. Responsibilitye of budgeting all the money that comes to the government. We have a responsibility of deciding how that money is going to be applied. We decide with the tax code is, how much people will pay in fees and taxes for the benefit they are getting to be able to work in this country. I think that all of the callers are all frustrated. I think they feel that congress is not moving. It is important that everybody understand that there are some who would like to get congress moving. There are some who are willing to compromise. Ets concede to do tax cuts lets continue to do tax cuts. Do we have to eliminate money from the food program for the poorest people in the country . We still have a high unemployment rate. That means you have families who are proud to work and glad to work and they are down on their luck right now. We should look at the system as a whole. But still, i would not mind having some real bills hit the floor of congress so that i can decide where i stand with my votes. Every time a legislator votes, that goes into the record forever. The bottom line is this. We are just not legislating in our house. We are not getting the job done. The amount of work we are getting done is appallingly low. We have only passed a handful of bills. Very few have any substance of any. Sciquest it was supposed to be something that everybody who dreamed it up thought it wasnt going to come true. We are living through sequester and it is costing american jobs. It is hurting the economy. Going ands would get address the issue, pass a budget so we can get past this her rent you would see, the economy move and you would see more jobs. I think everybody has a right to blame it on congress. We are not seeing the speaker put bills on the floor. When we do, he is unwilling to both that he should allow houses to bring those bills together and actually have a final compromise. Host how is your new mayor doing in l. A. . Guest he is doing good. They find themselves in a world when situation. He has a lot of energy and a rant a strong campaign. We were colleagues on the city council in los angeles. I wish him well. I am here to support him. Himre looking for to seeing appear and helping him fight for los angeles and getting resources back to l. A. Consulting. Some i gave him a call a few days after he left office. He called me back and thanked me for thinking of for doing a good job as mayor. I talked to him a little bit and he wished him well. He will spend some time with his family and get back to work. Host do you see him running for another office . Guest i do not know. Sometimes after a few months they decide what they are going to do next. Some ride off into the sunset and have some fun. Host we have a tweet from stella. Guest ok. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. Legislatureof the appear in congress, i am looking forward to working on a copperheads of immigration bill. That means that more americans will have jobs. Host and the house is now in session. Chaplain conroy let us pray. Dear lord, we give you thanks for giving us another day. We come to you as a nation in the midst of great uncertainty and worry as people look for causes and solutions. The temptation is great to seek ideological position. We ask that you might send your spirit of peace and and all elected to represent our nation might Work Together humbly, recognizing the best in each others hopes to bring stability and direction toward a strong future. This chamber will soon be