Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20140617

Can trust iran here . Our phone lines are open. Host a very good Tuesday Morning to you. We want to begin with headlines about the u. S. Working with iran on the issue of iraq. Here is the Washington Times. Hints at alliance with iran on seven policy reversal. Obamas new ally . Notes a senior american diplomat met with his iranian counterpart in vienna to explore whether the United States and iran could Work Together to create a more stable Iraqi Government. The initial meeting took place after secretary of state john kerry singled that the obama was open toon cooperating with iran on iraq, raising the possibility of seeking help from a country that the United States is often described as a state sponsor of terrorism that must be prevented from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Here is more of what secretary kerry had to say yesterday about working with iran. [video clip] we are open to discussions if there is something constructive that can be contradicted by bytradict contributed iran. Can you see cooperating with iran militarily . At this moment i think we need to go stepbystep and see what impact might be a reality. I would not rule out anything that would be constructive to providing real stability, a respect for the constitution, a respect for the election process, and a respect for the ability of the iraqi people to form a government that represents all the interests of iraq. Not one sectarian group over another. It has to be inclusive, and that has been one of the great problems of the last few years. Host secretary kerry yesterday, courtesy of yahoo news. Here is a story and todays wall street journal, with the white house and the pentagon saying there are no plans for military cooperation with iran. Any conversation with the Iranian Regime will not include was recorded nation,spokesman josh earnest told reporters traveling with president obama on air force one. Several Stores Including the lead story about the situation in iraq, including a list of some of the latest developments. To help us run through those, we are joined on the phone by scott wilson, White House Bureau chief for the washington post. Good morning, mr. Wilson. Guest good morning to you. Host we want to start with this Troop Deployment we heard about. Talk about this mission and when they are expected to arrive. Guest president obama met with his Senior National Security Team last night after he returned from california. Soon after, it was announced that 275 marines would be sent to baghdad to support the embassy there. About 180 of them are already there, and the other 100 will likely be in kuwait. What they are doing is overseeing some evacuations of u. S. Personnel from the baghdad embassy. Those people will be going to basra or up north in the kurdish area to wait out what looks like it could be a pretty violent time in the capital. Hey are headed out for combat but most likely they wont be out fighting in the streets. Robustf it as a very come into use the pentagons word, security staff there now to make sure that no americans are harmed if insurgents sweep into the capital. Host you mentioned that this decision made after a meeting the president had with his National Security team yesterday. Do we know anything else that was discussed in a meeting . Guest still looking at a range of options, and mostly focusing on military strikes now. The dilemma remains where iran does come in, most importantly in the administrations thinking, president obama said he is not going to do anything that charlie for the iraq the government unless it gets a political land in place and its to what you heard secretary leads tog about what you heard secretary kerry talking about, and more inclusive government. What the United States wants to see from iran is pressure on maliki. Maliki a shiite leader, very close to shiite iran. A lot of pressure from the iranian government to say open up your government, open up your extra more open up your ranks to more sunni leaders, that havees in anbar become disaffected in recent years, and a government that u. S. Trade Security Forces will begin to fight for. A lot of the abandoning of bases that occurred last week and into this week occurred in large part because the sunni soldiers were not willing to fight and die for shiite government in baghdad. Those are things that the National Security team is to execute and then airstrikes in a way that would be both militarily effective and do not come off looking in iraq as if the United States was backing maliki and the sectarian government, shiitecontrolled, shiitedominated that he runs. Host your colleague Craig Whitlock has a piece on possible airstrikes fraught with competitions. Guest it is extremely complicated. Competencee kinds of combatants the United States has been facing the last few years. Guerillany largely organization is extreme the difficult. Many of these fighters are dressed in black, but theyre not marauding across the desert in tanks. They dig into cities, urban areas, they are difficult to identify. What you want to be hitting and ensuring you are not killing civilians at the same time is extreme the difficult. Take mosul, iraqs secondlargest city, which fell last week to sunni insurgents. A very close quarters. The city itself is mixed in some ways, shiite and sunni, although largely segregated in recent years. It is different enclaves and neighborhoods. But it is tough to know what targets to hit. It is not fighting a government. It is not fighting a military threat it is fighting an answer it is not fighting a military. It is fighting an insurgency and military weapons have fallen into their hands upon the iraqi militaries abandonment of posts. The scott wilson of washington post, we are asking our viewers this morning whether the United States should should engage with iran. You mentioned what the u. S. Is looking for from iran. What is next in terms of engagement . Is there more meetings planned in the next coming days . Guest what they did yesterday is they met on the sidelines of the talks in vienna about iran plus Nuclear Program to base nuclear irans program to export if theres the possibility of new meetings and want to discuss in them. Yes, militarycoordinated campaign is not likely, to put it mildly. But yesterday we saw that iranian general still mone suleimani, very important person, runs the alquds force, a shiite Iranian Elite force that is part of the republican guard, has a lot of influence with maliki and within the iranian government in baghdad talking to maliki. Those kinds of talks can take place in coronation with the toted states to get maliki take part in a new program, that is what the United States is looking for and that is what they want to find out if they can talk about in the coming days. And that is what they are exploring in vienna. Host scott wilson is the White House Bureau chief for the washington post. Thanks for getting up this morning. Guest thanks for having me. Host should the United States engage with iran on iraq . Our phone lines are open. Host here are some tweets already coming in on this topic. Tweets as well coming from the members of congress. This is a topic of discussion on capitol hill. Host we want to hear from our viewers this morning. Well start with tom from fort lauderdale, florida. Caller good morning. I think we can talk to iran if in our dreams we thought iran, hm, was for a government that would be inclusive and would reflect the actual Election Results that the iraqi people put forth in even the last election. I dont hear people talking about the fact that the opponent to maliki in the last election actually got more votes than maliki. No r some reason i have i have no idea, maybe another , but then explain this opponent was not allowed to be installed as the new leader of iraq. Host so, tom, listening to our next segment on washington journal this morning, we will have a former u. S. Ambassador to to askohn negroponte, him about the situation going on. Stick around for that segment. Stick on the issue of iran for a second, tom, let me read you a seib thiserald morning in the wall street journal, he says there is opportunity for the United States when it comes to iran. There is the makings of a grand longterm bargain, perhaps only an agrees and 1 tehr to curb its Nuclear Program and have a more stable government to stop the march of sunni extremism. In return, the iranians get american help saving mr. Maliki s skin and really fun economic sanctions. Relief on economic sanctions. Do you think there is an opportunity when it comes to iran . I think we lost on. Massachusetts, our line for democrats. Caller good morning, thank you for your program. If we continue to listen to people like bombs away mccain and those of that ilk, we will always be in war. To go into iraq in the first place was foolish and now it would be even dumber. Made people i know god everybody but they dont mind killing anybody and they are tough to fight, people that dont mind dying. I would say get out of there and let them each other eat each other alive. Have a good morning. Host he brings up john mccain. The politico story on this subject, john mccain, Lindsey Graham spent on iran, noting that senators Lindsey Graham and john mccain are enduring a rare split our Foreign Policy. The difference of opinion the 2 have on engagement with iran. Theng senator mccain, United States and iranian interests do not align on iraq and greater iranian intervention would make the situation worse. The United States should be seeking to minimize greater iranian involvement in iraq now, not encouraging it. A few quotes from Lindsey Graham the unitedy, states would have to have some dialogue with the iranians but also have some red lines. Quoting from his interview with cnn, the iranians can provide some assets to make sure baghdad is involved. We need to quote in it with the iranians. To ignore iran and not tell them dont take it vantage of this. Tuation would be a mistake story in political on the rare split our Foreign Policy between john mccain and Lindsey Graham. Good morning. Caller good morning. What i would like to say is that i would not like to see the United States send troops put troops on the ground for iran. Another thing is that there is too much information on the air about what United States is planning to do. It is counterproductive and it allows our enemy to change their strategy. We need to keep a lot of this information out of the air. Need toens we dont know everything the United States government is doing. Host when do you want to know . At what point should the government inform you about some of these decisions if it involves sending troops over or planes over . Caller well, if they are going to send troops over, we need to know. But i am talking about, whatever decisions the government is making to counteract what the terrorists are doing is all over the air. Everyone knows what is going on, and that makes it very difficult, and it compromise is the United States Foreign Policy. There is too much news out there, too much talking from the United States press. Everything has to be known before it happens. That is not how a constructive government operates. And thank you very much for cspan. Ie in we will go to edd fayetteville, georgia, on our line for democrats. Caller good morning. The American People are sick and tired of iraq and the iraqi people. Let them kill each other. Let them kill each other. There is but hatred in that region. There is nothing but hatred in that region. You can never solve any problems over there, you cannot. With me for atick second. I want to read a piece in the Washington Times asking the question, who should be concerned about what is going on in iraq. It says just about everyone. This is on the situation laid out in the piece says militarily successful islamist or struggling parts of iraq and syria poses a real threat to the stability and security to those countries and their immediate neighbors, turkey, jordan, and of course, israel. It carries ramifications for other countries such as saudi arabia, kuwait, bahrain, qatar, united arab emirates, and yemen. The next target will likely be saudi arabia. Left unchecked, the islamists could pose a threat to the stability and wellbeing of countries in central asia with large muslim populations, such as some of the former soviet republics. Further down the road, there are very clear red flags waving over europe and the americas. What is your thoughts on the scenario laid out there . I think we lost the caller as well. Bill in st. Louis, missouri. Good morning. Caller good morning. Raqis on the the i iranians until one million people, and then we go there for 20 is an bomb Saddam Hussain and his for his country and kill 3 million people. Now the chickens are coming home to roost. When are we going to realize that it is not our interest to go over there and slaughter people . They think it is our oil. It is not the oil. We are the biggest terrorists on the planet. Who is slaughtered more people in the last 30 years than the United States . Cant. Give you 20, you we need to get out of there. We destroyed iraq. Look at all the deformed babies from duis. Why dont you people tell the real truth . Obama cant do anything in iraq. T to get out of there and stay out of there could we ought to rebuild the country for all the damage we have done to them. Host host again, the conversation happening on twitter. Spanwj, follow along, c and on our Facebook Page as well. Our phone lines are open. We will have 15, 20 more minutes on this topic and then we will talk about iraq in our next segment of washington journal this morning. Jim in north dakota on our line for republicans. Good morning. Caller hi, how you doing, everybody . Host go ahead. Caller boy, that last guy, hes really full of love, isnt he . Here, we have saudi arabia oilfields and we could be liberated from all this crap if we went after it. Im a transplanted pennsylvania guy out here for work. Im a republican, but very little to i like them anymore. George bush i cant stand. I voted for him in 2000, he got us into this, and the last guy is right in a way. Somebody doubled is ago mention what somebody a couple days ago mention what biden said about separating these tribal groups into separate nations, and even the guys on fox news old tha laughed at joe for saying these silly things. Well, joe biden is right. Evenuld have curtis switzerland is separated because of ethnic and link was the difference a ethnic and linguistic differences. Canada almost broke up over wing was to differences alone. Tribalism among nationstates is the cause of every bit of bloodshed in history. George bush actually believed, how insulated he was from race, that we could make these people into good little swiss or englishmen in a couple years. There is a genetic a veritable we dont want to talk about, the way people youve all, religious differences, and it took 1000 years of evolution to create what we have in america, european protestant christian them. It took stops and starts, renaissance, at nine accardo, pogroms, the separation of church and state, womens rights these were not pulled out of somebodys ass. ,hey came from protestant northwestern european civilization host all right, jim, we have people waiting and we want to get their comments as well. Comments on our Facebook Page on whether the u. S. Should engage with iran on iraq. No, but i agree with sending the 775 troops to protect our embassy. Dont want another benghazi outcry. Under any circumstances the middle east is flypaper and the u. S. Has to stop being a fly. Below that, the United States should never have invaded iraq in the first place and doing the same wrong thing and expecting different results is just insane. In columbus,ammy ohio, on our line for democrats. Caller good morning. I want to keep it brief. I dont think we should go over there. I think we should focus on our own country. We have our own issues here and we should stop going into other countries and worrying about their issues. Thats focus on the United States of america could we just came out of their and lost a lot of people and i dont think we should do that, period. Host jack keane and danielle write in their piece for the wall street journal today on a fourpart package that they think can make a difference, including intelligence architecture for iraqs governments, more planners and advisors, or counterterrorism deployed clandestinely to target highvalue targets, and airpower. Power alone cannot win a war but it can significantly diminish enemy forces and exponentially increase the odds of success. They go on in that piece to write that if you think subcontracting the job to iran is the rental is the right call, no one wishes a middle east managed by the ayatollahs in tehran. That is jack keane, retired ka is theand ms. Plet Vice President of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise institute. That piece is in the wall street journal. Benjamin on our line for independents. Caller good morning. How many times do we send billions of dollars outside of the United States . We have so many issues that are pressing right now. We are in debt. And just recently the president did say that he was not going to send any troops back into iraq. Now, i do recognize that the embassy is our property and we do need to protect our property, but we need to be very careful in this and this is a very delicate situation and they could it could blow over and explode into something we dont want to happen. Of course we dont want terrorists to be in control of a place where we put so much into, but i think it would be in our best interests if we take care of our homeland, if we increase improve our roads and put money into things like education and lower Interest Rates for students like myself and others. I think it would be in our best interest if we withdraw and take more time and build up our homeland or whatnot. I dont want to condemn anyone or whatnot or say this is absolutely wrong, but in my personal opinion, it would be in americas best interests if we focus on our own country rather than spend billions elsewhere. Host that is benjamin calling in from augusta, georgia. Some numbers on iraq and the war in iraq. Start of combat back in march 19, 2003. Length of the mission, it eight years, nine months, 12 days. Americans who served from 1. 5 million. Deaths, withlitary 32,000 troops injured. We have been reading tweets and comments from members of congress. Here is 2 more. Gabbard served in iraq as a medical specialist near baghdad for a year and now congresswoman. Host talking about how the u. S. Should go about connecting any operations in iraq. Of then senator inhofe oklahoma writes host we will stay on this topic for about 15, 20 more minutes on washington journal. But i also want to show you some other headlines going on around the country and around the world. Here is from todays Washington Times. Biden will make up the but urged tooice stop immigrant children. Vice President Joe Biden has been dispatched to Central America this week the the parents to stop sending the in then the early delay to the United States but critics say the president himself should take a stronger stand to stem the search of child immigrants over the mexican border. Mr. Biden is adding a stop in guatemala friday during a planned trip to latin america and will meet with leaders of honduras, el salvador, guatemala. We will talk about that issue of illegal children coming across the order with wendy young in our 9 00 our today on washington journal. One of the white house yesterday the president has ordered to extend protection for gay federal workers. This is from the wall street journal. To signnt obama plans an executive order barring federal contractors from hiring or firing employees based on their Sexual Orientation or gender identity, Senior Administration officials said monday. The white house announcement is a curtain raiser to mr. Obamas appearance tuesday at a democratic fundraising dollar with gayrights supporters in new york. Mr. Obama isnt expected to sign the executive order for weeks, as the white house finalize details, including possible exceptions for religious nonprofit organizations. Officials said mr. Obama intends the issue to draw contrast with republicans. That is the story in the luster journal the wall street journal and several other papers today. Back to this question of whether the United States should engage iran on iraq. Diane on our line for democrats. Good morning. Caller good morning, how are you . Guesthost good, diane. Caller what i dont understand is all the arab countries surrounding iraq that could eventually be in trouble from al kidd and their affiliates al qaeda and their affiliates. Why arent they taking the lead to take care of this issue . We go in and everybody hates us anyways. I think the other arab countries should stand up and take a stand. Host do you think iran is one of the right countries that we should be talking to to get involved over there . What are your feelings on iran . Caller i dont know. Everything ive ever heard in the news over the years about m to i just dont trust the do the right thing. But im not a military have no ideao i if it is a good idea or bad idea, but morally speaking i dont we should be in cahoots with iran. York on ourfrom new line for democrats. Floyd is on our line for independents, calling in from louisiana. Go ahead. Caller i am retired military, i spent 23 years in the military. And i have spent 12 months in 76, and those people are not as bad as the mayor can people make them out to be. These are intelligent as the American People make them out to be. They are intelligent people. We rolled those people for years em becauseicked thm the American People have themselves propped up. Everything they have done, they have this thing under control. We go in with this american capitalism, taking peoples labor, andg their then talking about how bad they are. We need to stay home and take care of business here at home. They can mess around a listen to neocons and the people who got us into the war in the first place. Go to vote and put them back in warce, we will be back in on the ground over there. Host you brought up the fact that he served in iran for a while and got to know the people and you trust the people who do you trust the current government in iran, the ayatollahs over there to be a good partner in this effort . Hostcaller well, how can they t us . Host what do you mean, floyd . Caller well, when i was over largesthey had the Naval Operation in the middle east over there. They had all the modern aircraft that we have allsop we ha they had all the modern aircraft that we have. They had all the computers that we couldnt afford. I was in a training expedition and those people those people treated us like kings over there , but they were using the government. They was using the government. We are talking about can we trust iran. Im 79 years old and ive been watching this for quite a while. Nobody trusts us because we go in with one idea and full of for the people and you dont get the true story on what is happening. All this stuff is fabricated. Host floyd talking about his experiences in iran. Our line foron democrats. Carol, good morning. Caller good morning. Nobody so far has mentioned, at least since ive been listening, the military. We have a great military and they have done a good job, but they are exhausted. I think it is about time somebody talked about the draft and i think that would focus a lot of peoples attention on what is happening over there and what we should do. Quite honestly, i dont know what we should do. I dont know enough about where we are at this point in terms of our ability to do these things host but you feel that the military is stretched too thin caller youve got a lot of young men and women over there, that have been 3 and 4 times going in, we have lost a lot in terms of disabilities. It is about time we started if we are going to do Something Like this, we need a combined effort of everybody. A few people go over, they do an excellent job, but the rest of us and im guilty of this, too really dont stop we give them very little thought. Call them heroes, dont you care of them dont take care of them when they come back, and they should be taking care of, the ones who got hurt. Talked about a draft, people would start to think, what do we really want to do . We have everybody thinking about their sons and daughters going over. Host when you talk about the combined effort, should it be other countries surrounding iraq . If so, do you have any feelings on the u. S. Cooperating with iran . You know,estly my gut feeling is to not get involved well, get involved, but i also know there could be consequences on that. I want to hear more from the military, from people who really and i want an honest ,valuation, not a political one about what their opinion is that we should do. There is noet center in year. There is a lot of people banging to go to war and a lot of who dont go in at all. That is a pay grade above me, way above me, in terms of making decisions. But i understand that this is a if weritical area and have been in there so long, our reputation in their has gone down considerably. I wouldnt want to say that i knew enough about it to give really good personally, i think there is a lot of people out there giving opinions and in the press and the media that really dont know a whole lot about it, either. Host carol in warrington, pennsylvania. On our twitter page host want to also tell you about news coming out of the Supreme Court here on capitol hill. Several stories on cases and decisions handed down yesterday. The Supreme Court and down forcefully on the side of free on monday, even in the case of lies told is having a political campaign. The justices ruled unanimously that states that ban political speech they consider to be false can be sued in federal court even if the accused liars were not prosecuted. The opinion by Justice Clarence thomas was a victory for a group that opposes abortion that accused the democratic congressman of favoring taxpayerfunded abortions because he voted for president obamas healthcare law. And the case that the supreme urt has agreed to take up the Supreme Court agreed to take up whether violent images posted on facebook and other social media constituted a true threat to others or simply the protected rance of someone imbued with what one advocate called digital courage. the court accepted the case of a pennsylvania man who was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison for posting ominous photos and making a violent rants on his Facebook Page against former coworkers, Law Enforcement officials, and especially his estranged wife. The court taking up that case the same time theyre handing him decisions on others. Our line for on independents. Caller good morning. Im calling to say that no soldiers should be sent back to iraq. I am a mother who has someone who went three times to iraq, one time afghanistan. These young men, many of them are maimed, and there is no one looking after them. They have children. We dont know what is going to happen to their children. Lets keep our boys here. Another thing i want to say is cspan, i have no trust in you anymore. The reason is, you have only , thisican commentators is not fair. It is not you who gives us cspan. It is cable tv who gives us cspan host diane, we try to get voices caller no, you dont. You have negroponte. Host go to our website, cspan. Org, check out the video library. Lots of different voices that we try to bring in on all sides of the debate. We will continue to do it today and in the coming days as well. Betty in virginia on our line for immigrants our line for democrats. Caller good morning. I personally believe that all members of congress, the house, and the sender, and the president , their Children Commission for the boots on and go over there and do the fighting. Thank you. Host donna in West Virginia on our line for independents. Good morning. Caller good morning. I have been watching this for a while and it is just like a puzzle being put together. I feel all this is being orchestrated to bring the United States eventually to its knees. All that is going on is their e,rsions like no, over her no, over here. If everybody would get their heads out of the sand and actually be paying attention said before, it is all being orchestrated, down to the immigrants being let in and all that. That is all ive got to say. Host 2 other stories i want to point to this moaning. Front page of the washington post. President obama will announce his intent to make a broad swath of the Central Pacific ocean offlimits to energy explanation and other activities, according to a senior white house official. The proposal is slated to go into effect later this year coulda comment period, create the Worlds Largest marine sanctuary and Doubleday Ocean globally that is fully protected. This effort is led by secretary of state john kerry and white house counselor john podesta, likely to spark a new battle with republicans over the scope of the president s executive powers. Front page story in the washington post. The wall street journal on the issue of sgt. Bergdahl. Army officially launched an investigation into the 2009 disappearance of Sergeant Bowe bergdahl, the 28yearold soldier at the sinner of a controversial caliban center of a controversial taliban prisoner exchange. Military officials said that they wont make sgt. Bergdahl available for media interviews while he is recovering. Want to get in a couple more calls. Lineis in montana on our for independents. Hostcaller i think we need to y in our own country. We have problems with our own government and we need to clean house and get rid of obama and all his lies and Hillary Clinton. It is 15 minutes with the missing tapes for nixon and they impeach him. We have all this with the irs tapes lost. That is a crock. We need to keep our soldiers here, secure our borders, and clean our government out and get people who will fight for people and quit lining their pockets. Host birmingham, alabama, on our line for democrats. Caller it is so paradoxical. You look at sgt. Bergdahl and the people screaming that obama committed atrocities bringing this sergeant home are the same ones screaming out loud about going back to iraq. We have no business in iraq in the first place. Like what happened to russia, were over there. We didnt do anything. And this stooge government we im trying to understand, nobody has conveyed to me the heart, cold facts of why we should have been in iraq in the first place. Condoleezza didnt explain it, colin powell, definitely not george bush could what will 5000 . T, some of the communities come into cities in america, it is like a war zone, worse than iraq. Is we are supposed to have said or didnt set up in iraq thosewe can post some of Foreign Policy questions to our next guest this morning on washington journal, asn negroponte, served ambassador to iraq. He will talk about the latest developments going on in that country could later, American Enterprise Institute Congressional expert norm orns tein will join us to talk about what eric cantors unexpected primary loss could mean for the agenda and the institution itself. We will be right back. 250 is idea behind 250 instead of trying to tell the entire story of st. Louis is a mightily we would miss important things instead of trying to do that and failing, what if we just give snapshots of st. Louis history and give a glance of the diverse things that have happened here and they can use their imagination to do the rest. 50 paces, 50 moments, 50 objects, and tried to choose the most diverse selection we could. We are standing in the 50 on, and thisi is what most people would call the real history. This is where the object is right in front of you. It is an amazing story with lots of different breweries, and the most famous became anheuserbusch, the largest in the world. In the era of anheuserbusch talking about millions of barrels produced each year, theyre producing so much. This is from an era where things are simpler and it is fun to gauge their response. In the days before they had cancer but, they put court cans or bottle caps, they put corks on the tops of bottles. This is where the operator would push down with his feet to get the cork in the bottle and it has 3 holes for 3 different bottles. St. Louis to my gateway to the west, on booktv and American History tv. Washington journal continues. Is a John Negroponte former u. S. Ambassador to iraq and he joins us as we continue our discussion on the militant uprising in that country. Ambassador negroponte, you started your service in iraq a decade ago as insurgents then were trying to destabilize the country. Iraq facese threat today compared to what you saw firsthand hand in 2004, 2005 . Guest i think things have really changed a lot. Probably the most important thing is we withdrew our troops at the end of 2011 so there is really no u. S. Military presence , nor is there the kind of diplomatic presence that we had previously. We say,o longer, shall an honest broker in the situation, and that is important militarily and politically. And the other thing is that the situation in syria has gotten so gotten so 11 bad since 2011, and part of what we are seeing happen in iraq today is really the spillover of the situation that has been s intoping with isi syria the past several years. Host this is the Islamic State of iraq and syria, also known as isil. On this map from the wall street journal, the black approximatehe section that isis wants to make into a continuous state. Guest we were dealing with it in a national form. It was inside iraq in the form da in iraq and we had a iniculties with al qaed iraq. They took control of falluja at that time and there was a big battle where marines regain control of falluja. A couple years later, general mcchrystal and special Operations Forces succeeded in eliminating zarqawi, the leader da in iraq, and as many people have said, al kato was pretty much decimated or dealt a severe blow at that time. Extremist sunni phenomenon has gotten a second wind in terms of what has been happening in syria. Host for those who are less familiar with isis were just starting to understand, can you tell us how we went from zarqwai and how we told them to what we have today how we killed him to what we have today . Guest they went down to low numbers and then the situation in syria started brewing and these same extremists took up arms in syria and they started becoming more active in the socalled sunni triangle of opposed to the government in baghdad, and they took a foothold you may , back earlier this year in falluja again, and then in ramadi, western part of the country, predominately sunni area of the country, and now you see these rather spectacular attacks, starting with mosul, which was always a troublesome area. Even the time i was there, it was kind of a divided city, on one side of the river hard line sunni extremists, on the other controlledh because it was close to the border with kurdistan. It is a terminus development for the government of iraq to lose one of the most important cities in the country. Host is the threat that you are greater than it was when you were there . Guest well, first, i think it is greater because the government has lost control of some of these towns. Falluja and ramadi in the old Anbar Province have been under the control of these extremists for quite some time now. And now you see this progression of activities from mosul southward. So i would say yes. We would have been very disturbed during the time i was in iraq to have so many cities falling under some kind of enemy control, and i think that we did up with the presence that we had and the work we were doing with iraq he forces, we did a pretty good job of keeping control of pretty much the entire country. Host i read where you said that the Current Situation is creating strange bedfellows in the region. Your thoughts on the u. S. Cooperating with iran as they try to stabilize iraq . Guest i said strange bedfellows in the sense that obviously, the government in iran and being a shiadominated society and government run by shia clerics, has a certain degree of sympathy with the shiapredominant government in iraq. In that sense, politics makes strange bed fellows. Hoped we be pending much cominging much hope on to some kind of negotiated understanding with iran . I have some questions about that because i think their interests ours, andhours im not sure what they can add to the mix. Im not sure that i get has a problem with iran. That baghdad has a problem with iran. The problem baguette has baghdad has is with sunni extremists. One thing i could see involving is something we did visavis afghanistan, is to form a Regional Group of countries. In afghanistan it was called the two, a group of regional countries plus the United States and russia, i believe, who consulted periodically about the situation in afghanistan. I think it would be good to have some kind of Regional Grouping which involved a neighboring state the neighboring states of iraq to get regional involvement in what is going on, and that way you could get the other big stakeholders turkey, saudi arabia, jordan involved in talking a little bit about what everybodys vision is for iraq going forward. And shiitethe sunni split and what were seeing happening in the region with that split, with that sort of corporation work . Cooperation work . The map in the wall street journal shows the split in the middle east, countries with larger shiite populations, like iran, in darker red, and more sunni populations, the lighter colors over here. Could there be regional cooperation, with their be or would there be too much sectarian tension . Good thats a very question, and up until now it has not been easy, but that is the point of diplomacy. You dont negotiate with your friends, you negotiate with people who have a different point of view from yourself. To me it would be good to get the stakeholders are on the table around the table. I dont believe it is the immediate solution to the crisis in iraq. That is oppressing pressing situation that requires more immediate measures to respond to the security situation. Host a tweet from the president of iran on this topic, as this has developed over the last week or so, the situation in iraq. Writesrouhani host has iran warned about these groups in the past . Guest i dont recall specific warnings, but certainly they have no interest in seeing isis get strong. Soon they will be able to selffund themselves. They will not necessarily need outside help if they have been robbing banks at the rate they have been said to be doing the last few days. They have hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars. To johnre talking negroponte, the master to iraq in 2004 and 2005 the ambassador to iraq in 2004 and 2005. We take your questions and comments on the situation in iraq. Richard writes in on our twitter page. Guest oh, i think they do, and we already talked about iran and their concern about that. Certainly turkey. Who are the big stakeholders on the borders of iraq . They have aone, and strong interest. They are already involved in kurdistan and the northern parts of iraq. Jordan, for goodness sake. If iraq or others could experience some catastrophe, they might be the ones affected next. Theyre certainly very involved. Saudi arabia is a stakeholder, and there is some concern that some saudi elements have been providing support to these isis forces. I think if there are saudis who are doing that, that is a serious mistake on their part. Everybody in the region has a stake because if iraq comes under some kind of isis control that is going to have repercussions way, way beyond the borders of iraq itself. Host john waiting on the phone in florida on our line for independents. Caller good morning. My comment is you told a woman that you are nonbiased 2 calls back, but this guy is a shill for the Oil Companies and the bush administration. Ssadeq and find out a little history of what is going on it there could you have this guy and you will have some clown from the emerging enterprise dnstitute, a kochfunde rightwing group. Host we are talking with ambassador negroponte on his time in iraq. Can you talk about what your work is been since you were ambassador . Consultantve been a with a company that advises American Companies, doing business abroad, and im on the faculty at yale university, where i teach versus on diplomacy and National Security. Andto the point about oil, this is something the caller might be interested in knowing, i discussed the issue of oil a number of times with president bush when he was president , and i think he bent over backwards to try to demonstrate that oil was not the factor driving our policy towards iraq. It is into this very day it isnt to this very day. This has to do with the makeup of the middle east, the political cal certainly, i never thought i was a shill for the Oil Companies. Lets go to john waiting on our line or republican. John and, good morning. Caller good morning. Presents a greater threats United States security today than it did and we were in originally. If that is the case, shouldnt we going back there in greater numbers than we originally went in there . Isis certainly, if exceeds in taking over iraq, that would represent a very serious threat indeed. Chanceould be a good there would be the next 9 11 or in thet terrorist attack United States or our interest backd, but should we go after having spent so many years there . I certainly do not think we should go back with boots on the grounds and combat forces here it i would have favored leaving a residual force behind in iraq. That should provide intelligence and logistics and other kinds of advisory support. Thatre not able to arrange as our last troops left at the end of 2011. In part, we are paying a little bit of the price of that. But i do believe, while we should not go back in in large numbers with those on the ground, that it would be appropriate to provide selective military advice and assistance to the Iraqi Government right now, in its moment of dire need, to help it heal with a critical situation it faces. Host what would that look like . Strikes,hn intelligence support, all of the above. Host what is your opinion of the Prime Minister and how he is handle the situation . Guest i never knew the Prime Minister well myself because he was Prime Minister after i left iraq. He has been a survivor. He is the product of an elected congress that has chosen him. He has been quite effective politically. There is a criticism that has that he haso it, not necessarily been inclusive enough in his approach to forming a government and his approach to politics. In a contributing factor to some of the violence occurring now. I do not think isis in iraq and becauses created simply amount he was not inclusive of his government in baghdad. I think that developed for reasons quite independent of that. We are talking to the former ambassador to iraq in 2004 and 2005. We will go to our line for democrats. Good morning. Caller good morning. My question is, there was no fresh in al qaeda and iraq. Believe going, making there is something called al qaeda in iraq when there was no such thing . Awe, you saidd the iraqi people would be waiting with open arms. They was afraid of saddam hussein. That turned out not to be true. This was a faith law and is still on faith. Thank you. You raise a number of life that have made over the years. The question now is, do we really want to litigate what and before . There is some merit to some of your points, but in the moment cm policy and politics, you have got to deal with the here and now and going forward. The issue to me for the United States and for the region is, what does one do at a time like when a legitimate government, a member state of the united nations, that has been a friend of the united days for the past decade, what do you do when it faces a threat of its , that threatens to undermine or is undermining the very distant of the iraqis they . We do not have an interest in and feeding and in chaos reigning in the country of iraq, nor do we have an interest in eating a group seeing a group, a terrorist group that straddles the border. History there that will have to be sorted out. Meanwhile, there is a very specific and dire situation confronted by the government of the people of iraq by this very moment and how should the United States respond . Does it have to be the United States to take the lead . Guest not exclusively. We are ready talked about the regional players. I think some kind of regional even to consult, would be a good idea. There could be a role for the u. N. In various elements of the situation, perhaps in the jiddah mating certain actions that are taken in monitoring the human rights situation. You of our it he seen the human rights though counsel is watching carefully what i is doing. There have and reports of atrocities and massacres of. Raqi soldiers would there be a place for you and peacekeepers . I am not sure. Host waiting in texas on our line for independents, sherry, good morning. Caller good morning. I wasjust calling because kind of concerned about the weapons and the moneys that are in baghdad. If isis is heading toward there. Could you comment . You mentioned websense guest you mentioned weapons and money. As they have been heading southwards. I am not sure it will be is easy for them to attack baghdad. They will get pushed back. I think you are already watching him kind of mobilization against these attacks on the part of the Iraqi Government and their supporters. Fear at this point in time for the security of thy dead, although i think there is a heightened risk of some sectarian violence in that city, not unlike what happened back in 2006 and 2007. As far as a takeover of that dad, which is a huge city, that would be very difficult for isis. They are not 10 feet tall. Group fightingst in a country that is majority shia. Do you think the tensions between sunni and shia in iraq, with so much bloodshed, not just what has happened and weeks and months, but years ago, can they ever form a cooperative government . Guest it is a challenge. It is very difficult. Particularly with the overthrow of saddam, the Political Forces unleashed. Ed the United States played an important moderating role. Iraq, my successors in just the other day, was saying america is sort of the indispensable balancing element in this situation. We could play an Important Role in brokering some of these differences between iraqis. Toope we will be continuing play an active role. Mr. Crocker suggested secretary kerry ought to give some thought to going out there and lead a diplomatic effort to help ring the different political factions. We have been able to broker those arrangements in the past and we could probably be helpful again now. Kurt put it inow his piece in newsweek. Guest right, so that is a description of the problem. What is the solution . It seems to me it is elected Democratic Institutions like the legislature they have. They have got to develop a culture and an experience of working together in some kind of democratic environment. Since the government and political process is so new, i think they could use some outside help in brokering the differences between them. I think the author has got a point when he says this is an enormous challenge indeed. Waiting in rockville, connecticut, on our line for democrats. Caller good morning. Thank you for letting me be a part of the conversation. I wanted to say you mentioned we do not have a vested interest in the region, but i would argue according to a harvard professor, that is the usas vested interest, to make chaos in the region. Speaker yesterday who said, although there is all this conflict in the north in going ons is all because there is still no conflict there. It is in our best interest. You have got them fighting among themselves, which was our plan, and i would advise everyone listening and maybe even if you went on the program, this to be a timely time to watch the movie, no end in sight erin if you really want to understand our longrange goal. I would simply say, as i mentioned earlier, the oh throw of dumb unleashed a lot of lyrical as is. Our notion was to try to encourage it in a democratic and floristic pluralistic direction. That has proved harder than we would like. There were never any instructions to foment or violence or acquiesce and instability. We wanted to help ensure a able and democratic iraq. I do not think the goal is possible, although, right now, it is under great stress and it remains to be seen what exactly will happen in the weeks and ahead. I am, and of one thing. If we do not make a gesture of strong support for the government and people of iraq, there is a greater chance of were tochaos than if we come to their assistance in this particular time of need. In retrospect, was it a mistake to dismantle the Iraqi Military . Guest when i arrived in iraq in june or july of 2000 or, there was only one battalion in the iraqi army. A dire situation for the iraqi Security Forces there hardly any holy spirit we embarked on a Major Program to train and equip police forces. I think if a way could have been found to maintain the structure of the army at the time the structure was overflown, that to theave an helpful situation. That is water over the dam. Was to make a major effort to rebuild it. Bill wants to know you have the regular embassy complement of political and economic officers. Militarygot a large assistance mission. A lot of military equipment to iraq. Notuld expect though i have looked at the table of organization in recent years, but a lot of the number our security personnel will are protecting the embassy facility, and our people, particularly when they go out on a mission. There is a heavy portion of security people in that. About 200 75 military personnel in the coming days of an days and weeks. Lets go to ron on our line or democrats. Good morning. Good morning. We now see the true the of george rush. Forget andld never let us get talked into going in. Or a war that was not needed if it was not for the oil, we would not either. Why do not exports and erin are we not figuring the cost of the mess into the price of gas . Maybe then they would have a selfsufficient energy them that would divide us with all the energy we need without even looking at the middle east, and let the people fight their way through the whole and . Whole thing . Guest some people, when they react to the notion of giving more help to the Iraqi Government, they are sort of. Fraid whatever help we provide, i think, ought to be very discreet and not on a large scale and certainly not in a way that involves boots on the ground. The second point i would make, about the legacy of the iraq war, i do not think in light of what has happened in iraq and that you will see large numbers of United States forces deployed in some kind of two situations around the future, at least not for a long time to come. Our efforts will be more selective, maybe more focused on special operations, when military force might be under consideration. In iraq and afghanistan, but i do not think there is much to fear about us troops sending 150,000 insome faraway country pursuit of another effort of this kind. Host james over email is concerned about the issue of those overground and the troops teeing sent. Last week, the white house assured us they would not then troops into iraq. They had sent 170 will with more on the way. Sent are on75 being the very specific mission of protecting the United States embassy and related if the tuitions out there. That is not a combat mission in the sense of the word most of us understand it. Host lets go to joann in our last 10 minutes or so with John Negroponte. San diego, california, on our line with republicans. Caller i agree with the United States presence in iraq, it was a moderating factor. We forget malik even when after the shia militias. I think he was trying to balance things. Do not think iran should be invited in. The antibush that we have heard from some callers in the current administration, have put liners on them on the war on terror. They are not just antibush. People forget, after world war ii, people said to bring the world the troops back. The truman doctrine was, we have to have a presence throughout the world to maintain democracy. Unfortunately, president obama on his speech on june 9, 2009, undermined that. Now that we see the polls, we have got to face the truth about our position in the world there it is unfortunate there is americana. I think we have got to continue. Classic could not agree more with what you just read. We are still a country to which others look to lead erie they always want to know, what will america do . What position will we take . I think we have a continued role to play in International Relations around the world. It withportant to do others. We need to do this with others. Need to nurture those alliances and work closely and work with in theendly countries different regions of the world. I agree with the caller that we have a responsibility to lead and we should do it in consultation with others where possible and multilaterally, where possible, but there is also a rick bierman, i think, to act on our own when we see a Compelling National Interest to do so. We are about other countries how much is syria benefiting from the iraq situation . Guest it has taken syria little off the front pages. I am not sure if the government of syria is benefiting in particular. Isis has gained strength as a result of the attacks in recent equipment, money and to the extent that they are successful in iraq, i think it also strength their position in syria erie basic a, i think syria has in bond down in a terrible, violent, horrifying stalemate during the past two or three years, without any were ending in sight. Is isi asked looking to expand to the left . Guest just like al qaeda, they have been asked ration that would start with the area you showed before on the map. Part ofng the Northern Iraq and part of syria. Ultimately, they have an interest in redding asked are as they can. Remember, assad was jordanian, the leader of al qaeda and iraq in the old days. The lamont is really the part of the middle east comprised by lebanon, syria, iraq, jordan, that is the levantine area. Lets go to dan on our line for independents. Caller a couple points. The first one, we can all put to rest what president clinton tont when he was trying. Efine what is just a little bit of humor to lighten things up. To say that the United States is unrestolved with causing itother countries is just just goes counter to fax. It seems like this is what is happening in the united dates. The facts are completely counter to the storyline we get from the government and the media erie it is glaring. You are saying we did not have a hand in the unrest in syria, we did not have a hand in the unrest in libya, we did not have a hand in the unrest in egypt, and now we are not having a hand in what is owing on now with all the you gain people are making and we have not done anything yet. It defies logic. The subject we were discussing was iraq and the subject was it me, how we have an interest in the instability in iraq and i was saying we did not. I cannot challenge your statement that we took on the existing order in libya during the time of the arab spring and we have also been supportive of the opposition in syria because of the very were restive nature of assad regime. I do not think i would quarrel with that at all. You have to make distinctions on country to country and every one of them has their own unique circumstances. I would not make, as a general statement, that we did not at times take on a roll of supporting the opposition, which had the effect of creating a bit of turmoil. Patrick in go to chicago, illinois. Independents. Caller my question is, why did we believe this country, the shia as and sunnis have been fighting for centuries there it why did we believe we could go in and stabilize civil war between the two fractions . I believe the greatest beneficiary of the iraq war is iran. Su dom hussein was iran posses greatest enemy. And yet we removed him. It is true there was great animosity between sudan and the iranians. We gave assistance to the regime in the 1980 off, when they were fighting their war against iran. But again, if you look at the Current Situation, it means to avoiding the ways of that iran had a distal portion at role in the affairs of iraq is for us to come and be responsive to their requests for assistance. Do we want to help them protect baghdad and help them retake other parts of the country they have lost, or do we want iran to take the credit, which would only strengthen the hand in baghdad. One way of dealing with the issue and a problem you described is to come to the assistance of the government of iraq in this time of need. We befriended them and work with them for the past 10 years. What kind of signal would it send if we were to just keep our arms folded and not come to them in this time of dire need. The more red areas in the middle east, the more think layer areas, the more sunni areas, with the ongoing tension in sunni and shiite and iraq, would you ever consider a favor of allowing iraq to these are along the very in line, to redraw the borders . The answer to that is to try to make the democratic local system set up to work better. The extent that there are elections in different robbins is, that the federal system works, that is a way of the tech in the interest of different minority groups in the country. The argument that you should set of a new country every time a minority clamors right, you have to ask yourself a question of whether the new states, if you divided the country in three or Something Like that im a would really be violent. That is a very dangerous and difficult path to go down. People are talking about that, but i do not see how the sunni triangle would be viable. Perhaps down because they have got all that oil. Hypotheses i think should only be considered in the most extreme circumstances where it i think they need to be reflected upon very carefully very this is redrawing the map. Starts inking about redrawing the map, one has to be very careful. Minutes left with ambassador John Negroponte. Harry, democrats, good morning. That youou mentioned do not have any conversations with bush over oil very george bush was on national tv and he said somebody was complaining the war was for oil there it he said in his words, as it is for the oil. Understand how our intelligence would not have that. Especially when you guys as a country divided up who was going to get the oil. Lets let the ambassador respond. Guest i do not remember that quote but i remember other quotes where the oil people came to me. I was asked, why did you not come when youre out there, get a better deal for american Oil Companies . It is the russians and chinese and others, european Oil Companies there in a big way. I can remember numerous occasions when the president bent over words to try to ensure people that oil was not the iraq, we have gone into as difficult as that may be to believe for some people. Independents, good morning. Caller i wanted to make a couple quick comments about obama. His whole harlotry apology tour started our weakness area how to the Administration Leave behind, when we withdrew from iraq . He is just lost. I think biden was probably right when he said sectarian. It is ancient. There is little or nothing he can do, like when he drew a redline in syria. They see right through it. Host ambassador John Negroponte on how this was handled. I think we will have to wait and see. I hope the decision is to send a forng signal of the port the government and the iraqi people. The ambassador served in 2000 or and 2005 Thomas Associates here in bc, thank you for joining us. Up next, the American Enterprise institute, we are joined to discuss what eric cantors unexpected primary loss could mean an later, we will be joined by wendy young in the advocacy toAdvocacy Group in her work accompany immigrant miners to navigate the system. First, a news update from cspan radio. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] laid siege to a police station, and battled militiamenent shiite that left at least 44 detainees dead. There were conflicting reports of the details of the fighting near the capital. Meanwhile, a tweet from cbs this morning says that an Iraq Oil Refinery has shut down as the crisis was evening. Forcemmander of the elite is helping iraq posses military to fight. Forces here this is as washington signals a new willingness to work with iran to help the government gave off the insurgency. Of trying toears limit forces in baghdad. This is a dramatic shift that would have been on a couple years ago. The British Foreign secretary says he intends to reopen britains embassy in the iranian capital. He said, the circumstances were right, following an improvement in lateral relations in recent months. Relations in iran were suspended after an attack in 2011 erin those are some of the latest headlines on seas and radio. Cspan radio. Outart of societys figure is to figure out who is us and who is them. If you pray like me, eli to me, go to the same church as i do, then you are us and if you do not, you are them. You can see easily how that us and them in group and outgroup mindset could very easily lead to extremism and marginalization. I remind people religion may be the most powerful form of identity formation. Just as powerful is violence. If you are fighting alongside me, you are us. If you are fighting against me, you are them. Far from religion and violence name it he does things that should have nothing to do with they have been much more aligned than we would like them to be. Resolve sign will take your comments. Reza will take your calls. The former chair commission on civil rights. This month, on our online book a newwe are discussing history of the great depression. Reading and join others. Television for serious readers. Host Norman Ornstein joins us today one week after the loss of eric cantor. The headline in your news column after last week ossies column. Why do you think this changes things for the Republican Party . Guest i do not think it is particularly important. If you are a member of august, it does not matter what the data show. This is the second primary defeat with a lot of challenges. The first was ron paul, over 90 years old. All it takes is one prime example for members to learn the less. The lesson they learned, i am afraid, is, if you vote to get the government reopened, if you vote to keep the debt ceiling going up, if you do any that operates with a rock with barack obama, you are in danger. We will see a party where the forces that aim for ostentation, those who basically want to blow the government and not just have a smaller one, but a nonunction in government, are in the transcendence. I call them the new nihilists. I think they are more significant now both outside and inside. It is true, a lot of people are writing the show that money and is not every in and Politics Home and cantor had a huge bank, 5 million. Example where it is not money over some of the other forces. A lot of big money going into republican politics is coming from people who are hostile to and are perfectly happy to have these confrontations. Leave lead one the Republican Party . Guest it is difficult. For john boehner, the challenge has been there for a long time on this front. To giveoach has been his members and enormous amount of slack, a lot of rope, let them come close to hanging themselves until they finally realize his path will not leave them in a good direction, and then finally get the votes. And it usually comes with more democrats than republicans there you can only do that so often. Eric cantor for a long time was an advocate of his. In the last couple of years, they have been working more together as they realize the alternative was anarchy. That hurt cantor. Whether Kevin Mccarty emerges as leader, or what happens with the less the rest of leadership, whether the outside forces are represented directly there, or if a get shut out and say, once again, we are on the outs im looking in, the task boehner has becomes much more challenging. Host is this a missed opportunity for the new nihilists, as you describe them, or are they not as strong within the republican conference as perhaps the highprofile victory against cantor . That is a harder one to say. Words what happened is the stunning defeat, when it occurred, they scheduled this vote on a very short leash. It meant that organizing to get enough votes to prevail and the caucus would not be easy to do for somebody who had not been engaged in the process he four. Kevin was ready to go. Of words am a for mccarthy, the great strength he had was personality. When you have got no agreement by insurgents to rally behind a candidate, and you end up with somebody who is an and urgent among insurgents, that makes it harder. It will be interesting to watch the votes. It does not mean there really secret ballot. Members have a sense of how they will go. Votes emerging against mccarthy will be an interesting sign. It will be even more interesting to watch the contest. Force of the Republican Party, the largest element is in the south. One of the challenges they have is the self old shirley is very different from the broader fabric of the country. Districts are lily white or close to it. They have a different perspective on immigration issues. They are different on social and cultural issues. They are the largest force. What if you end up with a leadership that basically comes from a swing state in ohio, a blue state in california, a blue state in illinois, which would happen if peter wins the lips and the deep red part of the conference is not represented in the top ranks of leadership . That is the pitch some of the others are making. But yes. We do not know how that will come out. It is a threeday race. A lot of other factors will emerge. My guess is that also complicates matters. They will take the chief deputywhips deputys whips position. The right wing of the party and the south, very likely. It may not be enough. Wehink it will be hard and do not expect much to emerge in the legislative arena very likely for two years to follow their it follow. Host we are talking to Norman Ornstein, the author of it is even worse than it looks. A book he wrote with a congressional scholar. Hes here to talk about. Cantors the feet, what it means for ingress and the institution. Our phone lines are open. Republicans can call we will start on our line for republicans. Good morning. Caller good morning. I do not know who you are but i really dislike what you have said afar. The defeat of cantor has nothing do it anarchy or blowing up the government or nihilism or anything of the sort. What it has to do with is ans want Smaller Government, much smaller. They are running a oneparty party system in this country right now. Meaning, if you do not back the back theyou do not form of or the big guy, and the reparations, like cantor was doing, if you do not you will be run out and called an extremist. We are not extremists. Extremist have taken control of our government. They are running our government not for the benefit of the United States citizens, but for the benefit of multinational corporations. I have not heard you say one you about the big tanks or anything like that. I just hear words about extremism and this. I do not like the rhetoric. Host you can check out his bio. Guest a lot of this emerged in the Tea Party Movement and the occupy wall Street Movement as is a reaction in the aftermath of collapse. Big banks and big is this. Has big business. It is a significant part of it. No doubt david bratt, in running for virginias seven district against. Cantor, made that a significant part of his pitch, and that cantors close ties to the Business Community were one in his loss. Rs i also think you could draw a between what ie think are conservatives and radicals. Conservatives believe in a Smaller Government but there are parts of government that have to and onto run well. We have got a lot of people in congress who want to blow the whole thing up. One of the main points of distinction was whether you would shut down the government or keep it shut down. When ken for in the end as stated in getting the government when cantor in the end participated in getting the Government Shutdown, that hurt. The economic cost, that it would end up damaging homeland security, border security, National Security, that we see parks closed, for the for example. They were ready to let that go so they could accomplish the goal of basically returning to the 18th century or Something Like it. That is a real distinction here as well. Those are all factors that contribute in a witches brew to the turmoil with the party. Lets go to los angeles, california. Caller just quickly, i want to comment quickly about immigration. It drives me the. I got my green card right at the airport. In your program to find the broken immigration system . My second line, please bear with with norman. Up he is a obama surrogate and should be in the democratic artie. Something for immigration progress. Lets let norm talk about his background and research for a little bit, and then we can talk about the prospects for mmigration reform. Guest i started as an academic there it i thought at Johns Hopkins in italy, came back to the Catholic University for 15 years. I have been there parttime and fulltime in 1984, ever since. Focus on congress but also our rotter american politics. Aei is a very open is the tuition that has let me follow my muse. At facean take to work value or whatever they want to do with it. One of your best books, can you talk about the broken branch and what that is talking about . It emerged in 2006. Working in congress as congressional fellows in 1990, we had grown increasingly decline of the institution, the breakdown of the regular order their it we cast a lot of lame on both parties in that look for a branch that was not doing oversight, not appropriately carrying out its function in the legislative arena thomas not following the regular order, use things like having amendments on the floor, going to conference committees. All of those things were breaking down. Book and wedid our saw the institution changing in a different and worchester action and we put more blame on the republican side. That is because of the reality we saw, not because of partisan coloration. Host what are the prospects for Immigration Reform . Guest i would not say zero but the close. There are currents within both parties and within the broader political system on the issue. You have the establishment of the Republican Party that realizes if it does not i in a better way to reach out to a Broader Group of older voters, that becomingles, a Majority Party and winning president ial elections will become more challenging. Immigration reform is not the answer, but it is a necessary component of it. Right now, it is in some trouble. A caveat here to the stark differences between conservatives and radicals, if you look at ronald, very much on the radical perspective for most things. Hes in the race for majority aader, but he is also proponent of trying to find the ways lowered in what is broken with the system. The lines do not fall completely and directly. But i think the Republican Party any is very much against kind of movement on Immigration Reform, unless it involves border security. That will be a challenge for leaders who know that if they do not act on this, they will become known as the antiimmigration party and winning over hispanic americans, asian americans, and a lot of others will be that much tougher. Host about a half hour left with Norman Ornstein. Lets go to smitty on our line for republicans. Caller it is kind of unique one of theg that programs you are promoting is that book review on the forgotten man, back on again. I assume you are rebroadcasting it. I got the book and read it. Progressives today to be liberals a couple of years ago and they like that Hillary Clinton described herself as a progressive from the early 20th century. Progressives in the early 20th century were registered members of the american communist party. That is who they are. Right wingy the conservatives are trying to blow up the government, i am not trying to blow up a government. I just really feel uncomfortable that i have got a congressman from mississippi, missouri, johnson, voting on what kind of light olds i am allowed to use we might afraid capsize and we have too much weight from our marine battalion. These guys are idiots and we are letting them tell us what kind of like bolts we can use. This is nuts. We have tens of houses of refugees across the border, and they try to tell you the is not broken, all we need to do is fix the immigration system and we will be fine. I feel sorry they got those diseases but we made the effort to get rid of them and are reintroducing them into society. These are what progressives and liberals are doing in washington and they are socialists and communists. You just have to recognize that and Everything Else makes a lot of sense. Aboutdo you want to talk the history and your perspective . Guest if you look at the progressives of the earliest 20th century, they were republicans. Both parties have always had and ans between a base establishment group. In the early part of the 20th century, the Republican Party struggle was between a roosevelte ace, teddy , wendell wilkie, tom dewey, and the like. They were not communists. They were republicans. And a conservative base, William Howard taft, robert taft, goldwater, onto ronald reagan, although he govern our more as an establishment pragmatist than anything else. When Hillary Clinton talks about herself as a progressive in the early of early 20th century, it is or more along the those lines. Progressives on the republican side. The struggle is between those who would be the old conservative route that i think are more radical, and on the immigration front, i think smitty reflects what is the in the tension here now Republican Party. On the issue. A lot of people who see immigration the immigration system, by every standard, is broken. It is not working. A lot of people basically want to shut off the borders and others see it in a different way and navigate through that. It is one of the great challenges. Not the only, but of the great challenges both arties in the country have. I think we are moving toward a crisis point. The other thing to keep in mind is we now have this surge in children coming over the southern border, from Central America, from countries that have an enormous level of lyrical progression. ,anting to claim Refugee Status we have treaties, we cannot turn them away from the border there it we are going to struggle thousands of are brokers making a lot of money by desperate families taking the money and bringing kids in their we will not be able to sustain that for any length of time. This is a really difficult problem to resolve very host resolve. Host you said there is always a tension between the base and the establishment. Are we seeing this in the Democratic Party right now on capitol hill . We are to a significantly lesser degree, but we are. One of the things that hits every president that is a twoterm president. By the sixth year, there is a reason we call it the second term blues. The base in the party gets arrested. Rested. Bama barack obama is seeing a lot of income from the Democratic Base their the president has the unit, though he ameliorated that now with his steps on Climate Change from environmentalists. What if he approves the keystone pipeline, you will see another its lotion there. We have certainly seen explosion there. Tremendousow with blowback, left, joined by many militaryght, on any action, including drone strikes were a lot or airstrikes. We see it on the suspicion obama might cut a budget deal that would include changes on Social Security and medicare. It does not seem to get the headlines as much. Things i will be writing about this week, and it has been out there a lot, the question of whether the polarization is asymmetric. We have a remarkable study from pew. You have at least part of it in front of you. That talks about dramatic polarization that has occurred at the public level. When you look more deeply, what is even that is asymmetric. While you have tension on the democratic side, we are in primary challenges to leaders as we have in seen with eric cantor. A lot of challenges with the senate now, with real questions coming up in mississippi, Chris Mcdaniel . Patave a challenge to roberts. We do not have those kinds of ofllenges to the vast number democrats, including many who were more conservative to the parties ace who were running. No partys base. Who were running. You do not see the same kinds of things. It does not mean they will not be there. If you want to look at parties that careened out of the thestream in the past, Democratic Party in 1890s into the early part of the 20th century. It was the Democratic Party again in the 19 60s and 70s as the vietnam war emerged. Both sides. N on the tensions are deeper and the radicalism is greater, as it has been for a greater time on the right and the left. Host host this is in a pew research poll. Plenty to get into on that poll if you want to check it out from pew research. Joe waiting on our line for democrats in washington dc. Caller good morning. I consider myself a moderate addendum moderate democrat federal and democrat. Should i be cheering for the republicans continuing to careen . Because that will negatively impact the ticket in 2016. That there actual hope moderation in either parting can bring this nation together. Guest that is a really good question. You dont want to root for the government to implode and become an effective party that cannot compete at the national level. That doesnt mean you cannot win. Feel the time you would win is when things are so bad that you only time you would win is when things are so bad that you get a perfect storm. Him two parties can their tents and not two parties can broaden their tents enough to not make those kind of appeals. Its going to be a conservative party. Conservativenot a problemsolving party, one that is looking within the traditions that the framers set up of finding ways to compromise, to find some common ground, then the whole political system comes under challenge. That is a matter of some urgency. How partisan one maybe as a democrat, you dont want to sierra Publican Party move to the fringes. Host a question from twitter what is the young guns . Guest it comes from a movie, a Kevin Costner movie, as i recall. The s eric cantor, kevin mccarthy, and paul ryan, rgent emerging publican emerging republican leaders, started a process to recapture in majority in congress and emerge as the new leaders of the party. They did a book, promoted it , they even gave a nod to john boehner who is then their leader. Theasically suggested it is new forces that are going to take over. They went out around the country before the 2010 midterms and encouraged and abetted this tea party uprising. With new people coming in, there is this expectation they can coopt them. Now it is very clear who the coopt yours were. The young guns have not disappeared. Ryan is still driving policy force on the republican side of the house, extraordinarily well respected, and likely the next chairman of the powerful ways and means committee. Kevin mccarthy defined the expectations of many who thought the new leadership would be completely honest completely upended from the old. Be acantor is not going to nonentity. He will be a force outside. They clearly havent accomplished what they want to cut want to accomplish. Guard the coast host what of the young guns has left. They i dont think predicted that would be the outcome. Him john boehner, a lot of people predicted, would not last as speaker, might be overthrown as speaker. He would decide to hang it up. They still move outside the congress. It he looks to be the speaker in charge and will be there at least through the end of this congress. There is a pretty good chance he will be back next time. It is even worse than it looks. Lets go to joe waiting in georgia on our line for independents. Are you with us . In new go to roxanne hampshire on our line for independents. Good morning. Call, i keep hearing our immigration system is broken. I want specifics. Specifically what is broken . Guest i know you will be going in great debt on this later today, but there are several things that are broken. We have at least 12 billion undocumented people 12 million undocumented People Living in the country. They are living in the shadows. That is not a very good process to half. We have cut back very significantly from previous euros on Legal Immigration for those coming into the country. We still have a lot of people coming in illegally. That is not a healthy process to have either. Now we have something i alluded to just a few minutes ago. Coming of children are across the southern border from Central America. Time that we cannot accommodate. Those are broken elements. The border isnt clearly working well. You have a lot of people coming in on tourist visas who then stay over there time and try to develop their work. Finding a way to accommodate the 12 million who are here and not notice something as mitt romney has suggested of self deportation or departing them, and yet finding a way to make sure the system functions by having legal immigrants coming in. The skilled labor, we have a major shortage of positions partly because of the way we handle our immigration pattern. We have a shortage of highly skilled workers. Some people who come here and work and do a good job cannot go back home for a funeral or wedding or anything else and be sure they are going to get back in. We have a lot of work to do on the immigration system, whatever you think about the legalization of those who are here in an undocumented way or not. Host we have 10 minutes left from Norman Ornstein. From twitter that is carly be. There is a lot of truth to that. There was an attempt to take this rural anger out there, a apulist anger, combined with number of other forces, and challenge and channel it to election victories. Now a lot of those forces are proving to be not so easily controllable. Think we need a Republican Party that is a vibrant thatrvative party, one aims for a Smaller Government. Are elements of government that have to operate well. Some of this is a tactical matter. The struggle is not going away. If you live by the sword you may die by the sword. Of the that is part problem that led to eric cantor posta mize. Does gerrymandering exacerbate the risk of extreme results like cantors . Was changedistrict in 2010, ironically to make it safer as a republican district. What it did is it moved out from richmond into some new suburbs that were not quite so amenable for a and made it easier challenge from an insurgent like dave brat. Is of the things i get asked isnt that a core cause of what we are dealing with here . There is no doubt we have many more safe districts that can only be competitive in a primary. We have homogeneous districts. Redistricting reform is not going to solve the problem. One of the points made in the pew study, it is very different from most studies that have been done. It is basically proven out by the survey. People have moved increasingly into areas where they are surrounded by likeminded individuals. Instead of drawing them in compact ways we may have to make them even more ridiculous than the gerrymandered ones we have now. Lets go to our line for republicans. The morning. Good morning. Caller im going to join the chorus and comment about how he is speaking off his liberal code list, just like obama does. Soy read anything they want they can keep the 1 mentality going. Go from talking heads into the government into who should be elect it, who should be picked up. Lady whoon is a poor goes from being a nobody and ends up with 100 million. Now they want us to believe she is going to be able to help us make the country better. If the people come from mexico, why do i have to fly them to guatemala to get them back . Why cant i send them back to where they came from . They should be driven back to mexico and dropped off in tijuana. Peoplewill sue see those getting everything soon see those people getting everything. You have people Walking Around saying we have all these hidden voters. The reason is because they are not citizens. Agree with don, cspan is terrific. I think what he said is so interesting and it reinforces some of the things we have been talking about. Much of what we see out there is a populist movement. With of what don is saying the leftld meet with about the 1 , about the privileged, about people who go into the government and enrich themselves. In response to clinton, two Hillary Clinton, they had legal bills of 10 million and not enough assets to cover it. If you emerge as a prominent first lady or expresident , you can go out there and get 250,000 to a Million Dollars per speech. There is now a very strong\ acklash. Ong b ift is interesting to see is this populist movement stays as hot as it has if the economy recovers. Oft happens if the level inequality continues to grow this is where the debate over this is baked into the system. Morere going to make a lot because it is going to earn more then those who have to earn salary. That could increase the levels of inequality. That may mean the types of senator kinds of sentiments could emerge as the most potent force in politics. You mentioned Hillary Clinton. Do you think she will be the Democratic Party nominee . If so and this populist sentiment is still around, how do she navigate that . Guest is far more likely than not the Taylor Clinton will be the democratic nominee. Thewill be challenged on populist side and clearly one who might do that is brian schweitzer. That is just out of mitt romneys conclave. He has been extremely strong and progun. There may be other challenges from the left. They are relevant well respected across the country. Being on the more insurgent side, that is going to be a fascinating, if troubling thing to watch. At he is waiting in massachusetts on our line for republicans. Is waiting in massachusetts on our live for republicans. Caller he said corporations are people. Banks make mortgage and make loans. Ford makes cars. These are corporations treated unfortunately we are losing it. Beerf our three Major Companies are foreign owned. Speak up for the corporations. Host any thoughts on speaking up for the corporations . Guest we need a vibrant manufacturing sector. Corporations are no longer set within one country. Even those that are fundamentally owned in the , it is one of the challenges that we have. We have to be concerned about the kinds of attacks on the corporate and financial sectors could end up crippling the economy. Banks make mortgages but the fact is we had a mortgage process that careened out of after wend even stabilized the situation they werent making the kinds of mortgages a lot of people needed. There is an understandable resentment. A the one place i would take issue with eddie is the notion that corporations are people. Corporations were set up with charters. They do not operate as people. People have multiple interests. You can be looking at the interest of your children and grandchildren. Corporations now basically look at the next quarters profits. The idea that they are commuting to campaigns or people with same kinds of interest in a vibrant that individuals have requires a second look. Host author of the book we always appreciate you coming on. Next, when the young joins us from the Advocacy Group kids in need of defense to discuss her organization. A first, a news update. Some economic news, the Labor Department says u. S. Consumer prices increased in may by the largest amount in more than a year. Cost of food and gasoline should big gains and airline fares jumped by the largest amount in 15 years. The Consumer Price index rose 0. 4 . That is the biggest onemonth jump since february 2013. Of Consumer Prices are up 2. 4 . U. S. Home construction fell 6. 5 in may. Apartments account for most of the gains, suggesting more americans will be renting instead of owning homes. House says president obama is looking to create the largest marine preserve in the world. He is considering expanding protected waters that surround a group of mostly uninhabited islands around the u. S. Controls in hawaii and american samoa. The president will make an announcement for executive Edge Executive action today. A those are the latest headlines on cspan radio. Putting you in the room at white house briefings and conferences and offering complete gaveltogavel coverage of the u. S. House, all as a Public Service of private industry. Were cspan, created by the cable tv industry 30 years ago and brought to you as a Public Service by your local sado local cable or satellite provider. Religion is a powerful identity forming mechanism. Society isan figuring out who is us and who is them, who is my group and who is the outgroup . Religion answers that question pretty easily. You eatray like me, if like me, if you go to the same church as i do, then you are us. Easily n see very you can see very easily how that mindset can lead to extremism, to marginalize nation. Religion may be the most powerful form of identity formation. Just as powerful is violence. If you are fighting alongside me your us. If you are fighting against me, you are them. Far from being these two things that should have nothing to do they are muchr, more aligned than we would like them to be. He will take your calls and comments for three hours live on july at noon eastern 6. On september 7, the former chair of the u. S. Commission on civil rights and children rights advocates. Areur online book club, we discussing the forgotten man. Start reading and join others to. Iscuss the Book Television for serious readers. Washington journal continues. Host we talked about ilLegal Immigration and how it is impacting customs and border protection. We look at immigration from a different perspective. What is your group and how did you get started he echo started . Agot we started five years. Children are placed into deportation proceedings. Host we want to make sure we can hear you on this. As we are talking to when the the to wendy yougng. You can call in on our phone lines. You are talking about kids in need of defense and what it does. Guest children are placed into deportation proceedings just as an adult would be. Those proceedings are very complex. They appear before an immigration judge. Unless you volunteer attorney comes forth your present them, i have seen kids as young as five with no lawyer to help. Talk about this influx of unaccompanied children into the United States. A chart from your recent report put it intoc perspective, dating back to 2012. What are the stats . Guest we saw 68,000 children arrive 6008 thousand children arrive alone each year. He thought this was just an aberration and things will settle down. The fact the numbers have climbed since then. Particularly this spring they are escalating rather genetically. This year the projection is as many as 90,000 children may arrive alone in the United States and next year 130,000 or more creative or more. It is primarily violence in Central America. Arrivingildren we see are from free countries. Honduras, guatemala, and el salvador. These are countries that are experiencing rampant violence, particularly from gains and narcotraffickers. These are countries that are relatively weak and they cannot control this kind of violence. Aredren a very young age being recruited. Their lives are being threatened if they do not cooperate. Families are making this desperate incision to send the children out. Host house the prospect of Immigration Reform how is the prospect of Immigration Reform . House that can she be these rising numbers . Guest frankly, very little. A report was released finding 58 percent of these children are fleeing a level of violence that should trigger International Protection or refugee protection. It is a push factor, not a pull factor. The thought an eightyearold would understand what we are talking about with Immigration Reform is absurd. Him host host we are talking about the group kids in need of defense. Its efforts in washington and the influx of unaccompanied children across the border. We had a special line and this segment. That number as folks are calling in, can you talk about what typically happens to an unaccompanied andd who crossed the border then falls into federal protection . Guest the children make a very dangerous journey across the region. They are robbed, they are beaten, and we see high levels of Sexual Violence against girls. Many girls are arriving pregnant as a result. And are taken first taken by custody into first taken into custody i border control. You see the stations becoming more and more crowded. That doe the facilities not have the appropriate conditions to house children. Once the child is released from border to troll custody they are transferred to the department of human health and services and the offices of Refugee Resettlement within hhs. They have the responsibility to provide care, custody, and Placement Services for these children. Withhey try to place them a Family Member in the United States. In many cases it is an aunt or uncle or a sibling. They can take care of the child while they are in the United States. It is important to remember these kids are still in deportation proceedings. What is their legal status and their rights during these proceedings . Guest they are really in legal limbo. I have no status in the United States. The federal government tries to sort out whether this child has reason to stay in the United States. A silent, thebe itivalent of Refugee Status, could be protection. We are talking with wendy young. She is talking about her group. You can check it out online. Otis comingt with in from a border state down in texas and houston. Good morning. Turn your tv down. Call, caller good morning. I have seen all the kids come from south america. Is word that there are a lot of gang members. They are telling the Border Patrol they are being threatened and their families are being threatened. They were told to give to the Border Patrol to get into this country. Expensive and once they go through the seedings through the proceedings i am happy to answer that question. I think it is critical to understand these kids are fleeing gangs. Him they are not joining the they are not joining the gangs. These kids are trying to get away from that activity. If a gang member did happen to cross u. S. Borders they would be subject to removal by u. S. Proceedings and not allowed to remain. It is true the system needs to be resourced to sort the situation out as quickly as possible. The numbers are very high right now. Program that has been estimated to cost 2 billion by next year. Him we need to resourced the system, provide protection to those that need it and return those to those to their home country that do not need it. Host are you always advocating for the child to remain in the United States . Is there any situation in which you would say it is acceptable for the child to get deported . Guest if that child does not seem to be eligible for any form of protection than we will not be able to percent to represent them. Our volunteer attorneys represent the child inside the courtroom and help the child present the circumstances of their life so that the judge can determined if they are allowed to stay or go. Need of defense do not stand by the notion that every child should remain in the United States. What we try to stand for is every child should have a safe life here in the United States or it could be more appropriate back in the home country. How many children in the circumstances have kids in need of defense worked with . Guest we have trained about 7800 lawyers to represent them from the private sector. To sean will go waiting in Cleveland Ohio on our line for democrats. Good morning. Caller good morning, cspan. Thank you for taking my call. I want to thank ms. Young for betweenhe distinction the children being democrats and refugees and that is an important point to make up. I want to say that we should all try to think of this as being more understanding of the situation. You are about your regular day and happened upon a child who was out here by themselves on the street, you wouldnt just passed them by and not deal with that situation. You would want to do something for that child. I have heard some comments refer to them as the difference between teenagers they are all children. We all need to keep that in mind when dealing with the situation. I also want to thank the lawyers. Anythese children have legal representation . You answered it for me before i could answer that before i could get to ask that question. Guest thank you for raising that perspective. Ensuringay that we are that no child appears in Immigration Court alone. I fear that many children are going through on represented. A fiveyearold in Immigration Court, she was literally dressed in her sunday best clutching a doll, appearing in an appearing before an immigration judge without a lawyer. It is heartbreaking to watch. Having afferent train lawyer and representation and having a child advocate guest it is not really tied to the legal process, where as a lawyer is doing it for the childs legal interest. Host on our twitter page guest the vast majority of children are housed in large shelter care programs by the office of Refugee Resettlement. There is a limited number of foster care placement available to kids. They are generally held at young ages under five or children with disabilities. Otherwise they are held in these shelters, which are actually locked facilities. Of they are dormitory style when you go in and services are brought into the children. This population is not really in competition with u. S. Citizen children in terms of foster care placement. Host 400 14,000 total Border Apprehensions in 2013. 38,000 of those unaccompanied juveniles and 8500 been accompanied. He said the number of unaccompanied children could reach 90,000 by the end of this year. Lets go to paul waiting in san diego, california in one of those border states, calling on that line. Caller good morning. Now that we have identified these as refugees, why are we not treating them like refugees like the rest of the world treats their refugees . They put them in tent cities, they feed them, they close in them. They close them. Not give them attorney privileges to integrate them into a country where they do not belong. Ill take my answer offline. The United States really is the worlds leader in refugee protection and we often support those countries and their ability to tolerate large numbers of refugees in the jurisdictions. Difference has to be pointed out that it is different being a refugee from darfur and going into one of the worlds poorest countries as opposed to coming from Central America and landing in the United States. We are treating them in emergency situations, they are being housed in emergency facilities. These are large facilities housing large numbers of children. Him that is the length of a refugee camp. Host, but steve waiting in florida. Host lets go to steve waiting in florida. Caller good morning. Out of the six or 7000 you said you represented, how many were allowed to remain in the united is there any limit on that thet of refugees American People should be allowed to absorb . How does an eightyearold child make a conscious decision to dump the United States on their own . How about the women that are have anchor babies and anchor children. If we are really enforcing our and the president sent the signal of the dreamers is act, would this influx happened . Host according to the miami herald on this topic, miami being one of 10 cities where children are being sent for immigration proceedings has border shelters start to fill up. The end of the day 40 of children found eligible for protection and the others are deported. Important because this is a complex legal proceeding that they to be represented by an attorney in the courtroom. The Immigration Judges are able to make decisions much more rapidly when there is council there to jot council there to guide the child. You have to make this really life changing decision in this case and theres nobody there to help the child navigate the system. I would point out there is another country in that neighborhood, nicaragua, which is extremely poor. Of it is not experiencing the levels of violence we are seeing in guatemala, honduras, and el salvador. Host biden is expected to be in Central America this week. He will make a plea to use top make a plea to parents to stop sending their children to the u. S. What do you want to hear from Vice President biden . Guest i think it is important we advise families in the region that it is dangerous to make this trip on their own. You are still facing many hurdles. That is an Important Message for Vice President to deliver. I also think we need to look at this as a regional crisis. We need to work with those governments that are experiencing violence, as well as mexico. Address this issue on a regional basis and cooperate to find solutions. It is also interesting to note that this is a refugee crisis that refugee claims such as panama and costa rica are up 7 . Host Mary Wrightson on our twitter feed mary writes in on our twitter feed line for folks from border states. John is from texas. Caller how are you doing today . You said earlier it would cost 2 billion. Is this 2 billion per year . Guest it is 2 billion to address the immediate emergency. We need to find a solution to this. That is going to require some resources. Host did you have a followup on your question . The realve question is why cant we take maybe 4illion and billion before it is over you with that over with. Of before it is over with. Problemt have this before things were shut down from down there. Check andruglords in we will keep our borders and check. Thet we need to address root causes of this migration in the region. The u. S. Is a very influential actor in this region. E need to support this country that involves investment in terms of their judicial system and their ability to prosecute criminal elements. Also means supporting International Developments in the region. People have opportunities in their home country. A this will help a lot in terms of addressing this migration crisis. Host is go to bobby in arkansas. Good morning. Guest caller i am a social worker who worked in the foster care system. Have one third of the foster care we need for our legal children. They dont actually have enough money to provide things they need. We have spent money on other until we are no longer a country. I dont expect us to have freedom until something is done, perhaps militarily. Guest i would like to underscore that most of these children do not go into foster care. They are unified with Family Members here who provide daytoday care of the children. It is not a strong competition for domestic care. Host how long have you been working with kids in need . Guest since july. Askingas chose questions, support kinds. Org is the website. Kids in need out of defense. Joe, go ahead. Caller . Thank you. Caller thank you. Cspan pretrade information relative to money that was sent to other countries, one being mexico. I think the amount was approximately 73 million. When you talk about the money that is going to be spent here, why cant we utilize the money we are sending to these countries in order to force them to do something about their borders and keeping their kids there . I noticed the three countries ,hese kids are coming from honduras, guatemala, and el salvador, i think they are part of the treaty. I havent heard about the amount of violence that has been talked about recently. Why would we continue to do business with those countries who are not exhibiting this type of violence. Regardingthe issue the money that has been sent to these countries and why cant we utilize that country utilize that money. Host we will let wendy respond. Guest the level of International Aid that would be needed probably wouldnt approach what the listener mentioned. Is important for the economic development. They have a safe option to remain home. Countries can handle the violence that they are experiencing. This was declared to be a warlike situation. Host, go to ohio on our line for democrats. Guest i have a relationship with el salvador from 2010 until the current year. It was a little town. Healked to him frequently is really confused as to what is happening. Obviously it is not the violence of the 1980s when there was a revolution there. A gradetablishing school. He has a school of 165 children and he told me, i dont know what is going on. Three of the kids have come to me and said they are going north to the states. The rumor is youre not going to stop them and deport them. We have fragmentation with families all over the place. Touching upon these kinds of things as to what really needs to be done. We need to help the country supportecome able to their own people. In reality guest you bring up a pot bring up a frontpage commentary piece. Responsibility for the childrens border search. We will let you respond. Guest this is an administration that enforced our borders more than any administration in prior years. Up prioron numbers are than the administration. I would like to address this issue of the rumors. What we have seen is the vicious circle. They are engaging in human smuggling and Human Trafficking and then manipulating the crisis in the United States to encourage more families to send the children out. Aspect of ther issue that we really need to crack down on the smuggling and trafficking. We need to make sure that the child is protected as part of the program. Host the headline guest, i think they encapsulated the issue. We need to provide these kids with protection and care and allow those whose lives are endangered to remain, send home those that arent, and fix the root cause in this country. Host we have time for a few more calls. Charlotte is in alabama on our line for republicans. Good morning. Caller good morning. Of i understand the u. S. And what they stand for. I truly feel sorry for these children. These are children that come over. Usually their families here are illegal. Of the government is paying for them so they will have to pay more to take care of the kids. What about our kids over here . Go to any city in the United States and there are americanborn children that are not being taken care of. We are sending money to other and they are sending their kid over here. Guest this is inherently a refugee situation. Refugees flee when facing violence. I think that is a very human reaction. Threatening to rape your 12yearold daughter, you are going to take whatever steps you can to save the childs life parents make sacrifices for their kids all over the world. It goes to the heart of who we are as a country in terms of how we treat these children. Saidof these famously once somebodyf the famously once said the measure of a society is how they treat their children. Host wase u. S. The was responsibility to these children . Does ypically there they are sorted by the department of homeland security. A Pilot Project in guatemala to ensure children are actually reunited with family in guatemala. Them and provide them with services. Think that is really essential, to make sure the child really can get home safely and stay home safely. Theres a very good chance they will migrate the United States. Caller good morning. I was wondering if there are groups of children and if they are if there are are they brothers and sisters . Is there anything the average american can do to help these children . Guest we see more and more sibling groups arriving. A threeyearold and sixyearold arrived. The department of human health it would be very traumatizing to arrive with your sibling, having made this incredibly dangerous trip, and then be separated. They do try to hold those families together. Very often either somebody is and more with them often than not it is a smuggler bringing them in. Work with us to get the word out that these are kids in need of our help. Stand up for these kids. Is a big debate happening in washington dc about how to address this crisis. It is important that americans do believe in the protection of children. Lawyers, go to my website and volunteer. Host lets go to entree waiting in weatherford texas. The morning. Caller i heard a well ago she said we give billions of dollars to mexico. These kids come from guatemala and el salvador. Through the coming water and the air, theyre coming through mexico. 90 of their money is going back to mexico. Until mexico secures their borders, keep giving them the money. Guest mexico plays a pivotal role in this issue. Children are generally transferring through mexico on the way to the United States. Of part of this effort has to be to work with the Mexican Government to ensure children can seek safety in mexico itself rather than making that extra trip. We are working hard to see if we can promote that as part of the policy response. Host judy is on our line in rochester, new hampshire. Caller i had a couple of ideas because i feel sorry for the children who are being dropped off grid i dont think it is the United Statess responsibility to take care of them. Of terroristst who would like to adopt children. So why dont we put children up the families are abandoning them anyway. It takes the tax burden off of the taxpayers because now you have families who will give them even better love and care. Do ay cant we also childsupport system . We have to pay Child Support if we abandon our children. Why dont we deduct money they owe us and we give them for each amount touct that what we give them from their country and maybe that country will pay us for childsupport to take the tax burden off of us. I work hard for my money. I have done all i could do to raise my children. You have to buy your own books from where i was from. Of we cant keep going this way. Guest most of those children have Family Members who can support them. Those children who truly have nobody here, generally they are placed in foster care. They may eventually be able to reunify with their parents. Being with your parents is the safest and best place for you to be. Are thesay a handful for adoption. Opposite, thathe our International Aid, we should be offering these countries more money to beef up their child can takeystem so they care of their children rather than kids being forced to flee here. Will go to roy in illinois on our line for independents. Caller thank you for cspan. You mentioned something about the Obama Administration deporting most illegals. I would like the record to be that they are counting them, which is something they have never done. I would just like to clarify that. Guest we are spending 17 billion per year on border enforcement to get the flow of migration under control. I think it is critical we separate what is happening with these children from the immigration issue at large. This is a humanitarian crisis, as president obama declared a couple of weeks ago. Host we talked about how senate howImmigration Reform with us in the past and Immigration Reform bill would affect children. Immigration reform reform did not explicitly they would never qualify under that program as constructive. They enhanced childrens opportunity to access legal counsel. Been a number of discussions going on. Nothing is happening. What would your recommendation be if you could do it through legislation or would you prefer executive action . Legislation,ere they provide their system with the kind of services to help the kids navigate the process. They have preserved their access and ability to navigate the system. They make a decision and decide who stays regrets to go. Tuesday four ago. We appreciate you joining us this morning. And that will do it for todays washington journal. Theow take you live to National Press club with their conference with senator rob portman ands representative Chris Van Hollen. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] reporters gathered at the National Press club. They will be hearing from senator rob portman and are presented of Chris Van Hollen. They will be talking about Budget Priorities. The house and Senate Working through the 2015 federal spending bills. The house will take up the defense appropriations measures. The bill is being used as a vehicle for three of the Senate Fiscal 2015 spending bills. The appropriations chairwoman is looking to package commerce, justice, science, agriculture spending bills for the fiscal 2015 year and what is called a minibus. This will work through the defense spending bills. Hearing shortly from senator chris portman, representative from senator rob portman, were present of Chris Van Hollen. Welcome to the National Press club. I am bob wiener, the court made her for the News Conference by two National Leaders on the federal budgets future, our two speakers will address future federal Budget Priorities and methods to achieve them. The will cover areas that budget should attend to. The usefulness and future of shutdowns and sequestration, strategies for bipartisan cooperation in action and the projected timeline. We think they will indeed make news by telling us what they think will happen and when and what they think will not happen, namely, will we have more shutdowns a close major portions of the government and the we have more sequestration . Just how this is budget and funding process work anyway . Maybe they can tell the American People love seeing what looks like chaos. And will it be improved in the near future. That is allowed to cover in an hour. Our expert leaders will speak for 1015 minutes followed by questions from the media and club members. Introduce our two speakers. Congressman Chris Van Hollen is the Ranking Member leading the house committee. He was elected to congress in 2002 and beat some very well known people with big legacies. In addition to representing the eighth district of maryland and serving in leadership, congressman van hollen was elected to serve a second term. In this position, he serves as the key point person on budget and economic legislation in the house for the Democratic Party. He is described as a bona fide budget expert and the l. A. Times said he is among his partys best budget mines. He gets near universal respect from his colleagues for his ineffectual firepower and combination of political chops. A few years ago we called them a rising star, now he is just a start. Congressman van hollen was washingtonian magazine as the best metro area member of congress and the best local elected official. There might be some in Congress Today who have recently lost elections who will tell you just how important that local Service Recognition can be. He also played an integral role in the effort to pass conference of Health Care Reform to ensure that young adults received expanded access. He continues to lead the fight for the disclose act, to end secret money in elections, and champion bills on whistleblower protections that were enacted. A former professional staff committee,he congressman van hollen has a strong background in National Security policy. Maybe his interest there comes from the fact that he is the son of a Foreign Service officer. House his election to the , congressman sam hollen served four years in the maryland house and eight years in the maryland senate. He also worked as an attorney in private practice. Swarthmoreduate of college, the john f. Kennedy school of government, and Georgetown University law center. He lives in kensington, maryland with his wife and three children. U. S. Senators the from ohio. He was elected in 2010 running a campaign that focused on conservative ideas to create jobs and get the deficit under control. He was born and raised in cincinnati where he lives today with his wife and three children. He grew up in a Small Business family where he learned early on the value of hard work, leadership, and fiscal responsibility. Startd borrowed money to Portman Equipment Company where rob and his brother and sister all work while growing up. His father built the business means that they built of the dealership with five employees with robs mom as a bookkeeper to a company that went on to employ more than 400 people. Rob became a lawyer represent Small Businesses. In 1993, he was a partner in a Cincinnati Law Firm when he was elected to congress where he reps under the Second District in southern ohio. He served seven mayors. He never received less than 70 of the vote. He was an advocate of the balanced budget bill that passed in 1997. He gained the respect of both republican and democratic colleagues through a successful bipartisan legislative initiative. Curb unfunded mandates, reduce taxes, and drug present his and drug are mentioned. Committee on the antidrug initiative geoeye was the director of affairs when we organize an event together that we first met and became friends. Senator represents my alma mater. In 2005 come he Left Congress when he was asked by president george w. Bush to serve as the u. S. Trade representative kirk, a cabinet level official responsible for trade policy. American exports increased and the u. S. Not successful legal challenges. Following is a compass months, he was asked to serve in another critical cabinet post. He made his mark as a deficit hawk fighting irresponsible earmarks and putting in place new transparency measures for all federal spending. He was listed as a vice insidential high prospect 2008. Inwonder, will be also be 2016. The National Press club is privileged to have two superstars today and their staff. Caitlin done and bridget fry. They have been immensely helpful and displayed the kind of. Ipartisan ship i want to introduce my wife who is the professor at George Washington Medical Center and has a real job looking for cures for cancer. Also, i want to thank the rebecca will be carrying the mic around. The media will also be able to get the advantages of the questions from the audience. I know that is important. I would like to think the Club Photographer who does a spectacular job and has won the outstanding volunteer award for the whole club. With thell lead first senate, senator rob portman. We have worked together in the past. Lets consider them an honorary ohio and. He works for our drug czar for a while. For notn an advocate the current approach to drug abuse and addiction but one that focuses more on prevention, treatment, and recovery. This is one of the issues that we will not talk about directly as the discretionary part of the budget is getting squeeze more and more as we dont deal with the larger problem. So, as we are talking about that, maybe keep in mind that that is an example of a program, like the Second Chance act that we are trying to get reauthorized. This is under more and more budget pressure even though it that is is a program not a topdown Washington Program that actually saves money because it encourages states and localities to put in prison or reentry programs to keep people out of these revolving door prisons. Their taxpayers and they are taking care of their families and of course better for our communities. That we havele been working on over the years that ive yield will be under increasing pressure to do something about the bigger problems in our budget. This is a nice turnout. I would have come thursday if i were you and i will tell you why. I look at the website and the description for today is basically coming here and talk about the intricacies of budget baseline. Quote, knownect nationally as a this race mare smoking crack cocaine, marion barry was headed controversial career, he will be here on thursday. I dont know why youre here but thank you for coming. I dont know, maybe we can make this more interesting. , we worked with chris a lot have worked on the socalled supercommittee. This was a serious effort. This is someone that you have proposed later. What they really did get out. This is the biggest part of the budget. Budgetgest part of the is called mandatory spending. Within 10 years, the nonpartisan Budget Office will telesis will be three quarters of a budget. So, we have our work cut out for us. Of course, Chris Van Hollen and i have had the opportunity to work for. This debt that we currently have is very serious and threatening to our economy emma Erskine Bowles has said it is the most predictable crisis. I agree with him. Projected toare top 1 trillion in the next decade and yet it seems like it is off the headline. I want to thank the National Press club. , they believe that this continues to be an important issue. The of us suggest that deficit is only about 500 billion but that is ok. The deficit was 161 and i thought it was way too high. That is what we opposed over five years. So, that is solving the problem. This is also way too high because we are looking at a trillion dollars deficit within a decade. That is on the Budget Office analysis. This is due entirely on the mandatory side. The vital but unsustainable entitlement programs. This is pretty rosy scenario when you have a chilling dollars in a year. Interest rates will stay at relatively low rates. Highericits could be for higher than that. The cbo projects a 10 trillion increase in debt over the next decade. You go from roughly 17 trillion. It will be 20 7 trillion in debt 10 years from now. Again, relatively rosy scenario. I hope we continue to keep this very much on the front runner and talk about how to resolve this problem. Is problem driving this debt entitlement spending. Most folks understand that. Of time talking about the math. I dont think its a big mystery. I think it is a matter of arithmetic. The numbers are simply overwhelming. Social security, health entitlements, comprise over half of the budget and are responsible for 86 of all new spending over the next decade. Entitlement spending is set to double over the next decade. It will consume almost 100 of tax revenues within a decade. Entirer words, the discretionary budget from research, education, to what we talked about, infrastructure, all of that would have to be funded through the nations credit card because any revenue coming in will have to be used to pay for this expanding entitlement spending. We have to act, you have to save these vital but unsustainable programs. Social security already faces a 62 billion deficit this year. Be cast of fish it would another 62. The primary trust fund will go bankrupt in just over 20 years. When you think about it, we are at the point where those that are retiring today, they would be alive at the time when the Social Security goes up. To folks who are currently to work into retirement. Social Security Disability trust in 2017. Bankrupt just around the corner. The Medicare Trust fund in just over a decade. Obviously, these Companies Need to be modernized, reformed. If were going to do it, were going to have to take some tough steps and it will take reaching across the aisle and both parties being involved and just was done back in the 1980s. Is party will have to be involved in my view. I will touch on five what i think are the most persistent myths out there that help to keep us from doing this important work of finding common ground. Tax revenues are the problem. Foghorn leghorn used to say in the cartoons, that is mathematics, son. I think it is. You can argue with me but you cannot argue with figures. Has stayed around 18 of gdp. That has been the ever since the 60s. That is about to change. Revenues will exceed this circle average starting next year. This is the highest levels in terms of nominal tax. Im talking about a percent of the economy. Individual revenues will shatter all records in the next decade. The congressional Budget Office, not me or some other partisan group. These more revenues keep up with higher spending. The net interest costs will drive the spending to 25, 30, 35 of the economy. The cbo used to have the baseline that a kind of like which i which is called the alternative baseline. Regardless, if you look at the numbers. The tax system cannot keep up the spending. You cannot have an income tax system that collected taxes high enough to keep up with the spending. It is that the cbo projects that entitlement costs and resulting high interest on the debt, higher interest in the debt are responsible for 100 of the rising longterm deficits, even the highest sustained tax revenues in history would come close to paying for that. If entitlement spending is driving this, then shouldnt the Strong Majority come from this programs or should we just keep chasing record spending with . Igher tax levels that is a race we are going to lose because we cannot keep up with it eventually. Missed two, Social Security city its received only what they put into the system. For Social Security, this is becoming more true for current retirees. The typical person retiring into medicare will still receive three dollars and benefits for every one dollar paid in the system. Specifically, typical to earn couple returning in ohio, anywhere in the country, will pay at 119 thousand dollars in lifetime taxes and premiums, this receives about 357,000 in lifetime benefits. When you multiply that time about 77 million baby boomers, you can see why the medicare math doesnt make sense. Social security, Medicare Trust funds will hear taxpayers from additional costs. The trust funds are an asset to Social Security. Theyre also a liability to the treasury. While the trust fund assure seniors at all deficits through 2035 will be funded, it does not provide any actual Economic Resources to do it. Funds. General the choice of dollars to fulfill that pledge and in that sense the existence of the trust fund is not say current or future taxpayers a dime. All future benefits are going to be financed. There in the clinton administration, the Budget Office had a quote about this. The real economic assets cannot be drawn down in the future that are redeemable and will have to be financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or reducing benefits for other expenditures. Pretty simple. Theres a lot of misunderstanding about what the trust funds mean. The way to fiscal responsibility. This is not possible again. There is a 40 trillion unfunded liability. Tweaks cannot close that gap. The recent expiration of the upper income tax cuts which the committed to close raised about 620 billion over the next decade. And a lot of folks said that would solve the problem. About 3. 3 of the projected Social Security, medicare, and medicaid costs. 3. 3 . About one 30th. Forget just bringing the troops home, lets say that we could permanently eliminate the entire department of defense, it would byay the budget reckoning about 15 years. There are no possible that tax. Ikes this requires fundamental reform. Because obama care is paid for, that makes it fiscally responsible. New entitlement that i started. Some say that it is paid for, at least almost all paid for. My view is that that does not make it any more fiscally responsible. About 100,000. They have figured out a way to find 10,000 through hard work and then they take that 10,000 and go to the mall and spend it. They say that the spending spree was justified because this is paid for. I think we need to look at this in terms of what it does to medicare. With regard to medicare, we can debate whether the obama care cuts are appropriate or not. The cbo has said that some of these are unsustainable. Unsustainable under the health care system. Would do theit right thing to do. The savings from medicare providings is about 700 billion. With thisused to do problem in medicare. Can doubleou counted. It just doesnt make sense. It was used to fund obama care. Funds that could have been available for medicare reform. Facing these record spending and debt levels, the government did scrape together 1. 5 trillion in tax increases and medicare cuts. They spent the entire amount on a new entitlement program. So, this matters because the options from budget savings are pretty limited. Providers, they can only do so much before they stopped participating in the program. Some have already as you know. Programs, education programs, federal spending programs as well as entitlement programs have mostly been taken off the table by republicans and democrats. Are prettyions limited. There are only so many programs that can be scaled back or eliminated. There can be some savings but they pale in comparison to the costs we are talking about. If washington keeps using its limited supply of realistic savings, there would be nothing left for the socalled bargain. If at least some kind of bargain to deal with entitlements and save them from bankruptcy and scale back at that. 1. 2 trillion dollars in new taxes used primarily to pay for new spending. The senate the cuts prefer a tax increase, and it is now proposed as an offset to nearly a dozen proposed spending hikes appear for those who follow congress carefully, you will recall this happened in the last week. The tax was proposed to use to pay for another spending increase, not to reduce the deficit. The tax would close less than 1 of the budget deficit. He keeps being used to offset spending. It is a struggle, frankly, as chris will acknowledge probably, because we have worked on this together, as did others, to find these savings. Look, before i close, let me add one point we need to have ideas out there. It is easy to criticize ideas when they come up your paul ryans budget gets criticized regularly. Democrats do not have an alternative that does what it does though. Testingtalk about means in medicare as an example where we can make a step in the right direction. Does it solve the problems we talked about today . No, but it does take a step in the right direction. It is in the president s budget. It does provide that folks that make over 100 70,000 a year have to pay more in premiums in medicare,and d sending about 60 million in the first few years. Probably four hundred 50 billion over the next 10 years, which is why it is the kind of proposal we should be talking about. It has an expanding benefit to the debt and deficit. A longterm problem can only be solved by those kinds of reforms. Yet, we cannot seem to even get progress there. My proposal today is, lets make the commitment, at least, to take what is in the president s own budget and put that out as a spending reform here, even this year, because it seems to me that is where we should be able to find bipartisan consensus and take a small step toward dealing with these problems. Success against success purely cannot allow the Current Situation to continue without making some rugrats. In the confirmation hearings recently with Sylvia Burwell she was before our finance committee, wanting to move from omb i do not blame her to the health and Human Services job. Her response was, well, we cannot move on that without a balanced approach. Balanced approach is, of course, raising taxes. Raising taxes on upper income americans and businesses who pay taxes at an individual level. I understand that allens sounds great, but think about this think about the logic about this. We cannot ask wealthier seniors, 130,000 year is roughly equivalent to a 3 million annuity, by the way, so were asking people who, i believe, can afford it given their situation with medicare. They pay or on their premiums for part b and d. We need to raise taxes on those people in order to ask them to pay more, which is also revenue. Makes no sense. There is no logic there. I am hopeful that we can make progress on these broader issues and come up with this rand bargain. I think this year is going to be difficult to do something grand pier next year is an opportunity for us, particularly the first part of next year before we get wholeheartedly into the 20 16th cycle. Meantime, lets take this small step together and take the president up on his budget. One thing in his budget that deals with this entitlement concern that we talked about today. Thank you all for being here. I look forward to your questions. [applause] by there honored president of the National Press club who is here with us. Anything you would like to say, myron . Here comes the microphone. We are live on cspan. I know senator portman always nice to see you. Ohio state buckeyes are coming to maryland, you know . Andk you, senator congressman. The National Press club has the motto this is where news is made. Thank you for helping with this this morning. I do not want to take more than a moment i want to take a moment of my time to thank you both. Everybody is here to ask questions. Hollen . Ongressman van if i can figure out how to use this microphone button. There we go. Well, first, let me start by thanking law for bringing us together today. It is great to be back here, and thanks for all your leadership. Myron, thank you for your stewardship here at the National Press club. It is great to be here with my friend and colleague rob portman. As he indicated, we have worked together on these budget issues. They are tough and challenging, and i am hopeful that at some point down the line we are able to resolve them in a more comprehensive fashion. We have had some piecemeal progress, but really what we need is more comprehensive progress on these issues. Before i talk about the budget issues, i also serve as cochair of the bipartisan congressional soccer caucus, norm want to congratulate team you and i want to congratulate team usa on a terrific victory in the world cup yesterday, and i hope that is a sign of things to come. They are in a tough bracket. Also, bob indicated that my father had served in the u. S. Foreign service geared earlier in my career, i was on the Senate Foreign relations committee. I do want to say a word about iraq, because when we look at ,he situation there obviously it is a time of great chaos and uncertainty. , over thee learned last week, that when it comes to ineign policy pundits washington, there seems to be no accountability. Because what we are witnessing of one of the fallout the biggest foreignpolicy blunders the United States has ever made. Yet, when i turn on my television or look at the newspapers am a i continue to see unrepentant architects of the iraq war offering advice today as to what we should do. In my view, that is a little bit like asking the arsonist how to prevent fires. And i do hope that as we go forward in this debate, we will have a little bit more accountability with respect to some of the pundits that are out there. Of course, the iraq war is directly related to budget issues. Oh, close to 4849 americans. Over 32,000 wounded. In terms of the budget cost, well over one trillion dollars, unpaid for, all on the credit card, all adding to our debt. Now let me turn to the budget and the economy. Look, the good news is the economy has been steadily improving. We have seen a growth and jobs monthaftermonths. Still, i think we all recognize that we could be doing better. Our focus right now should be on boosting job growth and boosting wages. That should be the priority in our budget process. And we have one challenge immediately before us, which is the Transportation Trust fund. The Transportation Trust fund is currently scheduled to have a big shortfall as early as august. What does that mean . It means the money coming into the fund is not enough to pay for current programs. And you are already seeing slowdowns in projects around the country. States do not know if they will get paid, so they are much more cautious about bidding jobs out. This is threatening thousands of construction jobs around the country. Wepriority number one when deal with our budget issues should be addressing issues like that you read the president has a plan in his budget not only to provide current funding for the Transportation Trust fund, but actually to boost investment in our infrastructure. Fouryear02 billion plan. It is paid for largely by closing some of these special interest tax breaks that actually grew to American Companies to ship american jobs overseas. Those perverse and counterproductive tax breaks and heret those funds in jobs at home, and infrastructure development. Unfortunately, the House Republican budget has no solution when it comes to the chance Protection Trust fund. It essentially assumes no more itenue coming in, and assumes the shortfall coming up. There is a proposal in the house that is being put forward by the House Republican leadership to essentially extend it by 10 by ending alieve saturday postal delivery on a permanent basis, permanently ending saturday postal delivery. That is not a longterm solution to our Transportation Trust fund issues, and we really should bite the bullet and make progress on that. Some other things we should do right now, we should deal with. He huge burden on student debt i think everybody here knows that student debt is now over 1 trillion. That means when students are graduating from college and university, they do not have the funds to help buy a new apartment or get a mortgage. Struggle simply to repay those debts. So the president has been forward a plan to relieve some of that. There was this plan that senator portman mentioning these senate. If we are not going to do that, we should have an alternative to adjust this very important issue. We should be boosting our investment in science,. Nnovation, and Early Education senator portman has a great proposal dealing with Energy Efficiency year that is a deficitneutral proposal. We should adopt that in the senate and the house. Those are the kinds of investments and initiatives that i think makes sense. We should extend emergency Unemployment Insurance. We now have more than 3 million americans out of work through no fault of their own. Congressional Budget Office tells us that extending that Unemployment Insurance will also create jobs between now and the end of the year. Again, senator portman was part of a bipartisan agreement that passed that in the u. S. Senate. It is now sitting in the u. S. House. We have asked Speaker Boehner for a vote on that measure, and the speaker has denied us the opportunity to have that vote. As he has also denied the opportunity of a vote on the issue of comprehensive Immigration Reform. And there is a direct link between comprehensive Immigration Reform and our budget. The congressional Budget Office tells us one of the things we can do to both grow our economy and reduce our longterm deficit is to pass comprehensive Immigration Reform. In fact, they analyzed and scored the Bipartisan Senate bill and said it is good for reducing the deficit over the next 10 years and over the next 20 years, which is why the president actually included the conference Immigration Reform as did in his budget house democrats. So that is an issue directly related to budget, just as it is related to other things. Again, Speaker Boehner has not allowed us to have a vote, either on the Bipartisan Senate that has house bill been proposed by many. So those are some things we can do right now to help boost jobs and wages. Another thing we can do to boost wages is to pass an increase on the minimum wage. We should do that now. In the state of ohio, they have indexed their minimum wage. We should do that at the federal level so that it keeps up with inflation. And we should have some catchup revision. Right now, the purchasing power of the minimum wage is lower than it was when truman was president. And we should pass equal pay for equal work legislation. Those are two measures that we can take now that would also boost wages in the United States. Now i want to talk about the sequester and dealing with the longterm budget challenges. Because we had a bipartisan agreement last december, we have calmperiod of relative when it comes to budget issues. We have an agreement that provides topline numbers for Discretionary Spending for fiscal year 2014, which we are in now, and fiscal year 2015 which begins in october. We have also set the caps on for defense spending and nondefense spending. So we should be able to avoid that dispute, at least going into fiscal year budget 15. Therefore, to answer your query, bob, i would say that prospects are good that we will avoid another shameless and unnecessary Government Shutdown this year because of the shortterm agreement. But lurking below the surface is the sequester. Fiscal year 2016, it is going to rise up and hit the country again. Is, unless Congress Comes together to resolve that issue. I would like to see us resolve that sooner rather than later, meaning before november. But the prospects are relatively remote right now of im doing that. That means right after the midterm elections, that should be a priority. Again, it is important to provide some certainty of having the form of a sequester will create uncertainty in the country. The congressional Budget Office has indicated that because of some of the provisions in the House Republican budget, you will actually see a drag on the economy in the short term. I hope to avoid that. In terms of dealing with the and replacingcits the sequester, the president has advocated in what we call a balanced approach. The House Democratic budget i have advocated and approached calls for a balanced approach. It has reductions in spending, continued reductions in in spending. We have already seen significant reductions. But we also believe there should be cuts in special interest tax breaks to help reduce our longterm deficits. Theact, if you look at president s budget proposal, it actually has less revenue over the coming years than simpson in theirovided balanced plan. I want to say that again the president s budget that was submitted to the congress has less revenue from closing tax breaks than does the Simpson Bowles proposal. Because Simpson Bowles recognized that there are about onetoone dollars a year in socalled about 1 trillion year in socalled tax expenditures, provisions that andide for deductions credits. Some of them have good Public Policy purposes and should be capped, but some of them are sibley there because a Strong Political lobby has succeeded a Strong Political some of them are simply there because a Strong Political lobby has succeeded. When they get a break, everybody else pays more. Those should certainly be on the table in terms of a longterm deficit reduction plan, combined. Ith looking at other things and the unfortunate reality is, yes, paul ryan has a budget. But in the House Republican oneet, they refuse to close single tax break for the purposes of deficit reduction. Not one. Not one. Now, if you actually look at the last times we balanced our budget in the United States, it was four years. 1999, 2000, 2001. What was revenue as a percentage of gdp during that time . It was over 19 . Over 19 . Yes, as senator portman said, right now it is about 18 or do the last time we actually balanced our budget was 90 . And if you look at current congressional Budget Office projections, at the end of the current 10year window, revenue as a percent of gdp will still be around 18 . Not where it was the last time we balanced our budget for despite the fact that we will have tens of millions more americans on Social Security. So we will have tens of millions more americans on health and , theement plans, and yet current projection is that revenue as a percent of gdp will be lower than it was the last time we balanced our budget in that fouryear period. That is not make sense. That is why we have called for a balanced approach moving forward. Close, you know, with a little refection on where we are now in the process. Because all those items i listed ,hat we should be doing now unfortunately, we have not even had a chance to vote on those things in the house. We have had votes on the budget alternatives, but not on things like cover his of Immigration Reform, not on the emergency extension, not on minimum wage, not on of those other measures i talked about. Unfortunately, i do not see a high likelihood in the nearterm of us getting to move forward on those issues, and i fear that the situation in the house has grown even more difficult because the signal that was sent to the has Republican Caucus by congressman eric cantors defeat was do not even whisper about compromise on these big National Issues to help move the country forward. Do not even whisper that or you will be called a traitor, traitor to the cause. Because Eric Cantor Emma for all our differences, and im not predicting that we would have made a lot of progress on these issues before, but at least on things like how prince of Immigration Reform, he had expressed some openness to a conversation. Unfortunately, the signal that was sent in that election was not even talk about those issues or you are going to be punished by rightwing talk radio. Sort of moderate, thisnable voices can pull conversation back on track, at least after the november election. That is for the country needs. We need to tackle these issues. And i am hoping that once we get through the political season, we will be able to do that. Meantime, the American Public is going to have to make a decision as to the best way forward. So thank you. [applause] maybe you can both stand up here for the questions and we will be able to give a little better presentation for tv that way. Well, lets make some news here. Let me just leave it off with this am i right to understand that you both believe there will not be a shutdown, even though nbc and others have reported that the debt ceiling is coming in august or september . In your expert views, will we not have a shutdown by the end of the year and will we have a resolution that will accommodate and get us past the election . Yes or no . Yes or no . No, i think because the ryanmurray budget agreement was put in place for two years, i think it is very likely we will not have any kind of a Government Shutdown. I do think that this gives us an opportunity this fiscal year ends in september, and then we are in the final fiscal year of ryanmurray. Early next calendar year, we will have to deal with the issues i talked about here the obvious way to deal with this is to focus on the mandatory side of the budget. Ryanmurray did that. Frankly, they took all the low hanging fruit and did not take on the tough issues that deal but again,important, unsustainable programs, medicare, medicaid, and Social Security. We also did not do the tax reform we should be doing, because we talked a lot about revenue as a percent of the economy chris and i have a little difference of opinion that cant be resolved by the congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan arbiter. The revenues can get to record levels in the next couple decades and get above that 15 . Chris talked about the fact that we had 19 back in 1999, 2000, 2001. We also had about 18 when i was deficit of we had a 161 billion, 1. 2 of the economy. So we can get back there. Instead of talking so much about how much taxes are a burden on the economy, we should talk more about growth and progress tax reform, lowering rates, broadening the base. It could be revenueneutral, not a statusmpact from perspective, but from a macroeconomic perspective through growth. Frankly, creating more jobs and opportunities for the American People would also result in more revenues. Realistically, this could happen next year. This year, take the president s own budget and put in place as part of the continuing revolution resolution, as part of doing with the debt ceiling, something to take that first step, even a baby step toward dealing with the mandatory spending programs where we have an agreement between republicans and democrats already, and that is means testing in medicare. Chris . Shutdown, no shutdown . Fingers crossed, but more importantly, as a result of the shortterm bipartisan agreement, i think we will avoid a shutdown. Whether or not we will come together to work out separate Appropriations Bills is another question, but i believe we will avoid a shutdown. Will go tor, then we questions. Bill, since we started a little late, i thought we could go until 10 after the situation in iraq, you addressed it a little bit, chris. What is the impact of that on the budget . Could you rock military action bust the budget . Iraq military action bust the budget . There are two baselines. Defense Spending Continues the spending we have had an previous is the current law baseline and current policy baseline which is a little different. It would not bust the budget. As a real mentor, yeah, if we have an additional commitment there, it will cost more. Regardless of what the baselines show, it could be an impact. I would state the obvious point which is if we had a status of forces agreement with iraq to which many of us pushed for and were disappointed we did not have one, some of these problems could have been avoided. Now, it is a dangerous world out there. Clearly, what is going on in iraq and syria is hard of a bigger issue we have to deal with as a country in terms of terrorism and this particular group, the isis rupe having ambitions well beyond iraq. But not to have an agreement with iraq to provide for provided training and special operations response to terrorism to ensure that the Iraqi Government would be able to sustain itself and their National Security, we are hopeful that we are now learning , having seen the tragedies unfolding in iraq is on the ,ews this morning, you know people being summarily executed and so on that we will learn that as it relates to afghanistan and as we continue our withdrawal from afghanistan here at we do put in place an agreement with the new government of afghanistan to ensure that we do not have these kinds of Security Problems that could have been avoided had we had some training and some ability to respond quickly with with some special forces presence in iraq. To at me quickly respond couple of those points. First, the status of forces agreement with you rock iraq. Everybody here knows the maliki government rejected a proposal that we made sure that americans have are held harmless from any actions against them, legal saidherwise, and maliki no. I am not sure we should have bent to his wishes in that situation. Second, i urge all of you to go back and look at a great quote 1991dick cheney bag in , ate he is explaining why the end of the persian gulf war when the United States went in to eject saddam husseins forces from to wait, why u. S. Forces did not then go into baghdad, because the Bush One Administration was criticized by some for not taking advantage of the situation and marching into baghdad. Cheney posed a question if we go into baghdad emma what kind of government would we create . Is it a sunni government, shia government, or kurdish government . How long will it last, and what will happen when the u. S. Leaves . And he said the president made the right decision by not going to baghdad. I think those who have followed events in that region over decades recognize that we essentially took the lid off pandoras box. And the idea that the United States can micromanage events in these hearts of the world, in my view, reflects a lot of hubris. Not that we should not engage. I am not a serial interventionist, and i think that is the issue. With respect to afghanistan, we do expect status of forces agreements. We should be careful in how we exit afghanistan. All, the last time the United States left that region, we left after the soviets left, and in that vacuum you did have chaos and the government took over and invited al qaeda or allowed al qaeda to become part of the country, and they of course launched attacks. With respect to the budget issue, we have something called to comeseasthat fund is expectd in fifth go year 2013. The president has not yet submitted his request for the overseas contingency fund. He has set aside 5 billion for certain other purposes as use all with respect to nato and some of our objectives there. Iraqin events in a rock could have an impact on what the ultimate number is. We will have the defense appropriation bill on the floor of the house this week and i am