Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20130806

Weekend issued a Worldwide Travel threat alert. Over our next halfhour we want to get your recent thoughts on this terror threat. How concerned are you . Call, want to give us a for republicans, 2025853881. For democrats, 2025853880. For independents, 2025853882. You can also reach out to us on our social media platforms. Before the start of the show it. As journal cspan. Org the ride out this morning are pretty much the same. This is from the washington post, this morning. Host another right up this morning in usa today. Taking a look to some of the analysis perceptions on the, shutting down some many diplomatic facilities over a large geographical area means that officials host for our first half hour this morning we will take your thoughts on Security Issues in light of this recent announcement, the closing of diplomatic missions, we want to get your thoughts on it as well. Again, if you want to give us a call, it is for republicans, 2025853881. For democrats, 2025853880. For independents, 2025853882. You can make your thoughts known to us on twitter this morning and on our facebook page. 25 people posted before the start of the show, some of the thoughts are host some of the ways you can make your thoughts known this morning, the numbers are there on your screen. Ed, starting off this morning of the democratic line from cincinnati, ohio. Caller i have a comment now about the Previous Program with wendy davis. Texas clinics. You guys encapsulate it as the legislation to texas banning abortion after 20 weeks. It was much more extensive than that, you do a disservice by labeling it that way. It was Something Like 20 clinics after pills. G host you made your point. Our question this morning about that . Caller i am agreeing with the stuff on facebook. I am not sure what a global alert is. Anyone traveling anywhere in the world has to be concerned about al qaeda . Host that is what it suggests. Caller that is ludicrous. I must say, we have been living under this terror cloud for a decade now and i am not worn out. Terrord out. I am not particularly concerned. Host this is jim from twitter host also joining us, carolyn from massachusetts, independent line. Caller i do not believe this is a true threat. I believe this was an attempt by the government to refocus americas bias from internal surveillance of americans pure and simple. I have come to that, i do not believe it. Host what led you to that . Caller the timing. Thee serendipitous for troops in the embassies. At the same time they were withholding hearings about surveillance and americans and the power of the nsa. Suddenly it stopped and now we are worried about an imminent threat . Host this from usa today, authorities released the names of 25 suspects on monday, saying that they were planning terrorist attacks across the country. The development came as washington ordered the closure of 20 u. S. Diplomatic missions throughout the war throughout the week. The suspects being targeted in office, with Government Installations in the country, things were beefed up from the ports. This topic of discussion came up yesterday at the white house during the usual press Briefing Held by j kearney. Talking about the current threat, here is what they had to say. [video clip] toi am not in a position discuss specific intelligence, but we believe the threat is significant and we are taking it seriously for that reason. We have taken the actions announced by the state department, an abundance of caution. We will continue to monitor this and take action as necessary. Is daytona beach, florida, republican line. Caller i have no fear. Live my life in fear. One of the four poisons of the mind. Host what do you think about the threat in the first place . Caller i do not care. The chances of dying in a terror attack are 0. 00001 . So, i do not care. Host from matt smith this morning host we will turn our attention to gloria in brunswick, georgia. Independent line. Caller it is nothing more than the latest in the drawnout soap opera that is the obama presidency. To not let the left hand know what the right hand is doing. Let this character take the heat of that character. We will cover things up of from yesterday with what may come tomorrow. Cleaning up all the computers and Everything Else in the rest of it. I thought that obama took care of al qaeda, i thought he was the hero of the hour two or three years ago. Host marilyn, democratic line. About here is how i feel the whole thing. Since when have they done this . They always keep it hush hush pirie edberg this is to get control over the ammunition, the guns, so that the American People cannot defend themselves and more, they do not want anyone to have a right to carry. The ones they should be going after are the gang members. The women have not done anything. But they want to control the ammo, they want to control the guns and keep us in fear all at once. Barbe this is always too much. Yes, it is being leaked all at once, but it was never being leaked before when it was bad. Why now . Host that is maryland from missouri this morning. This headline, terrorist scare Obama Campaign claims aboutfrom cnn, this is drone strikes, a pair of suspected drone strike killed four out qaeda militants in yemen as all americans were being urged to leave immediately. Security forces did not offer additional details. Host good morning to you from delaware, independent line. Caller nights program, how are you . Host fine, thank you. Go ahead. Caller the government stated they had the name of these what . Caller the communications between the men. Host the communications between the men. Caller, how can they get this information . Host kenneth, athens, ga. Street this never out. What is it . Your skin, you could be a terrorist, it is a joke. People need to come down. They have got reason for being mad. Minerals,mmodities, keep it real. Stop the b. S. Host eugene robinson, turning the story of recent days and to a column, talking about the decisions that led up to it. Mentioning the war that started with iraq in the previous the ministration, adding that president bush and then president obama discovering drone aircraft as instruments of war from florida, independent line, good morning. Caller good morning, pedro. Seems that this administration wants to keep the country in a constant state of fear and confusion. There is a crisis every of the day. Have you noticed they told us that al qaeda was on the run . The we did not have much to fear . And now they are back alive and well . They told us General Motors was doing well, then they went to china to hire 30,000 to 40,000 people. President obama said that the economy was roaring back in detroit. This administration cannot seem to do anything correct. The keep the people chasing tale, that is their objective, a state of confusion. Then they blame someone else. It is time, i think, for the congress to reevaluate the presidency and what he is doing and possibly considered impeachment. Way overdue. Host this is from jodie this morning on twitter host marvin, south boston, va. , independent line. Caller i think Everyone Needs to kind of chill out. I think that what Congress Needs to do is kind of like helping the poor and. Host kathleen, independent line. Caller it would be interesting to see if any of these nations receive information from the United States so that they can kill us. Every state has Good National guard units, which is something we may want to consider whether our country is not friendly to us, that we make sure our representatives are well taking care of. Host currently there is a Senate Primary going on in new jersey. Joining us to talk about that ,nd the results of last nights tell us a little bit about the characters in the debate last night. Runner in theont race seems to be cory booker. He is known nationally as a fairly rare candidate in new jersey who is known statewide before he runs. He is facing two city congressman. Russia and sheila oliver. An experienced field in the campaign. Host talk about the points scored by the candidates last night. Was there public reaction on who the winner was . Caller the other three candidates seemed to go left or right, but they agreed more than they disagreed. Booker defended himself on supporting school vouchers. There were two congressman especially that opposed it. The other three candidates supported a Single Payer Health care system but debated whether it was feasible. They talked about how it was important when they talked about insurance reform controlling costs in this program. Much worsee was not for the where in the debate. Lautenberg, talk about the area and the public thetion to it as far as lead candidate, how does he compared to the other three . Host caller every poll has shown booker ahead. Around half of the expected voters. The other three are somewhere in the high single to load double digits, percentage wise. Interestingly, patrick murray, the director of monmouth university, says that some of the numbers for different sizes of electrets give a similar leave no matter how you slice and dice it. Contrary to what you hear from the campaign about low turnout, anything could happen. Host what about the republican side . Caller there are two conservatives. One has run a couple of times and is a former mayor. A is running against deposition from central new jersey. They are both vying for tea party support. Theyre very similar on the issues, however. Primary takes place when . Caller one week from today. The general election is october 16, a wednesday, three weeks before the regular election, which includes the race for governor. Geoff mulvihill, they give rear time. Caller thank you, pedro. Host our show is focusing on Port Security and economic advantages that come from ports. That starts at 7 30 this morning. Up until that we are talking about the economic address, shots of the port, and what the legislators said on issues of Port Security. Leading up to that a discussion about security. This is the release of the recent terrorist threat announcement from the United States, we want to get your thoughts leading up to the 7 30 discussion. Want to get your thoughts on this, for republicans, 202585 3881. For democrats, 2025853880. For independents, 2025853882. Chris from rocky face, georgia. Caller these guys are getting funding, and i may be wrong, but a lot of the funding seems like it is coming from basically a foreign aid that we are giving to these countries. If you took the foreign aid away from these guys, you would cut off the head of the stake and the body would follow. Taking away some of the defense that we have here, this is doing nothing but funding these guys and giving them what they want. Chiefurrent commanderin needs to sit down and think about things like that. We are playing right into their hands and giving them the things they need to keep succeeding. Lucie,ost port st. Florida. Caller pour obama, all about this benghazi and what he didnt do, and now he is overreacting. All the republicans wanted to the democratic and independent lines, winding and squealing, they want to shut down the government. Host the threat that was issued it was a good call . Caller of course, you have got to do what you have got to do. Host an open letter is included in the pages around the sale of the newspaper, in which he writes host again, an announcement that was made yesterday in the newsroom of the washington post. William,s for georgia, good morning. Caller basically i think this whole thing is made up. It is a big lie. ,his thing was made of bought these numbers just came out. It protect those in the intelligence arena. They give up with edward snowden. They do come up with bradley manning. That trial. This is just to cover them up. Ba nothing is going to happen, that is my opinion, thank you. Host a map provided by usa today today, showing algeria and afghanistan, giving you a sense of what the state apartment ordered in terms of shutdowns in those installations in areas of the middle east. On dry as next. Lincoln park, michigan. Caller i have one quick comment, this whole thing is to show that they were able to foil the plant and everyone believes the everyone listening to phone calls comes in with open arms. Thank you for taking my call. Host the New York Times had this in their discussion, saying host marshall, n. C. Democratic line. Caller as far as this terrorist thing is concerned, i do not think much about that. The United States have been in ieryone elses business but do not hardly see it this way. If you go in and a mans house and blow up his kitchen, he will not fix you breakfast in the morning. The United States went over there, they rob, steal, killed, raped, and every country over there, that is how they see the United States. We ask for that. Sooner or later they are going to follow you home. That will happen eventually. Thatit does, the people wanted this all for a quart of oil or a gallon of gas, it will come home big time and it will be bad business. Host this for about the embassy closing, there are two essential pieces of context host he makes those comments this morning in the pages of usa today. James, independent line, hello. Caller people that go to the middle east, they know about the terror threat, if they are going out there, they should know that there could be a terror attack at any time. The real point i wanted to make is that you can hear it in the voices of the people, our interventionist portent interventionist Foreign Policy is not in our best interest. Thinking about our country and bringing our troops home, getting ready with ,hese embassies and coming home taking care of our people in cities and towns, is just not good. Call, marion, indiana. Caller 9 11, they did not warn us. I lived in a little town where nothing ever happens in indiana, but we have the port of indiana. Mean fort does that you in the larger issue of security . I think she has left us. That is the last call we will take on this topic. As we told you at the beginning of the show, the port of virginia, the site of a series of segments that will take place looking at Homeland Security and economic issues, they will be the focus of the next 2 1 2 hours as the washington journal continues live. Host we are live from the port of virginia in norfolk, virginia. The000 jobs in this area, annual Economic Impact is a 41 billion. Container, each each ship, excuse me, has 10,000 containers on it. To help you kickoff the conversation. At the Virginia Port Authority the interim executive director and chairman of the board of commissioners, let me begin with you and the history of the port of virginia. When did it start . How long has it been around . Guest it has been a Success Story ever since it started. 1982 they consolidated all the terminals in virginia under the Virginia Port Authority. There is someone who serves as governor thed of overall Economic Impact and affairs of the port. Our executive director has a staff of about 100. HasInternational Terminal about 300 people, 1200 more laborers. We operate the port of virginia. , what isney oliver your job as executive director . What do you do on a daily basis . Guest to make sure that the employees have the resources they need to their jobs well and make sure that we get noticed. Host tell me, what does the port of virginia consist of, infrastructurewise . What is here . Guest the terminals where we are setting up today, we have the Marine Terminal, the portsmouth terminal in virginia, terminal andarine the inner port, which is an intermodal facility. We also have the port of richmond. Happening here as we speak . It its very busy around here early. As you said, it is a big footprint on the water, what is happening . Guest we are on the north end, there is a ship behind us right now, but as i came in today it was a short wait. They were continuously coming in by rail for export. They began to unload as we spoke. It was their position to load them onto ships coming later today. Coming inrs are also to pick up containers and taken to their final destinations. Host you are expecting a ship midday, today. What is the timing like . Is it pretty precise . Have . A timeline that you what is the process like . Guest there are times when the schedules have to be adjusted. The shipsly know when are going to be here and we start working with them way out in the Chesapeake Bay. Generally they are docked for about 12 hours. Loading and unloading export containers, we are fortunate in that we handle roughly 50 of our cargo. Host a ship is coming in along the way. What is the process . How do they get to your doctor . To your doctor . Who are the pilots . Guest of the Pilot Association is a separate group that navigates the ship. Host are they state run . Guest they are a separate entity. Host ok, ok. Get them into the birth year off the dock. What happens next . Guest they tie the container ship up to make sure it is secure and continue to work on the ship. They will begin taking containers off, putting containers on. Generally what happens with a container coming off the ship, it will be dropped to the ground, picked up by a scuttle carrier, a piece of equipment that moves equipment around the terminal. We put the equipment into a stack until it is ready to be discharged. Host how long are these containers sitting here on the ground . Guest we generally tried to get them out within 24 to 48 hours. Out byes will be picked truck, they could be on the terminal for up to seven days, but generally two to five days. Host we are speaking with fromy oliver, live norfolk, virginia. Here to take your questions about how all of this works, if you are interested in the port across the country, this is the Third Largest on the east coast. There are about 1 dozen on the east coast. The court of virginia is ranked five or six, depending on the amount of cargo coming in. Start dialing in now, we would get your questions or comments in a few minutes. I was thinking about what this all means for this area. The governor asked you to sit on this board and wanted to to get a local businessman is perspective. Why . What does this mean to the community and the state of virginia . Guest virginia is blessed with a lot possibilities. Obviously we have a huge military base here. You started off by saying that there is an impact of 43 billion every year. One out of the 11 jobs in this state is tied to the port of virginia. If you look at the volume, we do two military containers per year. Every six on the train represent one virginia job. Impact added to our states economy. The port of virginia is huge. The board of commissioners, our job is to return the value to the shareholders, the citizens of virginia. How do they benefit . Guest by jobs. The governor is very focused on that Economic Development. Host these jobs supported indirectly or directly, the people at work here, who are they . On average, what kind of wage do they make . Guest they were for the International Longshoremens association. Some are lower. Atcourse, you have the staff the operating Company Performing maintenance to supervise the ,mployees in the ship lines servicing the needs. At the Virginia Port Authority, we have security staff that makes sure the terminals are secure, as well as a marketing anddevelopment staff administration. How does this port compete, jeff wassmer . If it does. Explain that against the others across the country. Guest it is an interesting dynamic. One of the interesting drivers for where these go, the people that own the cargo, there are a lot of costs involved along the way. From a manufacturer to where it is being exported from. Compete by cost, which is extremely important, but it is also about efficiency. How can we get the cargo on its way to its final destination . How much does it cost to move a container across the ocean . There is a huge dynamic at play right now, the dynamic is the size of the ship. A ship that carries 5000 can go to the panama canal. Ships are on the ocean right now that require about a depth of 50 feet, this is the only port on the east coast that can take a ship that requires a 50 foot raft with no overhead obstructions. We can take the big ships down. 49 and a half feet, it is cheaper to put cargo on a large ship. Need somewhereps to go. Host the recent recently the president has been going around the country and talking about the infrastructure of the nations ports, calling for investments. Port officials are saying that they need to be at at least 47 feet of dredging in order to take a super tanker coming from the new panama canal. Explain that. Guest it is all about the depth of the ocean. People assume that once you get to the ocean it is just deep and it is not at every port. We have natural links that come in to each one. Not only that, right now we have the capacity to do about 2. 5 million tdus per year. We have the potential capacity to grow to 6 million. If you look at the federal dollars from 2014 across the eastern seaboard ports, virginia ranks no. 8 in what we are getting. We have the current death, the ability to get to 55 feet, potential capacity that we call a great investment for our national dollars. Host what are you asking for from the federal government . Guest we are the premier gateway for the east coast. A lot of our product go on the train to the midwest. We want our partners to feel like it is the airport as well. It helps us to get our products into the midwest. The delegations in the midwest states have worked together and you will be meeting the congressman shortly to go after those federal dollars to make virginia the premier place to bring in cargo. Host our viewers know that washington, talking about sequestration, spending cuts, annual spending, it is not getting done. How do you get the money . Host rodney, what do you think . In ports up and down the east coast are seeing that. We had the foresight and i do , but they hadself the foresight to see the need to dredge to 50 feet into authorize 55 feet. We are well ahead of the curve and a good thing is that it is cheaper to drill here in. Irginia right behind you there and who asset foris a great the port. Guest we have a soft bottom out here. We are just picking up sand and relocating it. Other ports are bad rock, they have to dynamite, explode, move it off. The advantages of dredging in the port of virginia are huge. Host that means that the epa is involved, one federal agency that has a role at the nations ports, along with fema and the coast guard. We want to turn to you and get your questions and comments about the nations ports as we are live here from the port of virginia. Democratic caller, hello, bob. Caller, mr. Washington answered questions about the panama wassmer some questions about the panama canal expansion. I wondered how much is this a republican and democratic issue as opposed to an economic issue . Guest that is a great point. We are getting ready for a new governor in virginia. Which way that goes is not important. Both candidates understand the vibrancy of the port and understand that it is not a political football. Leadershipve to have in the state currently and in the future the understand this. The panama canal thing, we hear a lot of talk about expansion through the panama canal. The new panama canal, the ships can hold much larger, 12,500 larger ships can come through there. Host how much are we talking about in goods . Guest 8000 cvs. Holds a lot of things. If he were to ship from hong kong to the port of virginia to the panama canal, that is about 11,020 miles. Suez canal, 11,700 miles. The real dynamic of the panama canal is how much it costs for the ship to go through the panama canal. It might be more economically feasible to get through the suez canal. Panama canal dynamic will play itself out in the next few years. Host of the president s call for more infrastructure because of this issue, he is saying that for the United States ports to stay competitive, that this is what needs to happen. If they did not come to the United States, where would they go, these big supertankers . Guest there are reports that could be built in the caribbean that take larger ships and we would get smaller ships here. We want to take advantage of a ship that comes in for first port of call or last port of call, unloading goods, exporting goods. We want those ships coming here first. Host good morning. Caller we talked about how big virginia was, how deep the waters are, of and what comes through the port, and how big the containers are, is there anything else you would like to tell al qaeda about our situation here . Host are you still there . Caller yes. Ist repeat your question, missed the last part. Anything they want to tell you about what . Caller anything else you would like to tell al qaeda about our situation in the United States. Host i see what youre saying. I see your point. The vulnerability of letting this information out and how it all works, the security threat, a question we were asking our viewers this morning about the latest terrorist threat, what do you think . Guest obviously since 9 11 there has been heavier security. As you know, we came on to the facility with an escort and we have security badges here that are required. You need to get a federal transportation worker i. D. To make sure your eligible to be on the terminal. We also had custom Border Protection on sites where there are scanning containers and certain containers that insure that the cargo that is in there is what it is presented to be. The containers that out of this facility for any reason, we scan them. 30 bombs, Nuclear Threats in the terminal. We are also very cognizant of Cyber Security as well. We did a study a few years ago on Cyber Security and its possible effect on the port. A few years ago we commissioned to assess Cyber Security threat with assessments done. E hired a firm to come in host for that type of situation, the u. S. For federal money to upgrade your Computer System to avoid some sort of hacker, al qaeda or otherwise . Or is this something the state has to pay for out of pocket . 9 11 there have been federal dollars allocated for physical security, but more and more those of being used for Cyber Security. Guest and that they are often matched by state dollars as well. Host security, lets talk about it more. Before a container is put on the is itin another country, getting looked at by u. S. Officials . Guest it is. Officials in those ports around the world are inspecting not every container, but theyre also looking at them when they arrive and in new york. That part of a treaty that we have . Guest it is. I do not know what the acronym stands for, but it is a security situation that this port and many others have around the world. Host if a country is not participating, do you still take the containers from the country . Guest we do, but they are monitored differently, more security. The port of of virginia, what countries are we talking about . What countries are bringing in containers . Biggest partners are china, germany, brazil, india. Put on the import and export cargo throughout the world. Host what do we bring in, what is going out . Guest generally we are exporting finished goods, importing raw materials. Host give us an example. Guest paper products, beverages, auto parts. Finished goods come here. Host i want to go back to security, the caller had concerns about what we are talking about today and one aspect that we did not talk about is that once a container is put on a truck, you said that every truck is scanned. What happens when it leaves the port of virginia and is taken across the country . Go through a to Radiation Detection device. The radiation stand attacks minor amounts of radiation. Greenberg, va. , bruce, hello. Good morning. Host you are on the air. Thank you for waiting, go ahead. Tell could you explain further the purpose of the inland port and the area in the United States that service and how cargo is dispersed through the ports . Guest i would love to. Port, there inland is no water. Is moved by truck to a final destination. Truckers making multiple transits through the day. Had to drive down here, it is a vibrant part of the port. We started it 24 years ago. It is just now catching on, the use of inland ports. Georgia, independent caller. Caller i was calling to find , the processckers of getting a contract with the ports to move containers. Guest we are always looking for truck drivers. Host are those of truckdrivers each under security concern . Guest they are. Host ok. We will go to lawrence in miami, florida. Caller, how much is the influence of american and ships with made in america compared to the foreign manned ships with products made in foreign lands . A balance there, at least, why would we want to have more foreign ships . How many homes more are we going to lose . Host ok. Guest i can tell you that in the port of virginia our ratio of import to export is about 5050, which is a great place to be. From this country, like i said before, we are sending over paper, pulp, agriculture and really supporting those things that are made elsewhere. There is made in the United States, there is a huge push to reach shore some of the offshore manufacturing. The port of virginia wants to be a conduit for trade. Host you said that it was pretty much . 50 50 . S that matter why does that matter . Guest manufacturers, producers, farmers in the United States, they want places to send their goods. We have to Pay Attention to exports and imports. Cost for much does it a container to sit empty . Guest i have never seen an account in that manner, but i am sure the ship lines do not like it. Host i think you gave me a figure earlier that each container represents about 20,000 in Economic Impact on the community, so given that, how quickly do these shippers, these Companies Want to to get on and off . What do they expect . Again, is not to have cargo sitting in the port. The goal is to get it on the ship, headed out to the end user. In America Today we have this just in Time Logistics where kes timing critical. Outgoal is to make cargo if youre within 24 or 48 hours. Ast i heard that this is certain supply of goods. If several ports were to shut down, what would happen in this country . Not necessarily immediately fell within a week or two weeks there would be. There are a distribution retail that support the establishments. Guest some of the concepts have spurred a lot of Economic Growth for the community as well. Apart from this they cannot show up to the Assembly Line eight hours before it is ready to go on the vehicle. Caused as the tire manufacturer to create a distribution center. Not just the plan that puts it together. It is the whole distribution system. They stockpile those likely to be able to respond. Host it cant show up eight hours before . Guest they would rather a distributor stock it. Host let me go to cynthia who is a republican. Caller good morning. I just want to say to mr. Oliver, and appreciate your comments on security. I wonder if it is responsible of them to be asking certain questions. I do have every confidence in realizing my little brother graduated from nor full newport. I want to say go navy. Wasner, i would like to be an advocate for you to receive more National Funding for anything that you would need there at the port. Thank you for your service and keeping us safe. Host all right. Lets hear from john. Caller i travel to overseas. I would like to ask it anyway them had been to the dubai port . Uest i have not personally i have been to hong kong and singapore. Guest i have not been to dubai. It is a major trade center. It is a major hub. Divides. Cargo it exported from divide to the final destination. Do you have a followup . Caller i think they have to realize that we do not want to just compete within the United States. The world is changing. It is the fastest port in the world appeared if we want to invest, we have to get rid of people like eric cantor who does not want to invest in the state or country. That is the whole thing about this. Ive traveled to dubai many times. Ive never seen anything like this, any port like this in the entire world. The safety and security. They generate more business than any other country. Host can i ask you as you have been watching this program this virginia,ve here from you are seeing images of activity around here. How would you say it is different from the ports in dubai . Caller quite frankly you have to see the way it works. I cannot even spillane explain in the picture. They are expending more than you expect. They cannot even handle this. We are a great country. We have money. We do not invest our country or state. We are behind. This is nothing. Caller ok. We understand the International Impact. Trade internationally is projected to be up 9. 5 . Portsare some huge obviously outside the United States. We understand that. They spent quite a bit of time going to the other ports, establishing relationships, trade partners. There are consumers beyond that. Are a maritime nation. There is no doubt. We understand the International Impact of trade. We need to invest more in infrastructure. We need to be able to handle the influx of trade that will begin. I think they will accept the fact that we have a great staff around the world. We have representatives who are working on this exact issue. What did your folks tell you about the port of dubai . What port like yours need in order to keep up what is happening in dubai and other areas . Guest theyve got a very innovative concepts. Right behind the port they have a huge Foreign Trade zone where a majority of the distributors have located. We have a Foreign Trade going. Inalso utilize Companies Virginia beach, kanin. They use the status to their advantage. We will go to colleen, democrats. [no audio] colleen, are you with us . Colleen and wisconsin, democratic caller . Let me go to john. Here we go. Are you with us . Caller yes. Question. How does [inaudible] [indiscernible] virginia port, etc . Host it is a little difficult to hear. We have a rainstorm coming on. She was talking about Lake Superior area. The port of virginia is part of one that makes it work. We have a role to play. Mostly with International Partners handling the transoceanic ship. There are riverport. This is how commerce moves. We understand that we have a lot of partners there joining us. Ost brookhaven, mississippi republican. I dont like what yall are doing on this. You are showing pictures and to do all and how kinds of things. I do not think you all should be doing this. Stoph yall would please showing this on tv. Terrorists watch tv. I am highly upset. Host go ahead. Guest maybe i can give you can come for. This is at a 30,000 foot level. There are much more details that go into it than what i can even describe your today. That there is a great deal of security in and around the ports and ports around the country. The federal government is doing a good job. Host all the information is Public Information . Guest it is. Host at what point does the government come into play . What it is here, who takes over security . Host security is a joint venturer. When it is under water it is mainly coast guard. When it reaches the earth it is Port Authority and customs. Reporting scanning and certain it isners that open it, federally managed. The state portion as to make sure they are secure. Republican caller. Hi, dave. Caller hi. Host you are on the air. Good morning. Caller can you hear me . Host yes. Youre on the air. I just wantoliver you to know that i want to help you any way personally. If you get stuck in a situation that you cannot get out of, you have to work with those people that are familiar with the situations. You follow what im saying . Host what do you . Caller i work for data security. Economy. Olve our it involves the United States. These things when it comes down to the climatic situations that you cannot take lightly. These are the most important that our country has to face daily. Host the issue of a cyber threat. Guest any type actually. Let me go back to the cause for companies that are shipping in their goods. Different times is the ship charge before they get here . Once they get here, how does the pricing or . Put itif you want to into perspective of one of the arebox retailers, they shipping project from china to chicago. The portion that is just here at the port of virginia is less than 10 of the cost of the move. There is a very big cost to move. T from china to virginia there is also cause to move it to chicago. That normally be by rail. The port of virginia cost is relatively small the grand scheme of things. Our focus there is service. Host once he gets here, how does the pricing work . Does each container have a cost . Guest it depends on the number and types of moves that go on at the terminal. Does it depend on the weight of the terminal as well . It cost the same to move an empty box as a box that is full. Guest what is the number of times we have to touch it. We judge it to take it off the ship. We stacked it on a truck. It is driven through the scanners. If it goes on the rail it is stacked and another takes it through security. There are multiple lifts involved. Host it is more expensive to put goods on rails than trucks . 32 of our cargo goes by rail in the port of virginia. That is increasing. It is the consumption demand in the midwest that drives that. Rail is a little more expensive. All cargo is good host article. Host host the rest is trucks . Guest primarily tracks. We service richmond. Primarily it is truck traffic. Host behind me are the cranes lift thethe containers off and on. How much is one of these cost . Guest they are roughly 10 million a piece. The cranes that you see in the background here are the largest container cranes in the world. That extendseach past 24 containers out. The really large ships can call here today and utilize the cranes. Guest that is an important point. The ships that are coming through the panama come out canal are about 10 containers wide. To get bigger as well. It is not only the depth of the it is thethe ceiling, structure like the cranes like is the equipment on and off. Host how many times have you had to update the type of grain . Crane . Here, theresnes not one that is 15 years old. They last about 25 years. There has been a major shift so the size of the container cranes has to grow as well. Warmly but the one behind us in 2002, when we got the one behind us in 2002, we knew the ships were going to get bigger and we had to get ready. Aller. Democratic colla caller is this only a container port . Guest we are primarily a container port but we have some facilities that do roll on roll off vehicles. We also have some larger things that cannot fit into container. Rodney can probably tell you the percentage. The Virginia Port Authority does not control these two terminals. Of the coal 40 that moves through the United States for expert comes are the port of virginia as well. It is just in periphery. Moved out of here. Where is it going . Uest all of the world everywhere. China is a big consumer. South america is a big consumer. Europe is a big consumer. Pretty much everywhere. Cranes,ing back to the how long does it take to get one ship off and onto the ground . 3035 we can move attenders and hour per crane. Cranehow does the nowhere where to go next . Guest it is rather complex. A process. The ship going works with the port of virginia on the plan. It ensures that all of the containers as possible are all located in one spot. In ouronce they are yard we have the responsibility to make sure they get to the right stack or truck. There are also some devices that us to track them electronically. The easiest way to explain the workings of a port is the of it as a rubiks cube. When you move one part another part has to move. People understand that. They will get it. Roger, why do you say it like that . Why is that important . Caller that is a good visual aid. For the u. S. Department of agriculture. I dealt with quality issues on the great lakes. I dealt with the solution that. S coming into Lake Michigan people that are worried about security, believe me we have had Aerial Photography in the United States as the civil war. You do not have to worry about the security of these things are it is somebody wants to have a picture of it all they would have to do is snap one from a satellite. The people are doing a great job. They need to continue to fund it and work on it. Thank you. What about his visual aid about the rubiks cube . Guest it certainly is. The port industry is a little bit new to me. It is an amazing sight to come and see the ships unload him of the cargo move through security, how to get on the right track. Apmss the way we have an terminal. It is the most modernized terminal in the United States. A lot of this is done by computer. Controlled by computers. It is an amazing operation. That is a good way to describe it. Frontwe are sitting in of the Elizabeth River. Give us a lady of the land. A lay of the land. Where are we . Is in the mid atlantic, very centrally located on the east coast. From the opens ocean. Most transit this the Chesapeake Bay. It may be the second largest bay in the United States. Whereizabeth river is the majority of our traffic flows. Four where three of our terminals are located. One is very close to here. The port of richmond is also here. Host a lot of history with the james and Elizabeth River. How has it changed over the years . An armyhis used to be base. In 1909 this was a federal army base. We have undergone substantial renovation since that time. This haslast 15 years been completely renovated. It has gone through dramatic changes. Point as well be touched on, the point of virginia the port of virginia, we do a lot of container traffic. We do the roll on roll off. Ships require a lot of draft. We have partnerships with the navy. And they are very interested the port of virginia. We have the largest shipbuilder in the United States. It is a very vibrant port for , andrce, defense manufacturing. Host lets go to frank in florida, republican caller. Caller hello . Host go ahead. Caller i have one question. What is the cost of import tax that china charges us but we import our project to china . What is our cost when chinese product imports to this country. This relates to raw material. What is the differential in the cost in the tax . Should it be the same . I appreciate your time. Handledhat is all at hte fe at the federal level. We are all here about the free flow trade. Maybe that question would be better answered by our federal officials. Host coming up in a few minutes we will continue our coverage from the port of virginia. We will speak to two members of congress. A democrat and republican. They will be joining us to take your phone calls and talk a little bit about the economic their district in the state of virginia. What they are doing on a federal level to further the Economic Growth of this port and what their opinions are on infrastructure. Go to mitchell in baltimore. Independent caller. Caller good morning. Can you hear me . Host we can. What is the average income for an employee there . Do you see an influx of potential residents coming there because of your great facility there . Do you see that happening . Do you have numbers on that . Guest it obviously varies by job function and seniority and by experience. Some pay 30 an hour. Thats probably in the right range. We provide opportunities, over the last 18 months is the fastestgrowing port on the east coast. We see opportunities for growth in the future. Host do you want to weigh in on that . Guest absolutely. Our plan is growth. More we move, the more jobs, the more impact we have on virginia. For theat does it mean coffers of the state of virginia, revenue coming in . In state andillion local tax revenue generated through activities both direct and indirect. Host have you had discussions with the board about what that means for budget holes and balancing the budget here in the state of virginia . Guest i think the main driver is not so much returning money to the prophet. We have infrastructure needs. To the profits we have infrastructure needs. S. Economic impact is the job, it is not to fill holes. We have access to rai transportation, truck traffic, roads to get traffic out of here. We invest along with the department of transportation to make those routes viable and easy to access. Within mandating that there is no overhead structures, we have a lots of funnel. There is a lot of congestion through the tunnels. We are continually working at the state level with the department of transportation. And the port of virginia. It was a huge user to ensure we have the Transportation System be it rail or truck or consumer traffic, private auto, make sure the port of virginia has this. Is the benefit then to private companies in the state of virginia . If so, can you describe it a little bit . Guest the mission is to stimulate commerce through the port and serve as the eastern seaboard gateway. It is Economic Development. That is what we are all about. Host christine, democratic caller. Caller hello. [indiscernible] host christine, i had a little trouble hearing you. Say it again. Caller the impact of [inaudible] we able to pick that up . Ports . The top five caller [indiscernible] host we will take that. I could not understand what she was saying there. Guest new york is the largest port on the east coast. Savannah is the second largest port on the east coast. Virginia is third. Trust in his fourth. On the west coast charleston is fourth. On the west coast it is la beach. Two. Are they are by far the largest in the u. S. Guest same thing. We are number three on the east coast but we are growing. Be thenitely want to premier gateway to the United States. He wrap up our conversation we will continue in thisabout the ports country. We will have two members of congress coming up. The port of what virginia is looking for from the federal government, what are your Top Priorities . Guest as we mentioned before, we have a capacity greater than any other ports on the seaboard. We arty have 50 foot depths that the ships are demanding. Were close to 55 deep. We need more dollars to make the federal investment the smart as it can be. We can dredge and make them deeper, but the best bet for the dollar is weak heart and are with the other ports. We do that every day. We think the federal influx of dollars was a lot further. Guest we have an opportunity here with the Marine Terminal concept. It is directly behind us. It is to expand the disposal efficient is a very way for us to use of dredge. 600 acres of prime real estate, the most prime real estate on the east coast. There are spending restraint and washington. That will be next. Rb scott and scott ritual we will talk to them here. Thank you both or having cspan at the port of virginia and working with us to make it so our viewers can understand a little bit more about how port work in this country. I appreciate your time. Guest thanks for coming. Host a short break and then we will can you we will continue from the port of virginia. [no audio] tonight on the encore presentation of first ladies the first letter dates to october 162. We call it the miss adorable letter. That is how it opens. Miss adorable, by the same token we met up with you last night, i hereby order you to give him as many kisses and as many hours of your company after 9 00 as he shall please to demand. And charge them to my account. I presume i have a good right to drop on you for the kisses as i have given or 3 million at least when one has been received. Of consequence they count between us is immensely in favor of yours. Presentation of first ladies continues tonight at 9 00 eastern on cspan. I am not some sort of anti suburb person who thinks Everyone Needs to live in new york city. I was very sensitive to coming ,cross as a condo dwelling espresso sipping elitists. That is not why i did this book. I understand why people like the suburbs. Dailyfed up with a lot life in new york city a loslot. The fact that there is a shift in the way suburban america is perceived by the people that live there is too big a story to ignore. Lee gallagher on where the american gene is moving. Leigh gallagher on where the American Dream is moving. We bring Public Affairs from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings, and offering complete gavelto gavel coverage of the u. S. House. Cspan, created by the Cable Television industry 34 years ago and funded by your local satellite provider. Now you can watch us in hd. We are back live from the port of virginia and nor full norfolk, virginia where there are 45 ships a week at come here to the sports alone. Of Economic Impact annually about 31 billion dollars to 43 billion. We had 2 million we have two congressmen here with us. For being here. We appreciate your time this morning. Port is aous that the big Economic Impact that is important for the state of virginia. What does this mean or your constituents . Guest we are so proud of our port. It is a principal economic engine. It is a strategic ward of importance not only for our local economy in virginia but really the nation. Over 350,000 jobs direct and indirect for the commonwealth of virginia. It so much the goods that come through here end up going throughout america. We are proud of it. It is home to all of our east coast aircraft carriers. 380,000 dollars all over virginia, we have coal in the south, you have manufacturing. You have to keep it up. We are building the roads and bridges to access. You cannot have cargo coming in and thing getting stuck in traffic. We are working hard. It is a great investment and engine for the commonwealth. The president has been to a couple of ports recently in florida talking about the importance of infrastructure, calling on congress to support his overall infrastructure plan, part of that for the updating ports. Were theylican, concerned about the amount of spinning that washington does and wanting to cut back . What has been the impact of that on this port in virginia . Guest i start every day thinking about where is the Common Ground . Truebelieve that investment in infrastructure is the right thing to do. Oftentimes in business you make a Capital Investment that if you just look at the cost of that year year and say we cannot afford it at you advertise it and look at the useful area of what you are investing in, you decide it is a good investment. I think our Overall Economic situation and what we are continuing to borrow is that this is still very large. To get a hold of mandatory spending. It is related. This is putting pressure on our ability to invest in things like the port of virginia and other strategic facilities. Looking for, and grounds. Im convinced we can find it. What about the ban on air marks . Republicans that we are going to ban air marks. These ports are dependent on specific grant that come to them through air marks. This is a really tough subject. Andabuse was clearl irrefutable. Parties change in different offices. I do think that we need to find. Way to be able to make this host what is the president is what the president is proposing to bed . They willm convinced support and infrastructure plan. I do call for us to be more flexible on that topic. I have said as much. I believe on the issue of revenue. They have to come up by reducing some of the loopholes and the tax giveaways. We have to grow our economy. There is no better way to leverage this asset. It has been critical to america since 1607. Theres so much history here as well. Host weigh in on this debate in washington that is happening. Ofst it is a question priorities. Experts have calculated that we have over for dollars trillion 3 billion in infrastructure needs. Growth needs repair. Over 3 trillion. It is just a matter of priority. We need to make those in vestments. If we make those investments we an exceedingly high Unemployment Rate. A lot of people have stopped looking for jobs. We need to get people back to work. Where can democrats agree to cut spending in order to fund a Something Like the infrastructure needs the port of virginia . Of nondefenses discretionary spending, we are on track to having the lowest spending since the 1950s. We are arty cut much lower than what is necessary. If youre going to make the investments in the future you have to have the revenues. At have to have spending least average over the last 50 years. If we assist on being in the lowest point in spending youre not going to be able to have the infrastructure. I want to turn over to our viewers. Republican. Search on the budget committee. Bobby scott representing the di. Your need to congress. How many years have you been serving . Two. less than host a new member and a veteran. We will talk to greg first. Republican collar. Caller good morning. Since you looked into whether they brought down the twin towers, can you explain to any physic teachers on how a top parking crush the lower part without decelerating . Host the question is about 9 11 and what was really behind it. Guest i think hes referring to the theory that that the government blew up the twin towers. I have for that theory before. I do not believe it. Guest i do not either. I wake every day, and i am sure bobby and the president does, we are thinking about job creation in getting this country on track. I want to open up a coastal virginia energy. Believe it represents tremendous potential to get our economy growing. Host we can talk to that about a little bit. Explain to our viewers the organized effort out there to call into the show in particular about what happened on september 11 2001. If our viewers are interested in why we get those phone calls. That is an opinion out there . Guest i do not think it has any credibility whatsoever. Host lets go back to your point. From i just came louisiana. I had a great trip there. There is such potential to open up and create jobs here. Host what is it . Guest it is taking those amazing resources of natural gas and oil and also the renewals the renewables there and putting americans to work and creating revenue that we need for better roads and better schools. I think in washington we too often polarize things. Either you are for the environment or for jobs or Something Like this. I do not see it that way. We can do what has and done in louisiana and other areas. Diversify the economy. They have great paying jobs. I want the same thing here. Host what specifically . Iran on the opening of coastal virginia so that we can journal and get to the Natural Resources that are there in an environmentally safe way. The governor ran on it. The General Assembly want it. The only Thing Holding us back is the administration. That is not a partisan comments. There is essentially a. They are not moving forward. That is essentially it they are not moving forward. E are working hard bipartisan we want to move that forward and get virginians working again. It got to diversify our economy. This is a great way to do it. Host what would it mean for this for . Inst shift will be going and out on servicing the facilities that are out there. They would be over the horizon. You would not see them. Such to him and his work has event downince the there in 2010. They may technological improvements. Theres a lot of potential. Guest they have the same argument a couple of years ago. Caused a total disaster. We had a great investment on the Chesapeake Bay, torres and. A lot of industries. To jeopardize that over an will note that frankly reduce gasoline prices by any measurable amount. Will on a global basis not make enough difference to make any difference at the pump. Into that our entire environment on that. That is something that requires a very meticulous review. Im glad the administration is looking at it. A lot of people were for a review. They report before the gulf coast. Guest wait for the jobs. A lot of people are cleaning up the mess. Arthur if those are the jobs you want, we disagreed on this. , when something catastrophic happens we do not stop flying. We figure it out. We are smart people. We think her way through these things. That are definitive steps have taken technological advances. They have preposition the equipment that is needed. To any of myede friends thats they may care about the environment more than i do. It is not an either or proposition. As a relates to the port port, this is a key opportunity. Host were talking to two members of congress. We want to get your thoughts on the port in the country. All. Conomic impact of it lets go to michael in washington, dc. Go ahead. Caller this question is for both of you. What is your partys approach the regard to making country more competitive in every way . Seems as if if all the politics of america is concerned with these little enclaves you belong to. Aboutard earlier today the improvements. It is not only dubai. There are other ports around the world. It is important that the american politicians start to see the need for making this country more competitive. It is not just our military force. You must also be an economic force. It is important that we keep our eyes on the ball. Do themportant we involvement there at that it soty and on it fund people in this country can have a better life. You know that people are suffering. It is not just because there are no jobs. Dois because the politicians not have an eye on making the country competitive. Host lets get a response. Caller i want to hear how youre going to contribute to make this more successful. That goes to the point we have been making investments in the port here. We have been doing it for a long time. The port is growing. It is the fastestgrowing port on the east coast. It is great. We have to continue making those investments. When he had air marks we are getting funding to make that happen. Money through the Administration System and executive branch to make sure it can take place. As the gentleman has indicated, we need to make sure that we continue to get Economic Development and impact. , 41 billion of Economic Impact. Sheer valueis the of making our country more competitive. As a businessman who is now entered public service. I believe the federal government has become too large and really acted so often at the break to innovation. I talked to so many hard working entrepreneurs, once i can totally relate to it says im not going to make this investment. Im not sure where the portable care act is. The area that is out there i unlockbelieve we can our potential. The key is their energy. This is a lifechanging opportunity for americans, the states that have those said theyand have wanted to pursue it. North dakota, louisiana. They are doing really well. Unemployment is low. Approach. Mprehensive i am not for no regulation but for less. To make it easier for someone to want to invest and create a job for america. We can do it. Host south dakota, republican collar. Caller do you know the reasoning kind why george bush behind why george bush wanted to sell our ports . Not know you member this. I think he is referring to 2004, the Dubai Company wanted to buy a port in the United States. Guest i certainly remember that. Guest we believe in privatizing the ports here. I think in the full length of time i decided to keep the state owned. Host what does that mean . I believe wasler referring to when there was discussion here locally about actually selling the port to a. Oreign company that came to a full halt. I thought that was the right thing at the time. Host what does this mean to you that this is a state owned entity . Guest it is run and the public good. If it is privately own you have to maximize shortterm profit. With government owned we can look at the longterm benefits to the commonwealth of virginia. That is why i am delighted that we do not sell it. We have to consider all of this. The fact that it is now still in control the commonwealth and use for the public good, that makes a good. Host is this port sustained by revenues . Sustained by the revenue. It is not receiving any operating revenue. We do carve out a little bit of revenues at the state level for Capital Investments here. We also get some funds from the federal government for environmental matters and security. This is a key strategic port. Our east coast carriers are here. Some of our Navy Personnel and soldiers are right here. Some of the staff was apologizing for the weather. We love this. Water. This is lots of we do not let anything hold us back. This is classic navy weather. Host talk about where we are in relation to the naval base here. And what that means for both of your districts. Guest to the east is the beautiful entrance to the chesapeake a. So much has occurred in our nations history. Our first baby was established here. Wasou curve around navy established here. If you curve around the waterfront you would start to see all of our navy characters in the 60 plus ships that are here. You also have several shipyards. This is the only place you can build the aircraft carrier. Only one of two places. It is very heavily weighted toward the navy. We also have host airports and army bases. Also have airports and army bases. Guest i have the privilege of having the district with the highest concentration of men and women in uniform after duty in retirement. 430 five congressional districts. The Second District has the highest. Bobby has a lot in his district as well. We are surrounded by so many patriots. When you talk to someone who has served in the navy, almost inevitably they will say i went northfolk. To we have towards him as a key. Tourism as a key. Guest we also have a significant dependence on the department of defense with the Navy Shipbuilding and from military. Host good morning. Do not leave us behind. The small parts are revival ports. We appreciate you guys coming down. We need all the support we can get. Is panama canal opening giving us new investors down here. We need to work. We are still building after hurricane katrina. We have a little breakdown after the oil spill. Do not forget about us. Get us some funds. We want to grow also. Even though we are just a teeny port. We would like more work. Host do you work at the port . Caller i do. Host i am an officer for 26 years. Host host 26 years . Caller yes, maam. It is a great job. We need more jobs like this to keep us strong. E are a small port we are a viable port. Ost ok what is coming into your port in what is leaving compared to here . Caller wow. We are no comparison to virginia. They are a large ward. Port. Great. N rate is we get the ships in and out. We are moving anywhere from 34 to 35 ships per hour. My focus is hampton and. New orleans is a Great American city. Terms of support, the federal government is a huge supporter of new orleans after katrina and rita and the oil spill. I think we have shown a lot of support for new orleans. It is a Great American city. If i can ask about the role of unions . We talked earlier about the role of unions here. Guest they are hardworking. Very efficient. There are great relationships between the port in the unions. I think that has been very helpful in getting wrote work here in hampton. I agree completely. There is a feeling of americans that they want to work. This is our duty. We have the privilege to serve and lead this wonderful country. Do our very best to find Common Ground and unlock the economic potential that we have here. We have the longshoremen here. They do a great job. Ands a very collaborative spirited discussions and negotiations that take ways. Teamsters are here as well. I am broke proud of the partnerships that are formed to there. I think they put their support errs. In doing so it helps everyone. Host our viewers are seeing a shift. I cannot tell if it is coming in or leaving. Working to getn the containers on and off of these ships and then taking two trucks and railroad across the country. We talked about security concerns earlier. If there were some sort of , what threats guest one of the things is we have the kirnede of ontime delivery where you order things just to arrive just in time for your manufacturing process so you dont have to store materials and if theres any disruption in the schedule, then the people have no work to do because they dont have the materials. We have been doing security not just at the ports but back where it was being shipped from into the United States so that a lot of the screening takes place there. Obviously security is a great challenge but i think weve stepped up to the task. Guest were real proud of our coast guard facilities. Looks like a small navy. So there is security and ive been a recreational boater well before i had the privilege of serving in congress. And any time theres a security , its elevated security, youll see quite a bit of more presence. They have the ability to project more presence and to secure our assets that we have here and were proud of our navy, proud of our coast guard. And the border patrol. Who make sure that the goods that are coming in are secure. All of these containers go through Radiation Detection advice. And there are other measures, some we can talk about some we cant. Host independent caller. Caller good morning. First of all let me make one comment. Id like to have cspan keep the numbers up more often so we can make calls to it, those of us who are not regular callers. Congressman scott is a personal riend of mine. And congressman nagle is right next door to us. The representatives and the two gentlemen who you had on before in the attempts to privatize this national and state resource, we are pretty well sure that part of that was the Union Busting activities going on. Id like both congressmen to comment directly on any personal rolls they had or comment directly on why was it entertained for virginia to sell this port or to privatize this port in the first place. Thank you. Host all right. Guest well, i think its responsible to consider the offers that are made. Many officials were skeptical of the privatization. But you had to look at the numbers to see what was best for virginia. Thankfully the conclusion was that it should not be sold. It should be kept as a resource for the people. And thats where we are. I hope we just keep it that way. If it could be profitable for a private firm it can be profitable for the commonwealth. Guest my understanding was that the offer was unsols ted and just presented and they worked through that. But i didnt play any particular role in that. It was overwhelmingly a state issue. It was the governors decision along with the General Assembly. There was some question whether the governor had authority to even excute that even if he had decided to. But i think theyve worked through that and ultimately i think the right thing happened here. Host all right. Williamsburg, virginia. Caller good morning. I own a Company Called virginians for education and ive been to over 1100 schools in the state of virginia. And what i think you federal authorities have notched off your foot about is the lowering of standards for minority students. How can those students compete with everybody else . When youve lowered the standard for them and not everyone else. So if you accept them to be a slower future employee, how does an employer respect that persons education from the state of virginia when youve already told everybody that they operate at 1015 less than anyone else . And with the schools host all right. Lets get a response. Guest i think that came from a decision on the commonwealth to deal with the achievement gap which unfortunately exists today. Where minority students are performing lower. They set standards. I think its below where they are now. With the expectation that over the course of time that you will catch up. We need to eliminate the achievement gap by whatever means necessary. You cannot have a significant portion of your population significantly behind everybody else and think that youre going to be able to keep on an international basis. We need everyone educated to the fullest extent of their capabilities. Theres no excuse to have everybody educated at levels two and three years behind everybody else. We have been trying to left orize the no child behind legislation. We havent been able to do it. We want to keep areas of concern one of the chief areas of concern is the education gap and school dropouts. When we started some of us recognized that the calculation for dropping out was not part of the calculation for achieving what they call adequate yearly progress. So we have a per verse incentive to let people slide out because the more people drop out, the higher your average is. That is not where you want to be. We have i think the administration has accepted whenever it gets to reauthorization a formula that counts dropouts and punishes School System that have high dropout rates. Some areas its as much as 50 and youre not educating students with that kind of record. Guest it really is a moral imperative that we sharply improve our performance. We are failing our children. A question question that needs to be addressed is are we better off if we continue to pull decisionmaking up to washington. However well intended the groups are and the department of education, i really am a strong proponent of not spending less but send it back to the states in block grants and giving local School Boards more autonomy and running room. I think thats the direction we need to go. Guest one of the failures of no child left behind is when we did the testing and identified schools that were failing, that was the end of the process. We didnt come back with ways to actually improve the situation. Thats one of the things we need to be doing. If we want to have once weve identified, i think thats absolutely important, to have that testing regiment to find out who is teaching well. But after youve identified those who are not performing, we need to have ways to improve that and that was, unfortunately, absent from the first round. Host buffalo, new york, democratic caller. Jeff, in buffalo, new york. Caller good morning. I personally think this is a bipartisan home issue as far as Infrastructure Spending goes. I understand the problems with the deficit and what not but Interest Rates are currently at their lowest point in recent memory and they have been for the last few years because of the recession. Borrowing money has never been cheaper as far as using that money to reinvent with Infrastructure Spending on roads, bridges, ports or whatever else we need in the country. I guess my question would be to the two congressmen. How do you go back home and talk to your constituents, especially the republican on the panel. I understand deficit spending is a hot topic. With the way congressional districts are drawn. But face it, every congressional district, that money would be going back to help put people back to work. So i guess my question is how do you sell that to your constituents . Guest i appreciate the question. I really think that, in general, weve done enough on discretionary spending. Theres probably some agreement there. We really do need to shift to mandatory spending. I think its also morally wrong to not reform those because its going to hurt the least among us eventually. We cant stay on this path of borrowing at the rate that were borrowing and even though ive demonstrated some flexibility on revenue you cant tax the way out of the situation. And putting a real threat at the Foundation Level of our country. I want us to find the money to wisely invest in infrastructure. Id actually support and vote for an increase in Infrastructure Spending if it went straight to the programs that we need the most. That would be a wise investment. But weve got to get a handle on mandatory spending. Its not a republican issue or a democratic issue. Its an american issue. Guest well, i think when you talk about what mandatory spending is youre basically talking about Social Security and medicare. But i think the point that is being made is the fact that the Interest Rates are low and Unemployment Rate is high. So the bids coming in are some of the lowest bids in construction that youve got. We need to take advantage of this opportunity to put people back to work. And if you are borrowing money on bonds to do the construction youll be paying a lower bond fee for 15, 20, 30 years. So the gentleman is absolutely right. We need to take advantage of this opportunity and the Interest Rates wont stay low forever. Theyre beginning to creep up. So the quicker we get these Infrastructure Projects funded, the cheaper theyll be. Host we have a few minutes left here with o our two members of congress. Well hear from an independent in florida. Caller im very curious why our congress, our senate, is not creating jobs in america. We keep opening up in bigger ports and bringing everything. You walk into a store its made in china. And the United States in the early years we made everything here. We were selfsustainable. Thats what made this country great. And why do we continue to do these imports . Its ridiculous. We have no jobs. You have millions of people out of work. They have fallen off the unemployment rolls. They are not even counted. And if we did, we were known for textiles in New Hampshire or making shoes, making everything. And it is not cheaper coming from china. A pair of jeans is still 80. I just wonder why congress and senate are going to wake up. Host all right. Well get a response here. Guest something we need to be doing and the president has several initiatives to improve manufacturing, lower tax rates on manufacturing institutes to help build up manufacturing capability. But youre absolutely right. We can create jobs. Its a matter of priorities. We passed a 3. 9 trillnin a joc infrastructure you can create 10 million jobs at 50,000 each for half a trillion we spent 3. 9 trillion in a tax cut. There are only 10 Million People drawing unemployment at any time so you could eliminate unemployment if we put that as a higher priority as a tax cut. We have the money and we can create the jobs. We just have to do it. Host i just wanted to point out we were showing our viewers this ship coming through, looks like it might be leaving here from italy. Have you we had a caller earlier talk about the ports in dubai. Have either of you visited other ports across the world . And whats your impression of those ports versus here in the United States . Ive visited other countries but not specifically the ports. Its more of a national security, raffingen and pakistan. Afghanistan and pakistan. We have a tremendous potential just what you see flowing out here and heading out into the Chesapeake Bay and into the atlantic. Its a way we can address the concern is making us more competitive. I really believe as a businessperson here, we truly have and we are doing so now, were regulating ourselves out of our prosperity. I believe this. Im not a no regulation person. But the sum of all things puts a real damper in the spirit of the american entrepreneur. Host specifically for this port. Who is doing the regulation . Which agency . E. P. A. Is . That guest i can tell you that i really this term war on coal, call it what you will but there are hardworking americans right now being put out of work because were not allowing some reasonable accommodations for us to improve over a longer period of time with some of these emissions. China is putting these coal plants on line. So is india. And i just it burdens me greatly that whats happening in washington is putting americans out of work. And we can do far better than this. I dont see it as a partisan issue. Guest host we learned earlier theres a terminal close by here that exports about 40 of our countrys coal to other countries, primarily china. Guest i think some of the regulations have helped. Youve got children with much lower led levels in their blood because of regulation. So i think you have to be careful about regulations in general and those theesketively improve health and safety. Host let me get in one more phone call for you. Bobs been hanging on the line, i believe republican caller. Go ahead. I would like to give viewers an idea that will do away with what an unbelievable [inaudible] host im going to youre breaking u up a little bit. Lets put you on hold and try to come back. How do you talk to folks back in washington . Your colleagues . About what the port of virginia needs . And you serve on committees that arent directly related to the port but so how are you talking to your colleagues . Guest education in the workforce is certainly related to the workforce. But we need to talk about the Economic Growth, what ports can do for the economy. You mentioned 41 billion in economic activity, hundreds of thousands of jobs. We Work Together with others who represent ports and make the case that this is good for investments and good for american. Guest i assure my colleagues we all care deeply about our environment. Said, this suppresses this oppressive path the e. P. A. Is on, when were voting on these measures, that it ripples all across the country the way it is kind of constraining our environment. So when we make decisions to reel in the e. P. A. , were actually unlocking the potential of this port and for virginians and americans to make a better living. Host all right. Disagree on that. But thank you very much. Guest were good friends though. Host we appreciate the differing viewpoints. Thanks for coming on from the port of virginia. Thank you for welcoming us here. We appreciate it. Were going to take a short break. When we come back well continue our live coverage here from the port of virginia, traces its roots back to 1906 at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. We have the james river and Elizabeth River behind us. Seeing a lot of activity here, supporting 350,000 jobs in this area. As we told you earlier, an Economic Impact annually of about 43 billion. When we come back well talk to the Port Association about not only virginia but ports across the country and their role in talking to washington and the states and the president who support these ports. O well be right back. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National able satellite corp. 2013] tonight, on first ladies. The earliest letter we have dates to october 17, 62. We call it the miss adorable letter because that is how john adams opens the letter. So its john adams writing to abigail. He says, miss adorable, by the same token that the bearer here of was with you last night i heesh order you to give him as many kisses and hours of your company after 9 00 as he shall please to demand and charge them to my account. I presume i have good right to draw upon you for the kisses asive given 2 or 3 million at least when one has been received and as of consequence the account between us is compencely in favor of yours. The encore continues tonight at 9 00 eastern on cspan. Host some sort of ant suburb person who thinks that Everyone Needs to live in new york city. I was very sensitive to coming across as an epresso sipping, condo dwelling elitist. That is not why i did this book. I understand why people like the suburbs. I get fed up with a lot of daily life in new york city a lot. I was more drawn, the trends were just so undeniable and the fact that there is a shift in the way suburban american is perceived by the people that live there is too big a story to ignore. Where the American Dream is moving. Sunday night at 9 00 on after words. Host we are back with our live coverage from the port of virginia in norfolk virginia. This is one of the busiest ports in the United States. It ranks about second or third along the east coast. And within the top 20 major ports it usually is around fifth or sixst. 35 ships a week come to call at this port. Were at the International Terminal here. Were joined by the port ssociation kurt nagle is the the president and chief officer. Tell us about what your group does, what your role is in the ports across the country. Guest sure. Our association, the American Association of Ports Authority represents the port agencies throughout the United States and in addition to our sufert ports we also represent ports throughout the western hems fir. So the ports trooned hemisphere our role is primarily to provide forums for exchange of information, best practices, lessons learned. For the u. S. Members in addition to that we provide adslo cassie efforts in washington, d. C. Host how are you interacting with washington . Guest with our offices just across the river in alexandria, we meet regularly with folks up on capitol hill both in the house and the senate to discuss issues of critical importance not only to ports themselves but to our transportation infrastructure connecting to our ports as well as obviously to our international competitors. In addition we work with the federal agencies, the department of transportation, Homeland Security, Commerce Department on issues that relate to trade and public ports. Host what are some of the Top Priorities that youre having meetings about with officials in washington . Uest the primary issues right now focus on infrastructure both at the port facilities themselves but also connecting to the port facilities both on the landside the last mile in and out, the connection to sbresbr state highways but also importantly the navigation channels leading into and out of our ports. Theres a federal government channel and its important that be both maintained and to cover the International Trade. Host what does it take to dredge the lanes and inside the port and who is doing it . Guest the responsibility is federal. Its in terms of the agencies its the u. S. Army corps of engineers thats responsible for maintaining and improving the navigation channels. Its paid for in terms of the maintenance by the users and shippers that are bringing goods into the port of virginia. They are paying a tax to the government to be able to fund that maintenance. And then local ports like the Virginia Port Authority pay a significant cost share if theres going to be improvements deepening and widening. Host and this port behind us at this terminal right here this International Terminal is dredged 50 feet. How does that compare to other ports across the country . Guest there are relatively few ports right now in the United States that are able to accommodate vessels that can handle about 50 feet or more. Thats a challenge that we have in this country to be able to bring our infrastructure at our ports to be competitive internationally. Many ports around the world are able to accommodate the larger vessels that are International Trade. And our competitiveness internationally is impacted by that. So virginia is certainly in a good position as having one of the channels that is 50 feet. There are others that are being improved to those depths but its a long and costly process. Host how is the shipping industry changing . Guest whats primarily happening is youre seeing larger vessels so making fewer port calls but bringing more and more goods in on those individual vessels or taking more goods for export out. So what that relates to then is the depth of the channels that are necessary. Boats like this are able to accommodate those larger vessels. So that impact it is cost on u. S. Exports, the more coal, grain, whatever the case may be that we can load on, the lower cost per ton or bushel, et cetera, making our goods more competitive internationally. Host our guests earlier told us that they topped out recently at 9,600 containers on one ship. Theyre looking to go to 12,000, 15,000 containers on these super tankers. Whats a super tanger . Tank center guest the new vessest are on capacity. Are 18,000. Host which is containers . Guest its containers. So if its 18,000 probably about 9,000 containers on each of those vessels. The panama canal is expanding to be able to accommodate those larger vessels and ports throughout the world are really also making Infrastructure Investments to be age to handle those larger vessels in International Trade. Host so the president has called for it. Theres republicans that weve heard from who support this idea of more infrastructure. But if this does not happen, if the investment doesnt happen, what happens to those super tampingers . Who are we competing against . Guest well, most parts of the super tankers would be able to travel literally buy passing us, europe or asia or vice versa. So the trade at this point is clearly global. And if the u. S. Is not going to be a major player in that, then that will bypass us with those larger vessels. We wont be able to compete because of the economies of scale. Host dont the countries like china that make a lot of goods need to import them to the United States . The consumer here is theres a demand. Guest there clearly is a demand and we will certainly remain a significant destination for imported goods. Its just that the population and the Economic Growth throughout the world in latin america and other parts of asia, et cetera, is so significant that the u. S. Share kind of the relative size of the u. S. Compared to historicically is shrinking. And so that we dont have that Natural Advantage that we had historically. Host which countries are coming to call with their vessels here at this port and ports across the country . Guest in terms of value of goods, both our imports and exports are two top two destinations and origins is china and japan. But theres also significant imports and exports with countries like germany, brazil, south korea, and host i saw italy earlier. Guest so you have european, latin america, it really is a Global Economy and we have to be able to be competitive with not only ports throughout the world but with the cargoshag sh the world. Host we have our setup here at the port of virginia. We also have a camera in the tower thats on the ground here at the port and able to give you the view that is youve been seeing, the 360 views of the ships coming out and the activity that happens here on the ground just next to us. Compare this port to other ports across the country similar . Smaller . Whats happening here today that happens across all ports . Guest as you indicated in your introduction, the port of virginia is one of the major ports in the country. Certainly its well on the east coast. And what you see is activity thats going on in this port particularly it has obviously a lot of containers as we see at this terminal and others throughout the port. But it also is a significant ayer in terms of our bulk commodity export, such as coal. One of our significant exports and not only obviously impacts jobs here locally in virginia but also at the origin of those where that coal is produced. So what you see here is activity in jobs not only locally but what that means for jobs and activities throughout the various regions of the country that are kind of supported by their ports. Host and we touched on this earlier but for those that are just joining us, the people that work here, what kind of wages are people earning at ports in the United States . Guest the average long shoreman wage at ports is significantly above the average wage in the u. S. Economy. So these are very good paying family wage jobs. Also, in general in terms of the economics of our exports in general, jobs related to our exports generally pay 15 or so higher than your average job. So again, theres significant Economic Impact to our ability to compete internationally. Host let me turn to david in virginia. Democratic caller. Caller good morning. My question is regarding security at the ports. I would like the gentleman to comment regarding ports in general. There have been over the last few years a reduction of security personnel and the replacement of the hybrid security department. What are his comments regarding the efficiency of those personnel . Guest i think what weve seen certainly dramatically changed was a eptember 11th, 11, strong shift in Port Security away from the focus on cargo staff, drug interdiction type issues to the concerns about security in terms of terrorism either at the port facility itself or in terms of bringing potential weapons of mass destruction or some other Hazardous Material through the port. There has been i think a significant increase in the level of investment in Port Security including security personnel, the port of virginia here has a very significant sworn police force here at the Port Authority. So it is a combination of physical security in terms of literally the boots on the ground, the Port Security profession als but also a lot of inveesed investment in Access Controls to ensure that individuals that seek access to the port have a legitimate business reason to be on port property and to secure the facility for in terms of the cargo thats here as well. So theres been a dramatic increase in the investment and a combination of technology as well as port professional security people. Host the other aspects of the port, one of them being the railways, showing our viewers a little bit earlier, theyre building a railway just a few feet from us here. How important is that . The port of virginia we learned earlier, 30 of the commerce goes out by rail. The rest of it mostly by truck. Building a new railway through here, talk about that as a factor in ports and our delivery of goods. Guest virginia is about in line with the rest of the country. Normally about a third of the cargo thats moved in and out of ports is handled in general by private freight railroads in this country. That can help obviously reduce the congestion in and around the ports. The ability to have ondock rail so that the rail lines are able to physically come on to the port property and load directly on to the rail cars, the containers for shipment either into the midwest or other markets that help significantly in terms of congestion, certainly has environmental benefits, et cetera. But thats again a critical piece of what were focused on in washington is to ensure that that infrastructure that connects to the port, whether it be the rail lines, the liltly intermodal transfer between the ports and the railroads and as well as the trucking to be able to have easy access on to and off of port property to the interstate again to not only increase the efficiency but to reduce the impacts on the local community. Host all right. Gordon in wyoming. Go ahead. Aller good morning. Thanks for being on the show today and thanks for cspan for always putting on a great show. Im retired coast guard. Itches leading seamen in San Francisco bay in 1965. And we would every ship that came in from a foreign port underneath the golden gate bridge. And on the freighters and tankers we put Public Health Service Officials on board so they could inspect the crew and their Health Records by the time they got to their anchorage or their pier they would have their work done. And on the passenger liners we put Customs Officials on board. Im wondering about the feasibility of what the pilot boat goes out to the see buoy to meet the freighters or tankers or passenger liners, if they could also put coast gaurt has mos for crew or security guys on board with the pilot. Maybe some Public Health Service Officials. Some docks or Health Officials on board. Take care of business on the way in. That would save some time. The money, i dont know that it would save. But its a big challenge. I dont know, its something that somebody wants to do something bad, theres opportunities there, unfortunately. Host ok. Guest thank you, sir. And for your service in the coast guard. Youre absolutely right. A lot of the focus has been in these last ten years on trying to essentially move our borders out in terms of security away from the land itself. D there is a lot of security requirements that takes place for the vessels 4 hours or more before they do enter u. S. Ports. The cargo itself is screened in advance. Theyre required to provide information on the cargo that is on vessels well in advance of its arrival at a u. S. Port. So there are continuing efforts to again both physically as well as tech logically move those borders out so that a lot of that inspection, a lot of that screening can be done of both the cargos and the vessels and the crew well in advance before they arrive at a facility like this here in virginia. Host are the crew coming from italy, from these other countries, foreign crew members, are they vetted . Guest they are. And theres also a limitation in terms of their access both first off, to whether they are able to get a license to be aboard a vessel but also in terms of access at facilities here. One of the ongoing challenges is to be able to provide legitimate access for crew members so theyre able to buy supplies or make phone calls, what theyre able to do when theyre in a port. But also to be able to ensure that the facilities in that vessel remain secure. So again, its a matter of vetteding those crew to ensure that they have the ability to be able to access the facilities but only the areas that they have need to be at. Host all right. Welcome to the conversation. Caller yes. Im a korean war vet. And i have issues and capable ecause i of delee dimensional manufacturing. Thats why im interested in this topic today. A t im amazed about that is system of assembling things like the parkway yards in the pennsylvania area. Its automated. And i dont see a Single Person manning the machines. Our cars are manufactured in the same manner. But what gives me an intense interest on it is that you do not have the kind of personnel at the base itself. And the state of virginia gets quite growing with this port. I believe that this is something that ought to be proud of and progress and three dimensional manufacturing is another one down the pike. So i say that im proud to be in a country where we can develop such things of a great magnitude as this. Thats why i called in. Compared stion is ton to an elevator that runs horizontal and vertical no horizontal. But this is a system that operates off a certain design measure and operates and has parking stations and when its ready its called upon by total automation. That fascinates me. Thats why i had to call. Host ok. Guest thank you for the call. Certainly as you can see in the background here, the cranes at this facility are state of the art. And do have a lot of features for efficiency and safety aspect soss that the individuals this is the long shoremen that are both onboard the vessel as well as operating the cranes or in the yard behind those cranes, are safe and secure. So there is a lot of automation, a lot of new technology that can increase the efficiency, again making our goods more efficient and more competitive internationally, as well as our imports so that the consumers when we go to the local Department Store or toy store, whatever the case may be, our productsd are competitively priced so that we are able to have the quality of life that we do have here in the United States. But certainly the efficiency and the safety of employees is part of the automation and the technology that we have in cranes like you see here. Host and the cranes behind us we learned earlier, one, costs 10 million. They last about 25 years. What the Port Authority folks told us. And that they have updated them just recently. And then to our right you saw earlier the people working lifting up the containers, moving them, stacking them, the straddle carriers what theyre called, you can see them busy at work. Theyve been working all morning since we got here. Talk about that a little bit and how that factors into the operation here at the important. Guest right. The process as you see even when theres not physically a ship at the berth theres a lot of activity going on in terms of getting the containers either ready or a vessel that is coming on, i believe the vessel is due this afternoon. But also, cargo that has been offloaded and is being prepared to be sent either to the rail head or for distribute yb by rail or then that can be prepared so a truck driver is able to come in and pick up a load to take to its destination. So theres a lot of activity, a economic , a lot of activity in and around a port that is just beyond the physical trade and the ships themselves. Host on our line for independents, randy in west point, mississippi. Caller good morning. I would like to find out if the gulfport, mississippi, are going to be updated for the new tanker ships. Thank you. Guest the port of savannah is currently in the process of working with the corps of engineers and the federal government to deepen the Savannah River so it will be able to accommodate larger vessels. That project is under way in terms of that investment and improvement. Similarly, in gulfport, mississippi, as you know, that port was significantly impacted by katrina a few years ago and as part of the process of rebuilding and revitalization of the mississippi coastline, there is activity involved in terms of improvements and investments in and around the port of gulfport to both revitalize that community that was devastated by the hurricane but also importantly to be able to handle the new types of vessels that will be transitting into the gulf in a few short years. Host we have about 15 minutes left here with our guest. The president and chief executive officer of the American Association of port authorities working with officials in washington, working with ports not only in the United States but internationally as well, as we continue our coverage here in norfolk, virginia, at the port of virginia. Were at the International Terminal with the Elizabeth River behind us. And as kurt has said, theyre expecting a ship here at the berth around midday today. Weve been seeing ships come in and out and a lot of activity t the here at the shipyard. As far as profits and revenue, we talked a little bit about that. Does it work differently at every port and do they try to compete with other ports across the United States as far as how much how many ships they see really . We learned about 35 ships a week coming here to the port of virginia. Do they try to cut their costs in order to compete with new york ports ees set ra . Guest absolutely. There is while our association thankfully, i think for the benefit of the country, has a very good culture of willingness to share experiences, lessons learned, et cetera, they are very competitive in terms of marketing and competing for cargo, for exporters, for importers, et cetera. Which again from a National Standpoint helps to ensure that were doing things efficiently, and keeping costs as low as possible, again both for u. S. Consumers as well as our manufacturers and exporters. But theres very strong competition that the gentleman called earlier about savannah. Certainly savannah, charleston, norfolk, baltimore, new york, theres a lot of competition here on the east coast, similarly in the gulf of mexico and as well as in the west coast in the competition between the west coast and the east coast for cargo as well. In addition, internationally. Our canadian ports are certainly competing for cargo destined for north america and our mexican ports to the south. So theres a lot of competition. But that again helps ensure that were being efficient. Host does it make a difference for the shipper how long their containers stay on that ship, whether or not they can come to a closer port versus coming here to the port of virginia or continuing on to call to the new york ports . Guest from the shippers perspective, their ultimate goal to get that product where they want it to be by a certain time at certainly as economic a price as possible. So in some cases that involves having it on the water for a longer period of time because it is in general the lowest cost transportation. But depending on the particular commodity and the particular location, there may be a combination of taking it to a port thats a little bit closer to the origin and then either again rail using rail lines or something to carry it the rest of the way. Host does that mean the port of virginia is primarily serving the midwest or the middle part of the United States . Guest the port of virginias primary market is obviously certainly in terms of its export, a lot of virginia coal, West Virginia coal is exported. But i would say its primary market is the midwest. And theres other ports that are competing for that same cargo which certainly the port of virginia again is on its toes to be as economiccal as they can. Host and competing for federal dollars as well. Guest absolutely. One of the challenges that we as an industry have is with the federal budget climate as it is in washington, d. C. , and the discussions about what is a federal responsibility and what might not be a federal responsibility part of our challenge as an industry is to highlight the fact of what the role of the federal government is again primarily as a partner on the water side and land side connections. Ports like virginia, et cetera, are investing about 9 billion a year throughout the u. S. On facilities as we see behind us. But what we need the federal government to do is really uphold its end of the bargain in terms of the federal navigation channels, the land site access type infrastructure that are outside the ports jurisdiction. And theres strong competition obviously in washington for those limited dollars. In terms of the industry itself, we think that is clearly a core federal responsibility. It was literally laid out in the constitution one of the first things that George Washington did was establish the federal role in our ports and waterways. And but with the federal budget being where it is we have to continue to make that case. Host what has been the impact of sequestration, if any, on the ports in this country . Guest thankfully, its been somewhat moderated because again i think there has been a recognition by the affected agencies that this International Trade is vital to our economy, to our jobs, et cetera. So i think there has been significant efforts to try to minimize those negative impacts. There is concern because with the across the board budgets as the sequestration required, things like the corps of engineers has less money to maintain the federal navigation channels so that puts those channels at greater risk. Another significant concern is customs and Border Protection. One of the earlier callers talked about that screening of cargo, et cetera. Customs and Border Protection with the sequestration cuts has had to try to do more with less resources to be able to continue to provide that inspection so the cargo can enter and leave facilities on the timely basis that it needs to. Host we have a little over 5 minutes left here. Let me go to alabama. Democratic caller. Aller good morning. I have a question and a comment. My question is, how does your est look at the intercoastal highway as another means of moving the cargo up and down the coast without impacting high wees themselves . And my comment highways themselves. And i hope that the viewers will understand the container ships was invented in this country. Malcolm mcclain who started Sealand Corporation and now all those jobs have been sold out and gone. Hardly any american container ships are any more. Thats my comment and question. Thank you. Host all right. Guest thank you. Youre certainly right in terms of the intercoastal waterway both here on the east coast with the intercoastal waterway up and down the coast but also into the gulf intercoastal waterway along the gulf of mexico. There are some movements of cargo in between ports here in the United States. Its something that were certainly advocating for increased utilization of that, of those waterways for both the efficiency again as i mentioned earlier, it generally is the lowest cost as well as most environmentally friendly mode of transportation in terms of moving goods. But also, certainly can take significant cargo congestion et cetera off the roads like i95 here on the east coast or i20, oy 10 in the gulf of mexico. So we certainly very much agree with your concept of greater utilization of our both intercoastal waterways as well as just moving vessels from one u. S. Port to another to move that cargo. And to your latter point, that would also help in terms of u. S. Maritime jobs because that type of Cargo Movement between u. S. Ports would be required to be done on u. S. Flag vessels with u. S. Crews. So that would also address your comments. Host what about the history . He talked a little bit about the history of who invented the container ship . Guest he is absolutely right. I believe it was 1956, ran a Trucking Company in the new yorknew jersey area and figures there must be a better way of getting my cargo in and out of the ports and where i need it to go. , what literally took the at that time with you was the truck itself on to a vessel and shipped it to i believe the first shipment went to a port in texas. And that literally began the history of containerization and as we see now as much cargo as possible because again of the economics of that type of transportation is moved by container on these large vessels. Host whats your background in this industry and International Trade . Guest ive been with the Ports Association since 1985, actually before that, and i noted when the caller called earlier from wyoming my background has been in International Trade even before working with the Ports Association i was with the National Coal associated, visited wyoming to get a sense of the coal production. And coal is certainly one of our key exports internationally. So it involved International Trade and u. S. Competitiveness in the world market for over 30 years. Host and your job as the Port Association is to be talking to the federal officials. We talked about the competition for federal dollars from these ports. How much money are we talking about that ports are getting from the federal government . Guest unfortunately, not whats necessary. The ports themselves as i mentioned are investing about 9 billion a year in their facilities. So theyre investing the lions share. Which is certainly legitimate. Host 9 billion . Guest 9 billion each year in our facility thrussout the United States. But we need the federal government to just invest primarily in the waterside, federal navigation channels. That would be in the neighborhood if it was fully funded between about 1. 5 and 2 billion both for maintenance and improvements. And then also importantly, a combination at the federal and state, the land site act that connects the roads to facilities. Again, to facilitate that movement and to reduce conjection and environmental impacts locally. Are host are we talking about a federal investment of billions . Guest i would say its billions but it would be low billions. And again, compared to the 9 billion that the public ports and their private sector partners are investing its a relatively small share. It is part of the partnerships in terms of what is the federal role, what is federal jurisdiction. For instance, these channels are under jurisdiction under the constitution reserved for the federal government. The port of virginia couldnt deepen and widen this channel on its own if it desired to and even if it wanted to do it was willing to pay for it because it is a federal channel and it needs to have that federal authorization. Host let me quickly go to phil and try to queeze him in here as we wrap up. Caller hi. Your guest just took my thurpped there. Talking about living in thunder there. I think the main bottleneck to the port is getting through the bridge tunnel system. And the hardest to deal with the local authorities to get the fuppeding, and how much of a drag is the local bottleneck here . Guest its certainly significant for many ports and what weve seen over the last probably 10 years or so is that the port authorities are much more looking beyond their date in terms of that transportation infrastructure and being more involved whether its with their local governments, the local metropolitan planning organizations that deal with transportation issues in the local regions to try to ensure how that some of the priorities that are necessary to address the congestion that obviously is important to the local communities as well as the port can be addressed here in the norfolk area you mentioned the tunnel certainly a longterm plan is for a third passage, a third tunnel that will provide both benefit to the cargo moving into and out of this port but also again for the community here in hampton roads. Host we have 30 seconds left but were at a stateowned port here. Stateowned versus privately owned in this country, major ports. Whats the difference . How many are we talking about . Guest all of our members are public port agencies. Many are state, some are local like city, counties, harbor districts, et cetera. And they handle most of the public type groups like containers, et cetera. Many of the ports facilities that handle things like oil, petroleum products, lick fid natural gas, et cetera, are private facilities and they handle a lot of those types of bulk commodities. So theres probably roughly an equal amount of public and private terminals. Host kurt naggle, the president of the port authorities, we thank you for talking to our viewers and welcome us to the port of virginia. We appreciate it. Guest happy to be here. Host that does it for our coverage at the port of virginia. We want to thank the folks here as well with the Authority Authority and everyone that was so welcoming to our crew and to all of us. Thank you for watching. That does it for todays washington journal. Well be back tomorrow from washington. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] we are live at the brookings sister this morning. 400 87 billion in cuts for the 2011 budget control. Recently chuck hagel said the military is considering force reductions and cutting benefits to meet the lower spending levels. There is live coverage here and cspan