Brought her to captivity and death. It prompted attention from the white house and capitol hill. When it comes information about these hostage killings, we want to get your thoughts this morning if it changes your opinion on u. S. Efforts against isis and islamic terrorism here the numbers you can call. Our line for republicans the hill make your thoughts known at twitter cspanwj. You can send this email too. The death of Kayla Mueller, she is the fourth american since august to be killed by the group isis. The go to the pages of the New York Times it shows the current state of those who are captive and those killed. They start off with james foley. A goes on to David Hawthorne who was killed, a british aid worker. Then the american journalists also executed by isis. Then it goes on to highlight the american aid worker and alan henning. This comes after the announcement of Kayla Mueller saying that she was killed by isis. For the first 45 minutes, we want to get your thoughts on information about her death and others related to isis that have changed their thinking about you as an International Efforts against that group. A hearing on these kind of topics. Here is how you can give us a call 2027488001 for republicans, 2027488000 four democrats. For international viewers, 2027488003. The white house put out a release yesterday that prompted some reaction on the senate floor yesterday. She was a resident of arizona. It was john mccain who took to the floor yesterday of the senate talking about Kayla Muellers and beginning his speech yesterday talking about reaction from her parents. [begin video] she dedicated the whole of her young life to helping those in need of freedom, justice, and peace. She was drawn to help those displaced by the syrian civil war. She first traveled to turkey in december 2012 to provide humanitarian aid to syrian refugees. She told as of the great joy she took and helping syrian children and their families. We are so proud of the person kayla was in the work that she did while she was here with us. [ end vidoeo clip]. Our hearts are breaking for our only daughter. We will continue on in peace, dignity, and love for her. On behalf of the people of arizona, and the United States congress, i want to express deepest condolences to kaylas parents, her loving family and many friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. She devoted her young life to helping people in need around the world, healing the sick, and bringing light in some of the darkest and most desperate places on earth. Shell never be forgotten. [eend video clip] host in light of this killing by isis and other killing of hostages by isis, we want to get your thoughts on the conflict going on by the United States and international partners. If these have swayed your opinion. Lets begin this morning with make from fairview tennessee on their independent line. Go ahead. Guest lets be brutally honest. The reason my attitude has not changed his look at the president s own words and history. Hed troop a line in syria which turned out to be a farce. He called isis a jv team which is a farce. The violence and terrorism took place in fort hood texas was Workplace Violence which is a farce. The thing that went on the pairs was isolated. That was a farce. The president is a farce. The latest was information of the jordanians had taken asked the white house as they could have air cover if they moved into syria because they do not have resources to fight isis on two fronts. They were denied. It is another farce. This president is supposed to lead from behind, to use the words of his staff. He leads with his head up his behind. The best asset we have is the president and his progresses. Pillars that we must empathize with our enemies the matter having people they burn and slaughter and children a very alive. These are the best assets and enemy can have. Host independently, good morning. Guest good morning. Host you are on. Go ahead. Guest can you hear me . Good morning. Host you areon on. Guest i believe obama is not really good for us. I think this may not war is over main war is a christian and antichrist situation. I think the muslims, according to the bible people that are against christians which they are. It seems to be a bible promise. Laura barronlopezhost do hostage situations change your view at all . Guest they are killing christians especially, cutting their heads off. That is almost biblical. It fits right in. Host democrat line, good morning. Guest thank you for cspan. You do an excellent job. I wonder how much more our president is going to take our country down before he has to pay a price for it. Look at brian williams. His art he been suspended for six months for lying once or twice. How many times has our president lied to us . He is there to protect and represent our country. Thank you very much. Host what was your thinking about the initial your initial thinking about what were doing against isis . Do hostage situations way into your opinion about what were doing . Guest we should change our tactic and do more. Host what does that mean . How much more . Guest we need to send more troops and equipment over there. Host bill up next from newfield, new jersey. Independent line. Guest good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I do not understand they keep talking about war in sending troops over. I do not know the terrain or the exact circumstances of where these people are at. I do know that they showed on tv that they have certain stronghold that taken from iraq and syria. Incident worrying about fighting them, why dont we eat them by logistics and starve them out . Quarter quarter quarantined often area. You can do a lot through the air. Nothing goes in and nothing goes out. That off their food and Water Supplies and anything else that they need to survive. Guest host you think thats more effective than weapons . Guest nobody can do anything when theyre starving to death. Host mississippi, democrat line. Guest i think this is sad. It is a sad event when this young woman goes over there to try to help humanity and she uses her life loses her life. There will be more. There will be more young and innocent people to lose their life over here. I think it is sad that isis isil doesnt mind dying. You people going over and trying to help is just a sad event. President obama has a hard choice. That is why he has that job. I would rather for him to take his time, think it through, and not need us in something that he will regret and so will we. That is my comment. Host you think that if we increase our military campaign against them it will cause more of these hostage killings . Guest they are going to kill. That is just their nature. We have reporters over there now that are trying to bring the real story home. They are protecting themselves day in and day out. Isis they have a religion. They do not care anything about themselves or the people of the Community Around them. We will just have to figure out a way to dig them out of the hold they are in and get rid of them. It is sending Young Americans on the ground to try to fight this. They will just capture more of them. They will do the same thing they have been doing all the time. Host that is linda from mississippi. Lets hear from linda in texas. Guest i feel very bad about what happened about the girl that was killed. And nothing but contempt for isis. I have to say that the girl took her own life into her hands by going over there. As do many of these missionaries and things like that. They put our own troops at risk, people who go in to rescue them or cause our president to think about sending troops over there. They are told not to go. Yet they persist ongoing. In that respect, they are responsible for their own lives. That is what i have to say about that. Host hostage killings shouldnt sway u. S. Policy toward isis . Guest no. I think we shall of the middle east clean up their own mess. Host the white house reporting yesterday that she was killed while in the custody of the Islamic State. That was confirmed by her parents history as well. Were are asking your thoughts if hostage killings like hers and similar ones and what it does for your opinion of conflict against isis u. S. Efforts in International Efforts against isis. If you want to call us for your thoughts several events related to this conflict against isis happening on capitol hill including expectations that congress will receive war authorization from the president. Some reports suggesting as early as today to tell us the latest is lauren laura barronlopez. Lets start if there is the expectation that it will come today. Caller guest it could come today. That is the latest. Host what has come out as far as the document . What is it going to lay out . Guest the document is the authorization to use military force against isis. There is some language that has come out that some lawmakers were talking about yesterday as the where breeze from white house officials. This Morning House democrats are expected to be briefed on the document as well. Theres a phrase that is getting a lot of attention. It is no enduring offensive ground troops. Enduring is the key word. Without that the white house is hoping that they can have more republican support so itll be easier to get this authorized. Host as far reaction to the document, who will be harder to sway, republicans or democrats . Guest it will be interesting to see. A lot of republicans this chamber saying they have not seen the full language. It will be hard. John mccain was think itd be interesting to see exactly what they mean about it. The white house is hope in that with that language that they can still get some democrat even though it may be difficult to sell with others. Host is there a sense from congress that how long before hearing start on it once the document reaches capitol hill . Guest the since a lot of this was getting is that it is very important and very serious. Attached with Kayla Muellers that it is a very serious tone on the hill. It is something they want to be adjusting very quickly. Host you get a sense that Ayman Mueller has changed the calculus on this . Kayla mueller has changed the calculus . Guest that was a question that was a just to the majority with in the senate. He just said that he has a partisan desire to work with the president and there needs to be a collaborative decision of both chambers on this. Host laura barronlopez joining us to talk about the war against isis. Before we let you go, one of the things aside from this was the status of a vote on keystone xl. What is the status as it stands right now . Guest today the house will be voting on a Senate Version on a bill that would approve the pipeline. After that passes, and his is expected to pass today, it will be sent on to president obama was expected to veto it. Host what happens after that . Guest there are still the ongoing process of the state department right now in that is that the state Department Just wrapped up the natural interest termination on the pipeline. It is in john kerrys hands to decide when he wants to send his recommendation over to the president on whether this pipeline should be approved or reject it. A lot of environmental groups are pretty optimistic given recent comments the president has made. It is not as big of a dill as they are making it out to be and that it would be a nominal benefits u. S. Consumers. They hope that he is leaning toward rejection. Host laura barronlopez of the hill talking about authorization of the Keystone Pipeline. For the remainder of our time, we want to get your thoughts on this latest hostage killing that we have been hearing about. Also how it may sway your thoughts on actions against isis. International viewers can give us a call 2027488003. You can give us your out on twitter cspanwj or on faith acebook. Com. Back in october the Research Center took a poll taking a look at some ports for military campaigns against islamic militants. This is back in october with a total of 57 approving such action. At 68 of approval with republicans. 54 for democrat here it 65 55 percent approval for independents. You can let your thoughts be known as well. New jersey. Republican line. Go ahead. Caller the morning. Host good morning. Caller i am a little appalled. I keep hearing americas moral compass for how should be in the world. Ptdd, postterror drove this order. We won the rack on false charges and killed over one Million People and displaced millions. We were dropping bombs acute tropical rain. There are so many innocent people that have been killed from american terror. Some people have in effect did. Affected. Especially in the middle east. What is wrong with these people . Imagine somebody jumping bombs and drones on year for 15 years. You hear the sound of the jones flying around and then we say where are all the people were dropping bombs on . What im saying is this. We have caused the chaos over there. We are the ones that have unleashed the chaos over there. This is not an issue 20 years ago or 30 years ago. All the chaos in the world is because of white people controlling other people. Host new haven connecticut. Independent line. Caller here we go. The racist card again. Host you are on. Go ahead. Caller how are you . Hello . Host you on the air. Go ahead. Caller can you hear me . Host i can hear you. Caller mike i do not understand where splitting this up between republicans democrats, and independent. I do not believe any particular party is going to be able to sit down at a table break bread and eat from the same dish. These people have no scruples whatsoever. They do not care about whether you are a woman transgender white, black, orange, yellow. This particular administration has made a point of pushing a progressive, ultraliberal agenda forward in our country. Now we are paying a price for that push. I strongly feel we should have all along been paying attention to a couple more important details. These people that are getting exactly what they want, a reaction out of the american public, of how they feel and their opinion about killing an innocent woman that is helping people. Host maryland, independent line. Go ahead. Your next. Caller good morning, cspan. There are a couple of callers i agree with. When the woman that called and said these people have no business being over there. One minute you hear americans are going over there to fight. The next minute you hear reporters are over there getting beheaded. I just do not understand. For some reason, we have found a way to use our military to become terrorists. We terrorize iraqi. They do not have a thing to do with 9 11. That was the beginning of our problems. I may have existed before this but that caused all this nonsense. We do not even know who isis is. Isis could be the, if you pulled off the mask of one of these isis guys, you might find dick cheney under one of the foods. These people are making money left and right, hand over fist. Host randy from fort worth texas, republican line. Caller in reference to Kayla Mueller rescue mission, there was an interview with her on it yesterday. She was asking, it took the white house six weeks after they have the location of this particular lady and all of the intelligence information that was needed to gather and rescue this lady. And rescue personnel asked the white house for permission to go get her. President obama sets on this for six weeks. Then finally the day after she was killed my point is this. President obama is not a leader. He should never have been the president. We need somebody that is going to leave this country. Of course were going to lose good people. Unfortunately, a lot of people are going to die. We have got to say this country. We have got to stop isis are there coming to kill us. Host the president being quoted in an interview he did with the website buzz feed. He said it was also an interview when the president was asked about the idea of paying off the hostages to be released. Heres a bit of his response. [begin video] a jet think it is accurate to say the United States have not done everything we could. We devoted enormous resources to frame cap captives anywhere in the world. I deployed an entire operation at significant risk to rescue not only her but the other individuals that had been held and probably missed them by a day or two precisely because we had the commitment. The one thing we have held to is the policy of not paying ransoms with an organization like isis. The reason is that once we start doing that is not only are we financing a their slaughter the snp will and beginning the organization, we are making mertens greater targets for future kidnappings. [end video clip] host your opinion on the conflict. Host norman from new york, democrat lynn. Caller i just wanted to say that it is the rich versus the poor. [indiscernible] over here we are fighting for corporate rights. All of the dollars we are willing to blow up innocent people. You could take that money and spend it here and give a lot of these poor people and minorities jobs. Consider just throwing them in jail. And sometimes killing them. Host newport beach, California Republican line. Caller thank you for taking my call. A couple of things that are kind of important to put into retrospect here. Oyuthe president doesnt do everything publicly. He traded five people from guantanamo to get Bowe Bergdahl back. We got him back. We do not see the english cutting his off in the desert. The bottom line to the story is these people have no qualms about doing anything despicable in order to get some press. Ok . You cannot let this go on. What has happened is were doing exactly what we should not do. We should not have boots on the ground. Everybody agrees with that. We should be doing something to stop them. We should be helping the kurds right now which of be helping them to take out the military aspect of isis. And it degrade them. If we can do that, were going to get the guys. We have to go and get our hostages when we can get them. As much as you want to fault the president , i think is doing a pretty good job. Host on the page of usa today the headline story also includes reaction from congress who saw john mccain earlier. The reporter saying the death of Kayla Mueller host today a hearing at the Homeland Security committee taking a look at homegrown terrorist as well. That is taking place at 10 00 on cspan3 if you want to watch what goes on there right after this program this morning. Alex you are next from California Independent line. Caller hello. Thank you for taking my call. I do not know if i agree with republicans or democrats. I decided i will call on the intended line. Independentminded i am angry that isis feels they can get away with these disgusting actss they do acts acts acts with people around the world. A girl wanted to do nothing but help the world. Eiffel discussed the five that. Im waiting for the next american president that cause a war. I do not even know the word. I am waiting for the moment that thing president calls for a war on these people. I am there as a soldier. I will be ready to fight against these evil. It is humanity itself. Host the Senate Armed Services committee has a nomination of Ashton Carter become the next head of the Defense Department adding a full vote could take place as early as today. Maxine, independent mind. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my calls. Isis. My opinion of isis is their strategy is to kill us with 1000 touches. Each one of these the headings in these killings that they are doing they are weakening the head of our government. They have no desire to fight them. I have no idea why. You cannot treat this group as you would a classroom. He is acting more like a professor than a president. I am so angry. I agree with the man from tennessee. The woman from texas, i want to know where her humanity is to blame the victim. Where is your humanity . Are you that jaded that you cannot see innocent people trying to help around the world and this is what happens to them . I cannot take it anymore. I do not know what were going to do until we get a president in there that can leave this military. He is the greatest military force in the world. What good is it . What good is it . Host robert from louisiana. Democrat lynn. Caller everybody wants to put in the military. Dont your number we had in 1945 [indiscernible] we did not know what to do. We dropped a tampon. Why dont we just dropped a bomb on their and eradicate the whole situation . We dont want to send troops over there. Just dropped the bomb. No more batda man. Host there will be a reduction of troops into a bowl of. 113 u. S. Troops were assisting their will be returning home by april 30. The white house will continue to fund thousands of nationals to fight it. From georgia, this is democrat mine. We are asking about the hostage killings in your opinion of isis. Caller good morning page oh and cspan viewers. My opinion about this whole disgusting masttter and im not blaming the victims, but if we keep sending people over there as freelance you know, reporters and Health Workers or whatever these people will take them hostage and execute them. And i dont understand why people are still going over there. It is like we are feeding them to these people. Another thing, i would like to follow up on why not use a lowyield atomic weapon to just take care oft hese guys once and for all . Find out whot their leader is and wherever they gather to receive their orders or whatever. Drop a low yielfd bomb on them and i think we could eradicate that whole problem. Host rick from louisville, kentucky. Caller it always seems that politics divide this country even when it comes to life. Jordan took care of the problem immediately because they did not have an election coming. This makes me sick. You nkow know what . An immediate and full response is what should happen. We will allow it to drag on for 10 years through two or three more elections. Host brick from louisville about 10 minutes left. Your thoughts on the hostage killings in your opinion on the conflict against isis it is the lead story taking a look at potential changes to plans for afghanistan. This is missy ryan caller my name is tony from new jersey. Host go ahead. Caller i would like to say that america is the only country with the political will to do what is necessary. Although we may be criticized by leaders around the world at night, im sure they chose america for doing the right thing. Thank you very much. Host we will now hear from ron republican line. Caller good morning, pedro. I have one comment on the piece of afghanistan. It is important for us to realize that it comes to a point in which you get so low and your combat troops that you do not have any effective forces to do any fighting or security. With respect to isis, you have the jordanian response. Once a person is taken by isis we do not like to say it, but the likelihood of them comin ho0meme is slim. It is important for us to attack physically. It is the only way we will do with this problem. Host when it comes to the case in alabama concerning same sex the federal judge making news reentered it. From east alton illioninois harold caller and completely appalled by the way the hostages have been beheaded and burned. It is time for us to do something and we get the people we have off the and maybe not torture them like waterboarding i am against waterboarding. I think Something Like maybe playing the barneys something translated and muslim and put it to their prisoners in a loud tone for horusurs and maybe put that on the internet and let people watch them as they are being listening to their thing and let a goodbye to people that you could end up on the internet and one of the cells listening to barney. Host good morning. I feel that [indiscernible] when obama is making a play to get a hostage people are here getting killed from obamacare. We are getting mad among ourselves. We are helping isis. The hatred that we have over here. [indiscernible] host denise from maryland, independent line. Caller i am just wondering why were only talking about isis. There is al qaeda. There is the taliban. There is boko haram. Boko haram has killed over 2000 people in nigeria. And do not understand why were only talking about isis. There are terrorist groups, many , and we are only talking about isis. Host what should be the general reaction about the groups you mentioned . Caller honestly, there are so many terrorist groups spread all around the world. I really do not i think we should honestly protect our borders. Do not think we should spend any troops over to the middle east anymore. We have done that. We have had enough of that. A couple of politics stories for you. Talking about hillary clinton. Host louisiana, good morning. Caller it is very sad that these people have been killed. My heart goes out to the family. However, isis is doing these killings to provoke a war. We should not take the bait. The people i believe will be goteten but president obama is a very smart person. There are terrorist all over the middle east including nigeria. Host i think jean has left us. Thats even last call we will do topic. Coming up, discussions with two legislators joining us talking about terrorism and other issues. Martha mcsally will join us as a republican from arizona. Later on we will not only talk about conflict but talk about issues involving the ukraine. Joining us will be marcyy kapnur. The white house Cyber Security and counterterrorism adviser announced the formation of a new agency yesterday that was designed to be a new Intelligence Center for cyber threat. Here is a bit of that event. [begin video] it has become clear that we can do more as a government to quickly consolidate, analyze and provide assessment of fastmoving threats and cyberattacks. As president obama said, we will make sure our government integrates intelligence to combat Cyber Threats just as we have done to comabt terrorism. I am pleased to announce that we will establish any new Cyber Threat Intelligence integration center. Under the auspices of the director of national intelligence. Currently, no single Government Entity is responsible for producing coordinated cyber threat assessments, ensuring the information is shared rapidly among other elements of the nut government in supporting the work of operators and policymakers with timely intelligence about the latest Cyber Threats. It is intended to fill these gaps. In this vein, it will serve a similar function for cyber as the National Terrorism center does for terrorism. Integrating intelligence about Cyber Threats, combining all analysis to policymakers and operators in supporting the work of existing woodrow cyber centers, Law Enforcement communities. It will not collect intelligence. It to analyze and integrate information already collected under existing authorities. Nor will it perform functions already assigned to other centers. It is intended to enable them to do their jobs more effectively. As a result, make the federal government more effective as a whole in responding to Cyber Threats. [end video clip] to see the full clip, go to cspan. Org. You can type Cyber Threats and fold abilities in our cspan library. Joining us now is mark Martha Mcsally. A freshman republican. The morning. We bring you on as event yesterday took place. Can you give us your reaction of one means for the larger issues at stake . My thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones. I cannot imagine what they are going through right now. She is an amazing young woman who had a heart to make a difference in the world. That is why she was where she was, trying to help the people of syria. The fact that a barbarian organization took her captives and it has been confirmed that she has died it just shows the dynamics related to isis and how it impacts people at home. We think it is something that is far away. This is my home state. We have people grieving in arizona because their daughter has been killed. This is a horrible red an organization that needs to be destroyed. Host what do you think about the current state of isis . Guest it has been inadequate. It took a long time for the administration to describe what they were trying to do when they started to take military action. We sell this threat coming based on our withdraw from iraq. After all the blood and treasure we sent their. It was disgusting to see that we had made the gains that we have made. We have hostages, the flow of weapons and cbs strong as they are right now. The administration decided to act militarily. It is diplomatic and military. We are using the military. We should not be having is so restrained and not allowed to use force in order to destroy the military capabilities and command and control of isis. Host 26 years at a fire Fighter Pilot. Are those the ones big use for the bombings . Guest they are. Some portion. It has been about 14 of the strike. We also have f16s and other bomber capabilities. Host as far as the use of the airplanes, talk about their capabilities. When you say a mission to isis should there be more bombings or a combination of a lot of angst. Guest if it is allowed to be use in its full force, they can do incredible stuff. We do not need to bring in a full ground force but we need to use the asymmetrical capabilities we have with intelligence assets. When early on when isis is on the open we really could have gone after and cut off their command a control on their heavy firepower they had before they started blending more into communities. The airplane i flew right here has a 30 millimeter gun on it. Extraordinary survivability capability. We have a titanium backed up we sit and that can carry a variety of gps air missiles and rockets. Really depending on what the mission is, it has long lead her time. It is lethal. It can go down low and slow and try to identify what is going on in the battlefield. When we are talking about nonauthorities free have a party and you know what you are going for and you can take it out with the coordinates or with your eyes, it is easy to do from the air. Trying to identify moving target were civilians are involved in their blending in with the enemy, then it does help to bring joint terminal tactic control, guys on the ground. They are the ones we talked to. They provide the final control in the target coordinates. Those are things we could use to be forceful. In order to able to use air assets more strongly. Host a former fighter commander and pilot and freshman member of congress here to take your calls on strategies against isis and other topics. You can send email jou rnal cspan. Org. The president lays out things when it comes to ground troops. That is calling for concerns. What are your thoughts initially about how he might react . Host we will wait to see what is in it. I do think it is appropriate for there to be an authorization. Right now were using the authorization that was post9 11 and then the iraq authorization. This is a different fight. Having been in the military and Counterterrorism Operations in u. S. africa command, we want to make sure, now that i am in the other side of it, that we allow the military commander to use the capabilities they have in order to get the job in object it done. We are not limiting them. When i was running counterterrorism in africa, it the current one that was interpreted actually was lamenting to us. We are trying to adjust terrorists targets in africa because of the way it was written. Ive seen on the other end when were in the military and trying to get the job done but we are getting bogged down in legal analysis as to whether this guy who is an approved on the terrorist list but part of an organization that has not been identified as an affiliate to al qaeda meets the criteria. Ive seen on the other end. Now that im in a role providing oversight to congress, we want to make sure that as far as i am frustrated with this president he still be commander in chief. We want to ensure he is the tools available to get the job done whether we think he is credible or not. Host this concept of indoor a enduring ground forces. Guest we will wait to see what the wording is. We do have different perspectives i think. This seems to be a political thing. It is strange to me as someone who wore the uniform. It should be cut and dry what we are trying to do to make sure that the commanderinchief has the tools he needs to meet the objectives to adjust the threat to america. Putting limits on the in clauses in things like that, we have to think that through. How are we going to make sure that we are not interrupting and ability to meet a military objective. I do not think it is appropriate for this administration or any to say what they are not going to do to the enemy. As soon as you take certain things off the table enemy is allowed to then take advantage of that using their asymmetrical capabilities knowing that we have Party Declared we do not have the political will to do this or that. That is not the way we should be interesting addressing threats to our national interests. We need to be careful that we do not have such restrictions of the commander in chief to not do what they need to do. I get it. He had been at work for over 13 years. The last thing we need is some significant commitment of ground troops. To go over there to another conflict or another hot zone up with a lives on the line. I do not take that lightly. s we have seen isis as a terrorist threat to us. We have seen it close to home here in arizona. With their own being lost. We had to make sure the president and the military have the tools they need. I will wait to see with the wording is. I look forward to being part of it. Host we have viewers lined up to talk. First up is john from Louisiana Republican line. Youre on. Go ahead. Caller good morning. I am a retired Old Air Force pilot, quite a bit older then you. I retired in 1994. It has been fascinating over the years. I did go to congress. I went to fight for delta airlines. My career stretched from a tour in vietnam flying caribous to do desert storm which was like the last scrap i got into. I was a tanker pilot. There were lessons to be learned. Desert storm was the way the military was supposed to use when used as a portion of national policy. They established the job. They went in and did it. When it was done, they left. For some reason, and i think it harkens back to vietnam when Lyndon Johnson made the boast that nobody could comment out house without his permission. The commanderinchief is the president of the United States. I support the constitution. I have my commission and i believe it. But it seems like the politics or the ideology of politics is getting too much into the operational constraints. Host we will have to leave it there. Thank you. I appreciate it. Guest thank you for your service, first of all. Thank you for serving as a pilot and in uniform. I appreciate that. I think i hear from your sentiment that what we do not want is the president we need to make sure the men have the tools that they need, but it does not make sense for the white house to be military operations. I agree with that. Setting conditions, the objective, and the strategy. Letting the military commanders do what they need to do to get the job done. Host from florida, mike, good morning. Caller i agree with the last caller we should probably go in hard and it should not be a political thing. My question is, how are we, the American People, already in debt to the tune of 55,000 each, how are we expected to pay for that . How do you intend to pay for the war . I will take my answer off the air. Thank you. I am concerned about our increasing debt. This is about whether the next generations are going to be able to sustain this as well. I do believe we have to get our fiscal house in order here the most important job in the federal government is to protect federal citizens and their vital interests. We cannot afford we need to be a good steward of resources for sure. I will work in my policy to make sure we are good stewards of resources, but we cannot ignore growing threats around the world that are threats to our country. We have got to make sure we resource and equip the military for what they need to do to deter aggression, get into places where we do not have access to deal with the breath and depth of the things were doing now, like isis. Other islamic extremists organizations. We need to use all elements of our National Power to include diplomatic allies and other means like financial and economic, but using the military where we need to to destroy this capability. Host would you use acquisitions like what happens with the f 35 . Guest sure. We need acquisition reform. Everybody agrees with that. There is too much waste going on and too much time, by the way 1015 years to develop the capability. Much more innovative. That is not helping us. When we are looking at the pentagon budget, we need to gain savings, even with the salami sliced approach that does not allow decisionmaking. It is pretty much across the board cuts. We are having a hearing on that today in the committee and different strategic choices that might need to be made. Even with that, i have friends who are still in the military and at the end of september, there is usually a spending spree that goes on. Use it or lose it is the way the rules are. Even with all that, there is still some ways that needs to be dressed within the pentagon for sure, the pentagon other areas that have been cut. I do disagree with the administration in trying to mothball the capability, because of men and women are underground under fire in harms way, this brings a capability to them to be low and lethal one thing i think should be highlighted especially thinking about the situation with the jordanian pilot is conversation rescue. They bring capability no other air was brings to make sure to isolate personnel, go in, communicate, locate them protect them, and get them out of there safely. Host does phoenix, arizona manufacture any . Host guest i came to Southern Arizona to fly the a10. I commanded the one operational squadron. We have about 80 in my district. That is not the reason i am advocating for it. We have got to make sure we have a Strong Military. When we send americas sons and daughters somewhere and they need help from overhead, and circumstances, civilians are very close, the a10 is the best capability to put over their head to make sure they live to fight another day and get home to their families. Host from South Carolina, don. Caller just give you a perspective, i served in the 40 for a fourth deposit wing. How i see this is it is more a problem of rule of law in iraq. There is none. Isis is a band of motorcycle gang. I am not sure military solution, total military solution, is the way to go. It were me, i would set up a National Guard and let city elders determined how many slots they need, and then pay villagers to become National Guardsmen. Let the elders choose who gets those slots, 1000 a month. Give them some hope. Thank you for your perspective. I appreciate it. I agree that military is only one element of the National Power we need to be using but there are military capabilities, conventional Weapons Systems that we need to use firepower in order to destroy and stop their ability to do it theyre doing. We have got to cut off their finances, but you are right there are roaming around in ungoverned spaces in iraq and syria very a challenge we are having is to make sure others and not us are securing those areas, especially where the communities and civilians are living to provide what the government is most of the doing of his people. These are having in iraq and. We could embolden the regime by striking isis but not addressing the totalitarian regime that aside have, and in iraq, we have been propping up the government for way too long. We have got to do what we can to provide a wedge between the sunni tried and isis. Host james from columbus, ohio, democrats line. Caller good morning. I will not question your credibility. It probably with your foresight and the iraqsituation. I do not care how many ices come out either or whoever we knock out there, there will be another one that comes up. We can keep fighting the battle over and over. We removed all these strongarmed dictators and now these people are running wild. That is why reagan got out of there and we need to let these evil loan, let them fight, get it over with, whoever becomes the next winner, their the winter. We can fight a nationstate. We cannot go in the cities and determine who is the enemy and who is not. The president should not have his finger on the button. It is crazy. If we drop a bomb on the school, who will be worse possible for that . The president. I appreciate your opinion and you said Something Like, leave them alone. The problem is they are not setting up white picket fences and leaving their families. This is an islamic, Extremist Organization that is in conflict with us and wants to destroy us and our way of life here at they want capabilities so they can come hurt us over here. Id prefer america to play away games instead of home games to protect america and american citizens. I agree the military is not the only answer, but it is certainly one element of how we need to be engaging this serious threat. We need to use all elements of National Power in a way that achieves those objectives. We cannot just let them continue to grow and continue to gain his abilities. There are tens of thousands of foreign fighters going into the region right now that also have western and u. S. Passports. This is a threat that we cannot just set up our isolationists mindset and a deal with it later. It is certainly not what we have been used to. In my lifetime early on, it is a threat we are doing with right now and in central america. From virginia, this is charles. Go ahead. Caller i agree with what the president has done. It has been frustrating and embarrassing to a degree. Two points i want to make. Number one, we have got to drag europe and is in a bigger way. They contribute practically nothing compared to our effort and meanwhile the second thing is, why we went in there to offer airpower help to iraq without getting that agreement done. We could have forced them into that one with this. Thank you. Guest thank you for your perspective. We could have had an agreement years back when it was given up on, which put us in the situation we are in now, where we had gained capabilities and at least allowed the west and Northern Areas of iraq to be somewhat stabilized. Then we walked away. I agree we should have had an agreement, and we lost the opportunity, for sure. The first point, what was it . I drew a blank. Host i did not keep track of it because i was looking at other things. A debate going on about the future of funding for Homeland Security, do you think there will be a partial shutdown come the end of february . I hope not. I live on the border and on one of the nine districts on the border. We cannot be messing around with our funding of Homeland Security especially with the threats we are talking about today. We need to find a solution and due at the president s overreach, but need to be funding the department passes Homeland Security while doing that. One way we need to address some of the challenges coming up related to immigration is we need to solve the problem ourselves. This is congresss job. I think it was totally and appropriate. He said he could not do it he did and many did it. The way we solve the problem is doing our job and solving our Legal Immigration system, securing the border and solving the problem ourselves. Host what will happen if there is no resolve . I understand people will still show up and then they will not be paid . Yes. My understanding is about 85 of them will still have to come to work. These are my constituents, people working every day putting on the uniform and Border Security and other organizations. We are asking them to continue to go to work or not get paid. I artie heard from many of them. It is not the way for us to be doing business in washington dc. We have got to address the president s overreach but not to where we are putting our Homeland Security at risk or the men and women out there doing their job, some of them are living paycheck to paycheck to ensure their families are paid care for. We tell them to put the uniform on income to work but we will not pay because of our bickering going on in washington dc that is not the orientation i plan to bring as a veteran. Host the president introduced a budget that would remove sequestration caps on the Defense Department. It comes up taxation as well. Are you supportive of the president s plan when it comes to lifting the caps. Guest not on how he goes about it, but i believe sequestration is not the way to do business right now. We need to address gaining savings in the Defense Department where we can hear it right now, we have a budget ace strategy instead of a strategy based budget. The hearing this morning, people want to tune into it, i think it would be really useful. We have something thanks to take a look at difficult choices they see as alternative options and even the way sequestration is, where the cuts earlier into the 10 year period than later, even in their drill they will talk about today, they have been taking very significant shortterm risk, and they get to add manpower later on in the cycle because of things being relieved a little bit here that is not the way to go. We need to make sure the military has the equipment and training and readiness to get the job done they are deployed to do right now and investing in the future for any future threats coming along with the cyberspace and all the things we need to address to keep our country safe and secure. I believe we need to be lifting those caps, but we need to do how we will gain savings at a with our military to keep us safe. Host you can watch that hearing at 10 00. Guest there is also an Armed Service committee one at the same time with things think tanks talking about strategic choices and some challenges we have with sequestration. Host representative Martha Mcsally, republican from arizona. On the line, go ahead. Caller i would like our congress to speak up and speak out against our president and acting with everything is fine it is not fine. I want john boehner to speak up and speak out against this president. This president is the leader of isis, in case the American People do not know it, he is for isis anyones eyes is to win. He will let them win until we get a real american to stand up for our country. We are doomed, people. Guest i appreciate your perspective. Host is our security some portman, why not have a clean bill pass a clean dhs bill . Guest i want to make sure we keep our country safe and secure and that we address the issue by revamping and modernizing our system. That is my perspective i am providing to our leadership and i appreciate it if others calling to congress that. We revamp our system but the president should not be overreaching. He should not be addressing the issues he did with executive overreach but we have got to solve the problem ourselves. Host this is david, go ahead. Caller good morning cspan and the wonderful cspan audience. Representative, i would hope when youre sitting in the committee room, that someone or yourself brings up a Statistical Analysis and by that, i mean this. To the best of my knowledge since 9 11, we have had 68 murder terrorist attacks of civilians or Army Personnel killed in the United States. To the best of my knowledge over in the area you are talking about, the death count has been 500,000 to one million based on bombing, and sanctions to our people. Probably the great bulk is civilian. I hope that someone brings this up in your committee hearings, number one. And number two, you have to remember this. Our great leader, George Washington, do not involve yourselves in foreign affairs. Guest thank you for your perspective. I appreciate it. We have got tens of thousands of foreign fighters flowing into the area right now where isis is, including many westerners witnesses in their testimony said they think it is about 3400 and 150 americans. That is just a number we know about. Homegrown extremists, inspired by isis using social media and acting on their own. This is a complex situation Somebody Just inspired some to take terrorist action at home. This organization, isis, that is Training Foreign fighters including to terrorize individuals there and a threat to our international interests. This is a complex issue but we cannot do one or the other. It has to be an all of the above strategy from my perspective in order to address the growing threat. We also are taking efforts to counter at extremist ideology abroad and home. Host have members of your committee reached out to you for input and background especially on military affairs . Is absolutely. Great conversations so far. Briefings last week as well. But yes, absolutely. I really look forward to continuing those discussions. Being a unique perspective. Only 28 of veterans in congress right now. Having the military, it is something very useful for us. Making these decisions and providing oversight. Host what wanted you to become a Fighter Pilot . Guest they told me i cannot hear women were not allowed. It was against the law back then. Even though we would go through the same training as men. It in no sense to me. I just decided that i would prove them wrong and i was in the right place at the wrong at the right time. Host from virginia, our independent line, go ahead. Caller good morning, pedro, and good morning representative mix sally mcsally. I will take the answer off the air. My question is i am assuming the authorization for use of military forces Congress Giving them authorization to the president is a foregone conclusion. My only question is, are we going to put this warm plastic or do we plan to pay for it . Guest we will wait to see what the white house sense to us. I think it is an important part of the democratic process, where risk and take a look at what the president is asking for and we provide authorization when were using military force for specific reasons. I think that is a good thing. A previous caller talked about the cost. I agree with you, im concerned about the cost. But again, we cannot afford not to address the threats. We need to be good stewards of our resources. Can you imagine, if we had another terrorist attack largescale or several smallscale ones, the impact that would have on our economy and our way of life and other things, lost or hurt in that there and we have got to protect america and our way of life and have got to make sure we are good stewards of the resources and not wasting money. Defending our freedoms is a fundamental responsibility. Host oregon, next for our guest, go ahead. Caller thank you for taking my call. My question is, [indiscernible] host hold on, i think we got that. Talked about the proposal to bring back the draft. Guest what proposal . Host i guess asking what your thoughts are on bringing the draft. Guest we have amazing men and women right now raising their right hands to put on the uniform to defend us. It is about 1 of the country. So i agree that sometimes can be a disconnect between the rest of the population and those serving on multiple deployments over and over again to places like the middle east and really all over the world but i do not think it is pragmatic or realistic at this point for us to be bringing back a draft. There is certainly debate that could happen in our society but we have got a tremendous all volunteer force getting the job done. Host carl in Florida Republican line. Caller hello. Host you are on. Go ahead. Caller im concerned with the situation. We are putting our military in countries, some of the richest countries in the world. Are they sharing in the expense of the war . Guest that is a great question. The caller earlier asked about european allies stepping up. I agree this is something many countries need to be involved in on many levels to include financially those who are contributing militarily there it is certainly a man best interest to do so. Their way of life is at stake as well. I agree we should be sharing the responsibilities and we should have more participation. Some of our allies like you need to be stepping up to do more to stop the flow of foreign fighters in the flow of lack market oil. But i agree our allies should also be helping to pay the bill very it bill. Host how may times have you run . Guest three. The first election primary which is really short, sweet the a days long, and in the 2012 election, the regular election am a where i came to freshman orientation, they ended up carrying more votes and then if the viewers remember, i was the last race in the country to be called an 2014. I won by 167 votes after an extended count and a recount in my race is not all until the 17th. When he found out the figure, what went through your mind . It reminded me every vote matters and i thought about all the as we did, the tireless, long days. Making phone calls, doing everything we did in order to win the election very i hope everybody realizes their vote matters. When there is such a small margin like that. Everybody who hosted a meeting agreed, volunteered, participated am i can really claim the victory. It makes it personal for people and remind people it makes a difference. Host representative gabby gifford, did you hear from her or any other look and senators . Host i have not guest i have not heard from her directly but i have gotten a lot of advice. The best thing that i can do right now is a good job. 50 of the people in the community did not over me. We have been reaching out making sure i realized deaths they realize im representing everybody. I am focusing on the things that unite us and not divide us. It represents america, quite frankly. There is a bell curve and a tremendous amount of needs and perspectives and diversity. I will be looking for the things that matter to us all, really the economy and security. Those are my focus areas. We want to make sure our families are safe and secure their we have artie got one guy who says he will run against me. That is certainly not my focus right now. I have only been here 37 days or so. Host gary, democratic line. Caller i want to understand these 40,000 feet and around all of these countries, you are trying to tell me they cannot defeat 30 or 40,000 terrorist they cannot do it unless the United States goes to war over there . I will never believe that. It just dont make no sense to me. Can you help me understand that . Thank you for letting me talk. Guest absolutely. This is not as simple as 30,000 guys lined up in an Army Battalion and we just need somebody go hit the target. It is not that simple very it is a very asymmetric force are there fighting hybrid warfare. They are taking hostages and blending into civilian places. Using conventional military capabilities. They are barbaric and the way they are terrorizing people. Look at how theyre using social media and showing the beheadings and the burning alive of a jordanian pilot. This is not what maybe you grew up thinking about what i military to military conflict might look like. We have got to be able to use the asymmetric capabilities we have because this fight is not just against the people in iraq and syria. It is a generational conflict against islamic extremists and we are their main target. They want nothing more than to be able to attack america the and our way of life and our freedoms and what we believe in merit it is an ideological struggle and they have military capabilities and they do not want to just stay where they are. We have got to address the complicated threat by being the leader of the free world, which is who we are. I agree with the callers who said our allies need to be involved. Those in the middle east need to be involved. Sunni countries may be stepping up more to address the threats in the middle Eastern Region as well. It is our role to lead. Our responsibility and our role and i think we can do that and continue to do it at her than we are now. Host one more call, indiana, independent line. Dale, good morning. Caller good morning. Yes. I am a vietnam veteran. With the engagement, we had to encourage rules of engagement in vietnam. These guys have gotten even worse rules of engagement. It is like you want to tie their hands. And you know, do not shoot until you are shot at. You talked to some of the activeduty guys, the combat team. You got 22 suicides a day from veterans. It is like the goatherd or. How many lives was lost, noting he was an enemy, but they were afraid to be courtmartialed. They disposed of him. It dont make any sense. You are either going in there to win, and not drag it out like so many years, you have got 4000, 5000 dead now. Young americans. When are you going to go in there to win . Guest thank you for your service. Thank you all Vietnam Veterans for your service. You did not get the welcome home that we get every time we get back from deployment. Our country owes you a daily gratitude a debt of gratitude for your sacrifice. I agree there are sometimes rules of engagement that tie the hands of them. We have got to keep in mind, also, this is a complex circumstance where the enemy is blending in with the civilians. We will not just go out and take out entire villages. We do not kill or target civilians. The strategic implications of going that direction could inflame the insurgency against us for the long run. This is a complex situation but i agree with you we have clear military objectives and then we tell our chain of command, down to the quick the foot shoulder soldier on the ground, this is how you take it out and there is no confusion there. You should not be putting them in clinical circumstances where they cannot get their jobs done, or they are putting their lives in danger or they are having to wait until certain circumstances until they are allowed to use lethal force. I agree generally with what youre saying, we should make sure our troops at the rules of engagement so they can get the job done, but keep in mind this is a complex circumstance as well. Host guest representative Martha Mcsally. Thank you for your time. Coming up, calling later on, we will visit with the head of the allmale college in atlanta. That is as we continue after this. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, caller [indiscernible] which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] here are some of our featured programs for this president s day weekend on the cspan network. And send then i clock p. M. Eastern on afterwards, David Axelrod on his 40 years in politics. On American History tv on cspan three, saturday morning the 100 anniversary of the release of the film a birth of a nation. Followed by a live callin program with harry jones and author declare. Sunday 8 00 on the presidency, George Washington portraits, focusing on how artist captured the spirit and what we can learn about them through the paintings. Let us know what you think about the programs youre watching. Call us and you can email us a comment at cspan. Org or send us a tweet. Join the cspan conversation like us on a split, follow us on twitter. The Political Landscape has changed with the 100 14th congress. 43 new republicans and 15 new democrats in the house, 12 new republicans and one new democrat in the senate, 108 women in congress, including the first africanamerican republican house. Keep track of the members of congress using congressional chronicle on cspan. Org. The page has a lot of useful information there, including results and statistics about each session of congress. Cspan, cspan2, cspan radio and cspan. Org. Host as we continue our discussion this morning, you just heard from representative Martha Mcsally from arizona. Another joining us, marcy kaptur , democrat of ohio. A member of the congressional ukrainian caucus. She is their founder and cochair. Good morning. Good morning to you and your listeners. Host the Washington Times has a look at ukraine. Why is that . Is a difficult situation. Ukraine is asking for weapons to meet with the eastern border. No question russias capabilities are much greater than ukraine. To leave it defenseless is not in the interest of ukraine either. I think theyre walking a very narrow line trying to do and against the rocket and the tanks coming in. In trying to defend their easter egg. Why escalation now when things have been quiet over the last few weeks and months . Click they have not been quiet. Russia has been creeping onto the eastern territories of ukraine, working her way down to the black sea through crimea for example. Europe, because of their reliance on russia or energy has been very reluctant. We saw Angela Merkel from germany. Met with the president. She came with the united dates. Very transfixed. Very torn because of russias his ability to manipulate the Energy Markets of europe. Ukraine looks to the United States as an honest broker. It is a country that supported nato though ukraine right now is not asking for nato status. If you were to look back a decade and say, what went wrong i think what went wrong is that the free world and not find a landing pad for the rain on the military side. There could have been another aggregation of nation perhaps as george giving her a stepping stone to europe and to the security umbrella of europe, but not affecting the nato status, which threatens russia. It lost 22 Million People. Russias not comfortable with europe, completely, either. One has to take this progressively. Ukraine having no security umbrella is terribly dangerous. Host what is in the white house reactions . Guest theyre listening, but cautiously, obviously. Complicated by russiau. S. Interests in other parts of the world there is nothing president obama and Vice President biden have not been triggerhappy, thank god. We have had president s who are and have not fully thought through the consequences there is i think they are now listening and they worked very hard to walk in tandem with our european allies. Ukraine could be the greatest in europe for agricultural bounty. Looking forward, extraordinary. But, right now she is that a critical moment and it feels like 1789 in ukraine, when our nation was founded. Their Young Leaders are coming forward. I brought you a picture of some of their leaders on the front page of roll call last week. I asked one of them, are you thomas jefferson, are you George Washington . I am Patrick Henry. There at the very beginning of the stage. Host the leaders are asking for military assistance . Yes. The leaders, very brave. When asked by the press, are you supporting defense of a to the ukraine, they said, i am there for that reason there it an extraordinary statement by christian leader. Understanding that his citizenry , theyre being killed by the russians, no ability to defend themselves. Host efforts by the ukraine and the United States, representative mark of ohio, the congressional ukrainian caucus founder and cochair. You have questions about this, you can give her a call and ask her questions. And if you want to send us an email, you can do so. It was a joint hearing with chancellor merkel that the president referenced ukraine, talking little bit about the weapons aspect and talked about the sanctions currently going on there it want you to listen to a little bit of what they had to say and then get your reaction area reaction. [video clip] the International Community together can ratchet up the cost for sovereignty and territorial integrity. That is exactly what we have done an russia has paid a second cost for its actions first in crimea and now in eastern ukraine. It has not yet dissuaded mr. Putin from following the course he is on. But it has created a measurable negative impact on the russian economy. That will continue. My hope is that through the diplomatic efforts, those costs have become high enough that mr. s preferred option is for a diplomatic resolution. Mr. s mr. Putins preferred option is for diplomatic resolution. Guest we are at the beginning of aware for ukraine. I think because russia is a Nuclear Power, it can overwhelm ukraine. We have to use means that yield the end result we want, independent, sovereign ukraine. In a way that limits carnage. I think the president is on the right track and russia is paying the price already with these sanctions and the ukraine freedom that we passed in the house and senate, with the president has signed. Additional sanctions we can place on russia. I personally do favor the United States through our european allies, so she can defend herself. Over 5000 people, they have lost as many people in the ukraine as the united dates waft in the war in iraq over a decade. They lost it in less than a year. The carnage has been sick and. In many ways, is the American People saw how undefended the ukraine is, and they will have to make the decisions to defend themselves. Host a call this morning from bob, california, independent line. Caller good morning, congresswoman. I have a, that probably partially answers my question. How do we stomach going and handinhand for the 19th time for a Peace Agreement with mr. Putin, absorbing the humiliation of this, where the man has no intention, my comment partially answers that. Mr. Putin has got a high approval rating, but they do not have any approval for any military actions by him against ukraine area im wondering if multiple times, going hat in hand, that it becomes hard for his press own country, she then has to get just kicked out, but coming out handinhand, with all of the other countries in europe it becomes hard for them to block that information. If military action breaks out it might be hard for them coming hat in hand, and then somehow filtering through a Strong Military action, it makes a cost to him that may filter through and may really be the damaging after their it that is a partial answer to the question. Guest first of all, i think we have to limit the damage to ukraine area if we think about the time where the soviet union collapsed, to the squash for decades. Collapsed economically. With sanctions, yes, they do take time and overtime, they have an enormous impact. Meanwhile, we have to do whatever we can diplomatically and am a from a military stamp like, provide the ukraine with a greater ability to defend, but also recognize some things on the globe have shifted. One of the reasons europe has been very slow to act is because shes energy d pendant dependent on russia and it reminds us how coordinate is for us to position ourselves to be a provider of energy in places like europe. We become Energy Independent ourselves. It also aid in europe. We have to reposition the economy and europe, and that will not just be done in a few days or months. But we are on target to do that and the importance of giving europe freedom again from an energy standpoint, in my opinion, is the highest strategic priority we have here. Host from georgia, democrat line. Caller good morning. One thing i want to know or have a comment about is how easy america is always saying, lets go fight a war, how easy it comes out of our mouth. Because only 1 of americans is fighting the war. We need to bring back the draft. So all americans can fight back to work. The wealthy do not fight wars. Poor people fight wars. It is easy to say, lets go fight work. Host we got you, gary. Thank you. Guest thank you. No one is talking about troops in the ukraine. No one is really saying that. I listened to the segment regarding the middle east, syria, iraq area what surprised me about the entire segment was that not one person called in inside of syria and iraq area isil and the horrendous, murderous acts they are mating, they are sunnis. Foreign fighters coming in are sunnis. One crack one tribe that feels extra excluded from the government of iraq. The government of iraq is very unrepresentative. There is a tribal underpinning at work here we need to see as a country. We should not get caught in the middle of it and we need to understand what is going on in that art of the world that i agree with the gentleman, if we are not careful, we can be jaunt into a situation where we become the enemy. One of the reasons some of the sunni terrorists hate us so much is because they view us as supporting the government of iraq, heavily leaning toward the shia faction of iran. We became viewed as not a neutral rocher anymore and we had to extract ourselves from that dangerous precipice. The americans that have been killed have been caught in the middle of this struggle between the sunni and the shia. The unrepresentative nature of the iraq government itself. There is not a democracy over there. There is not an open society over there. We run the risk of being sucked into something that is so dangerous and it is important for the American People to understand that and those who think we will just om, bomb what . Om a village . Then create more enemies for the United States . We have to be strategic about what we do there and remember, our politics for the last century was governed on our dependence on oil from places like iraq. We have to become Energy Independent here at home to distract ourselves from situations that have been very deleterious to the United States. By the same token, wouldnt providing arms to the ukrainians suck is in a conflict against the and aggressing russia . Guest because rush is a Nuclear Power and can overwhelm the ukrainians, i give the president so much credit and Vice President biden so much credit and secretary kerry so much credit. The number of hours working with european allies, trying to figure out maneuverability from a diplomatic standpoint relative to ukraine thomas give them credit. More people could have been killed. We have a government in place in the ukraine, president poroshenko i think is the most capable leader i have seen their it you can just see liberty advancing. But we have to protect that and the question is how. It will require more than the United States. They devoted more than the amount of time, working with european allies and we need to keep the pace up. Thomas from landover, maryland thomas democrats line. Good morning. I guess my idea about stationing american troops in the ukraine is not a good idea, but i think i am not putting the mayor to fight russian troops. Russian troops, if they attack ukrainians and they injured american soldiers, there is a possibility the united dates might become involved there it im not putting them there with arms and new their web is and things like that. Let the russians know if a fire a missile or something, they might america might become more involved. That is just my idea. What about the idea of Arming Ukrainians or the u. S. Providing them . We will let him go. Go ahead. Guest i think he is thinking very clearly and the United States has to work with our european allies and any presence inside the ukraine has to be a european presence, in my opinion. But ukraine remains in no mans land. Though the new president of ukraine ultimately, when you say that an heres that, all of the awful memories of world war ii and european residents presence inside russia come to mind. Whatever has to be done has begun aggressively by not isolating russia. It is in russias interest to have a stable russia and a stable ukraine. As i said many times, the ukraine has to reach north west, east, and south. She is a borderland nation and should have relations with russia, not shut off relations with russia very but she is her own republic, her own nation. You can feel it when you go there and how the people behave, you can see the more open nature of ukraine. She has a right to be a nation in her own right. Not to exclude russia, but to have a stable republic adjacent to russia is in russias interest. Host as far as Arming Ukrainians, what would you call for from the United States as far as size and scope and things like that . . Got to work with the ukraine to make those decisions. I get emails, please give us kevlar vet vests, better socks, boots, guns that work, the ability to prevent tanks from coming into our villages. They were not asking for weapons to take russian territory. They were asking for help radio, so they could communicate. Terrible breakdowns in communication last year that caused a severe loss of life. You cannot leave people undefended like that. They have the ability to try to save their lives. What happened in the eastern edge is heroic. The world is not see what is happening, not really very but they have a right to not be so fearful, putting Nuclear Weapons aside. They deserve a right to be able to build her own country and defend themselves. Host here is robert from ohio. Independent line. Guest you are one of the most honest persons in washington. I agree with you on Energy Independent. I think we should try to give them the energy they needed so they could become independent from russia. I would like to see the pipeline go through and see federal land is opened up for energy development, just all kinds of energy we could ship over to europe and make them independent from russia. I like your ideas on that. I know you are Energy Independent, but the party seems to put roadblocks about the pipeline and federal lands. It has always been private land deducing energy. We have got i do not know, 30 of our lands are in federal hands. Look at all the energy. We could do it safely, i am sure. Thank you for calling in. Our region in Northern Ohio is a big refining region. I do not want to sound like a commercial advertisement here, but we have bp marathon, the new natural gas pipeline coming through our region. It is a new day for ohio in terms of the natural gas discoveries there it massive. A number of ports all around the great lakes, lake eatery, the seaway is the shortest the strengths distance to Northern Europe to all the conversion statements are being placed on the east coast and the south. Im all for that. But they are the shortest distance to europe in our region and i keep asking the question. To the east coast by either pipeline or train, or can we use that the speedway system into the ports that really need it . I remain interested in the issue as a member of the appropriations subcommittee there it i think what you say about drilling, the president has actually implemented executive actions that we are now producing more oil on federal lands than ever before under his presidency. It is one of the reasons you are seeing an unusual aberration in the gas market, where prices are coming down in our country because other countries outside our borders are pumping more because they see that we are now bringing up capacity, as well as canada is doing the same, that will create a different scenario in this century for the world energy market. I cannot wait to get there fast enough. Host a vote on keystone, how would you vote on it . Guest i support keystone, but i want the steel in it to be made in the usa. I do not want chinese feel. I want to make sure the trust fund is set up for liability that the paid for by the companies and not the taxpayers of the United States. I am a supporter of keystone as well as north american Energy Independent here to do it safely and and and and vendor environmentally safe way. There is a lot of debate about that. The construction jobs, there are thousands and jobs. Longterm, they say it will not be that many. He we have been drawn into the middle east in support of dictatorships. Part of the reason we do not have a very good reputation in the middle east among the people of many of the countries is that we have been in line with dictators and repressive regimes. Host the Associated Press reporting the president and his congress, the war authorization that the Islamic State poses a great threat. Do you agree . Host guest a number of Islamic States represent great threat to us and to other interests in the region. We are doing everything we can to trim their sails and meet the enemy had on. The most important action we could our country and our own interest is to become Energy Independent as fast as we can. Your initial thoughts against isis . Guest it appears as though the statement being drafted sounds responsible. Even mind, if all we do is kill sunni tribesmen and we favor the shia, we are powering iran. It is in the worlds interest that i ron not become a Nuclear Power. Is all that going to collapse if we take precipitous action . Maybe. Against the sunni tribesmen, against the sunni terrorists that might make iran think a little bit more open to negotiations. It is hard to calculate for some of those regimes what they might do, but i just want people to recognize the playing field. It is not just a simple that we try to kill the set of terrorists that happened along to this try. Personally, i think that all of these fighters are foreign fighters are largely sunni. Why dont he works with we work with the tribesmen on the ground . And those who have been largely sidelined . They have an interest in their own line. It is in americas interest to have a more balanced approach in that region, and not the fault. Host j from florida, the republican line. Caller hi, good morning. First i would like to say kudos to you for exercise something about the Keystone Pipeline and standing up for independents in our oil. That is a pretty strong statement coming from a democrat to but what i want to do is get away from all this isis and everything and ask you one question what do think the motivation is for president obama to make these new relations with cuba . Considering all the human rights issues surrounding cuba. That is what i have to ask. Thank you. Guest well, i think that first of all, recognizing that cubist of has some relationship with russia. Not a lot, just a little presence. But i think president obama is a 21st century president. I think he recognizes, and i believe, that if all we did was have family unification relative to cuba, we would have a different day in the caribbean. The number of americans of you and jesse of cuban ancestry to visit the families, isolation is never good. Lets bring cuba forward into the 21st century. We want to sell Agricultural Products to cuba. Frankly, i would have exchanges between the equivalent the Cleveland Indians and the baseball teams in cuba. And try milk. We want to sell dry milk to cuba. Most of all, i with the families to be able to be reunited to i come from a family, generations ago, that came from Eastern Europe. We know what it is like to be cut off from your families. We cannot tell you the hurt that remains over generations of of shattered lives. So if we have a chance in our lifetime to build bridges peacefully, lets do it. It is an island. It is a small country. I have been there, actually, and i have no cuban relatives or anything like that, but i just thought, oh, my goodness. What an opportunity. Host from salt lake city, utah. Here is michael. Caller good morning. Guest good morning. Telegram i dont think caller i dont think soup think putin was really interested. Russians have an underground summary base their. The only way breaking at the ships into the mediterranean is to go through the straits, where it stumble, turkey is. I think that he is more interested in the black sea and being able to control they already give turkey their oil. If anything happened, there is no wonder turkey doesnt want to play with nato because it seems like this thing is being conducted all of these events around the world right now, you know, you bola ebola, iran, iraq, all these things it seems a theres a conductor going on here. Im just wondering if a couple of really good reporters could start digging into this. Host thanks color caller. Guest first of all, im glad the general menace the gentleman is paying attention to geography. Those that use the black sea and the Russian Naval fleet as a route is not a navy that could compare to ours. It is an aging fleet; nonetheless, the gentleman has put his finger on something for very important, and that is that russia does not want to be blocked off from its ability to use the black sea. That has to be a part of the negotiations with europe, with turkey, and i recognize russia as a very significant military power in this world. And if we had the possibility in our country of being blockaded at san diego, i would not i am not excusing what russia has done ukraine, believe me. I believe president putin shot himself in the foot on that one. And i think hurt russias reputation in this 21st century but i recognize the array of military assets that russia has at the black sea in the black sea region, and i commend the gentleman for calling in. Thank you, sir. Host mike from florida, next up to talk. Go ahead. Caller yeah, hi. I keep hearing from congress how high art that is and we had to cut down on our spending. Where is all this money coming from that we are putting into this these airstrikes over there, now you want to give money to ukraine . I just want to know where this money is coming from . Guest ok, sir, well, there is a budget every year that congress passes. We have been living within the budget that was allocated last year, but you are correct over half the Discretionary Spending we spend every year is on the military side. Over a twoyear. , our military spending amounts to over 1 trillion. Just on the military side, that does not count the money we spent on transportation. We have a transportation bill coming up this year, and the key number is have a debt over a number of years. Thank god the economy is growing again and it is becoming a smaller share, but it does come from the American People. The most important thing we can do this or to create jobs is to pass the transportation and infrastructure bill. But on the Foreign Policy side we do have real interests globally, the most important one being the extension of liberty. And the United States is involved with our allies in many places. Europe certainly has been our most those nations have been our most vigilant allies over the years. We cannot turn our back on europe. In reaction to have a nato presence there, as you know, and have other interests globally. So this is a big country with a global responsibility. The American People elect representatives like myself to try carry those forward. Believe me, we are trying to do a better job in managing the public dollar. That debt as a share of the gdp is coming down. Host when it comes to the budget, chairman rogers has artie said this already said this, it will never be enacted into law. Guest well, i would expect that partisan warfare to begin. But i would say that the president has proposed a budget both on the spending side and on the revenue side. You have to have both. We do have a budget of our size, and a debt that has been a committed over years, having come through the 2008 recession, some of the bills that still have to be paid from that and conducting wars that were inherited, writes . You have to allocate limited resources. So, i respect chairman rogers. He is on the spending side. He chairs the appropriations committee. But we have to have the ways and Means Committee walking with us. That is the effort to are going to put for now, to put forward a responsible program that will keep the economy growing and pay the bills. Host up next, jean from wisconsin. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank u so much for having this discussion. Nice to talk with you, nancy. Nancy, i have a long well not along, but here goes. During the clinton administration, ukraine was able to perfect way able to defend itself to perfectly able to defend itself. I believe there was a shield or dome created that ukraine would be completely protected. During the clinton administration, he had an agreement with them where they would disarm completely, because they were the best arms in the entire area of europe there. Clinton got them to disarm completely with an agreement where we would supply the forces to protect them. So they agreed to disarm, we agreed to defend them. Now, when obama came in, i think the first thing he did was dismantle that that dome. That dome that would be an antiMissile Shield for the ukraine. He alsocspan so ukraine asserting that disarms now. Guest the caller is correct, in that ukraine was the Nuclear Warehouse for the soviet union. And she has a normas capability, but all those weapons were removed. In the past, there was this idea of a Missile Shield that was to be placed in poland. Our government, over several years, made the decision that in fact a more mobile triad was a better way to defend the newly emerging democracies in Eastern Europe and central europe. And that particular structure was decommissioned. It was never built. But poland and hungary and the Czech Republic came under the umbrella of nato. So we agreed with the europeans , to the native structure, to defend those newly emerging democracies. Something called the budapest record, that was signed when the Nuclear Weapons were moved from ukraine. And the language in that record infers, if you read every word that the United States would and her allies, would defend ukraine. There is some disagreement about what some of the words mean in that budapest record accord whether that means military support or economic sanctions, economic aid. There is some disagreement as to some of the words. But the that is why the United States has been so centrally involved to president obama in trying to find a way to peacefully resolve the situation in ukraine. Because of the budapest memorandum. Host from vermont, heres travis. Hi. Caller high. Good morning. I think part of the reason why the Obama Administration is concerned about Arming Ukrainian soldiers is that it is very much not something that are our european allies want to do. They do not want to take that kind of confrontational stance with vladimir putin. If were we were to go down that road, it might break our alliance with our allies. That would, in turn, be a huge boost to put in. Caller guest you are correct. We want to walk in aligns with our European Partners to show the Transatlantic Alliance is strong. I have met with many of the ambassadors from holland germany, france they are all engaged in this, believe me. Actively and working together. And i give president obama and Vice President biden and normas credit for spending this much in normas credit enormous credit for spending this much time to time bring the nations together. This is an important moment for europe. As i said earlier in the program, remember, the cold year took us 43 years before that berlin wall came down. I hope it doesnt take 43 years, but sanctions can work. And concerted work with her transatlantic allies can work. We need to give it a chance. Meanwhile, for those ukrainian soldiers were standing in harms way, lets give them the ability to defend themselves if someone is coming at them. And to be able to defend their positions on the eastern rim. Host she serves on the appropriations committee. Thank you for your time. Guest thank you very much. Host we will continue on, coming up on our sears, that looks at but colleges and histories. Today, a discussion with the president of Morehouse College president John Silvanus Wilson junior. We will pick up that conversation as washington journal continues. Here are some of our future programs for this president s day weekend. On cspan two booktv, saturday morning at 9 00, life coverage of the savanna book festival. On topics like the disappearance of michael rockefeller, a British Company of elephants during world war ii, and for women spies four women spies during world war two. Under american on cspan3 saturday morning beginning at 830 8 30, the 100th anniversary of the release of the film, the birth of a nation. The showing of the and tire 1950 film fall of the entire 1915 film, followed by a live callin session. And George Washington portraits accusing and how artists capture the spirit of the first president. Find our complete Television Schedule at www. Cspan. Org. And let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. You can call us, email us, or send us a tweet. Join the cspan conversation. Like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. February is black history month. The cspan bus is on the road, visiting the top historic black universities. Thursday, we will visit Spelman College in atlanta. Washington journal continues. Host cspan continues on in the month of february, taking a look at historic black colleges and universities. This is being in done being done in conjunction today, we make a stop in atlanta. At Morehouse College visiting with us there is the cspan bus on campus. An onboard our bus president John Silvanus Wilson, junior. They give joining us. Guest good morning, pedro. Host part of your background includes working with the white house on something called an initiative on bcus. Could you talk a little bit about that initiative, and what the white house policy is doing . . Guest yes, i served under president barack obama as the executive director of hpc you hbcu. I happen to be president obamas appointee. The job of the executive director is to do whatever you can to increase the funding from the federal government to the 105, at that point hbcus. So we worked with the federal agencies, the private sector all in an effort to strengthen the hbcu sector. I thought we got some pretty good results in my time there. The first term of barack obama. Just before barack obama took office, the federal government was channeling about 3. 6 billion in two hbcus. That is from all sources. And by the time i left, we were at roughly 5. 3 billion. So that was significant progress. Host as i understand it, it was your time when the president instituted some changes, when it comes to power grants pell grants. Was that the case . Guest the pell grants were greatly, greatly increased on our watch. As a matter of fact, that increased from 3. 6 billion to 5. 3 billion was largely in the area of grant and loan programs. I think most of your viewers will recall that there is a big change in the policy, the federal policy would we took the banks out of the loop on loans and to direct lending. That gave a lot of money for the administration, and we channel that money across Higher Education. And hbcus having a lot of Financial Aid recipients got a lot to talk of it. Host tell us about Morehouse College. How much of it operating budget comes from the federal government in terms of grants or research and development, that kind of thing . Guest like most hbcus, a lot of our students are recipients of Financial Aid. So we are talking 60 or 70 of our budget comes from students who are assisted by federal loans and grants and support from five it from private sources, as well. So we care a lot about the federal posture towards these institutions, but the main important thing morehouse has really proved his worth. The Obama Administration recognized very early on that the nation cannot be as competitive as it needs to be in this World Without the contribution from hubcus. Morehouse has certainly done its part. But all hbcus are doing a very good job of contributing to the nations competitiveness, and that is why the Obama Administration channeled a lot of support. It was really a good thing for america. Host morehouse is in all male college. Why is that . Guest that is because the founders made it so. We are right across the street from while we are a singlesex institution, it is a coeducational environment. Im a graduate of morehouse, and in a large number of my classes, there was women right there. That we focus on the africanamerican male. We have been well rewarded for that focus, having such distinguished graduates as Martin Luther king junior, obviously, my classmate, j johnson, secretary of Homeland Security. Martin luther king the third, my classmate. The former secretary of commerce in my class. So we have a number of distinguished men who have made an impact across the world. Morehouses Value Proposition cannot be more clear, and on my watch, it is going to be a lot better. Host the president of Morehouse College joining us as we take a look at historically black colleges and universities. He is on our cspan bus, which is in atlanta today. If you want to ask them questions, we have divided the light. 202 7488000 for if you have attended in hbcu. 202 7488001 for all others. If you want to send us an email, you can do so at journal cspan. Org. Over the last several series, we have been talking about the majors offered. Tell us a little bit about your majors. Do you see a shift in what can of majors you offer . Guest well, we have three three main divisions. One is the business division. And we have a number of distinctive graduates who have come out of that division. We happen to be channeling many business graduates into the top business schools. I think we have two or three at Harvard Business school at any given time. On the other top business schools. So we have a strong business division. I was a business major at morehouse. We also have a strong Humanities Division. That division has come a lot of our political graduates, as well as our religion majors. I would say the three top hope its in this country are all headed by morehouse men. Kahlenberg in new york trinity in chicago, and right here in atlanta. He is the head of the same church that Martin Luther king used the head up. So our Humanities Division is right strong. And then our stem division is also strong. That is going to be an episode an emphasis for me. I brought on a mathematician to strengthen our stem division. We are spending significant time in Silicon Valley on my watch is president for the past three years, and looking for great relationships there pointing at our stem division. We are even considering requiring all students who attend morehouse to know how to code by the time they graduate. So stem is a real focus for Morehouse College, and you will see evidence of that as we strengthen thats division. Host the president of Morehouse College stoning us. Christina from washington dc your first up. Good morning. Caller good morning. I amex are watching for my desk here on capitol hill where we ask the work on these issues. I attended majority universities. First, great job. I think my question is, i have a daughter who is getting ready to graduate and we are looking at hbcus and other colleges. My frustration is, since i graduated, the only information i get back from the hbcus is on attending events. I received but i dont to the reach back. And also, are other issue is the leadership. We have had several president s. I know morehouse has better reputation that way, but it affects the alumnis relationship with the school. Can you talk a little bit about how you are dealing with the leadership level, beyond the actual education, and how your reaching out to alumni to kind of keep that cycle and keep that passion for the hbcu going . Host thanks, christina. Guest thanks, christina. That is a great question. As i said, im a graduate of Morehouse College, and i attended morehouse for four years. And then i spent six years at harvard university. Getting to masters and a doctorate from harvard. I echo what you just said. I have moved from atlanta to boston to d. C. And i think i had mail waiting at my home whenever i made my moves from harvard by the time i got there, by the time i relocated. So they know how to do that well. On my watch at morehouse, we have we are strengthening that. We are strengthening our Advancement Office in general, and our alumni outreach in particular. It is a priority. Now, i havent a know your current president at howard university. I think he is determined to make it a priority, too. This is something that we, as hbcus, can do something about. I know that we have evidence of it at morehouse, and i know there is some evidence of it at howard so i think, christine, that the issue is leadership. And i think we have the right leadership in place right now to do something about it. Host fort lauderdale, florida. Jonathan, youre up next. Caller yes, how are you doing . I actually have two comments. I know that at morehouse come you guys do a great job of stressing kingss legacy. What are you guys have a community or college Wide Movement to do an Antiwar Movement . Or stress the american system of economics . That is what king stood for. He stood for uniting the people. I kind of see more like people on the divide. Everything being more divisible, as far as, like, using the black culture events and the police. It should be more unified, Antiwar Movements, which is what is going on in russia and ukraine tonight the union two unites the union movement. Using not prop up black communities and making sure that those who are in poverty can raise their standard of living. Host caller, thank you. Guest ok, so that was a little complex. I think i got the gist of it, but what you need to know about morehouse on that issue is we have, for many many years basically from the start emphasized servant leadership. Servant leadership. So we dont have a narrow concern. Obviously, we have a concern about the experience of the africanamerican male. We believe the image of the africanamerican male has been distorted towards a brokenness narrative. So we are always going to be concerned about that and want to do something about it, but we have never been narrow. Dr. King, obviously, wrote about chaos over community. That was not a local viewpoint. That was not a georgia viewpoint, or regional, or even an american viewpoint. It was global. Concern about the global community. So we have set out graduates all over the world who have concerns for social justice. And to weigh in to servant leadership. So, i think your question about that kind of thinking and that kind of reach may be appropriate for other institutions, but morehouse, i think emma we are doing quite well in that area. Host there was an oped piece by david knight out of harvard university, talking about lack mail issues. Many black males get this message they are at danger vulnerable, when they are much younger. What do you think about that . Guest well, it is sobering. And it is grounded in some data did we know that 86 of africanamerican boys are below reading proficiency by fourth grade. That ratifies for the rest of much of their lives. The new combined with that the kind of devastating educational statistics, the perceptual challenges that we have, where we are perceived as negative. Then that compounds the problem. So i understand where the writer is coming from. Morehouse is the antidote to that. Morehouse is the answer to that. We believe that with more investment and more college youre going to see that narrative shift of a very negative narrative, a problematic narrative, into a positive narrative where more africanamerican males are automatically perceived as forces for good. We know who we are. And we know we have evidence of great work here in the many graduates we have put into the world. So, whereas the writer summarizes a skewed towards the negative narrative, the brokenness narrative, we are hard at work on the opposite narrative. Youre going to see that amplified on my watch as president of Morehouse College. Host to add to that, sir, you have a program called faces of manhood. What is that . Guest the faces of manhood is work on by our professors and staff to convey the range of africanamerican males in this country. Believe it or not while we are all africanamerican and allmale, there is significant diversity. There is not a sameness to africanamerican males. We have some of the arts. We have some in business. We have some in the sciences. The number one actor the highest grossing actor of all time is a morehouse man. That happens to be samuel l jackson. Have a number of graduates who are in the stem areas. So the faces the faces project is meant to convey to the students at morehouse as they arrive, and to the graduates of my house graduates of morehouse, and to the world, that there is more than one way to be a morehouse man. The key is to be distinctive and productive in whatever field you choose to be an expert in. Host our next call comes from houston, texas. Caller yes, i am in 1969 graduate of university. And i was simply like to thank you for bringing all of your skills and talents to your stewardship and leadership that morehouse. You have a fine history and legacy to maintain. And im confident that your success will continue. Thank you very much. Guest thank you. Thank you for that statement of support. Guest host huntsville, alabama, this is michael. Caller good morning, how are you, sir . Guest i am well, how are you . Caller i am well. I have a younger sister who is a proud graduate of Alabama State university in montgomery. Our father is a proud got her at proud graduate my question is, what do you see as the biggest challenge facing historically black colleges and universities in the 21st century . And what do you see as the best solution for said problems Going Forward . Guest great question. I want to let you know that i visited all three of those institutions. Alabama state alabama in montgomery, as well as miles called college while i was at the white house. I think they are solid hbcus. Great leadership. The biggest challenge for hbcus , in my view, is what i call capital impairment. We need to be most of us are undercapitalized. There is not an hbcu with an endowment that is more than four times what it spends every year. Stateoftheart in the business is to be at least five times and when you are talking about harvard and yale, youre up to 10 times. So they have endowment that are 1 billion plus. The strongest hbcu on that measure is spellman, with an endowmentexpense ratio of four. Most of the others are below one. That is a problem. That keeps us from being as competitive as we need to be. But what i will always say is that if we can do this much great work with this kind of capital base, imagine what more we can do for this country and for this world if we had a larger capital base. So what im doing, and what we are doing at morehouse, is we are changing. We are making a change in the way we talk about morehouse. Putting the avenue is this of our Value Propositions on the more positive story that we have , and talking about it in a different way. We believe we are going to attract more investors. Youll see evidence of that actually, there is already evidence of that, but youll see more. Host the annual budget for Morehouse College is about 91 million. 60,000 alumni. This is the president of Morehouse College joining us today. From michigan, robert, hello. Caller good morning, gentlemen. It is nice to talk to. Im wondering, mr. Wilson, how many white students you have at your institution . If there are none, i was wondering why not . Nice talking to you, thank you. Guest thank you for that question. We have always since i graduated in 1979 we have had a handful of white students at Morehouse College. And we have a handful now. The percentage is pretty small but and the percentage will actually grow. Back in 2007, the valedictorian of Morehouse College was a white american. I became president in 2013, and within a few months, i visited with him, who is doing quite well on wall street. He is he is as much a morehouse man as any other morehouse man i could ever visit. Well we have been historically black, and we are now majority africanamerican, our doors have always been open. All students from all backgrounds. Allmale students from all backgrounds have always been able to apply. And they have. And those who have come have been quite well served. So a morehouse man is not a racial designation. It is just a designation that positives their distinctiveness in this world. A number of the white since we have now are destined for the same kind of distinctiveness. Ive present that question. Host is your teaching faculty all africanamerican . Guest not even close. We have had for a long time, for years had a diverse faculty. I dont know what the percentage is, but it has been an upward of a quarter to 40 . We have always had diversity on the faculty, and that has been the case from the start when most of the faculty were white teachers from the north. Host from marietta, georgia. Hi. Caller good morning, president wilson. Im a member of Spelman College. And i would like to know how are you working on the community . There has been a lot of violence in atlanta, as im sure you are aware. There has also been a lot of violence towards your students and other students in the Atlanta University center. I like to know how you are training your young men to stand up and promote nonviolence like dr. Martin luther king, and how they are going to support each other for the Community Around them, the community women, the brothers and sisters at clark atlanta, and the community of the west end . Guest that is a great question. And i appreciate it. Let me just say three things about that. First and foremost, i want to say i have a great relationship with spellman. I was, in fact, on the board of trustees that spellman for a couple of years. Working with Beverly Daniel tatum, she invited me onto that board, the first morehouse man to do that. Be on the reason why had to step down as i had to take the job at the white house. Spellman is a great institution, and im so sad that Beverly Daniel tatum will be stepping down as president after 13 wonderful years. I applaud her and wish spellman well. The second response i have your question is safety is our number one concern here. I think for all the a you centers au centers. We are trying to make the surrounding environments a lot more safer. When you do not feel safe, you cannot learn. We understand that quite fully. The third response i have to that is i am quite proud about the adventure going to make in the area of security because we just hired a new police chief. And guess what . Her name is valerie. She was working for apd, and that the police department, for many years. She assumed the position of power there, and we got her away from apd. She is the police chief at Morehouse College, the first time in our history we have had a woman as police chief. And i cannot be more proud of her. She is actually the best choice we could have made. She just started just a couple of weeks ago, and we are already benefiting from her presence. So i believe your question about security is going to get the best investment of positive force right now from our new police chief. You will see the security scene change at morehouse and around morehouse. And that includes spellman. Host and we will speak with ahead of spelman tomorrow on this program at 9 15. Columbia, South Carolina. Mark is up next. Caller high, pedro. Great show today. And thank you, dr. Wilson, for taking my call. I was surprised that these colleges are not around anymore. Right now, South Carolina is facing South Carolina state is facing 100 million deficit. And they are talking closing the school for one year. Is that a good idea . Or are we about to use lose another historically black college . Thank you. Guest there is a lot of disruption in Higher Education right now, today. So i think what is happening at South Carolina is happening in a number of places where there is a lot of stress. Where there is this kind of stress and the larger environment, it is going to take some leadership, some effective leadership, to make a difference. I want to say this about that. I do think that the hbcu sector is going to experience some shrinkage. I have been saying that since i was at the white house and before. There were when i was a student at morehouse, there were over 300 woman only colleges in the country. There are now less than fewer than 50. So that whole sector contracted. There were, at one point, over 300 hbcus in the couple of decades after slavery ended. Many of them went by the wayside. I think we have had 117 for the longest time. Now we are down to 100. So i think youre going to see some close their doors, just like a lot of predominant white institutions are now closing the doors. And what is going to differentiate those that are around for years from now, and those that arent, is solid governance. That is a board of trustees, and solid leadership in the president s office. It is unfortunate what is going on at south carlotta state right now. We will see what happens there. I wish them the best. I have a relative who used to teach at South Carolina state. His name is professor next knixs. Leadership will make the big difference for them. Host we have of you are on twitter asking if affirmative action is affecting those who would possibly attend historically black colleges and universities . Guest affirmative action has been around for a long time. And if by that the writer means if affirmative action, in terms of the opening of doors a predominantly white institutions and the fact that those institutions are pressing to get the same students that have traditionally enrolled at hbcus , i want to say that that pressure was immediate in 1969 when the doors open. That was at a point when over 80 of the africanamericans who were in Higher Education were in hbcu. Now, 80 to 90 of africanamericans there has been some shrinkage. So, of course, that has had an effect. But we are still enrolling and graduating from some very distinctive graduates. While there is competition for sure, that is a good thing there are hbcus that has held their own in the face of that competition. Warehouse is certainly at the top. Host what is your Graduation Rate . Guest our Graduation Rate six or Graduation Rate is between 55 and 60 . It is my intention to do something about that. The main reason why a lot of students have to leave is financial. So where are back to the other question about the main challenge, and that is the financial challenge. I would like to do something about that. Host new orleans, louisiana. Deal up next. Hello. Gail from new orleans. Caller how are you . Host you are on. Go ahead with your question or comment. Caller i was raised by my mother and my grandmother. Right now, we have a lot of racial tension going on. I would like to request to the universities to the high schools, all School Levels in great levels, that we, as a race, im talking about the human race separate ourselves from color. Because we are not colored. We are deeply pigmented. It is dna specified. Because of historical geographical facts. Host caller, thanks. Guest i want to take that as a statement about the diversity. And i just want to say that morehouse is more than just an institution bound by color. Obviously, it is bound by history. We were born at a time when when africanamericans needed in education, so a number of institutions or forms. But morehouse, and other hbcus contribute to the diversity that is in american education. Morehouse is a specialpurpose institution. I want to say byu, for mormons, is a specialpurpose. Notre dame, catholics. Morehouse and other hbcus for africanamericans. They spent four years, and then they go out and contribute to america and the world. Host art lives in pennsylvania. Attended an hbcu. Caller thank you. John, this is is there any class superior to the class of 1979 . Guest oh, man. What a question. Thanks for calling in, art. God bless you, man. He is one of our more distinguished graduates, again in the class of 1979. He is right there in the lineup. There are a number of people that i could name. We just had a special class. Art, there is only one answer to that question. We are the best class. But you know, now that im president , i have technology all the other classes. And im proud to do that because we have so many young men who have gone out into the world more recently and done a great job. Art, i think you would be proud because we have the Number One Court team in the country right now, for Morehouse College. I think Patrick Henry college had held that for seven straight years. This is better than all the ivy leagues and all the others. And we wanted this year won it this year. The number one debate team just won a championship. The panamerican championship. Morehouse one that. We had two teams enter, and both made it to the finals. I know art was on the debate team at morehouse when he was here, so we are still doing quite, quite well. Thanks for your call, art. Host and just a quick Google Search shows that he is a senator from pennsylvania. Is that the same one . Guest that is the same one, and he is a morehouse man. Guest host from wisconsin on our others like it good morning. Caller good morning. They give very much. I appreciate what youre doing. I think it is up to the individual to make it a break it. And you are doing a great job. Keep up the good work. Lets all get along. Thank you. Bye. Guess them guest thanks for the love. Always good to get some love. Host moorehead was one of the universities that participated in a summit taking a look at gay and lesbian and transgender issues. To those discussions to take still take place on your campus . Guest they do. As a matter of fact, we just hired a new Vice President of student development. He comes to us from rpi. Tim has not been on board for long, but we have artie had discussions about that together already had discussions about that together, he and i, and the students, about how to ensure that our campuses the most enlightened campus in america or in the world. Where those gender diversity issues are concerned. Host goahead. Guest we have a general embrace strategy underway that he is executing right now. But gender diversity is certainly a part of that. And that is intentional. Host tell me what led you to take these steps. Guest i dont think you can be an enlightened president in this day and age and not have a progressive attitude about that. It is just a statement. My and our girl address is called the world of our dreams. And that means we are intending to have, on this campus, the most productive undergraduate expansion can have. And you cant have an enlightened and productive undergraduate experience at the archaic on those issues. With respect to gender diversity. So it let me to do that is our aspirations to have an extremely powerful undergraduate experience. It is already powerful, but it can be more powerful. And it will not be unless we are enlightened about that. Host from houston, texas, pat is next. Hello. Caller hello. President wilson, i congratulate you on continuing the tradition of the historically black colleges. I am a proud graduate of u a m. My first job, i met an engineer. I had never seen him before because they made them work. In an entirely different building. So congratulations. I wish my grandchildren could have experienced the same thing that i did. I just retired after 43 years with one company. So, we have excuse me, i am kind of nervous. Host it is ok. We will leave it right there and let the present response. Guest well, i think you for your call. I am familiar with preview prairie view a m. I want you to know that morehouse has in our stem division developed a Great Program with georgia tech. So we are in the business of grading engineers, as well. I want you to also know that we are going to get a boost in engineering at morehouse. Because i happen to be married to an engineer, as well. She was born and raised here in atlanta. Educated at stanford undergraduate and at m. I. T. , to masters two masters and a phd. She will be coming to atlanta virtually to be on the faculty of georgia tech. She will be influencing the stem division at morehouse, with emphasis on engineering. And we are very happy about that. And i am certainly proud of that. Host we are running to the end of the segment, serve you can make your statement or question quickly. Caller yes, my question was about what he was saying about the from of action. First of all, im a democrat. I was born in 1953, but i like but affirmative action had has done more damage. The on the, i have two sisters here graduated from fam u. And a friend of mine who graduated from Morehouse College. Out of all those people, the one argument we have had with each other is that i grew up as a block mason, a brick mason, and i sent money to some of these colleges. But out of all of them, they dont send anything to them. They dont support these colleges. Guest ok. I want to respond to the first part of your question. I want to say i disagree. I dont think affirmative action was as devastating for hbcus. Let me just before morehouse. At morehouse, we are trying to we have been quite effective in the face of the competition spawned by affirmative action. And guess what . Were looking to be as magnetic as we possibly can be, whether the forces of competition are stimulated by affirmative action or anything else. I know there was a lot of noise made about the notion of Community Colleges being free, and what we say at morehouse is that is a good thing because 1. 3 million africanamericans are in Community Colleges. But we are trying to be so powerful at morehouse that if every other institution in the country is free, you will pay to come to morehouse we want to be that good. Host and that is the present Morehouse College president John Silvanus Wilson, junior. Joining us on the cspan bus in atlanta. Several colleges in the next. Well have more next week. President wilson, thank you for your time today. Guest thank you. Host again, if you want more information about this tour, it started at howard university. In the following days, we will speak to the heads of florida a m university, tucking the university. You can find out more about this tour when you go to our cspan website, www. Cspan. Org. The the speaker pro tempore will be in order. The chair lays before the house a communicati m the speaker
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