Americans will have air strikes insurgents in ni iraq. Up to 35 when the Islamic State in june. Ame apparent that question also asked if were ameanable to expanding strikes to insurgents syria. 65 said they were. Army ked about the u. S. Urdish military oh against the insurgents, 68 said they would be in favor of that. To does the president need say to the American Public. Guest they need to make the case. War is bad. War is bad in the moral sense. Nations tely civilized have to resort to it to protect innocent people and protect their own citizens. Convince ent needs to the American People that this is the right thing to do to realistic threat, not the hype, but the real poses and lay s out at least the outline of the action s actions he feels we should take. A big fan of the president stridently delineating what were not going to do. A military standpoint, its nice to keep the enemy off balance. Elling him right up front what were not going to do, x, y, and z, gives an advantage to the bad guys. The president needs to say what hes going to do. Room should leave some for flexibility as the situation goes forward. Buchi is a former military assistant for secretary here for the d next halfhour or so. Taking questions and calls. Up next on georgetown, massachusetts for the line for independents. Good morning. Caller good morning, thanks for having me on. Ive been you know, following our actions here since 2000 when when the face. Is put in youre either with us or with the terrorists. Thats when dry a big question be because that seemed to the most antiamerican thing ive heard as far as who were terrorists. Not go for the root cause of things. To current eact conditions, irrespective of past. Happened in the host whats the root cause here . Root cause of this socalled isis group . Id say its our intervening in the middle east. Went into iraq pretenses. E sold to the American People because right there they were with to send drones nuclear stuff on it and blow us up over here. Scare tactic that happens to kind of get the American People to cowher down were told and listen to authority. Chance to you a respo respond. You recall aeda if attacked us on september 11, 2001, well before anything we in iraq. Isis originated as al qaeda in iraq. They were an affiliate of al qaeda. They did come to iraq because our soldiers were there. A , you know, thats different debate, i think. But the fact that isis is there declared war on the United States now, its a little hard to blame that on us. Think that the watching those two journalists have their eads cut off with a hunting knife on the internet, its not a scare tactic. Who guys are evil people want to do ill to america and to interests and allies world. The its a little hard to characterize their threat as a scare tactic by people in washington. I think if you look at president id , hes not exactly logically aligned with president bush. The fact that he wants to it should, i would hope, give folks a little redibility that this is not a continuation of past policiepol. Host on twitter, a question terminology being thrown around here, specifically the term boots on the ground and what that means. Lease explain why special forces now include in the term boots on the ground guest a point of debate. Some people say no boots on the not d, they think youre going to have any americans touching sand anywhere. Were talking boots on the talking about the large formations of conventional military forces. Division, the rne first marine division. Those kind of conventional type forces. Special Operations Forces are sent to a lot of places under authorities than are conventional military are because of the special capabilities and what they can a fight like this. We question is right do make a distinction between deploying special operations numbers than l formations. D a followup from the same individual on this topic. 1,000 troops on the ground in iraq. Obama says they have none. Dont they count . Advisors and special operations types support people or additional security to assets in civilian iraq, our embassies, and consulates. A no, i mean its distinction that may be a of ington only kind question. But we do make a distinction between deploying big forces to fight actively in combat in these advisor and security folks. Those as boots on the ground. Host indiana is next. Robert is calling on the line democrats. Robert, good morning. Caller good morning. m having difficulty in understanding where your guests expertise lies. It seems to me given that he was of the george bush administration, his department f defense, that his only expertise would be in leading into a disastrous ar and causing so much grief and pain, human suffering, loss of treasury. I dont know how these people i dont know why theyre brought to re us on television explain what we should be doing now. Host if you want to talk about for the viewer, theres some of your background commander of he third Battalion Special forces led deployments in eastern africa, south asia, and including gulf, operation desert thunder in 1998. Saddam n response to husseins threats to violate the nofly zone over iraq and leader 82nd airborne as well as the special forces. Ill let you talk about your if you want. Guest i spent 28 years as a military ce as officer serving the country in a lot of places that were frankly unpleasant and difficult doing the bidding of add minute s administrations of both parties. He military does not swear allegiance to one particular leader and to the constitution. I lived my life that way. Under president bush. I served under secretary rumsfeld and secretary gates and of that time eal not just doing the combat part things like g helping the American People with and s, wild fires, hurricanes. And that sort of thing. Accept that they you dont necessarily take my time was president bush credible because you disagreed with the policies there. Have to tell you that we all tried to do what was wright in that situation, not to the American People to do what was right, facing the threats that we saw there, after to analysis that we applied it. And i think now im trying to give you my honest opinion of we should go forward and strangely, at this point, im kind of agreeing with president obama. Some of the things hes doing. So im not exactly trying to down any sort of path that the president that i assume sir, is is proposing as well. Louisiana asrouge, well. Doc is on the line for independents. And thank d morning cspan. First few calls goes to prove i think we need to bring people need to history and politics before theyre able to vote. Nyway, if you want to stop whats going on over there right ow, just tell the president that we made a mistake. Isis folks are not muslims, theyre actually christians. Would be bombing the hell out of them tomorrow. All sides over there, all of all sorts of military weapons and let them go. Fighting s have been before people got out of caves over there. Host weve heard the frustration before about the that y of fighting in region. What would your response be . Difficult situation. Conflictn flinth in that region for centuries upon centuries. Our world is too interconnected to do that sort of thing. Let them go and deal with whos left. Thats okay. To accept the kind that ocide responses groups that isis and groups like it are perpetrating. Responsible for policing the entire world. We dont have that burden. But we do have a responsibility of nations to y try and do something to help and theres a response there, not just to help the people in the region, but we there. Terests we need to protect those interests. Unfortunately right now, we have Strong Enough that we need to protect it be i force of arms. About the you talk threat posed by u. S. Citizens go overseas and join isis . Guest this is a difficult problem. There , our folks feel are 100, maybe 200 american citizens that have fought or are isis in syria or now in western iraq. There are also potentially up to 2,000 europeans, western uropeans, primarily, some of decent, some blond hair and blue eyes who have passports that dont register fighting in syria. Any of these people, the western citizens or the europeans, could come to the United States, slip through to conduct some sort of terrorist attack. Think theres people lined up at the border trying to sneak in right now. Threat is there. Law enforcement and Homeland Security forces are working overtime to try to identify catch them on d screening as they try to come in to the country think of t do you legislative efforts to strip the be le if theyre able to identified of their u. S. Citizenship. Theres a lesson in that. Theres some legal basis for as theirer them as far citizenship. They at least need to be stopped, questioned, and let our figure out guys to if theyre a threat or not. Its difficult to find them and catch them. Host senator ted cruz, republican of texas to talk about just that, the legislation individuals of the u. S. Citizenship when they introduced a bill to that effect to the floor of the senate. Why i president , thats have today filed legislation, the expatriate terrorist act of 2014. Which would amend the existing governing renunciation of the United States citizenship designate fighting for a or ile Foreign GovernmentForeign Terrorist Organization as an affirmative renunciation of citizenship. Y fighting for isis, u. S. Citizens have expressed their desire to become citizens of the Islamic State. That cannot and will not peacefully coexist with remaining american citizens. Host senator ted cruz yesterday on the senate floor. Minutes left with steven bucci of the Heritage Foundation. For irector of the Center Foreign and National Security policy taking your calls and comments. Lake city, arizona. Robert waiting on the line for morning, ns, good robert . Caller hello . Host hi, robert. Aller this sounds like a complicated problem with a simple answer. The dy who wears that in air, wears a facemask, blow it up. Air, get it the done hard, fast, get it done now. Wipe them off of the planet. Is the option. The difficulty there, though, is theres a lot of innocent people in with them. So it becomes tough when the bad how to hide. Isis for a while was operating doing what we almost nsider conventional mobile warfare. They started the air strikes. They started blending in back to and villages with the populace. So its pretty tough. Hear you. These are horrendously evil people that need to be addressed and probably need to be addressed with violence. Us first tryto see using Regional Forces helped by ur guys rather than have our people do the whole thing. Host columbus, ohio, pete on the line for republicans. Pete, good morning. Caller good morning, i heard terroristto isis as a group. But i havent heard you mention heir goal is to create an Islamic State and fundamentalist followers of wahabism. That, i ont understand dont know how you can address the problem. This seems to me to be a problem not our egion and problem. Life over is a way of there. Saudis have beheaded 40 plus eople this year for nonviolent crimes. If you dont understand that hat is a group that wants to gove govern, we miss the point entirely. Right. Youre thats one of the reasons that isis is more dangerous than al qaeda was. Al qaeda had this goal that eventually they would have a governing role. Distant saw it as the future. Isis has made that declaration now. Doctors, invited in lawyers, politicians, to help them govern in those areas, at that public statement. But they are they are radical the most extreme to the point where even al qaedas repudiated their tactics against other muslims, beheadings, the crucifixion christian killing children. I mean, these are like seriously bad people. Nd they need to be addressed, not just by the west or by the United States, but by the muslim world. Because they are contrary to as well. Host what do you make of the efforts by the arab league and announcements recently on how to deal with isis. From the Associated Press that the arab league greed on monday to take measures against the Islamic State. Its a resolution issued after arab ight meetings of Foreign Ministers on sunday. That doesnt explicitly back military action against group, but the story notes the a separate statement from a comprehensive one men states to attack the militant group that swaths of iraq and syria. Host interesting they made that declaration. I would like to see it backed up with action with troops and funding of oergss isis. St because to be frank, they are the first targets. The area thatound sis now controls have already y been declared regimes by isis. That means they can be taken out. Treated like infidels, like the west. And isis is coming after them. Muslim countries that the arab league in particular has responsibility to fight this threat. Our line ling in for for independents. Good morning, richard . Caller good morning. To hang up on people when they start telling the truth. I wish you wouldnt hang up on me tell the truth. Host go ahead. Caller 99 of the people who come on the show are republicans. Thats the bottom line is right there. Thats wrong find if you check the archives. Go ahead with your statement. Caller you buy stocks in the market, they send you a letter to join your organization. Thats one thing. Watched a christian channel where theyre selling a on how to cut food stamps, is a cial security, this Nonprofit Group thats got ben cotsan on there, on cartoons all the time. Heyre brainwashing all of the christians. Host all right. Steve, you want to talk about the Heritage Foundation and the senate . The Heritage Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. Fully admit theres more people within an r after who read our stuff than people with ds after their name. We do not have any religious affiliation. But, you know, were conservatives. E believe in conservatives, smaller government, less lives. Ntion, private ot a liberal organization, wereatative. We try to defend them and idea ally logically. Its about policy, not politics. The president does something well. Congratulate him and support him. If he does something poorly, we try to point that out. Same thing to republican legislators. If we get a republi president , well do the same thing to that person. Defend the positions we take and do the best we can. Were open to dialogue and ebate with people who disagree with us. So we maybe well hear from cant learn f we from each other. Host we talked about this a little today, but what do you obama has done well in his dealing with isis so far. That we have ct taken some action. We havent sat back. There are some people on both the political spectrum who say we shouldnt be involved in this at all. Its not our problem. Them handle it. The president recognizes we do have interests in this area. Both friends and our own direct interests. Nd hes taken steps to try to address it. Im not sure hes doing quite enough yet. Says on see what he wednesday night to determine whether the policy goes forward. Has a robust policy that we think is the right one, well champion it. Its if its not what we think it should be, well point deficiencies, but well also applaud the good parts of it. Host charlotte, North Carolina next. Dale on the line for independents. Good morning. Aller good morning, how are you gentlemen . Host good, go ahead. Caller i want to address steven. Let government and the privacy of your lives and when your affects the rest of society, then its held accountable just as government accountable. The next question i want to to ask youn i wanted is affecting hing africanamericans in our communities. Right now, we are considered the isis of america because of by he numbers that were being locked up and how were scrutinized. And were finding that people joining ating and groups like isis because we have ost africanamerican males in isis. A what do you suggest as conservative individual that you party or the republican create a order to balance so we dont lose and ake victims of out of the people and males in our community. Bucci . Mr. Guest i wont attempt to speak for the republican party. As an give you my opinion analyst for heritage. I dont do domestic policy. Security oreign and policy stuff. But as a citizen, we need to reat all of our citizens equally. The differentiation that comes p in some communities is problematic. I think when Law Enforcement line, they should be held to task and should be prosecuted if theyve broken the law. The same with any citizen, they should all be treated equally. That been moving in direction at least in my lifetime. Clearly were not there yet. Keep moving in that direction. Be honest with one another as to where our weak spots are and how we can improve them. And keep moving in that direction. Host clay pool, indiana is next. Haron is on the line for democrats. Good morning. Republicans. Anyway, good morning. I was wondering if a strong conomic preventive could be implemented before september 11, which is rapidly approaching. And that would be to clearly the point that any if theres an attack on the homeland, muslimowned, rabowned businesses would be nationalized . Guest well, the problem you that there are a owned, arabf muslim owned businesses in america who like st regular citizens you and i. I dont think it would have any effect on isis. Muslims live e here in the United States more than they like the nonmuslims in the United States. They consider them apostates and chance. Them gibb the so i would not advocate going after our own citizens in that influence isis. It wouldnt work, number one, not r two, its just consistent with our constitution r our society host bob is on our line for republicans. Bob, good morning. Caller good morning. I was independent. I would say that last year we 12 muslim individuals break into the reservoir, okay . And i dont know what they were doing in there. They with respect charged with anything. In the arly, early morning. And 9 11 is coming up. Dont think that the president has done near enough in dealing with isis. Put boots on the ground. I dont know where everybody is getting the idea that nobody in get a boot out. Im 53 years old, sir. I served in the u. S. Military, ill put my boots back on animals to fight the that kill children. Depressed they killed not just reporters. They killed children. Little babies. Youve got to be the life on this planet. Guest well, first i thank you for your service, sir. Right. Youre there are a lot of americans out there who would be very comfortable with stronger action. The role of the president and the administration to make that call. And i know this administration looks out for public feedback. Say, you know, let them know what you feel. These are patently evil people be dealt with, hopefully not just by the united Wider Community that are also threatened by them. But we have to do it in a way risk to the s the United States and to our citizens, one would hope. And im looking forward to what the president has to say. Youre right, were approaching 11. Tember its thats always an adverse read that we all hold our breath to make sure that nothing happens. But i can tell you, the security are Law Enforcement, our Homeland Security people. The military and intelligence overseas. Theyre working overtime watching for this, trying to anything that might happen. Its a its a Herculean Task they do the best they can. And hopefully theyll keep us safe. Host paul calling in from missouri for our line for republicans, paul, good morning. Caller good morning. I want to ask the question, why block isis try to citizens iting u. S. By, you know, the media and the internet . Is there a way of doing that . Its very difficult. Fbi have intelligence intelligence, domestically or other intelligence Assets Overseas watching the internet, looking for those kinds of ndicators that someone is stepping over the line of radicalization and recruitment. To do. Ry difficult he internet has been a huge boon for recruitment and radicalization. You used to have to go facetoface with a potential recruit to close the deal. Thats where the good guys could catch them. Have to do that on the internet anymore. You could be on a different the deal and close in a doll hassan, army man who shot the people in ft. Hood. He never had physical Contact People who cad ralized him but led to do an act of based on the internet connectivity. Its tough to do that. Boundaries y in the of the constitution. Host on the line for democrats, john, we have a two left here. Caller i wanted to ask mr. Ucci, seeing that the Affordable Care act was the brain child of the Heritage Foundation, how he feels about republicans calling it socialism . Guest well, i dont know if Affordable Care act came out of the Heritage Foundation. They did have some writings that picked pieces from. Think as it was passed; the Affordable Care act is citizen. Tic for me as a im not the domestic policy guy. I wont really comment on the specifics of it. Particularly like the plan. But i recommend you go to our ebsite and read some of the stuff written by our Health Care Policy folks. Very k youll find it enlightning and educational. Host that website heritage. Org. I want to end back on foreign policy. The president used this term, isis. De and destroy at what point is isis destroyed . Done . You know the job is guest thats a tough one with a terrorist group. Isis was ctually when the al qaeda in iraq, we thought gotten them down to a point where they were destroyed and hey managed to regenerate themselves. I dont think one can ever effectively say youve destroyed a terrorist group. If theres one person out there who can go read something that that group has put out in the past, they can suddenly become them again. Remove their military ability to hold terrain the o oppressed people in region. If we can do that, well be successful. Director of i is the Heritage Foundations center for foreign and National Security policy. Appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for having me. Up next, brad sherman, ranking an and also a member on the House Foreign Affairs terrorism subcommittee. Hes going to talk about obamas speech tomorrow and the u. S. Strategy in iraq and syria. Later, well speak with political reporters from massachusetts and New Hampshire todays primary elections in those states and check out the atest on senator Mary Landrieus closely watched reelection bid. But first, a news update from cspan radio. 8 31 a. M. Eastern time. Susan rice said china and the u. S. Need to avoid any incidents complicate relations between their militaries. Said that the u. S. The chinese pilot acted recklessly august 19, during of a u. S. Plane south of hinan island. China denies that and it will continue to respond to the u. S. Of its ance flights off coast. Ms. Rice is meeting with the vice chairman of the military the second day of the twoday visit. She meets with chinas defense later eign ministers today. Back at the white house, president obama meets this morning with congressional state and secretary of john kerry before secretary kerry leaves for the middle east. Assembling an International Coalition against isil. Comes ahead of the remarks tonight on his plan to deal with the group. Euters reports that city leaders in ferguson, missouri are holding the first Public Meeting today since last months Fatal Shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white officer that resulted in nights a st. Louis suburb. The Ferguson City council made up of the mayor and six members. Hey had been promoting the ouster of the mayor and police chief. Well, this morning at 10 30 a. M. Eastern time, the senate Homeland SecurityCommittee Hearing on military equipment and local Law Enforcement in the wake of events in ferguson. Can watch it live on cspan 3 or listen to it on cspan radio. It begins at 10 30 a. M. Eastern. Those are some of the headlines on cspan radio. Here are a few of the comments we received from our viewers. Want to comment on the author, jason wiley on his book called please stop helping us. To. To listen he backed up all of his remarks with facts. Howuld like to hear more on he feels we can change the feeling so people can lift poverty and t of keep on ascending within the system. In reference to your changes of your font at the bottom of a couple of weeks ago. And then last i think it was thursday night when they had the election returned, they had it stretched all the way across the results. He you could read it. Its so small on these old tv the that people have with tubes that you cant read it and even in zoom or anything else format. Appreciate it. Yall go back to the stretch it different font, do something where people can read the thing. I would just like to comment say how much i appreciate cspans efforts to get like the information ebola hearings and other out to the pics public. The News Agencies are not doing enough and we really providing thisan information, the hearings, thetime on so many important issues. We just thank you and support you. Continue to let us know what you think about the programs watching. Call us at 2026263400. At il us comments cspan. Org. Tweet at cspan comments. Follow us facebook, on twitter. Washington journal continues. Host congressman brad sherman house nior member of the Foreign Affairs committee. The top democrat ohsen the nonproliferation and trade subcommittee. He joins us to continue the iscussion on the threat posed by the Islamic State. And president obama is set to address the country tomorrow night. Congressman, what are you looking to hear from him . To hear him g explain to the country how complex the situation is and how wave a magic t isis disappear. How the destruction of isis, important goal, but its destruction doesnt mean that truth and justice just of the from the soil middle east. You destroy one power in the middle east, you empower the other side. The four groups that are fighting isis now are in many as isis ly as evil itself. And, in fact, those who are isis stood on st the ground have killed far more americans than isis has. Host if you were advising the president , what would be the endorse . That you would guest i would say his cautious approach has been a good one called for. Is criticso respond to the who oversimplified the situation dramatically and played to abAmerican Public whos used to movies only the white hat and the black hat in the western movie. With the black hat, the white hat rides off in the school with marm. Assad is not a school marm. The forces that will be that is that will rise if isis is destroyed are nearly as evil as isis. Hope that the president will put congress on the spot and ask an authorization to use force because as important as it governance or good in the middle east, weve got to United States constitution. It is not a given that our be titution structure can ignored, degraded, pulled apart. And that somehow the society face tougher o times than we face now without unraveling. Y what should that authorization look like . It should provide air power on to use and air power alone. Still have t would war uthority he has on the powers anxiety to conduct up to 60day incursions on the ground. The only real use to those i see is to rescue a pilot. Special forces and spotters and whatever we might get a little more bonding in our campaign. At this point, i dont think congress will authorize the use of ground troops. We need to draw the line. Host would it be open ended . Element on e a time it . Guest you authorize for two or years with procedures to authorize as it goes forward. You have to explain to the you cant ople, always get what you want immediately at a low cost. Going to s it is not be destroyed in just a few weeks or a few months. President eard the talk about degrading and destroying isis. Are those two Different Missions accomplished in two different ways . Guest absolutely. Degrading has occurred. Roll. Was on a they won military victory after military victory. There were people talking about taking baghdad and irbil. Now we see they had losses in iraq. Some people had not suffered losses and had gains in syria. Syria. Ot bombing in we saved the community. We protected the mosul dam. E protected the turk the shiite turkimen and the kurds. Different areas, isis was rolled back and defeated. News somebody on fox would give the president a little credit for that. Host in the washington how many ere and strikes have happened in the air strikes in the Islamic State since august 8. The u. S. Conducted 108 air fighters in st northern iraq. The majority vo come in defense dam. E mosul 90 air strikes in the first two weeks and 53 since august 21. You can see where the attacks have happened. Can you talk about the assad what areas across the mean to syria might him . Guest assad wants us to hit isis. People mind, the criticizing the the president isis were stroying attacking the president last year for not destroying assad. Responsible for not destroying both sides in the multifaceted war. The where were you when president was seeking authorization from congress to syria . O guest he withdrew that before we had a vote. My goal at that time with the president s was to make sure the use of chemical succeeded ine have that beyond anybodys because ons to see assad may lose this. And everyone thought if he did, weapons e chemical would be used. I wont say everyone, but the majority of experts thought those would be used and now he he t use them because doesnt have them. So the the policy may not a preconceived Strategic Plan. But we achieved our goals with chemical weapons far beyond anybodys expectations. Host talking to democrat from california. Top democrat on the Foreign Affairs committee. Questions. Get to as many of them as we can in the next 35 minutes or so. With randy in conyers, georgia on the line for independents. Good morning. How are you doing this morning . Hey, sir, how are you doing . Guest good to be with you. If isis is going to try to get in here through the border, now that we know what furious is giving guns to the cartel to give free passes to the illegals, are we the have more guns in order to get them to stop isis across the border . Getting guns keep back and forth to keep out,grants in and keep isil how can we deal with this, you know, now that we know about fast and furious . Guest we have a number of threats to the homeland, not on enemies of isis. Theres a lot of talk about how have the capacity to strike in europe and in america. Of isis have already america, in uth afri asia. A, in europe, in attempted terrorist attacks here in the United States. An unusual one side may here have the capacity and violence to kill americans in the homeland. The other has actually done so. The shiite axis has killed americans in lebanon, hundreds or thousands has attempted a assassination here in washington, d. C. So both isis and the enemies of isis pose a threat to the homeland. We need to have an effect in Homeland Security. No matter who wins, were going groups competing for the being an glamour of islamic organization, islamic Extremist Organization thats americans. Host new york is next. Kathy is on the line for republicans. Good morning, kathy. Caller good morning. I just want to say, im a republican, but i happen to agree with about 90 of what you just said. That if idea of the put unding arab states their boots on the ground is a pipe dream. If they even did, they would be slaughtered. They do not have the military this, letto deal with alone the religious i dont persuasion to deal with it. Disagree with assad and the chemical weapons. Talking point for the democrats that the chemical weapons are in syria. To 20 of the weapons are still there. Uest as to the chemical weapons, assad continues to have and uses chlorine, far less chemical n the other weapons they had. Chlorines are not listed under weapons treaty. Not covered by the agreement. No way to prevent a country from chlorine. We all have chlorine at home machines. R washing as to whether assad held back ome of the chemical weapons, thats possible. No strategy that was laid out a year ago, a year and a half ago destroyed more than 20 to 30 of assads weapons. Instead, the caller believes theyve got 90 and i think right, mewhere close to somewhere between 90 and 95 . The other thing ill point out caller is the absolutely right. Theres this myth that if only e had a president with a different personality, that the turkish army and the saudi army go in and take the hundreds of casualties, maybe the thousands of casualties, willing to take. The fact is, whos in the may not be able. Second, theyre not willing to destroy a sunni army, albeit an extremist and empowers one, if that the shia. Is are the enemies that isis fighting on the ground. Theyre fighting the shiite militias out of iraq supported iran. Theyre fighting a hezbollah. Theyre fighting the assad regime. And the turks are not about to thousands hundreds or to save assad. Host you started this cogs by talking about the complicated interests that are being balanced and worked against here. Lenny has a question for you on twitter. Syrians recently started to territories in syria . Why not . Is assad trying to prevent u. S. Country. Es in his i dont think he wants to prevent air strikes. Wants the air strikes on isis. Little bit a against the more moderate sunni forces. Took a major base, they soldiers in f the cold blood. See nk assad would like to isis weakened. He wants an extra. Him for others to ask permission to bomb on the way. Matic hes consistent with his view that hes the legitimate syria. Nt of all of so its my guess hell have to channel, a n ck nonglamorous discussion that we take action. Well and if he wants the capacity destroyed, all he has to do is not go after e to us or to break that promise. Making nk assad will be that promise soon. Otherwise, there will be a lot pressure in congress to first isis, and nemies of destroy the air defense capacities. No reason why assad should have the air capacities. An evil actor in the middle air forces in e the middle east, the dominant the dominant or forces on our side. Our objectives not destroying the near defense capacity would not be a terrible idea. But it may not be necessary. Ut we will have to hit isis, both in syria and in iraq them sufficient let alone syria. Host want to show you tweets as ther members of congress they react as others begin to congress and the American People with the series. Republican from california said im introducing a joint esolution that would require the president to present a Strategic Plan to defeat isis to congress. Another tweet from Keith Ellison as well as other members of you ess well show throughout the next halfhour or so. We want to get to as many of your calls as possible. In orange grove, texas on our line for independent, ken, good morning. Caller good morning, can you hear me . How are yall doing . Question for you. Ahead with your question. Caller its not a question, its a comment. Ought to do what the terrorists do what did in the philippines. N the he took these terrorists, muslim executed them all but one and buried them with the guts and let the rest of them go. We had no more problems with them. Why cant we do that today . Guest we were horrified by the gruesome beheadings of two of our journalists. We dont think our response will gruesomeate an equally video of a war crime where we kill ly torture and prisoners. The second thing is, i dont think it works. In mind, the various forces of syria and iraq do that to all the time. Those who fight for isis are aware if theyre captured by assads forces, anything ould happen and they continue to fight for isis. So i dont think the people isis are strangers to brutality. Inwell go to victor waiting oceanside, california on our victor, independents, good morning. Caller yes, sir, concerned repeated use of the images of the core spend dents beheading. Over and over again. The news media, the politician, use it over and over again. But the reality is, a lot of these terrible acts are not mentioned at all if they happen mexico. In mexico, the beheadings going constantly. I saw 12 women being beheaded in mexico. Up . The media pick it theres a political motivation, maintain relations with mexico. Mantra taking place next door to us. The media didnt say anything about it. About the media place thats taking place here . American mediahe focuses most explicitly on what happens to americans. Aware that while two americans have died these far more people from a variety of different unrest. S are facing in the middle east, africa, some south america and Middle America as well. Hey are they are just as gruesome and involve hundreds and sometimes thousands of people. I dont think its will cal that the media focus on one american as opposed or 1,000ople on africa people on syria or dozens of the victims who have suffered in membering co. Mexico. And the fact that these were not americans, but journalists. Im not a journalist, but ive assume that american journalists have a special place in their heart and consciousness journalists who in rder to do the job you do put line. Lives on the i got to expect if its the middle east or mexico or two american , if journalists are slaughtered this way, youre going to have intense media response. Also i wanted to deal with isis tweet. We come upfrain that with some perfect imaginary Strategic Plan. Mind, there are conservative think tanks. All over this city. Dozens and hundreds of former onals and government officials not one of the republican think tanks has up with the Strategic Plans that isil likes. The staffs and the Armed Services and the homeland and the Foreign Affairs committee in the house of representatives together with the chairs and republican caucuses of those committees. Hey have not created a Strategic Plan that darryl issa likes. Darryl wants to challenge the up with a planme that americans will like. I dont think americans will any plan that doesnt otally destroy isis at zero american casualties and accomplish it immediately. Achieve that. N to host republican from california and one of the tweets saying past 24 hours hell introduce a joint resolution that will require the strategicto present a plan to defeat isis to congress. Tweets from other members of congress. As many of to get to your calls as possible. Michael is in lebanon, new ersey for the line for independents. Good morning. Caller good morning, thank you very much. Dont you tell the American People on this isis, of isis, attacking that youve actually this remits the interests of saudi and israel. Basically represents they created the isis and rebel forces in syria in that we have in order to overthrow the government of syria. Sis is the creation of a sunni group by saudi arabia. And you are merely representing at get still get them out of the way, to get the the final goal which is overthrow the government of assad. Importantly, sir, lets put three things together here. Syria, iraq, libya, have something in common. They all involve our attacking them and supporting rebels and terrorists in that act. Host lets give the congressman a chance to respond . To t i think its absurd say that the United States created isis. Sis began as part of al qaeda and then broke away. It was once a franchisee of al qaeda central. Their n supposedly for ruelty, but i think because they overstepped their bounds and tried to take the syrian ranchise as well, they were banished by al qaeda central and declared themselves to be the calafait. But i think its absurd. , you know, i dont know where to begin with with question. But if you believe that the United States created al qaeda created its splinter groups, then youre going to have to talk to somebody else about that. Host a tweet from one of your keith ues in congress, ellison is a democrat. He writes on his twitter page, mustnternational Community Come together to solve the crisis in syria in order to address isis. Can you talk a little bit about who the key players will be that buyin here in a isis . To defeat guest theres degrade and defeat versus destroy. Weve had many awards where we defeated our enemy but we did enemy. Troy our thatfeat we do not need defeat an in order to and certainly degrade isis. We can and have been doing that as you pointed out well over 140 air strikes that have isis was on the move winning every battle and expanding. Our air strikes started, they lost four major battles. Was turned in iraq, if not in syria. With keith that there are a lot of reasons why for peace in k syria. The problem you have there is if you look at which forces have power, theres assad who has the blood of many tens of on his s of people hands. To impose his own little cliques rule on the entire country. The country doesnt want to that. The second most powerful force isis. Ria is the fourth is al nussera, the official branch of al qaeda central. Its and finally the weakest the Free Syrian Army nd those reasonable interlocutors of the United States. Many of us worked to support the syria when they were vetted. We should do more. Shouldnt time, we kid ourselves that at any cost the International Community i dont know pay, if we can achieve peace in syria. Ost we should do more referring to the Free Syrian Army. What does that include . More training and more process. To increase the we should be in favor of a peace rocess in syria that includes assad not because hes not incredibly evil, but because may powerful enough that we have to reconcile him as being part of the future. At the same time, if we see the army and other reasonable forces. We want isis at the table and i dont think we want al qaeda at the table. Host waiting in st. Etersburg, florida in the line for independents. Youre on. Ask the would like to question. Who sets the guys are going to be in session . The agenda. You guys dont work enough to get anything done. You can sit up there and talk about whats going on in syria and whats here. On because youre never around to make any judgments. Agree with uldnt you more on the schedule. August 1 and the day day, so thats 3 1 2 months, were scheduled to work three weeks. The speaker is in the process of cancelling one of those weeks. Were talking about two weeks of session. Weeks. Not even full they dont have a monday or a friday. Other half days. Im not sure that congress would done. Ore its we met a lot in the get of july and we didnt any more we didnt tackle the tough issues. Ut i think congress should more nly be in session than two partial weeks in a 3 1 2 month period. Speaker it decision, boehner and kevin mccarthy, his number two. Host in greensboro, North Carolina on the line for independents. Good morning, ann. Caller good morning. You. O to host go ahead. Caller i have something that i dont like. Hat is why do our politicians and journalists and even some of the callers refer to our men and in the military they talk boots onng into battle the ground . Its not erm something you should use. Sounds like theyre going off to somewhere. D these are men and women that are losing their lives. Just you know, wonder what the representative thinking using this term. Host as you do that, can you explain what your definition of boots on the ground is . Theres been some question of whether special forces fit into that sort visors and of thing . Guest i talked to a lot of military men and women at levels. They use the phrase boots on he ground so i dont think its a pejorative. Its a colloquial and maybe we say ground forces. My definition is when you put the front rces on lines. Whether theyre there to do operations, combat. Gence, advice, or if youve got American Forces on he front ground, youve got boots on the ground. On the front lines, youve got boots on the ground. I dont think that our embassy and consulate protection baghdad and irbil are boots on the ground because theyre not on the front lines. Operating theyre working in cities and providing are ity in cities that functioning as cities. Vietnam ink its the youve got the anderence between a advisor combatant was a slippery slope. Host one of your colleagues had this tweet. Isis, you should lose your passport. Read about my terrorist denaturalization and passport revocation act. She has a link to it. Talk about your stance on the of pulling passports from shown to have fought for isis. If you are nt know talking about losing your passports. P or the fact is you cant use your passport if youre in prison. Host good morning, jonathan. Caller a lot of support for the iraq. In why is there not more effort to sunni the moderate tribes in an bar is we one of the reasons install malaki. Thats the decision of the last administration. Created as much evil as many of the other bad players that were talking about here. Kind of governance he provided was so despicable and the tribes youre talking about have decided to side with isis. And, in fact, you hear azidis from rom the kurds that say sunni arabs theyve known, that have been in communities right next door who of as friends have instead joined isis. To turn those le tribes back our way. It would take some substantial military losses by isis. Nd it would take the new Prime Minister in baghdad creating a government. Nclusive until we push aside the and move of malaki toward a new and much more inclusive regime in baghdad, i have a chance of turning these tribes. But the tribes you mentioned now they areing against p fighting for isil. We hope to win the battle. Ost a ninth term from the district of california. Ranking member on the foreign subcommittee on terrorism. Here to answer your questions nd take your comments, jane is in jacksonville, North Carolina on the line for republicans. Caller hello . Host go ahead, jane. Aller i had a few things, obama knew about isis a year ago. And that why didnt he do year ago . And that im kind of nervous about this. Almost killed in iraq in 2007 and he wanted to protect the American People. But for some reason, obama asnt gone out of his way to really do anything. Terrorists ting the and being nice about it . I hate to say that . Mind, isisll, keep in is our focus now because theyve battlefield victories and expanded suddenly. Ut when they were a small group, we knew of 100 groups predicting terrorists. Which one is going to be the later is veryears tough. We knew about al qaeda. Untilry little about them after 9 11. We did nothing about it in the of the bush onths administration. Not one action. Other reason why the first reason is you cant always terrorist group will metastasize. Was to defeat isis at that point, you also look at who by is going to be helped that effort . You had maliki in the extremist baghdad that were creating isis. Ou had assad these are not groups we want to alone iran and hezbollah who killed more americans in isis by a factor of 100. So, its easy today to say isis is the problem. Isis is one of many problems. It happens to be the biggest today. The biggest five years ago. Host heres how your democratic colleague put it on his twitter page the president should take time to the t right, learn from reckless iraq disaster which started this mess. Guest i agree. Isis five years ago, isis has a genealogy. Isis didnt call themselves back then. They determining when roke away from al qaeda and when they became a separate organization, we could have a show on that. But it would be a boring show. Host bob in youngstown, ohio on line for democrats. Bob, good morning. Caller its john. Host go ahead. Question is what is for the long term . And i that you knows the arab supposed to meet this coming sunday to determine what they wanted to do about isis. And im wondering if their meeting is going to hell notary public the long term. Guest you say the Arab Congress . Host the arab league, john . Caller the arab league . Guest i assume the arab league some statements saying they really hate isis. Else they willat do. May say we really hate isis. Host agreeing to take urgent extremists combat like the Islamic State. The resolution reflects a new the ap story cy, notes among the 22 Member States o challenge the militant group that has seized large swaths of of iraq and syria. Guest if qatar could work to make sure that the business and rich individuals were not funding al nucera and in cases, perhaps isis, that would be a major step forward. Tommy waiting in new york, new york on the line for republicans, good morning. Hi, good morning. Representative sherman said, well, you know, we only had two americans beheaded. One is more than enough. One is more than enough. Somethings got to be done. In a ms to me weve been democratic, liberal day the last eight, ten years. Got to vote them out. Its just not working. And somethings got to be done. You should go back to the old Ronald Reagan ways and then something will get done. Thank you. Guest point out that under the reagan administration, we lost 200 people to hezbollah in lebanon. Its true they were not beheaded and videoed. Died painful and tragic deaths. The fact is that the caller is right something has to be done. Weve done 149 air strikes against isis. E killed hundreds of their fighters. We defeated them and turned the in four important theaters of the battle. And, of course, we have to do more. Dont need to do is o take the george w. Bush pproach of saying this one entity is evil so were going move 150,000 troops on the ground. Evil intheres a lot of the middle east. Host jack in georgetown, on the line for independents. How are you doing . I need to gressman, ask you and your colleagues out there in washington, when you 10,000 fighters overwhelm an army that had been years that 13 outnumber the people 101. Hey throw weapons down, take the uniforms off. They use our weapons and drive our vehicles. Something else i want to ask you about. O we supply people with attack helicopters and aircrafts where their own fighting . Vietnam veteran. I volunteered for the first gulf war. Times worse than vietnam. I dont see it getting any better. Egypt, the ukraine, get some new d people. You set up a situation that endangers the entire world. Dangerous worlds a place. Its certainly been a dangerous throughout the post world war ii era. Limited upplied aircraft and helicopters to the iraqi regime. Hey have used them to some degree. They are not able to stand up to isis. Why . Answer is maliki installed the United States who terrible governance has given us isis. Attack govern the sunni area so badly that isis in many ming cases, but they took an well equipped very large military force and made it useless. Why . He got rid of any officer who knew what they were doing and based solely on loyalty to them. Why were have to say we here . Its because in the prior administration, we installed and that baghdad was that was a big mistake. Its clear if republican critics were running things, we would war in the middle east with troops on the ground. Host a democrat in the 30th district. Appreciate your time this morning. Guest good to be with you. To political reporters about massachusetts and New Hampshire about the rimary elections in those states and open up our phones to get your thoughts on the top issue of the Midterm Election. First, a news update from cspan radio. Time. S 9 16 a. M. Eastern well, the politicos play book stu rothenberg, commenting on the upcoming Midterm Elections saying, quote, im now expecting a substantial Republican Senate wave in gain of at h a net least seven seats. He goes on to say, but i wouldnt be shocked by a larger gain. The seven romney democratic seats of this cycle, montana, and West Virginia are gone and arkansas and louisiana look difficult to hold. Alaska and North Carolina, on the other hand, remain competitive. Democrats rightly point out they have a chance to hold both seats. E the dutch Team Investigating the downing of Malaysian AirlinesEastern Ukraine said the crash was likely caused by the plane being hit by highenergy objects from outside of the aircraft. The preliminary report published by the Dutch Safety Board stops short of saying the boeing 777 was shot down by a surfacetoaramis sill but the findings appear to point to that conclusion. Out of the blown sky on july 17 over rebelheld ukraine, in eastern killing all 298 passengers and onboard. Urning to the ebola virus, emery hospital in atlanta is getting read the i to treat the third ebola patient. Doctors for world ealth organization who was treating patients in sierra leon contracted the virus and had evacuating. Two other americans are both recovering. Is urth american with ebola treated in nebraska. Meanwhile, the wall street ournal said wall street epublicans plan to add aid to help africans fight ebola. You can watch live coverage on cspan. Senate on cspan 2. Hose are the headlines on cspan radio. With congress back in session, heres a message to one of the student cam competition winners. Water makes up 75 of our bodies. Is the most vital substance to a human body but all streams, lakes, bays, and estuaries are unsuitable for to politician. In the u. S. , we have learned to take water for granted. Faucets, bottled water, and flushed toilets reenforce the same idea. Water is an unlimited resource. But step outside to your local and the diminishing condition tells a different story. Water pollution kills marine life, destroys ecosystems, and fragile food chain and animals are not the only ones to suffer the negative of water pollution. Congress, in 2014, you must provide federal funding to waste treatment agencies across the country. The life blood of our nation is ainted with the negligence of generations. Here. T must stop join us wednesday during washington journal for the 2015 cspan student documentary competition. Washington journal continues. Ost for our last 40 minutes this morning on the washington journal, phone lines are open once again. E ask the same question we asked earlier this morning. We want to know your top issue in the Midterm Elections. 56 days away from election day. The last day of primaries in this country and four states are holding primaries, including New Hampshire. Heres the front page of the New Hampshire union leader this morning. Primary spotlight shines on gop as the headline there talking senate races. The Key Senate Race thats being watched there. For more on the races in New Hampshire, i want to turn to john destazo. Sclumi i columnist with the New Hampshire journal. Brown to talk about scott in that republican race for senate. Is it his primary to lose today . Most definitely. Running hes been running hard. Hes been doing all of the right things in terms of retail New Hampshire which is something that people here are used to because of the president ial primary. Much the support of the of the party establishment. On par to the arab asset. It could ts happen where theres a tighter recent ected race given behalf of s by some but i dont see an upset here overall. Host scott browns opponents have tried to brand him as a whats a flipflopper, been the toughest issue for him to hand until this primary . Well, i think the Biggest Issue for scott brown is to really convince the people he is sincere about being, you know, quote, New Hampshire. Knows he everyone represented massachusetts. In the United States senate. Spending a lot of his time convincing people that, to nope, hes just not here advance a political career, that he cares about the state. Says ats something he time and time and time again. People whoe a lot of i believe recognize the potential for weaknesses of along those lines. But they also believe rightly or wrongly that he is the strongest potential contender to go kind of a lly a new conic democrat here in hampshire and senator jeanne former governor as well. Host if scott brown comes oufltd the primary as expected, are the polling numbers in the general election and the between jeanne shaheen. Guest most have been tightening up. Far ahead. Ahead by double digits earlier in the summer. Couple of poll a weeks ago that showed margin of for now, twopoint lead jeanne shaheen. We had a democratic poll done for the league of conservation showed them ahead by six points with the margin of error, again, 3 to 4 . And the republican poll last showed him killing her by three Percentage Points. So the problem for senator haheen is that president obamas favorable ratings here in the state of New Hampshire, ven though the state voted for im twice in general elections, have really gone down, pretty much an alltime low. Been a strong supporter of the president. So its a battle of message. National message of the epublicans tying her to obama and the democratic message of you know jeanne shaheen. Shes here to help you. Shes New Hampshires quintessential representative on capitol hill. Caller we asked our viewers in the last segment of the in ington journal to call and ask about what your top issue is for the Midterm Election coming up in 56 days. But john distaso, run through the two primaries taking place the primaries taking place in the two Congressional Districts and the first and Second District today in New Hampshire . Guest in the first Congressional District which the city of manchester east and somewhat to the lakes former you have congressman Frank Gifford trying to make a comeback. Es being challenged by a former dean of the university of New Hampshire business school, dan ennis. And in the Second District, you linda ate representative garcia, who is a 31yearold ourterm state representative who is supported by the club for conservative er elements versus former state is a r gary lambert, who 30 just retired as a marine. 35 years. Patent attorney. Also conservative. But its a battle, again, of truly conservative whos the true conservative in that race. On the would take representative ann custer. I should have said that in the first district, of course. Winner of that primary will take on representative carol shea porter. Host a longtime Political Columnist in New Hampshire. He writes the granite reported which you can find in the new ampshire journal, nh journal. Com. Thank you so much for your time this morning. Thank you pleasure, very much, john. Host we want to hear from the in the on the top issue new york election. We love to hear from the states where the last four primaries are taking place. Thats rhode island, New Hampshire, massachusetts, and delaware today. Primaries of the 2014 cycle. Well start, though, in line ket, virginia on the for independents. Whats your top issue for the election . Caller the most thing i was ridiculous was the commercial about water. The water process is 450 million gallons of water a day. And there just isnt a shortage water. Anything that you put into water could be removed from water. Using oxygen or liquid oxygen. Lso, theres a north American Water and Power Authority plan since n on the books 1950. Would be to do allow california to be flooded with Irrigation Water and every to the east would also benefit from this project. Host do you think this lection, the Midterm Election is going to come down to local issues like what youre talking about . Lit be a think referendum on the president , the national issues, the president s presenting to the American Public tomorrow night on iraq and syria . Caller the principle problem right now is republicans cant get the truth out. The democrats cant seem to make hings up that are scary and fearful and trying to get people o emotionally cleveland two policies that are obviously six years. Republicans can do the job, they just cant talk for some reason. Host clark, whats the issue for the Midterm Election . Caller hello. Host hi, clark. What we can do as democrats is what we do to eric cantor. About foreign ed stuff and immigration and that doesnt have to do with the economy. 166,000 jobs. Ost he lost jobs. President obama had the most job growth for the longest period of in the history of this country. The longest period of time in the history of this country, obama has gained jobs. This is after the financial crisis. Ny time you have a financial crisis, its harder to bring back jobs because wall street is frozen. They dont trust anybody. Things of that nature. Message. O control the the messenger is corporate media. Behind the gop. Host well do you think democrats have done enough let me jump in. Do you think democrats have done that enough job to get message out to explain the story that youre trying to explain here . For r blame the democrats not getting the message out. But i blame the media for not fair, facts eople a and figures discussion between 166,000 jobs osing and president obama having more consecutive r months, longest consecutive months of job growth in the the ry of this country and media wants to talk about isis, obama is bad and things of that nature as opposed is steadily y coming back. Hes been producing jobs. And he cut the deficit in half. Host we got it. In dunn, North Carolina for the line for independents. Good morning. Hello, can you hear me . Host yes, bob, go ahead. What the manesting from the Heritage Group and sherman had to say. Isis is a real threat. Mr. Assad, for all of his faults, he could declare a eastern e on the border, isis has effectively taken the western part of his the eastern part of iraq. Would like like the arab League Funding a lot of for rent causes over there years. The money coming out of qatar and the other people that it would quit they funding terrorism, they could rebuild gaza. Nd they could give some territory, make it the gem of the coast, and put people back and demilitarize it. Host let me ask you, since the question that were asking this of the washington journal is top issues for the Midterm Election, how much do think whatever action the president announces tomorrow night in iraq and syria and from everything were seeing, an escalation of the military efforts so far. Thats do you think going to hang over how people re feeling when they go out to vote for november . Caller were coming to an 9 11. Ersary of thats on our minds. They beheaded people and put it in our face. Invaded western top part of iraq. Taken the eastern part of syria. So theyre nazis. Civilians and children and killing christian back to theand goes time of christ also. And keeps to themselves. So they need to be dealt with. Iraqi eed to talk to the government and get maliki out of e and let them shor up have them sharing of oil revenues and stretching it, take sunnis, put them back in the military. Because when me took them out two years ago, he weeded out all the sunnis that were effective people. Kelly in s go to ashfork, arizona on the line for republicans. Issues for theop Midterm Election coming up 56 days away now. Kelly, good morning. Guest how are you doing. Kelly. Good, caller good. My main topic. I want to say hi and thank you program. But for the American People to remember this president s life. You cannot trust anything he says. But the main topics for me are; jobs, getting the economy going. Is killing thing too babies. The birthright lets stop married or maybe being first. Im concerned because everybody wants abortion clint ins like every corner. On i feel horrible because its affected me. Know, i younger, you was i had to do that. I was i had to because scared. And i just wish i had more knowledge. If you are e women pregnant, dont kill your babies. And please remember, American People, Barack Hussein obama is a liar. Thank you, cspan. Kelly in ashfork, arizona. As we said, its primary day in four states. Of the states being massachusetts. Todayshe front page of boston globe. The headline, day of decision primary voters will the curtain on some political dramas and set the stage for more. Here to talk about the situation, primary day in miller, etts, joshua the reporter with the boston globe. Miller. Rning, joshua start with the governors race. Will it be a race between martha and Charlie Baker . Or is there going to be a surprise today in the primary . The beauty of elections is we can always think there could be a surprise. Ut all of the public polling, theres been a huge amount of it here in massachusetts, has found has had a coakley Comfortable Lead over her gubernatorial rival. Steve grossman, the former dnc medicare the head of and medicaid. So we expect it will be ictorious based on the polls and she will likely face Charlie Baker, the 2010 republican governor here who lost to patrick in 2010 and a former Health InsuranceCompany Executive in november. We expect to be a very competitive race. Host what are the issues shaping up in that race in the sprint to november . Guest well see. Baker has a pivot so far focused on really sort of issues of making government work effectively. Republican whos quite strongly of gay marriage. Legal here in massachusetts for sometime now. On, the hes focused differentiation with democrats, f government will work more effectively under his watch and wont be continual push towards increasing taxes. Thats been his message going forward. Ee how that shapes up with martha coakley. Shes spent a lot of time pushing back to her two primary the framework of the democratic primary and see ow her message, which has focused broadly on Economic Opportunity for everyone, education and expanding mental opportunities for folks. See how that message changes come tomorrow assuming she wins. Host the political reporter with the boston globe. Talking to him about primary day massachusetts. Focus on congress and the key races always being watched there. This jumped here for reelection in the sixth district. Always expected to have a tough general election. But the primary is shaping up to be a tough election for him as well. Guest thats right. Its an extraordinary change happened. Hats he he beat richard to say a republican, longtime state and former lieutenant by one orial nominee in 2012. E point it was expected they were going to run for a rematch. That was going to be a close race. Whats extraordinary is hes had a really tough challenge from ne of his three democratic primary opponents, seth molten, former marine, managed to raise an extraordinary amount of money, beating him in the number of recent quarters and really Robust Campaign has been airing had been airing ads, while some tough essentially painting him as inineffective. Gotten help from outside groups, and we there wasnt a lot of hasnt been a lot of public polling. Any reliable public polling in race. But a sign that was vulnerable started airing a bitterly negative ad against one week ago today tying him to republicans, conservative epublicans on issues that definitely probably wont help him with democratic voters that ad from congressman tyranny said molten took money from a special Interest Group republicans, s nrabacked reup pubs who voted o outlaw abortions, tea partiers who said theyll end the guarantee, painting molten as a republican. Watching a patriots game on sunday. I saw that spot there. Its been airing heavily in of people a lot watch. So well see what happens tonight. A definitely looking to be competitive race. Host a lot of focus. Skip to the ninth district. Republicans looking to take on congressman keating there. Keating. C congressman how much trouble is he in looking to the general election . Likely to face . Likely to face john chapman, former romney dministration official, the former Administration Governor mitt romney when he was governor massachusetts. Bill keating always has a challenge. Squeak it anages to out quite comfortably despite gigantic house wave in 2010 and a robust challenge for whats been an open seat in that district, keating managed to win. And hes subsequently managed it as well. Its an obamavoting district by a relatively comfortable margin, of the districts in massachusetts are. Its the second most competitive based on se seats republican and democratic performance. But its still a pretty democratic seat. Hes expected to win. Well see what the campaign ooks like from the victor of the republican primary. Tonight there are four of them republicans ur running in the ninth district. Thats not something on the top radars here. Host a lot of the focus in new england on the New Hampshire senate race. There is a senate race cycle in massachusetts as well. Guest yeah, some things people forget. Who won a comfortable special elections victory last again. S on the ballot he won the race to finish out he term of john kerry who is secretary of state. And he faces the likely opponent in brian her, businessman and town selectman. So well see. I think the expectation is thats not going to be a competitive race. During time around and the special election, which had markey won by ten Percentage Points over gabriel politics, newcomer to a former navy s. E. A. L. Needed help from the Committee Campaign who helped to boost him and get him over the finish line. Markey ectation is that will be fine. But as the column u. S. Said wave. Ng about a senate if that wave grows, well see if of uts markey in any kind danger. Right now, the expectation is the real federal race well be atching is the sixth Congressional District here in massachusetts. Host political reporter with appreciate globe, your time this morning. Guest thanks for having me. Rothenbergrring to a report thats getting a lot of attention. Handicappers e here in washington, d. C. Predicting gop gains of at least seven b seats in his column. Expecting a substantial wave in november. Least es a gain of at seven seats but i wouldnt be shocked by a larger gain. That, of course, would shift the senate from democrats to republicans. Election talking about day 2014 on november 4, just 56 days away. We want to get your opinion on your top issue as you head the election. Rm is there a top issue for you . Lets go to jared waiting in kentucky on our line for independents. Thanks for waiting. Sir, how are you . Host good, jared. Caller i think the toppish shy fiscal responsibilities o thinking about the economy prior to spending the money. The department of Defense Budget of the budget. Weve got rising costs. In health care. We need to focus on that, clean energy. The issue is coal here. O thats host you say the economy and top ederal budget is your issue. How concerned are you that the president will be asking for spending in iraq and syria. That a good way to spend u. S. Money . Of er we have to take care the terrorist threats. Those are going to continue to be in our future. We can do to limit and im not too familiar with the issue as these conservatives are. We can do to limit spending. We have to take a peaceful you ach so that we can, know, give us assad on peaceful at least trying to north. He threat in the i think its the north to syria occurring. s but its obviously spreading. Have some people there that are, you know, desperate and out. Re looking for a way and maybe the isis or whatever is a way out for them. Its its the its the divisive issue for sure. Host jared calling in. Hear more about what the president is asking from days ss in the coming talking with congressional leaders today. Later this pected afternoon with several congressional leaders. And, of course, the address to the nation tomorrow night. But were asking your top issue for the Midterm Election. From k up next calling in port allen, louisiana. Sedrick, good morning. Hi, good morning. Just in the Midterm Elections, had the negative i assume but when it ica comes down to thee are pub party obama, tea party, saying obama, but they never go to congress and pass any kind of legislation whatsoever. Have obama veto it, at least you try. I dont see nothing to say other running against the president , whether or not running against the president. Theyre running against someone in their city or their state. Negative this or negative that. Ut at the same time, the only induce Mary Landrieu. But at the same time, he say he dont want to do. The negative comments alone, say what you want to do. Then the people of louisiana are who to say, okay, this is were going to vote for and not going to vote for. Running onsistent against congress but running against the president. Issue. Not talk about the host let me ask you. What do you think about Mary Landrieus chances in that race a lot of ting attention from around the country . Expected to be possibly one of the Key Senate Races of the cycle . She has quite a few people who are endorsing her, republicans. E i think mayor landrieu is going to win. Looks like shes not. Votes will get out. It seems that everybody running theyre ary landrieu, not running against her. Theyre running against the president of the United States. They say whats next for and stop running against the president with regards to Mary Landrieu had a chance. Not only that, trying to get out the black vote anyway. Whole country not only out for the urn republican party, low turnout for the democratic party, the black voteed as much as they can, then theyll win. I dont think the black vote in louisiana or the rest of the is going to sit back and say, okay, well let you guys say the thing you want to say to the president. Host do you think Mary Landrieu and her supporters are doing enough to make it a choice opposed to a race thats on a referendum on the president of the United States and his policies . Caller i dont think she are. Would change it. It would be a lot better if she would. If they want to put out a campaign ad saying shes running were the president so going to vote against her. Running against the president. Shes going to lose. Running against her based on what she did. Well for louisiana. The attorney me, doesnt have the republican party. Say nothing they want to do. Louisiana. Allen, a little more on the key race for louisiana. Teven shepherd, an editor the campaigns and elections editor at politico. To talk epherd, i want about Mary Landrieus elections, snags shes run into. Challenge and residency about exactly she here calls home. Can you talk through those issues and where its how affecting the race . Baton a state judge in rouge on friday dismissed a lawsuit brought by one of her that said opponents shes ineligible to run for louisiana because she no longer lives there. She and her husband have purchased a house and lives most of the time on capitol hill, blocks from the United States capitol. Four blocks east of the capitol. Still maintains election forms that her residency is in her new orleans. E in Washington Post sent reporters down there talking to a bunch of eighbors that havent seen her around a lot and that led to the narrative she doesnt live there, she doesnt spend enough the there to represent state. Host this issue comes days or after continued questions about her using Campaign Funds pay for chartered flights for campaign activities. Problem is the there . Guest thats right. Using that she was she was using charter paying flights from her official senate the money she gets off of the United States senator. But then going to events that were either a mix she would one city, one n official business and one campaign business, a fundraiser or a campaign rally. You know, any time you are using officials funds when theres a hint of possible campaigning red tends to raise a lot of flags among Good Government groups and ethics watchdogs. Host explain unusual louisianas unusual primary system here. When voters actually go to the polls, how they end up picking candidates in louisiana. Guest thats right. Louisiana, like a number of primary. As an open so all of the candidates run together on the ballot. This. Ornia does Washington State does this. The differences is that louisiana does it on the same the general election. And if a candidate reaches a ofority of the votes, so 50 the vote plus one, they win. In louisiana on november 4 this year. If no candidate gets to 50 plus two candidatesop will meet on saturday, december 6 in a runoff. Is theoretically possible with the control of the senate hanging in the balance if it to louisiana, wn and the senate is 5049, going runoff with with Mary Landrieu and very likely ongress dmarn republican congressman bill cassidy that all of the countrys attention onemonth time period be focused on one state in one race in a saturday runoff election. It could be a weird circumstance where you can almost envision a spending and tv air time being gobbled up, im sure residents of louisiana who and tired of seeing political tv ads would be just if control of the senate came down to this one race. Campaigns and elections editor at politico. Appreciate you spending time to race bout that key senate in louisiana this cycle. Guest my pleasure. Host we have a few minutes left. On ant to get your thoughts the top Campaign Issue in the Midterm Election, 56 days away now. Calling in from california on our line for independents. Good morning. Good morning. Host go ahead, mark. Caller you know, i hope you couple of minutes about o discuss my views whats going on. And the first they get cut the time. F but first thing is, i dont know out ou guys dont call party lies that either does. To me our media has gone to crap. Out so much lies people that dont watch fox blinded with politics han people who do watch fox news. And host what are the news trust . S that you caller well, you know, i watch democracy now. Hartman. And al jazeera english. Just the second thing is i dont understand why you guys call out the big money republicans. D all that they aires good they dont back causes like Citizens United or warming. They dont care. All they care about is their pocketbook. Might be interested in reading the lead editorial in todays usa today talking Campaign Finance issues, specifically groups that dont disclose their donors. The headline of the dark money flows into the fall campaign, that 53. 7 million worth f money has been spent by groups that do not disclose heir donors up significantly from the last Midterm Election. You want to hear the top issue from the Midterm Election. Is calling in from ithaca, new york. Morning. Caller good morning, thanks for taking my call. Per is not on the primaries se. Or rather it is on the primaries. You mentioned four states that primaries today. Unless i missed something, i tune in late, new york state is primary for governor for Lieutenant Governor and its eally an important one for a variety of reasons. Might add that to the mix. I think people might like to know that. Midterms, i of the just dont have anything to say to anybody except with my vote. Recommend to people who are voting either party that at take the time to look the voting records and look around them and see how their life is. And, you know, and in their values, you know, their economics and everything. But to look around before they vote the party line. Vote. Dangerous way to a its dependent as the prior placing like fox reports to the reporters rather than journalists. Which is what they are. Time. S for your have a good day. Host in ithaca, focusing on the ongressional calendar, state primaries and congressional calendar, those being massachusetts, new rhode island, and delaware happening today. Rhode the story on the island race. This specifically on the democratic primary for governor there. This is in todays wall street journal. Fordays democratic primary rhode island governor is referendum for how to tackle the candidates clash over approaches to a elected edevilling officials around the United States. If you want to read more, its wall street journal. To vivian from queen city, texas on the line for independents. Good morning. Caller hi. Host hi, vivian. Going to m Just Tea Party and the grid lock that goes on in our government. Of it. Causing most and what we need to do is have a better balance of the people government. Our the tea party seems to not like anything. They want to get rid of that poor people really need. I would like for people to think vote. It when they host how do you bring balance . Through voting or do you think congress can come together and find some more middle ground . Think they can find middle ground. Do. S what we used to but for some reason, in the last eight years, we dont seem to together. Ome and i think a lot of it has to do with the tea party. Im from texas. Representatives that we have, i think, except for one, is a republican. And what theyve done is that single one of them have gone after the president in some way, some form. And its all about the president this. t do the president doesnt lead. You cant lead people that wont be led. Vivian calling in from texas. Texas, one of the states where about the best way to control the border have been a topic. Olitical obviously in the news again this week on president obamas delay on immigration and his plans for immigration. Heres the story from the times. Ton looking into how that decision is going to affect the november election. The story noting the hispanics are less enthusiastic about urning out to vote for democrats in this years Congressional Elections after president obama delayed action on immigration reform. Prompting democrats and analysts said on tuesday. Kinds of actions before the election suppressed the vote aid Louie Gutierrez of illinois, a democrat. He vowed to do everything he hispanics for ut the Midterm Elections but said mr. Obama made that tougher. More on nt to read that, that is todays washington times. A few more calls as we asking top issues for the Midterm Elections. On is in key know, oregon the line for independents. Good morning. Thanks ford morning, having me on. I think the economy we need to get people back to work. Jobs, not parttime jobs. Goes, far as immigration dont think we need a whole lot of new immigration bills. Just secure the border. And force the laws already on the books, which we dont seem do with this trouble in the middle east with isis. Hear everybody is concerned about people coming over here european passports, passports. I dont hear anybody talking about sealing the border. You know . Homeland you know, securitys important. The economy is important. Need though icians get a grip, you know . Instead of st playing politics with everything that comes up. In key know, oregon talking about the economy being an important issue. Issue found in the latest that is going to be our show for today. We will take you now live to the house of representatives in for legislative business. 9, 2014. I hereby appoint the honorable david w. Jolly to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. Signed, john a. Boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the order of the house of january 7, 2014, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour ebate. The chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip each, to five minutes but in no event shall debate continue beyond 11 50 a. M. The chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, mr. Miller, for five minutes. Mr. Miller mr. Speaker, its with profound sadness and gratitude that i rise to pay tribute to a fallen and decorated american hero. Army Sergeant First Class samuel c. Sam harrison of houston, texas, was killed on gaznia, 2014, in afghanistan, while in support of Operation Enduring freedom by enemy small arms fire. Sergeant first class harriston was assigned to the first battalion, 405th parachute regiment, 82nd airborne division, fort bragg, North Carolina. Born to bernett and joe is he a phone harriston june 22, 1979, at Shaw Air Force base, shaw, south carolina, Sergeant First Class harriston graduated in 1997. Sergeant first class harriston wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father and brother by joining our Nations Armed forces. After pursuing a division i football scholarship and earning a bachelors degree in economics, he joined the u. S. Army in 2003 as an infantryman. Upon completion of the basic parachute division, he was assigned to fort bragg in august, 2013. He selflessly served four combat tours throughout his career which included two tours in support of both Operation Iraqi freedom and enduring freedom. He is described as someone whose smile could light up a room. And to his wife and stepson, he was a loving and devoted husband and father. In terms of his military service, whenever he was thanked he responded that serving our country was his choice and his service and his service was so americans can enjoy the freedom that all are taken for granted too often. He took pride in every mission and never expected anything in return. An exceptional noncommissioned officer and a valued member of our team is how he was described by Lieutenant Colonel chris hockenberry, his battalion commander. Sergeant first class harristons had the combat infantry man badge, masterful free fall parachutist badge and the Army Parachutist badge. He was awarded the bronze star, purple heart, Army Commendation medal with three oak leaf clusters, Army Achievement medal, meritorious Unit Citation with two oak leaf clusters, Army Good Conduct medal with two oak leaf clusters, the National Defense service medal, Afghanistan Campaign medal with two campaign stars, iraqi Campaign Medal with two campaign stars, the global war on terrorism Expeditionary Medal and the global war on Terrorism Service medal. Throughout his unwavering dedication to country, Sergeant First Class harriston helped ensure that our Constitutional Rights were upheld and that our nation was protected from harm both here and abroad. His ultimate sacrifice will never be forgotten. To Sergeant First Class harristons loving wife, mrs. Harriston, his stepson, hayden, his parents, his brothers juney, brody, t. J. And his entire family and friends, my wife, vicky, joins me in offering our sincerest condolences and prayers. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of a grateful United States congress and nation, i stand here to honor Sergeant First Class sam c. Hairston and all of those heroes that we have lost. May god continue to bless them and the men and women of our United States armed forces and may god continue to bless the United States of america. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. Blumenauer, for five minutes. Mr. Blumenauer thank you, mr. Speaker. Theres much that congress deals with that seems intractable. We struggle with the great issues of war and peace. We view Climate Change and its devastating impacts and are paralyzed. We look at the stillsimilarrering racial unrest in the painful events of ferguson, missouri, and largely are ignoring the underlying issues. But there is one area where government at the state and local level and here in congress can make things a little easier, a little more sensible. Thats dealing with our failed policy of marijuana prohibition. There was a sad article in the front page of the times yesterday about a Call Center Employee paralyzed since he was 16 years old who was fired from his job because he used medical marijuana in a state where its legal on his offhours at home at night to control his back spasms. That had nothing to do with his job performance, yet, this person was terminated. There is a certain degree of hypocrisy of someone having a glass of wine at home is treated radically differently. This is just one small example of a much larger problem. The cost of our failed prohibition causes untold damage to racial minorities, especially africanamerican young men who are much more likely to be arrested and jailed even though they use marijuana no more frequently than young white men. Jailed for something most americans now think should be legal. That hypocrisy was on display with the nfl who suspended a player for a year for smoking marijuana, but remember, the wife beater was suspended for only two days two games until an even more graphic video of the beating forced the nfls hands because of the public outrage. Yet, this is the same nfl that encourages, some would say pressures, players to be pumped with shots and pills, to dull their pain which often leads to serious consequences for these players later in life. Especially Prescription Drug dependency. Remember, we have an epidemic of Prescription Drug abuse that kills more people every year than heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine combined. And of course no one has ever been killed from a marijuana overdose. Were wasting lives, Law Enforcement resources and money when we have more important issues to tackle. Im pleased that my state of oregon, which was the first state to decriminalize a small amount of marijuana, now may become the next state to legalize adult use. Weve seen significant progress here in congress to allow the cultivation of industrial hemp, allow kentucky tobacco farmers and oregon ranchers to grow hemp for products that are perfectly legal and you can buy in any city in america. Weve helped rein in the federal government interference with the 23 states that allow over a Million People to use medical marijuana, people like the families that are picking up and moving to states that permit medical marijuana to get the therapeutic use, to access to marijuana that can reduce the violent epileptic seizures that torture their children. Its time for us to do a reality check. Lets legalize, regulate and tax marijuana and then get on to those bigger problems that need our attention, like war and peace, the consequence of a failure to deal with Climate Change and the epidemic of Prescription Drug abuse thats killing three or four americans every hour. Lets get our priorities straight. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from oregon yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. Wolf, for five minutes. Mr. Wolf thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, according to a new poll released by cnn last evening, americans are increasingly concerned that isis represents a direct threat and theyre fearful that isis agents are living in the United States. A Washington Post poll says hat 90 believes na isis poses a threat. An increasing number of radicalized westerners, including more than 140 americans are freely traveling to syria to link up with isis and Al Qaeda Affiliated groups. While this congress was out on recess, the number of americans killed fighting terrorist organizations in syria grew quickly. A trend that should be troubling to all americans. Arlier this summer, monner mohammad became the first suicide bomber fighting in syria for the al qaeda affiliate. Equally concerning is the fact that he traveled from syria to florida and back again in a month before his terrorist attack. In august, two more americans were reportedly killed fighting with isis. Both from minneapolis, minnesota. We must take proactive steps to discourage americans from traveling to syria to link up with these groups. Unfortunately, current law does not prevent americans from traveling freely to syria and back which creates loopholes that would be jihadists can exploit. Currently unless the u. S. Has solid evidence they have joined these terrorist groups, the f. B. I. Cannot arrest them. Unfortunately, it can be very hard that suspects fought with a terrorist group in syria due to limited u. S. Intelligence about their activities in the region. I am concerned the absence of laws preventing unrestricted travel to syria means the u. S. Is not taking substantial steps to discourage americans from going to fight. It is an untenable situation that puts the country at a greater attack from a radicalize american who trains and fights with these groups and later return home. Thats why ive introduced legislation in march aimed at curbing this threat. In the last six months, the growing number of fighters have reaffirmed the need for legislation to address this issue. My bill, h. R. 4223, the International Conflicts of concern, that would give President Authority to temporarily restrict travel and Material Support to countries like syria and the president could add additional countries of concern when conflicts spill over into other countries, as weve seen in iraq. The bill would also contain important protections, allowing legitimate travel by licensed humanitarian aide workers, journalists and others cleared by the u. S. Government. This bill was supported by the director of the f. B. I. I believe its a commonsense solution to an increasingly urgent threat, that the house should bring up this bill and pass it before it recesses. We should should we fail to do so, i believe that one day we will regret not doing all that we can to protect our homeland from the radicalized fighting in isis in syria mr. Speaker, i also want to close by encouraging the president to call on the expertise of two men who know more about fighting terrorists and insurgent threats in iraq than anyone. General David Petraeus and general mcchrystal. Though both have retired and dont work for this administration any more, our country would benefit greatly from their expertise as the military Community Address the threat in sear iraq. I hope they ask for their assistance and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from virginia yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland, mr. Hoyer, for five minutes. Mr. Hoyer i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for five minutes. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Hoyer mr. Speaker, september should be a particularly important month for this house. It will be a month of contrast. It will be a month in which the American People will be able to see that the republican message to the American People is youre on your while democrats say were on your side. All right. Hoyer, what does that mean . Republicans announced the agenda for this month ought to be no surprise to anyone. Weve been paying attention to the gridlock in congress. Instead of focusing on the issues that matter, creating jobs, raising the minimum wage, fixing our broken immigration system, theyre planning to reintroduce partisan messaging bills. The house has already passed. So were repeating what weve already done as little as that may be. Mr. Speaker, it appears as if the Republican House majority in the 113th congress will go out much as it came in, fixated on a single goal. The republican chairman of the rules committee, pete sessions, summed up that goal late last quote n he said, and i congressman sessions, republican chairman of the rules committee, quote, everything we do in this body should be about messaging to win back the senate. Fots about creating jobs. Not about making america more secure. To the about energy. Not about the minimum wage. Not about immigration reform. Not about making sure that women get equal pay for equal work. Not about any of those things. The chairman of the rules committee that controls how we consider legislation on this floor said its about messaging o we can take back the senate. All of us should remember when senator mcconnell was asked a few years ago in the first term of the president of the United States, president obama, he said that when asked what is your major objective, his responsible response was to ensure that president obama is a oneterm president. Again, not about jobs. Not about the economy. Not about growing the middle class. Not about making sure Voting Rights were secured, but making sure that president obama only served one term. He failed in that objective, but the fact of the matter is they have stayed on that messaging and objective. Central to achieving that goal, republicans believe, is to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care act. And it comes without a shock to anyone that this month will also feature, as a matter of fact this week, the 53rd vote to do just that. However, mr. Speaker, the American People, obviously tired of partisan gridlock, all of us hear that and all of us on both sides of the aisle say we dont want partisan gridlock, but we have seen wasted opportunities in this house over and over again for congress to make headway on the challenges that we face as a nation. Many are asking what happened to the promised republican made in 2010 when in their pledge to america they wrote, and again i quote in their pledge to america, a plan to create jobs, end Economic Uncertainty by the way, they are the ones who threatened to default on the debt twice, and who shut down the greatest government on the face of the earth and the greatest country on the face of the earth, shut down its government for 16 days as a cost of 2 billion. A plan 24 billion. A plan they said to create jobs and economic certainty, it was uncertainty they created, and make america more competitive. They said that must be the first and most urgent domestic priority of our government. Thats what they said in the pledge. The chairman sessions said, of course, messaging to take back the senate was their major objective. Therefore it was a promise forgotten. Throughout september House Democrats will be outlining how republicans have failed to focus on the issues Americans Care about. And what congress should be doing instead. House democrats are ready to jumpstart the middle class. Thats not just a phrase, we know the middle class is shrinking, and we know to the extent the middle class is shrinking, america will not be doing as well. We need to expand the middle class giving opportunities for those who are not in the middle class to climb ladders of opportunity to get into the middle class. We need to move our economy beyond recovery and into prosperity. We are for raising the minimum wage. And ensuring equal pay for equal work. The overwhelming majority of americans are for that. Poll after poll after poll shows hat over 70 of america is for those two propositions. In my opinion, both have a majority votes on this house floor. But americans must be surprised that those two issues are not brought to this floor for action so that the peoples house can speak. Now, there may be differences of opinion. Many republicans may want to vote against the minimum wage. But america deserves to have a vote on that issue. And it has a right to have a vote on making sure that women get paid equally for what men get paid for the same job. They do that in the house of representatives. Women are paid exactly what men are paid. Thats right. Thats what ought to happen. We need to fix our broken immigration system. My friend, mr. Cantor, who is no longer with us, and i had colloquies week after week after week in which mr. Cantor said we understand the immigration system is broken. I said, we agree. Its broken. And we have done nothing to fix it. The republicans have passed some five or six bills to fix it. They havent brought their own bills to the floor so that the house could work its will. I dont believe thats the kind of congress, mr. Speaker, that america wants. We need to fix that system in a way that secures our border and brings millions out of the shadows. Mr. Speaker, we need to bring to the floor bipartisan make it in america jobs bills designed to grow our manufacturing base, help our businesses committee, and attract jobs that pay well and open doors of opportunity to orkers and their families. The republicanled committee passed out a bill sponsored by mr. Lipinski almost unanimously. I think it was on a voice vote. A bill that passed in the last congress with over 300 votes. And i have been asking for the last 10 months that that bill be brought to the floor. All it says is, America Needs to have a playbook, a plan, a strategic strategy, if you will, to grow our manufacturing sector, create more middle class jobs, and compete with the rest of the world. We cannot get that bill to the floor. Mr. Speaker, i dont believe thats the kind of Congress America wants. These are the issues the American PeopleWant Congress to focus on. Not on doing the patient protections and cost savings that Health Care Reform has brought. Not rebranding and antiregulatory and antiworker platform as a jobs package that would end, mr. Speaker, americans are going to be astounded, legislation we are going to consider this week will add 560 billion to the debt. We passed both those bills and created a larger debt by more than that 560 billion already. We are going to do it again. Not wasting taxpayers money in the time on partisan lawsuits and he investigations. And investigations. Not giving the American People the least productive and least open congress in modern history. The pledge to america talked about transparency. We have had more closed rules in this congress than any congress in which i have served. Mr. Speaker, americans want leaders who are on their side. Not ones who have broken their promises. They need and deserve a peoples house that is truly on their side. I yield back the balance of my time. Sara the gentleman from maryland yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentlelady from tennessee, mrs. Black, for five minutes. Mrs. Black mr. Speaker, this september 29 marks the 115th birthday of the veterans of foreign wars. It is a day that will be celebrated at v. F. W. Posts and communities around the country, and it is a day that deserves our recognition here in congress as well. As a member of our local v. F. W. Ladies auxiliary and the proud wife of a vietnam veteran and v. F. W. Member, i have seen firsthand our how our v. F. W. Makes good on its promise every day to honor the dead by helping the living. Each year the nearly two million v. F. W. And auxiliary members contribute more than 8. Million hours of volunteerism in their communities. These are men and women who have already sacrificed for their country by traveling into harms way to defend our freedoms or waiting anxiously for our loved ones to return home from combat. Yet they continue to serve wherever they see a need. At our v. F. W. Post in hendersonville, for example, members maintain a food pantry for disadvantaged veterans and they started an operation spearhead to specifically serve the families of those called to serve in the war on terror. Perhaps most importantly the v. F. W. Has always risen above partisanship and politics to maintain a strong, steady voice on behalf of our heroes since its founding in 1899. On this upcoming veterans of foreign wars day, may we pause to honor the many contributions of this organization and be reminded to pray for those who continue serving around the world. Thank you. I yield back the balance of my time. Sara the gentlelady yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentlelady from texas, ms. Jackson lee, for five minutes. Ms. Jackson lee i thank the speaker for yielding. Many of us are disappointed that some time on the floor today we will spend precious time that could be utilized for our focus on isis, focus on increasing the minimum wage, and addressing social issues across america on condemning the president for authority that he had and for in essence, rescuing sargent vindan. That is, unfortunately, where we find ourselves. Im here to indicate that the president has enormous responsibilities, has been thoughtful but forceful on behalf of the American People. As i indicated there are many issues we have great concern with. And last evening colleagues of mine in the Congressional Black Caucus stood on the floor of the house to address the evenous killing of Michael Brown in ferguson, missouri. First let me thank congressman lacy clay and congressman cleaver for their leadership. They had to be on the frontlines embracing the family members and communities, but those of us in distance want to extend our deepest sympathy to the family of Michael Brown and indicate we have had great Police Community relations through many of our districts, overcoming some very serious obstacles as we did in houston, texas. We started Community Oriented policing at the leadership of former mayor brown. It can be done. On the Judiciary Committee i have worked with funding for Community Oriented policing, and therefore i dont take a back seat to my supportive Law Enforcement across this nation, but the action that is were played out by the media and video to me took the life of a boy who had a life in front of him. So it is crucial that this body does not leave for its recess again, and not address in some direct way the killing of Michael Brown. Hearings regarding the mill tarization of our police, adding more funding back to Community Oriented policing, and, yes, asking the question of the utilization of firepower against an unarmed black boy. The epidemic of a killing of black men is real. You can see the numbers. Those of us who are mothers who have to tell our sons how they ought to respond when they are on the street, educated, military personnel, high school graduates, or not. This is something that all of america should be concerned about because we are america. And i hope to be part of the solution not the problem. We are looking to introduce legislation that addresses the question of how we utilize equipment that was given for natural disasters and fighting terrorism, not to go against unarmed civilians. That is, i believe, a charge for this body. Let me also indicate that as a member of the Homeland Security committee having just come from the middle east, i know that isis is real, and i believe that the president had a strategy. It was a deliberative strategy. It was one that was not to be spoken of or to announce what you are going to do next. As he engaged in consultation was our leadership it is crucial that he engage in consultations with members of congress. I know that is the president s effort. He has done so in the past. But we have willing allies in the middle east who are willing to stand up with the United States leadership on strategy where they are in the front. We must define what boots on the ground means. What does the 1,000 individuals there now who are military personnel. We must find a way to address syria without collaborating with president assad. We must be reminded that the religious minorities in iraq are still under siege and attack and they are in the wake of those attacks often children we must address. We must be able to provide International Resources for the children who are left after the bloody siege of isis. Then we must explain to the American People that we have their National Security in our hands. That we realize that the rising numbers of wanting to attack syria and wanting to continue to attack iraq in those areas where isis is is because of the fear of the homeland. As i indicated, the Senior Member of the Homeland Security, we get that. Well be holding a hearing in the Border Security and maritime Security Committee where i serve as Ranking Member along with my chairwoman, congresswoman miller. I introduced legislation as an aside to declare the russian rebels as terrorists. I look forward to looking at this question as congressman wolf has on this issue of those with u. S. Passports and this question of how do we keep them from flying . Adding them to the nofly list, but looking at ways of getting our walls around those individuals being able to attack the homeland. Again, we have many issues to come together on as a body. We must address the killing of Michael Brown, but we must say we need to do it together and address this issue with isis. It is real. It can be assessed. It can be handled, collaborate with our friends in the mideast. It is our duty. We must do it now. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Murphy, for five minutes. Mr. Murphy thank you, mr. Speaker. Cowardly, a heeven, selfish, those are the words some use to describe Robin Williams suicide. These underscore the need that there was a great deal of ignorance and misunderstanding about suicide. Yths surrounding suicide are permissive. We have an opportunity to dispel these Common Misconceptions such as suicide is not that common. This year 9. 3 million adults will have serious thoughts of suicide, 2. 3 million will have suicide plans, 1. 3 million attempt suicide and nearly 40,000 die by suicide. One suicide occurs over 16 minutes and one veteran commits suicide every hour. More will die by suicide this year than in car accidents. Heres another misconception. Those who die by suicide should have sucked it up. But the vast majority of individuals have a diagnosed Mental Illness. It is trabetting factor of 90 of suicide and suicide increases in those individuals experiencing depression. Or consider this mistaken belief. It is a wellplanned and thoughtful act . 30 do so within five minutes of their initial decision and 75 do so within the first hour. Although there is a lot we know about suicide, these myths continue to perpetuate because we dont understand enough. Why certain populations are at high risk and what is happening in the brain at the time of suicide. A recent report from the center for Disease Control and prevention found that the last decade here is what happened with suicide rates. The rate for those 35 to 64 years of age increased 28 . For women it increased 31 . For white americans it increased 40 . For American Indian and alaskan natives it increased 65 . And the use of suffocation or hanging increased 81 . And despite a continued focus on youth suicide, it remains either the second or third leading cause of death for those between the ages of 10 and 25. Rates have also increased dramatically among elderly white men. The report goes on to note that Additional Research is needed to understand the cause of the increase and why the extent of the increase of areas. Suicide is a Public Health crisis demanding a policy response that to date has been tepid at best. The impulsive native and correlation of Mental Illness requires us to treat suicide as a mental Health Crisis. To this end ive introduced the helping families of mental Health Crisis act, h. R. 3717, which authorizes research at the National Institutes of Mental Health to enhance our understanding of suicide and prevention that are not solely around of raising awareness. Those know there is already a problem. A small percentage of those with Mental Illness do not understand there is a problem but people are painfully unaware they cannot get help when someone is in mental Health Crisis. We can save lives only if we as a nation have the courage to confront Mental Illness headon rather than using phony feelgood measures. My legislation enhances the largest youth Suicide Prevention and Early Intervention program in the country. However, this program does not address the full scope of suicide which can affect individuals of any age. Thus, the house energy and commerce subcommittees on oversight and investigation, which i chair, will continue its investigation on our nations broken Mental Health system which will reduce the Staggering Number of sue sides. It begins with fixing our broken Mental Health system and proving help and evidence providing hope and evidencebased treatment to those in crisis. I call upon members to cosponsor that bill. Mr. Speaker, we need to tell americans that if someone you know needs help, they should ll 18002732555 to the national Suicide Prevention lifeline. And find more online at www. Asp. Org, the website of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It is clear that this is a national crisis. If we saw any other disease in this country that had numbers as high as these and million attempts and 40,000 deaths for any disease, we would call upon americans and the National Institutes of health and others to take action. Certainly we could call upon congress to take action. This is demanding our action for every day more and more take their lives from this serious Public Health problem. Let us address this. Let us no longer ignore it. So many more lives are at stake. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from pennsylvania yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. Royce, for five minutes. Mr. Royce well, thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to talk a little bit about the enduring struggle of the cry meehan tutars, a people who ve crimian tutars, a people who have endured war in their region, i had an opportunity to meet with many of them when i was in ukraine. Myself and eliot he cannle sat down with the minority groups that have been through so much in that region. I just wanted to say this to the members of the house. And that is that russias aggression this ukraine has produced many tragedies but none none more so than that of the crimian. For centuries this Muslim Community has suffered at the hands of sush russias rulers. Russias rulers have devastated the population. Theyve driven countless numbers from their homes and now moscows forcible occupation of crimea has imposed a new oppression on this longsuffering community, forcing large numbers to flee and making the rest increasingly unwelcomed in their incest rale homeland. And when i was in ukraine, besides meeting with senior ow cranian officials, we had ukrainian officials, we had these conversations with representatives of their communities as well as other minority groups, other ethnic russian communities. And i was privileged to meet d talk at length with most prominent leader. Mustafa, the former head of the executive body of the tartar parliament as well as with other Senior Leaders in their community. And he and his colleagues have been blocked from returning to crimea by the ruling authorities there as so many tartars have been blocked once they go over the border from crimea to come back into their home. They are refugees unable to go home. And during our meeting we discussed the increasing pressure on the tartars in crimea and the situation they live under. Thousands have fled. They remain those who remain face a very uncertain future. Theyre subject to increasing pressure and restrictions by the local authorities who they believe are trying to force them out because of their ethnicity. And because they didnt welcome Russias Armed occupation and illegal annexation. Of course, there was never any possibility that they would be allowed to participate in the phony referendum held in march in which 97 of the population supposedly voted one way in that election to join russia even though the entire ethnic russian population numbers only 58 of that overall community. The tartar population is about 12 . Knowing that the vote would be rigged, they refused to provide the propaganda exercise with any credibility and they and many other ethnic groups there in crimea urged a boycott, and unfortunately their current struggle is only the latest chapter in their long history of great suffering and very brave perseverance. Many times in the past theyve been subjected to mass deportation and assaults with great loss of life. The most terrible was stalins mass deportation of the Muslim Population to central asia in 1944. Over half over half of the men and women and the children died in what only can be called a genocidal process. Nd those that survived the privations found themselves in an alien world, forced to begin again in great hardships. By the mid 1980s they were allowed to return to crimea. Most of the surviving population and it was a fraction of the original population eventually did come back and the last census comprised 12 of the population there. There they reestablished their ancient community, proudly took their place in ukraines new democracy. And all of the people i spoke with in ukraine, including the ethnic russians whose interests moscow claims it is protecting said they opposed russian intervention. They at the end of the day supported a united ukraine, and that was especially true of every ethnic community, Civil Society group in Eastern Ukraine that we talked with. And the tart rambings s, including some still alived who survived stalins crimes have a deep historical memory of russias actions in crimea. They are not fooled by moscows protestation of peace there. In our efforts to secure a lasting peace in ukraine, the u. S. And our allies must not accept russias forcible expulsion of tartars from crimea, but thats once again what the russian government are doing to these people. They must recognize the religious and ethnic rights there. We must not forget the people there. We must lead them to the fate of merciless authority, cleanse of those they deem to be enemies of their ambitions. By refusing to surrender to endless threats, they continue to give hope to those around the world in defense of their homes and of their freedom. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until noon today. Up measures allowing Health Insurance to continue Offering Group coverage to meet minimum requirements of the Nations Health care law and a shortterm Government Spending measure we will be back with live coverage of the legislative day in the house at noon eastern. Senateow, we will join a Veterans AffairsCommittee Hearing with v. A. Secretary robert make donald who is reporting on the findings of an investigation into the via Medical Center in phoenix, arizona. This started at about 10 a clock a. M. Eastern. Senate veterans Affairs Committee under way now. Speaking right now is washington senator we need to know how the secretary will turn those commitments into real action and to improve care for our nations heroes. Thank you very much. I think we have heard from all the senators. Let me bring mr. Griffin and his staff of to the table. Let me welcome Richard Griffin and his staff. Mr. Griffin is the acting inspector for the department of Veterans Affairs. Normal protocol is for us to have the secretary go first. I want the secretary to know that there is no disrespect. I thought it was more important to hear what the inspector he was had to say appointed Deputy Inspector general in 2000 eight and previously served as v. A. Inspector general from 1997 to 2005 p at he brings an enormous amount of experience and knowledge to his position. He is accompanied by dr. John day, junior, healthcare inspections. Assistanthalliday, Inspector General for audits and evaluations. Consulate to the Inspector General. Of the kansas city audit office. Mr. Griffin, thank you so much for your work and for being with us. The microphone is yours. Member,hairman, ranking and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the results of the igs extensive work at the teanecks v. A. Health care system. Phoenix the a health care system. Expend on information previously provided and include information on reviews by oig clinical staff of patient medical records. Oig examined the medical records and other information patients, which included 293 deaths and identify 28 instances of clinically significant delays in care associated with access or scheduling. Wordese 28 patients, six deceased. In addition, we identified 17 cases of cared deficiencies care deficiencies that were unrelated to scheduling or access issues. Of these 17 patients, 14 were deceased. The 45 cases discussed in the unacceptable and troubling issues and followup, coordination, quality, or continuity of care. 45 identity of these ephedrine has been provided to v. A. Of these 45 veterans has been provided. Decisions in these matters lie with the department and the judicial system under the. Ederal tort claims act information on the qualifications of the oig physicians who conducted these reviews can be found in the toricular decay submitted the record with our written testimony. We identified several patterns of obstacles to care that resulted in negative impact on the quality of care provided by 22, 2014. Of april we identified about 1400 veterans waiting to receive a scheduled primary care appointment who were appropriately included on the phoenix electronic weight list wait list. We identified over 3500 additional veterans, many of whom were on what we determine listsunofficial wait waiting to be scheduled for appointments but not on phoenix s official electronic wait lis t. Urology service was unable to keep up with the demand for services. During our review, it became clear that the Urology Service of phoenix was in turmoil during the 2012 to 2014 timeframe. There were a number of urology changes,s tracking delays and the procurement of nonv. A. Purchased care, and difficulties coordinating urologic care. The oig is currently working patients whof 3526 may be at risk for having received poor quality urologic care. As a result, Urology Services at phoenix are the subject of an ongoing oig review. 2005, oig has published 20 oversight reports on v. A. Patient wait times and access to care. Yet, vha did not effectively address its access to care issues. The use of inappropriate scheduling procedures. With ourconcurred recommendations and submitted an action plan, many v. A. Medical facility directors did not take the necessary actions to comply with vha program are active and policy changes. 2010, in a memorandum to all directors, the thendeputy under secretary for health, cooperation, and management called for immediate action to review scheduling practices and eliminate all inappropriate practices. In june 2010, vha issued a directive reaffirming outpatient scheduling processes and procedures. 2011, an annual ait times isn of wiat mandated to january 2012 and may 18 director visn issued reports that found phoenix did not comply with vha scheduling policy purifying, may of 2013, vha waived the annual requirement for facility directors to certify compliance with the vha scheduling directive. Further reducing accountability over wait time data integrity and compliance of appropriate scheduling practices. The investigations at 93 sites of care in response to timeations of wait manipulations. Investigations continue in coordination with the department of justice and the federal bureau of investigation. Ongoing,t are still these investigations are timerming that wait manipulations were prevalent throughout vha. Capture is and that a personal disappointment, frustration, and loss of faith for individual veterans and had in theers Healthcare System that often cannot respond to their mental and physical health needs in a timely manner. Immediate and substantive changes are needed. The v. A. Secretary has acknowledged that the department is in the midst of a serious crisis, and he has concurred with all 24 recommendations in our report and submitted acceptable corrective action plans. Mr. Chairman, this concludes our statement and we would be pleased to answer questions any of the members may have. Mr. Griffin, thank you very much. You for your testimony and for the work that you and your staff have undertaken over the last many months. , in a sense some a by asking you a question that arises from some media reports. There has been some suggestion that the ig, office of Inspector General for v. A. , is really not independent. You withike to provide the opportunity to describe the process the ig utilizes when preparing oversight reports, including the draft report review. In other words, are you being heavily influenced by the v. A. . Are they editing the reports you give us or are you an independent entity finding the truth as best you can . Thank you for that question. [laughs] our organization of the last six 1700 has issued over reports addressing oversight issues in the department of Veterans Affairs. We have testified in over 60 congressional hearings in the last six years about our reports. Every one of our draft reports and every draft report of anybody in the Inspector General community is submitted as a draft to the department for purposes of guaranteeing accuracy of our reporting. If the department has information that we missed in doing our work and that they can point out to us that would be then weand convincing, may come to realize that we have got this one part wrong. We do not accept from the department or from anyone else a dictated response that is based. N opinion as opposed to fact thank you very much. Let me ask you this every number of this committee is outraged by what happened in phoenix. We were outraged in general on unacceptably long wait periods to access to health care. We have seen and discussed the manipulation of data, lying, etc. What i would like you to do is explain in english in english how did this happen . You pointed out a moment ago that we have heard from v. A. Time and time again their concerns about the appointment process. Yet, nothing seemed to happen. Take us to phoenix, and in english, described to us exactly how it happened that we had this eriods that were disguised, that we had some people not even on any waiting list at all. And all of this went on and nobody did anything about it. How does this happen . That happens when there is a failure of leadership. We are not just talking about phoenix. We have reported on this problem for nine years. , inllent policies were fact, published and sent out. I alluded to some of them. You have to follow through. Wait times is not the only issue we have reported on where vha has promulgated policies to address our recommendations and send them out and was supposed to be certified that they were followed, and they were not. Why ofard to explain the that, but when people do not follow the directives from the headquarters leadership and mislead them about it, there has to be a consequence. The 14daydegree did directive impact the immediate problems . Can thef all, how facility provide timely care if they do not have enough doctors, nurses, space, and staff, and how did that not get up to the General Office . How do they not say i cannot do it in 14 days because i do not have the doctors or stuff . I believe there was an awareness in phoenix based on some of the emails that we pulled which are included in our , that many people in the phoenix hierarchy were aware that it was not doable. I am sure you recall the email from our interim report were someone asked for an ethics review because our widely important goal in the success being reported is smoke and mirrors, as was mentioned earlier. I think a big part of the equation for the fix, as opposed to what we all know happened, when you look at the initial point where a veteran has contact with the Medical Center, very often you had the lowest rated employees who might not be equipped to be able to triage this veteran really needs to get in and 14 days or seven days or tomorrow or today versus this 30 days. An wait i think in the private sector, you would probably have somebody with a little more clinical background to try and make that evaluation so you know who really does need to come in and who does not. My time has expired. Bottom line is if you do not have the staff, you cannot do it here and how come that is not transmitted up the channels . It should be. I believe that in phoenix, it was, and the outcome is documented in our report. No action was taken. Thank you very much. Thanks to you, and to your staff for the job you have performed for the undertaking that you are already in process with. I do not think any of us would wish it on anybody that they had to make the reviews that you are having to do. Did the v. A. Listen to prior ig reports and fix the problems you have pointed out . Would we be here today . Would we be talking about unix or any facility . Or any othernix facilities . The problems that v. A. Seem to be rooted in two things. One is the culture that has been created, and i think that culture has been created because of a lack of accountability. That was evidenced by these waiting lists that operated outside of the Electronic System and other things. Had they just addressed those, we probably would not be here investigating phoenix to the degree that we are. Is that an accurate statement . That is accurate. As i mentioned previously, even in other areas, we would not close a recommendation unless we believed that they had taken appropriate steps to resolve the issue. In 2010 oft a copy this mandate to knock off the manipulation and then three months later you get an updated scheduling feature as a vha directive, at that point you would believe the people got it and that it would be implemented and implemented to the letter. How can somebody not require certification last year based on the warning signs you have provided . Next panel can better explain what the rationale was. I think there was plenty of warning that this is going on, and i thought the certification was an excellent thing to make people declare, yes, i have reviewed it, and our waiting times are according to policies and procedures of the department. You have been involved for sixplu