Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20150218

Disadvantaged. There caller beneficiaries joe biden being joe biden. Guest host we looking you year its not and just a minute. Gasoline are getting this for you. You can also send us an email. Fifth it is late. He writes. He left to her as an washington with his ear and grace. He is seeing and the background. He put his arms on stephanies shoulders. It could be interpreted as an embrace. It does on tuesday this conflict needs signatures. It brought by the being vitamin c enhances general. He planters assets anything. This has been lost for last minute this support is in a difficult position. When it this ok winky Vice President got it. We went to get your documents. Apr has is coming out to their website. He is making news for all the wrong reasons. He is doing this. He was caught with the defendant chief life. People mocking joe biden and sit understand ship not be embarrassed. When does it go too far. You can see the picture and the headlines. He Time Magazine on their website. Lets do you think about this behavior. This is just joe biden being joe biden. The 2015 president ial contender on their website. Here is what really happened here he this is the headline gas happened. A publication online. Net this. His answers to the name joe biden. This is extremely and she pb. He ducking this is appropriate behavior . I do not think it means anything. He is trying to be friendly. D think he can get away with that . Caller it is a picture of a moment. Have you seen the video . Caller yes. Host do you remember when Angela Merkel track headline from july 20 2006 . This was the headline. Caller they are just blowing things out of proportion. Host caller what is the big deal . He is a liberal socialist. He live the women be destroyed. Eli he lied that the women hed destroyed. To check into this. Now it has come back he has been prowling around with some kind of islands the caribbean. Host you think that democrats can get away with it republicans cannot . Guest not get away with a time that they get a life more get a lot more slack. This thing comes up with things and getting things under a girl. He is probably palling around with these characters. Obama is not a college graduate. He has a lot to all of his colleagues records. The hypocrisy is simply cant is so blatant. Host good morning. Go ahead. Caller interest 2007 when i was running for president. It is a nomination that he developed and the ship. Gas developed amnesia. He ran a stop sign. That is just the democratic way. He kicked a free every time. Host why do you say that . Why do you think they would get a free pass over republicans . Caller it is not an exact science. I am speaking teachers. The truth. Host good morning. What do you think . Caller the contract do not clearly get a free pass on sexually inappropriate behavior. As far as you abide in him a techie elite kind of guy. Far as joe biden, he is starting to get inappropriate. He has please the shoulders. Squeezed his shoulders. He needs to be reminded. I went to make sure he is ok. He is fearing. Feeling her. Caller host do you think having this conversation is there . Did he should be reminded he is they are . Caller people who care at the public persona should remind him. Maybe even his wife had a sign chat with him. You can only go so far. Please. He is holding her shoulders. He is kissing and her ear. Again me a great. Give me a break. Interesting my. Not anymore. The deal yet. That cannot happen in the 19. Host we are talking about joe bidens gesture to show you the image. It is trendingo n the social media websites. It is npr time . Magine. Here is the new york magainze. Humanitarian creepily eight with nine kind seeks eagerly was wo he creepily whispered in their ears. We are turning into all the year. Is it appropriate . Inappropriate . Go ahead. Host caller who cares . This is a. It is getting out of control. Like a thief in the discussion to the American People . Host you do not think this is a discussion to be had about what is appropriate and inappropriate . Caller if you are a democrat and he wanted to keep your words so nice, it is appropriate for you. For the ordinary american citizens trying to get their job, no, who cares . Host all right. Democratic colleague. Good morning to you. Caller i agree with the previous color. Follow . Hello . Get a grip. Jo biden has known her for 2030 years. They are friends. This was an innocent family gesture. Your husband will be away for issues, good luck to you. Is there something wrote in encouraging and mans wife . This is the United States of america. I cannot see why there is the political aspect. I do not get why they ahve to attack the Vice President. Host d. Scott davis as appropriate behavior. His behavior getsives critics plenty of ammunition caller iw anted to remind every one, are oyu aware that prior to meeting that ms carter is outside and the secret service and the defene secretary was so involved. Maybe you are not aware that Vice President biden fell in front of ice on the pentagon prio mayber. Whispering to her are you okay . She was saying than god it was not caught on camera what would they be darrell issa Something Like that . I watched it. Saw the car pull up. It was made very clear the poor woman has fallen on the ice. I was immeditaely on there. I trained as an immigrant. I said this is something that the nurse that with year after year. It is too close to women with rain in their air and shelling gestures. Very foten children were being abused. They will sometimes go to strangers because they are so start over attentino. He knows there is a longstanding name. The most critical aspect of this is there is an element with the situation can with the Vice President aware. We have had people slip on ice and i. They have one camera. Flaring and are always a matter feed. He raped him over to his side at the podium. The moment was captured. His social media being hard . This shared maggie during this. Biden was simply whispering word s and encouragement. It can appear to be a uniquely awkward experience for those watching it on both. Unfold. He was known for years. We it doesnt appear entirely that he makes Stephanie Carter uncomfortable. We are asking you to weigh in on this. People have documented other incidences where the Vice President has conducted himself in this way. Is this joe biden being joe biden . Democratic color in north carolina. Caller in north carolina. Caller i want to know if cspan is affiliated with fox news. Yall need to get a grip on what you put on tv. This is disgusting. John boehner want to even fund dhs. What is up with that . Host do you think that this criticism is coming from conservatives. We are talking about the immigration debate coming up next in about 25 minutes on washington journal. Expert, pennsylvania. Republican caller. Caller yes, it looked like a simple fatherly cap on the back of the head. Tap on the back of the head. He looked like he was being supportive of her and it is just as simplistic as that. It is being blown out of proportion. We have bigger fish to fry in this country. Domestic abuse, that sort of thing. This should not really be news. Host if you saw that behavior in your workplace, would you think that that was appropriate or inappropriate or would you have the same explanation . Caller you know what, yes. I have worked with a lot of italian men. They grab you and touch you and that sort of thing. They would not grab me inappropriately. That is just the way they express themselves. It is the same exact thing. Host robert in augusta, georgia. Republican line. Caller i dont think there is anything wrong with him touching in the positive sense of a frame of mind. I would say biden has a defamation of character and slander case against fox news. If there is no Sexual Activity or conversation to these women or affection and so on and so on , he can soothe the paper or the television station sue the paper or the television station for defamation of character. Host joe is a democratic caller. Caller good morning. How are you . This is joe from the bronx, new york. I am listening to what you wrote in reference to it. My goodness. We are tlakalking about joe biden now. Everybody loves this man. Anything this man do, leave joe alone. This man is a democrat to begin with. Women of all colors, they love to hold, hold me more, hold me more baby. Stick your hand, way back. Baby, do it. Democrats have it that way. They are the people that are in this country want to help the people. Which is the majority of the people. People know that. Im glad to have that on tv today. What the republican wants republicans want our to spread fear and war. We have we dont have that many people in this world that is natural born teflon. Everybody loves this man. Host we will show this headline with you from the washington times. Lawmakers are pushing Ashton Carter and want his commitment to address sex assault in the military. A Bipartisan Group sent a letter to Ashton Carter last week. There is still a lot of work to be done. A Bipartisan Group of 50 lawmakers sent the letter to the new secretary, who was sworn in yesterday. Keith in fargo, north dakota. Good morning. Caller he asked just like a father to that young daughter. I can daughter. Like a daughter. He is not touching her back part , he is not touching her front part. He has her hand his hand on her shoulders. It must be a republican making a big issue out of it for their next election. Host you dont see this as an issue. Do you think somebody in your workplace could do what you see in this video . It is ok . You dont see it as inappropriate . Caller no. At one time, i was in a group home. I probably should not say this. There was a staff there that i gave you aher a shoulder rub. Other women tried saying that i was touching her, which i wasnt. Host ok. That was viewed as inappropriate and that situation by some women. That is the conversation we are having. Mark. Weigh in on it. Caller i agree with a lot of the callers. In the early days of washington journal, when brian lamb and susan were the main anchors this would never have been talked about. This is titillating Image Entertainment four trailer trash. As far as his behavior, i was 13 years old in 1969. By now, everyday life in the entire country should be just like woodstock and a party at the playboy mansion. Host we are going to be talking about obama immigration plans. We are talking about the texas judges ruling to disguise decide on an injunction about president obamas action on immigration. The white house will decide whether to seek an emergency stay, which would allow them to go ahead with the executive action. Also in the papers this morning front page of the Washington Post. New policy on arms, drones. President will allow more sales to allies. Long internal review. It is a significant step for u. S. Arms doctrine. Egypt is urging unbacked strikes in libya after the beheading of those egyptian christians in libya. That truce between ukraine and russia more in the papers on that this morning. Separatists are dancing and it is imperiling this ukraine truce advancing and it is imperiling the ukraine truce. Putin said the ukrainian troops were surrounded and that they should surrender. Nick in el paso, texas. A republican. What do you make of this debate . Caller if it has become a problem now because the Washington Post and the wall street journal have it. It has been talked about on twitter and social media. I would take this as a dirty old man. He cannot keep his fans to himself. If i saw that on my wife or anyone of my five daughters i would go up to him and kill him tell him, keep your hands off my wife and my daughter or the next time, im going to give you the five finger sandwich. Host the Vice President said himself that he has known Ashton Carter for years, knows his wife. Caller i would have told my wife, go ahead and sit in the front, i dont care if the Vice President tells you to come. Just say no. Host what kind of conversation should this spur . A conversation about appropriate behavior in a workplace . Caller this is inappropriate behavior in a workplace. I know it is not tolerated at mine, especially nowadays. Especially with men. Men have to be extra careful especially i have to tell my phone son. You have to be extra careful with women. You never know when the word rape will come up or something. I would say he is just a dirty old man. Host daniel, what do you think . Caller i want to let you guys know you do a good job most of the time, i dont want a really poured on you, but i will agree with a lot of the callers that this really should not be news. It is not something that we have to have a National Debate about. I think it is an inappropriate gesture and a weird thing for him to do, especially when you add up all the other times he has done things in the past. If you do Something Like that for a short amount of time, i could see how it would be ok, but when you are standing there and the cameras are on and you have your hands on this guys wife and you are talking to her in the background, it is just a weird look. It is not suitable for a Vice President , in my opinion. Host yet, you dont think they should be a conversation, a National Conversation. I dont caller i dont think it is the most important thing we could talk about right now. This guy has bigger fish to fry. Ash carter. The guy who has the job. We should talk about him. This is something that, i guess we are talking about a regardless of my opinion. It is not something that is newsworthy. Host david, madison heights, michigan. Democratic line. Caller how are you . Thank you for taking my call. I really dont think it is a big thing. Shame on cspan for even having this subject. We have so much other important stuff. They probably hold the party for him. Just a bunch of whining, crybaby republicans. Thank you very much. Host let me show you the 2006 headline on the cbs news website. The headline at the time on july 20 2006 bush backrub gets bigplay. And independent in washington dc caller good morning and thank you cspan for making this a part of the National Conversation. As citizens of this country, we have to question why we have not taken our leaders to task in approving and equal rights amendment for women. We have to question why we allow this type of sexist behavior, not only in the work lace, but in our homes, by socializing boys and men to think it is ok to treat women as property or to be overly familiar. Lastly, cspan we have to question why as citizens in this country, we dont point how this is also linked with lgbt discrimination because most men wont be have that way toward other men, especially in public because they are fearing they will be called gay or bisexual. Thank you so much for making this a part of the National Conversation this morning. Host so you do see this as appropriate. You have heard it from our viewers saying that there is so much other news, why would we talk about this . Do you see this as respond to the callers who say that. That this is not a high priority, it is not a high priority for the defense secretary, or that people are saying it should not be or that there is more news to be talking about. Caller this issue is linked to all of the type of aggression and violent behavior we are experiencing in our society. The recent rash of nonindictments over male cops who were overly violent with people in their communities. This issue is linked to what my first point was why we have not taken our leaders to task in approving an equal rights amendment in this country. It is highly significant in how men and women and human beings relate to one another. It is extremely significant to read if we dont socialize our children from very young to show respect for themselves and respect for one another and not engage in this type of behavior, where you are being overly familiar or touching inappropriately, then i believe are young adults will have a greater chance at being professional in their own lives. Host have you been listening to the conversation . For the past 35 minutes or so . What do you make of what other viewers have said . Caller i think the other viewers are very passionate about their ideas and i am happy that they do call in. But i do believe they are nothing honest with themselves that we have to take responsibility and take on the mantle of making more progress happen and actualized and not just for the sake of helping women and girls to feel self empowered, but for the sake of boys and men to realize that they do not have to engage in this kind of behavior, whether it is being overly familiar and touching inappropriately or viewing women as unequal commodities where this type of behavior is acceptable. Host greg, jacksonville, florida. Caller i am a very serious, 36 year watcher of cspan ever since it debuted in 1979. Let me say, i am here trembling at this particular discussion. One of the things i have problems with and i have called at times and said that iran york byron york is a conservative. He has nothing ever good to say about a democrat. That is byron york. The second thing that you lead is that conservatives brought this up and think that this is an issue that Vice President biden happened to touch a young lady on her shoulders. When he said conservatives, you put it in a political perspective again. This is a ploy to criticize Vice President biden or or a democrat. I look for objective, good reporting, not this kind of trash that would trash the man of joe bidens character or even when you talked about president bush. What have americans subjected themselves to when people cant show they are still touchy feeley people . Of course, you will have people who take it out there as a pervert. We show people we care by touching them sometimes. Host did you hear dee talking about how she sees this as a conversation to be had about men being over familiar with women giving women the words, power, encouragement to stand up when they feel uncomfortable in a different situation . Caller that is unfortunate. With all due respect to dee, all of us have personal opinions about that. I know some women would think they are very aloof when they dont show that kind of thing. To show much we do a pushy eight women and not just trying to have some other old terrier motive because we happen to touch their hand or put their hand on their shoulders or that sort of thing. I respect your opinion. I think this is just trash for cspan. It is the best network on television to bring you what are the relevant issues of the country and the world today. It should not have lowered yourself to this kind of standard. Im very surprised, not only with cspan, but also with susan. I watched susan with brian years ago. Keep this kind of trash off the tv. Host this is a conversation that not just byron york, but the daily beast, a liberal publication online, new york magazine, time. Com, npr put a story together as well. Caller they put the story together because the media falls into what would be groupthink. When you have these kind of stories that come out. Everybody can get on a story like this and have some kind of comment about it in terms of castrating someone like joe biden. Byron york came out with the article in the new york examiner and now all the other media is talking about it because it has gained steam. He does not deserve this kind of treatment. Host what about everybody on not everybody, but people on twitter and other social media sites that are talking about it, not just the media, but the people who have picked up on it and it has gone viral on twitter, etc. . Caller we are also a part of that because we are animals of the media. The media comes out with a front age story and everybody jumps on the bandwagon. It is the groupthink. Whoever made the original mouse trap will have the followers coming with them until someone comes in and says, stop this kind of trashy information about someone. Not only joe bidens character, but also about president bush. Why do folks feel as though men have these ulterior motives when they are trying to be supportive of women and show their support . This is not good at all. Host joanne, a republican. Caller i was watching the footage of the Vice President and the secretary of state being sworn in. I kind of looked at the body language after the president Vice President called the wife over and he immediately put his hands on her. I have been in that situation before and when a stranger someone you are not intimate with, puts his hands on you i noticed that the secretary of state actually looked back over his shoulder at his wife and then he touched her shoulder reassuring her that everything was ok. She might have been shy before the cameras, but i also think that the Vice President did not mean any harm, but he got a little too touchy feely for the wife. Host before you go what does all this mean . Should we have a conversation about what is appropriate, what is an appropriate . When does it go too far . The conversation being about workplace environment. Caller right. I dont think there is anything wrong with people bringing up the subject. This is an everyday thing that women go through and men and the social mores and touching people and your own personal space. I think it is important. I dont think the Vice President meant any harm, but i did think you make the wife uncomfortable and probably the secretary of state i mean the secretary of defense, also. Thank you. Host as we said, new york magazine, daily beast, other places putting together other incidents were joe biden has done similar type jesters. Gestures. Nine times joe biden creepily whispered in womens years. They put together this list of past incidences. What do you think . Danny and louisiana. Caller i make myself very knowledgeable about what is going on in politics. Over the years, i have watched cspan. Considering your Mission Statement is to educate whenever anyone calls up and knows the facts and starts to inform his fellow american citizens, we say we know are you are going with that and you cut them off. You get these slandering people like this. It is a good show. Your group, there is a conflict of interest. You have one of your big contributors, fox news, just spewing lies 24 7 and you have people coming on here host hold on. Why do you say contributor . Caller dont you represent the cable industry . Host ok. I was wondering where you were going with that. Caller and all the Television Shows that appear in your cable . Host cspan a cyclic service offered by the cable companies. Caller it is a conflict of interest. You support one of your stations that are out and out spewing lies. You are not educating anyone. You are indoctrinating. Host the conversation that is being had on social media, being had in other places you noted fox news Rachel Maddow talked about it as well, one caller mentioned it. Do you think it is an appropriate conversation . Do you think the behavior is appropriate . Should it be happening in a work lace . Jerry in dalton, georgia. Caller hi. Good morning. I think we should be talking about this morning while Loretto Lynch has not been approved by the congress or confirmed by the congress of the United States. That is a more important talk about we should be talking about today. Host coming up now we are going to turn our attention to what is next after a texas judge put an injunction on president obamas executive action on immigration. We will talk to alan gomez of usa today. Later, rebecca berg will be here on the politics of immigration Homeland Security and the gop congress. First, Vice President joe biden at the swearingin of Ashton Carter. The ceremony taking place in the roosevelt room. Here is a little bit of what the new defense secretary had to say. [video clip] first is to help our president make the best possible decisions about our security and the security of the world. Then, to ensure that our department executes those decisions with its long accustomed competence and effectiveness. While we deal with the challenges to our National Security, i also want to make sure that i help our leadership grab hold of the wonderful opportunities that lie before this great country to make the world a better place for our children and to create a safer world. My second commitment is to the men and women of the department of defense whom i will lead to reflect in everything i do and honor the commitment and dedication that brought them into service. To protect their dignity, their safety, their wellbeing. To make decisions about sending them into harms way with the greatest reflection and care. Third, i have a commitment to the future, to building a force for our future. That involves not only securing the resources we need, but making sure that we make the best use of the taxpayers dollar. I will need make sure that we embrace change so that years from now and decades from now, we continue to be a place where americas finest want to serve and a place that is a begin to the world and has the best in the way of technology and in the way of caring for our own people and people around the world. Host if you missed the entire event, you can watch it on our website. The new defense secretary laying out his priorities for him in that position as head of the pentagon. Now we are going to turn our attention to the immigration debate. Alan gomez, a reporter for usa today, has been covering this issue for a long time. What exactly were texas and the 25 other states appealing . What were they suing over on the president s executive action . Guest the president announced in november that he was going to create this program to protect the 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. What the states were doing was trying to block the program. Their argument is that by the president doing that, by protecting these millions of undocumented immigrants, those states were the ones that were going to bear the brunt, bear the cost of allowing them to be there. They were going to have to give them drivers licenses, free schooling in public schools. They are saying that the president has overstepped his Constitutional Authority and they are the ones that are going to be hurt by it. That is whether 26 of them got together to sue the administration. Host here is the governor of texas, republican, greg abbott on the immigration ruling. Why did it go before this court and what did the judge say . Guest they will say that this was a little bit of judge shopping. This is a very conservative judge who has issued rulings in the past that have been incredibly critical of the president of the department of Homeland Security. There was a 5050 chance in that circuit whether they would get that judge and they got him. He used the question of the drivers license to drive home the point that these states did have standing to sue the federal government saying that you pay about 26 for drivers licenses but the state subsidizes the remaining 170 for the drivers licenses. The judge ruled not on the merits of what he did was constitutional or not, but he said, we should stop this so we can have that hearing in court. The Texas Governor may have over spoken just a little bit. This delayed it so that there could be a full hearing about the legality. Does it answer the question about constitutionality . Guest not yet. That is a question that this judge or the court of appeals will have to answer. Host if the white house seeks an emergency stay and they said that they will make that decision the next couple of days , how does that all work out . Guest we are not ruling on the basis of whether what the president did was constitutional or not. This is a question of delaying the program, which is set to start wednesday. These applications are set to be processed on wednesday. Now, it goes to the court of appeals and they are the ones who get to rule whether this blocking that the judge did in texas gets to stand. The fifth circuit is considered a bit of a conservative field court, but it has rolled in the past on some immigration issues. There are a lot of folks that think they could strike this down. Host then what . Guest then we keep going up the ladder and this could get all the way to the Supreme Court. Several think it might. This is a very critical question that we have been facing in our country for a few years. The question of federal supremacy over Immigration Laws. If you remember the arizona Immigration Law a few years ago the Supreme Court eventually struck down the majority of that law in saying that the federal government has the exclusive authority to enforce Immigration Laws. Moves possibly like this contradict that ability. Host who gets impacted by this injunction . Guest the people who get impacted are these 5 Million People who could have applied and could have won deportation protection. The program has allowed them to apply to the federal government and if they meet certain criteria, they have a pretty clean clonal record, they have been in the country for a certain amount of time they could be protection from deportation for a. Of three years they could be protected from deportation for a period of three years. This would have been a massive expansion of an earlier role. There were millions of people who could have started applying in the next couple of months that are now in this weird limbo. They are now not sure what to do. A lot of them have their paperwork ready, their applications ready to go. They woke up yesterday and found that they have to wait. Host that is the story today in usa today. You feature some people. You talk about mario, who had everything ready to go, medical records, bank statements, pay stubs it sounds like she and others were really following this court closely and what the judge would decide her husband waking her up to tell her the decision. It is incredible. They follow this incredibly closely. I followed talked to a house cleaner and a nanny and they were talking about the judges track record. This woman has been here since 2001, the one you were talking about. For her and millions like her whatever you think about whether this is a good idea or not come up with yourself in their shoes for a second. They have been watching the congress repeatedly try to get an Immigration Solution that would do with their situation and that has failed time and time again. Here they have the president saying i am going to take the step and protect all of you and then at the very last second 20 four hours before they were about to turn in those applications, it is taken away from them. Some of them are just giving up. They are saying, im sick of this. Im sick of getting that close and losing everything. There are a lot of people who are incredibly distraught yesterday. By the end of the day, i got a sense that the message they were trying to drive to other undocumented immigrants was to continue to getting the paperwork ready, continued to be ready for that moment when and if the fifth Circuit Court of appeals or some other Court Reverses this ruling and they are allowed to apply for the program. Host lets listen to what the attorney general had to say when asked about the texas ruling yesterday at the National Press club. [video clip] we are still in the process of looking at the opinion and trying to decide what steps we might take a next. I think that we have to look at this decision for what it is. It is the decision by one Federal District court judge. I have always expected that this was a matter that will ultimately be decided by a higher court, if not the Supreme Court. I think it has to be seen in that context. I would view this as an interim step in a process that has more to play out. Host what do you make of what the attorney general had to say . Guest i think much like these undocumented immigrants watching this case, the white house was very aware that this was a likely possibility. The judge is a george w. Bush appointee. He is definitely on the conservative side of things. It was a very well thought out very detailed, 123 page opinion. He calls the president disingenuous for claiming that what he was doing was not a big change to the nations Immigration Laws. He said that the move ignores the dictates of it is a fairy strongly worded opinion. Throughout this opinion he cites all the causes that states will suffer because of these legalize undocumented immigrants. The health care, Education Health care benefits. He do not want to include the economic benefits that these legalize undocumented immigrants would bring. They would have a better job and better education and they would have a better income. Host president obama said yesterday the law is on our side. What kind of pressure is he feeling from immigration groups to do something . Iguest i think everyone understands that they will give them a little or for a long time the undocumented immigrant community have called in the reporter in chief. They said he maintained thiS Immigration enforcement. He has been very difficult on them. After he announced in november that he was wanting to help millions of them they would give him an little more time and leeway. They are waiting to see what the next move is. The judges ruling ended up being really focused on the process of how the president lamented this. That he didnt provide enough notice or create the rules properly. A lot of people understand that this is now in the courts and it will get a little complicated for the next few weeks. They will give him a little space right now. Host we want to hear from our viewers. In the phone lines are on our screen and we have a deadline set aside for Illegal Immigrants 2027488003. Ryan in ontario, california. A democratic caller. You are up worst. You are up first. Caller good morning. We are a nation of laws. Any time we do anything illegally, we get punished for it. They will be tied here and cant separate the kids from the parents. When will it stop . I will take my answer off the air. Thank you. Host what about the legality of this alan gomez . Guest was the color is talking about is one of the central core arguments granting any sort of leagal status on undocumented immigrants. There is widespread agreement on so many things including increasing Border Security and reforming our Legal Immigration system so we can bring in more hightech workers and Agricultural Workers more easily. Everyone in washington understands and agrees there are a lot of anxiety to be fixed, but when it comes down to the core question of a path of citizenship for the undocumented immigrants that is where things generally fall apart because it is so hard for a lot of people who they themselves or their parents or grandparents may have immigrated to this country illegally, it is hard for them to swallow that fact that folks came here illegally and will not be rewarded with a pathway to citizenship or the interim legal status that the president was trying to give them. Host john and pennsylvania, go ahead. Caller thanks for taking my call. This is an extremely political position. The president took this unilaterally and it was absolutely unconstitutional. The attorney general of kansas i believe he is the developer of the idea and he is the attorney from harvard law school. Senator sessions is the leader of the opposition to Illegal Immigrants and a document it workers and undocumented workers. The german said that everyone knows the system has to be reformed and that is ludicrous. Everyone does not agree that we need a hightech workers. There is a surplus of hightech workers. Only a third of people graduate from stem get work in their field. There is a surplus of Agricultural Workers. What will happen if we bring in more Agricultural Workers . They get work or they get unemployment disability. There is untold amounts of money were talking about. Guest on the issue of workers coming in here, i can tell you i have spent a lot of time with farmers around the country in a wide variety of fields. I think a lot of them would disagree with the statement that the caller just made. It is incredibly difficult to find americans who will do that work anymore. They talked about it being incredibly difficult for them to find American Workers to do the job. We have moved on from doing the backbreaking work of picking up lettuce and that sort of thing. They really try to find the American Workers. They are forced to go through this Legal Immigration system that is incredibly difficult. I spent a lot of time with the farmers as they walked me through the process of bringing farming workers to come in. It takes months and months and i have to predict a year ahead how many workers they will need for the harvest when they dont know what the harvest will look like. In hindsight, i am hearing the same thing from the hightech companies. There are plenty of workers graduating from these fields but they do not satisfy the need they have for the number of workers they have. When i say everyone is in agreement, what i am talking about is democrats and republicans and could republicans in congress. You introduce these visa bills that would make it easier to recruit hightech workers from overseas. Host jerome from california, go ahead. Caller i am concerned we are worried about the wrong things. The United States is the last human experiment. If we dont allow the cultural exchanges, i do have a lot of hope for the United States. What i hear now is that ignorance is bliss. It seems we are approaching nirvana. Host what do you make of this sentiment . Guest if you look at the cultural aspect of this, the makeup of thiS Immigration wave is something unlike the country has been used to. Since its inception, america has seen wave after wave of immigration. One of the last 40 or 50 years has been predominantly hispanic and from central and south america. That is changing the way things are happening in this country. You see a lot more spanish on prime time programming and commercial things like that. That culture clash is something that has been incredibly difficult with the number of undocumented immigrants and legal immigrants who of an coming from central and south america. People in the northeastern part of the country that were not used to a lot of hispanics running around suddenly have large growing communities of them. There is good and bad of that. There are a lot of people who would not like to see those changes. I think the more you see those folks coming across and establishing themselves in the country, that is where folks start accepting it more. Host colleagues on the front page of your newspaper this morning say the there is a debate on how to expand funding for the department of Homeland Security. What do you think this does for that debate on capitol hill . Guest that is one of the fascinating questions we hope we will get soon. The department of Homeland Security runs out of funding on february 27. If congress does not come to agreement on a funding bill for them, we are looking at a partial Government Shutdown. Most of the employees were home and security will go to work they just will not get paid and there are a lot of other programs that will not be able to be funded. A lot of employees will have to stay home. At a time when we have so Many International threats right now, the idea of having a shutdown for the department of Homeland Security is something very few people actually want. What the republicans in congress have been trying to do is use that funding bill knowing it has to pass to try to block the president s action. They are faced with two options. They can use this ruling as some of them talked about yesterday that the courts are now on their side and they show that they have to keep pushing and moving forward to eliminate the president s programming. On the other hand, they could now say looks like the courts are taking care of this so let us pass the clean funding bill that doesnt deal with the president S Immigration bill. The courts will figure that out and we will move forward. Host here is some twitter reaction from capitol hill yesterday. The minority leader harry reid from nevada tweeted out and then you have a speaker of the house saying president obama said at least 22 times he did not have the authority to do what he did on immigration. Nancy pelosi, the leader for the democrats in the house said bob goodlatte, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the house said the immigration subcommittee which is chaired by Jeff Sessions a republican from alabama tweeted out Richard Blumenthal from connecticut said john mccain said good news that federal court temp halts present obamas recent executive actions on immigration. And number of tweets from capitol hill and what they are saying. Some conservatives are hardening themselves saying the court agrees with us and we should stick with this, but then you have democrats and they roll call reporting this morning that harry reid could have a tough battle in 2016 has no reason to cut a deal when this rallies hispanics around him. Guest absolutely. Everything we are looking at and everything we are talking about is done in the context of the 2016 election. We are getting close to that. Unlike the 2014 election where hispanics were not just that influential. Senate races were not done in states where there were a lot of hispanic population. The hispanic vote will be critical in the upcoming president ial election. States like nevada, florida, in illinois that have huge hispanic populations. When we talk about this at congressional action on other immigration issues will really factor in incredibly in a big way for the senators for the president ial race and for other races. Host ray on our line for Illegal Immigrants. How do you view this debate . Caller i come from parents who immigrated to the United States that are in agriculture. They went from up north down south. Coming from a family, my parents stopped emigrating in doing that trip because of having us children. They brought us up in a wellestablished home. I went to school. My english is almost perfect. I can speak spanish. I go back and forth from both countries and i see both sides of the mirror. When i go over there, i get harassed because they say i am american and i have more things than they do. I come over here and get harassed by the americans, which i am an american. Sometimes i feel like i am not valued here. Host can i ask you are you one that can take steps under president obamas executive action to start the process . Caller no, i was born here, but my parents worked everything out. In the 1980s, it did not take five or six or 10 years. It only took one year. That is one question. Why does it take so long . Why have things been implement it to stretch out . I think they want to take peoples was way. People of color here get harassed. They take away our voices and put felonies on us so they can take away our rights. Host alan gomez you want to jump in . Guest he makes a couple of good points. First off, he was born here. For a lot of the folks who have been approved by the federal government, they were born elsewhere but were brought here as children. That is a very important thing to understand. In 2012 when the president created that program, that was that for people who arrived here be a before the age of 16. Even republican conservatives who oppose that stance were saying they are not the ones that made the active decisions to come here. Are the ones that were brought along so let us give them a pass. You didnt see the animosity to that program in 2012. President obama expanded apple and allowed the parents who came here to get the legal status and i think that is what has made this such an emotional and volatile issue. Basically, if you are a parent now and you are an undocumented immigrant and you have a child here, you would qualify for the program. Since they are the ones that made the decision to immigrate here illegally, that is what has a lot of republicans and conservatives upset about this program and working so hard to block it. Host pete in virginia, an independent caller. Caller with all due respect i am not a republican, i am an independent. I am not a conservative, i am an american. Being a van having a son serving this country right now, i can debate this thing for you on an on line by line. The first thing in my opinion is the defense of this country and immigration. The ignorance of the American People of the immigrants and letting them all in and when will it ever stop . The court found that he cant bestow gifts on them of Social Security and medical benefits, so that is what they did. The law is not broken. We need to enforce 287g. If you came here illegally we accept 2 Million Immigrants into the country every year and i dont trust the administration to ever stop and start enforcing the law. That is a bad thing. If you came here illegally, you have to go until the rest of the world. The rest of the world has to know you cannot come here illegally. I dont care if it was five minutes ago or 15 years ago and then start asking for stuff and amending that and demanding that now you be made legal. Thank you for your time. Guest he makes several very good points. The question of our country being able to monitor its orders and stop people who are trying to get in, that is a basic thing any country should have. It is something that is absolutely concerning for a lot of folks in this debate. When that problem gets to washington a gets tied up with everything else. You mentioned a program called everify and that is where if i apply for a job, my employer can check with the government to determine if i am in the country legally or not and whether my immigration status is ok for me to work. It is a program that has almost got national at this point and has spread around the country but is not absolutely required. There are many in congress who would love to have that be nationalized and required for anybody to get a job. Anytime they want to put Something Like that come on the other side, they cannot get agreement on things like the pathway to citizenship for some of these undocumented immigrants here or reforms to the visa system. The house has proposed to do these bills one by one and try to get them pass. The has not worked politically. What happens is all these parts a lot of people have agreement on the issues like protecting National Security and our borders. It gets lost in the shuffle of all these other immigration parts. Host miami florida. A democratic caller. Caller this is an extension of what is being said of Illegal Immigrants. It is not fair. They are human beings. Legalize them. Do something instead of sitting down. I want to know what is different with ellis island and now . They did Something Back then but now they are fighting. It is not fair. These people are human beings like everybody else. It can be fixed. Host what you make of her comparison . Guest i do know how much of a difference there is with ellis island because back then there was opposition to any wave of immigrants that was coming over. This is a country that has with every wave of immigrants that we have had from every part of the world, there has been very sharp low back. There has been sharp hesitance and that feeling that we are here now so ok that is it. The rest of you stay back there. The faces have changed. The nationalities and linkages have changed. This is a country that has always welcomed immigrants, and that is how the country was founded and built. There has always been that strain in this country saying enough is enough and we dont need anymore. The backlash that undocumented immigrants are facing today is similar to what was happening 200 years ago. Host here is a tweet from one of our viewers. Guest one of the main reasons we are here absolutely is because for a very long time, there was a sort of link, wink look the other way. They were doing a lot of work that americans do not want to do and Companies Got a very nice benefit by not having to pay them health insurance. They didnt even have to pay the minimum wage in many cases. They made them work in incredibly difficult situations. That is why things like everify and that is art of the reason why the president and others are trying to legalize them so they can bring them out of the shadows so they can work with the Social Security numbers and bring a grievance against their employer if they are being mistreated. Host rodney in north carolina, an independent caller. Caller thank you for taking my call. What concerns me is the Illegal Immigrants that are coming into our country are not immunized. They are not treated for defense against epidemics or medical conditions. I am thinking specifically about the measles problem we have here. It seems to me that somebody should take into consideration that when these illegal people come into our country, they are bringing diseases and exposing our children to potential death. There is a risk involved to our citizens. We ought to protect our people and set of try to protect and give everything we have and all of our wealth away to people that have a place to live. They have a country. Why dont they stay there . They can survive their. Re. They have for years. I dont see why they come here illegally and try to loot the wealth we have here. We have earned it. We deserve to enjoy the wealth we have because we worked for it. Host there are a couple of issues there, but i want to start with the idea of what the caller said about not being immunized. There is a wall street headline this morning. Is there any evidence about diseases being brought from other countries from those trying to migrate to this country . Guest i have seen Measles Outbreaks come from disneyland but none from these undocumented immigrants coming over. Over the summer, when there was this wave of undocumented minors coming from Central America there was a case of officers and other federal agents who got sick as they were coming in contact with this wave of people. That was an extra ordinary case. That was tens of thousands of kids coming across the border at one time. They were being jammed into these facilities and the federal government was not prepared for that. I did not see much beyond that. I saw a few cases of some of these officers getting sick, but i have not seen any other cases of undocumented immigrants starting some rabid Measles Outbreak in any part of the country, so i am not sure where that is coming from. This is one of the things that concerns a lot of people. I am not dismissing the idea that people are worried about that. It is a very real concern. Countries like honduras and guatemala and others throughout central and south america do not have the Health Standards we have in this country. It is a concern. We do medical screenings of a lot of these cases. They do check them when they can. Some undocumented immigrants make it into the country without anybody touching them. We have 11 Million People who have been able to do that. I have not seen anything verified that they started any kind of massive outbreak. Host let us also take on the issue of what is driving people who want to come to this country illegally. Guest quite simply if you look at the economic condition of a lot of the countrys predominantly in central and some of the rural parts of mexico, if you spent any time down there you would understand why people want to get out of there. I am thinking right now of a speech that senator marco rubio has given. He talked about how he understands why these undocumented immigrants come here. The way he was raised is that there is no Mountain High enough or ocean deep enough that if he was apparent living in one of those countries to try to get your to provide a better life for his children. That is the sentiment. I have been covering immigration for years, and i dont know how many of them i have spoken to. Almost every single one, all i hear from them is that they want a job and to be able to work and provide for the kids and a Better Future for them. That is why they are coming here. The caller was talking about looting the riches and wealth we have made. A lot of them and advocates of undocumented immigrants will say that heart of our wealth in this country is built on their backs. On the food they harvest and they work they do that we dont want to do. We forget the idea that a lot of them pay taxes in this country one way or another through sales tax or paying for a federal id number. It is a very emotional debate. It is very difficult, but you have to remember those things sometimes. Host joel from michigan, you are next. Caller good morning. I have a suggestion first for your show. If you have someone like Jeff Sessions to tell the other side of the story i see you have all these people defending Illegal Immigrants. With a black Unemployment Rate in the way it is, i think it is that 18 , do you think we really need more competition for low Skilled Labor in this country . When they do pass this thing all these people will be eligible for tax refunds even though they havent worked here legally yet. That is my comment. Guest i was a we have heard from a few people here who are not exactly embracing undocumented immigrants and what they are doing in this country. Beyond that, the question of competition for American Workers is something Jeff Sessions talks about repeatedly. The idea that our unemployment is not down but it is now down but there are a lot of people welcoming undocumented immigrants to compete with them. On the one hand when you look a few years ago at states like arizona and georgia and South Carolina were passing these very tough laws cracking down on undocumented immigrants in an effort to drive them out of their states. For a short while, a lot of them were succeeding. A lower leaving those states. We sell reports from farms and factories talking about they dont have any more workers. There were trying to recruit people in their local communities. People were not willing to come in and do that terrible work. You literally had fruits and festivals rotting in the field because they couldnt get the people to do it. With 11 million undocumented immigrants, there will be some competition for work americans could apply for. Talking to farmers and folks in the hightech fields not in the hightech field, but folks that work in these industries, they tell me about a difficult it is for them to find workers that they need. There wouldnt be 11 Million People here if they did not have work to do. Host our next caller is from colorado springs. An illegal immigrant. Go ahead. Caller i am from colorado springs. Is that me . Host yes you are on the air. Caller i am listening to mr. Gomez and i am spanish myself. I believe we could have legals but being legal and doing the paperwork before they come to this country. The only thing i dont like about the president when he turned off the people that were in jail and he is worried about the country . I dont think so. You said that we survived on their back because a work in the fields and stuff like that, but you stop and think about how many kids they have. They are on food stamps and welfare and everything. Host let me jump in because alan gomez we have had these calls before. People are concerned over there concerned that under the president immigration action that you get federal benefits or state benefits. Can you walk through what people are able to get and what they are not able to get if they are here illegally . Guest if they are heal here illegally and are approved by the president s program, they do not qualify for obama care. I know that is a big concern for a lot of people, but that is one thing they have been clear about. What they do get once they are approved and they get a work permit, they get a Social Security number. They are paying into Social Security. In theory, they would be eligible to cash in on that. Also medicare at things like that. They qualify for some programs because they would be paying their taxes and paying into the system. For the basics of obama, they absolutely do not qualify basics of obamacare, they absolutely do not qualify. Host what about programs like food stamps and those sorts of things . Guest not as they are undocumented immigrants with zero legal status. They qualify for almost nothing. They can get their children a k12 education. The court weighed in on that 25 years ago and that is established. Hospitals are required to very for their Emergency Care if they come in. That is a big expense for a lot of hospitals around the country. Beyond that, there is almost no federal program that allows undocumented immigrants who have zero legal standing to benefit from. Host if you are socalled in the shadows, you dont get any federal benefits unless you come out and start this process. Guest exactly. Host in arkansas, a democratic caller. Go ahead. Caller i know most of the people actually do not know why all of the said and that the hispanics are coming to our country, but a few years ago there was a journalist that asked a question of why are they coming all of a sudden in droves . He took a leave of absence and went to mexico to study and asked the people. What he found out was most of those big corporations had push those people off of their land. They did not have space to grow a garden for their families to eat. They had no choice except to come here. Our big corporations have made this possible for everybody coming here. In order just to eat. Host we had a tweet about the earlier also. Any effort by what is going on with the debate on capitol hill over the funding for dhs to touch on these other areas of Immigration Reform . Possibly the everify part of hiring immigrants. Guest they are looking at that. If i could for a second, one of the other requests before congress right now is a billion dollar request from the president to go to Central America. That would be designed to help them improve their security situation and judicial systems and Government Systems and anticorruption systems. Their antigang mechanisms on their ability to combat gangs. All of that is done in an effort to improve the Economic Situation in those countries so those parents dont feel the need to send their kid off to the United States or they themselves leave for the u. S. That is following over the summer where we saw tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors who were coming from oc guatemala and hardware us guatemala and honduras and el salvador. The president saying let us help these countries not only become more secure but improve their Economic Situation so they stop coming. That is a question before congress right now as well to see whether they want to fund it at that level at 1 billion to try to get these countries in a situation where people will decide to stay there because they feel they have the jobs and security they need. Host alan gomez, i appreciate you talking about this with our viewers this morning. Coming up next we will talk with rebecca berg the Political Correspondent with the washington examiner. We will take a look ahead at 2016 president ial contest as well. We continue our bus tour of historically black colleges and universities today. We will talk to the president of the university in tuskegee alabama, Brian Johnson. We will be right back. This week on cspan in primetime, three nights of tech featuring the executives and innovators driving todays most successful internet companies. It should be a bentley or something. Instead it is a taxi. For that privilege of losing that car for 40,000 a year, he can get to be impoverished. Here from insiders at facebook, paypal, at sea and more etsy and more. Israel is probably the top country in the world for gdp Growth Health care, education to every location, moving city south. Three nights of tech tonight at 7 00 eastern on cspan. The Political Landscape has changed with the 100 14th congress. Not only are there 43 new republicans and 15 new democrats in the house and 12 new republicans and one new democrat in the senate, there is also 108 women in congress and quitting first africanamerican republican in the house and the first woman veteran in the senate. You track of the members of congress using congressional chronicle on cspan. Org. The page has lots of useful information including Voting Results and statistics about each session of congress. New congress, best access on cspan, cspan2, cspan radio, and cspan. Org. Washington journal continues. Host we are back with rebecca berg the Political Correspondent with the washington examiner. We begin with a one we were just talking about and that iS Immigration and what to do next. This texas judge rules it and put an injunction on the president S Immigration action. What do republicans do now . They held up the funding for Homeland Security to try to block him. Guest maybe you would think this development would make things move a little more smoothly on the hill because maybe he would make this whole debate they are having in congress moot but it is the opposite. This might make it even tougher to pass dhs without a rider to stop the president s action or put it on hold because now many republicans on the hill are pointing to this Court Decision and saying this validates what we have been saying all along. It would be in bad conscience now for congress not to take any action now that a judge has said president obamas executive action was unconstitutional. We have a few days before Congress Comes back. There might be another Court Decision in that span that would again change the outlook, but it could make things more difficult. Host what is the leadership saying for the republicans . Guest they are not saying anything yet in light of the Court Decision. They havent been back on the hill. It is recess this week. They are not around. They havent all been in the same room to have this discussion. I after theyre having discussions privately, but they are not ready to make any public statements. They will be back next week. A couple more days for them to figure out their next moves and see how this plays out. See if there is another ruling to follow. It wont leave them much time when they come back to the hill to find a resolution for this problem. They will have four working days to sit down, get in a room, and hash this out. That is not much time. Things move very slowly on the hill. Host they have said there will be no shutdowns in the hundred 14th congress. If they dont fund the agency, the agency will have to shut down. Employees will still show up but they will not get paid. They will be furloughed. Agency would essentially shut down and a time of heightened national Homeland Security. Guest it would look a lot with the Government Shutdown we saw a couple of years ago. Essential employees would show up to work. We would not be at high risk for an attack. They would be working, but if you dont have dhs operating at its full capacity, that does create problems. You would have to work out back pay for all these employees. It is compensated. Host 53 said they would blame republicans if this were to happen in a recent poll. What are republican saying about that . Concerned they would get blamed or not . Guest publicly, they are saying the American People would blame democrats for this. Speaker boehner came out this week and was talking about this very issue. He said democrats in the senate are the ones blocking this. They are the ones to blame if this doesnt pass and funding runs out for dhs. That is a high bar for me in terms of is that a believable argument to be making. I think it is tough on republicans are in control of both chambers of congress for them to make the argument that democrats are at fault. Host what about democrats . Do they believe the poll . Are they Holding Strong on this . Guest they do. They are Holding Strong. They are not changing their tune at all. They realize they dont need to go along with republicans now that republicans are in the majority. It they can fight this and not get the blame. We will see if they continue in the next couple of days and see if they are serious about holding their ground. Host what happened in the senate when republicans in the senate tried to bring this up three times . How to democrats respond . Guest in the senate you need 60 votes to avoid a philip buster to avoid a filibuster. They didnt have those extra six votes to avoid a filibuster so democrats were able to block this from coming to a vote. You would imagine they would keep doing the same with this house legislation. What democrats are calling for is clean funding for the department of Homeland Security. No rider on this dealing with the president s executive action on immigration. Republicans are pushing for that rider. Host is there any talk of some sort of resolution or Common Ground between the two sides . Guest that is the problem with this issue. There is in a compromised position. It is sort of one or the other. Democrats are saying they will not give up any ground. They believe the president was in his right to make this executive action. Republicans are making the opposite argument. I think the way this my get resolved is maybe republicans will be able to work around pointing to this judges ruling saying this will be decided in the courts. Right now, that looks unlikely. Host what happens after this debate . They come back on the 23rd with a deadline of the 27th and another key debate on capitol hill is whether or not to grant the new authority to fight isis. What happens with that legislation he sent up . What are the next steps to get that through the floor and pass . Guest that one is a little bit easier than this dhs funding fight. Many lawmakers say the authorization is not strong enough. Some people were opposed to it saying it should not only be stronger in language but also more expensive. Many republicans are complaining that there is a time limit so it only authorizes action for a couple of years. They say we shouldnt be telling our enemies when we are going to stop fighting them, so that is part of the concern. There needs to be something done to fight isis, but some people would like some stronger language in this authorization. Im sure this will go through. Host another hot debate on capitol hill is the Affordable Care act. What are a pelicans place to do and what have they done so far . Guest the big challenge in the coming months is preparing in case the Supreme Court rules the summer that the subsidies for states are not going to be allowed anymore. That would essentially got the Affordable Care act as we know it if the court were to rule that way. What republicans need to do is be prepared in case it happens because if the law were to suddenly evaporate, a lot of americans have been pleased with some of the new rules put in place. For example, there is widespread support for the rule that you are able to stay on your Parents Health insurance until you are 26. They would need to come up with a replacement. That is what they are looking at right now. Host we are talking about the key debates on capitol hill when lawmakers return. The debates continue even if lawmakers are not here in and out of washington. We will get you involved in the conversation as well. Marie is a democrat in South Carolina. Go ahead. Caller i appreciate being on. I would like to remind people that up until maybe a couple hundred years ago and within memory of some of the greatgrandparents of people who are returning here, the socalled Illegal Immigrants were members of a country called mexico. Our people and our country used its doctrine of manifest destiny to go in and take the country over. They forced these people out. It to see them returning because how can a much smaller country support a Large Population . We see them returning and we say they are breaking the law. We need to remember history as it really was before we make decisions about socalled illegal people. Thank you so much. Host we go to george in maryland. An independent color. Go ahead. Caller getting back to the immigration issue here, we have laws on the books already that take care of the immigration problem. Over the years, we have had immigration in this country. A lot of people from mexico and other countries come appear to our agricultural farming, and they worked the season and went back to the country. That is the way it is supposed to be. For people to just come over the border and set a booth in the country and set a boot in the country and take over miniscule jobs and work for pennies on the dollar and set up housing where they have three families living in a home in the cost that americans are try to deal with his ridiculous. Host is that part of the debate here in washington what you heard from the scholars from those callers . Guest absolutely. It is the discussion going on in congress right now and also on the campaign trails. We are starting to hear potential 2016 president ial candidates talking about immigration. Jeb bush came out yesterday and did not speak specifically to the judges ruling but he reiterated he is a post of the president taking action on his own on immigration and that he would prefer if the president worked with congress on this issue. Host what was the reaction from conservatives to jeb bush saying that but also his statements in the past on immigration . Guest it will still struggle with conservatives on this issue because he has in the past mentioned ilLegal Immigration at times is an act of love because these families come over to be reunited. That has been very tough for him in the past. It could be tough in a general election. You could probably see him graining gaining a lot more traction. The immediate challenge for him is making the case to conservatives that he is conservative enough on immigration that he really cares about Border Security first and then broader reform. Host as we heard earlier, the 2016 politics are hanging over this entire debate. What are the other potential attenders on the republican side saying . Guest most are little to the right of jeb bush so far. Even marco rubio who helped author the senate, mice plan on Immigration Reform has backed off from his support of that plan. He said he has decided that would not work. That is the theme among republicans that we are seeing that set of saying Border Security first and lets tackle the other issues. It is actually a very interesting nuance Mike Huckabee has come out and you think of him as a conservative candidate usually but he has said publicly that he supported as governor these dreamers getting instate tuition in arkansas. He doesnt regret it. He thinks they should have those rights as well as american citizens. Host speaking of jeb bush, you should note the Washington Post notes this morning that jeb bush is expected to offer some clues to his Foreign Policy views in a speech wednesday at the Chicago Council on global affairs. More than 700 people are expected to attend the address. Pam in texas hello. Caller i just want to ask that since it is a fact that congress had the opportunity to work on or pass the bill on immigration and they failed to do that. Mr. Obama asked them to do and they wouldnt do it. The senate did nothing. Mr. Bush wants to bring his suit in court. I want her to respond to whether there are any relevant facts that would be the basis of bringing an action in court. I think it is a jurisdictional problem. We have to have facts. There is no money to send the people out there. Nobody actually it is just bickering. Dont you think so . Guest this caller brought up a couple of relevant point s. The first being is there a relative basis for challenging the president s action. Democrats say there isnt. They think they are on firm legal ground and they anticipate they will see this ruling overturned very quickly. That is their production. With immigration on capitol hill , it is absolutely true that democrats have made the argument that republicans did not act on immigration. They essentially forced the president s hand on this executive action. They will continue making that point. If you look at the republicans on the immigration policy here, they have not made a lot of headway in terms of coming up with a plan of their own. Host mary a republican in texas, go ahead. Caller one thing i would like to say and this is just in general is that people are always saying we have always been a country of immigrants. They go back to 200 years ago and we had a lot of land and a lot of everything in a lot of wealth for people to begin their lives. We are not 200 years ago. We have problems coming out our ears here in america with our own citizens. The only thing keeping this nation together right now is we are a country of laws. If we are going to throw thiS Immigration thing out and not make anybody go through the law and we would just say everybody here since a certain age can be here and they dont have to do anything, that tells them we are not in this and of laws. We are a nation of chaos. Host can i ask you something . Caller people keep saying the republicans did not do anything. They had 300 bills on the senates desk and they werent even looked at. It wasnt republicans being lazy and not acting. It was the democrats not acting on what the republicans were sending through. Host can i ask you about this debate over whether or not to fund the Homeland Security department and block the president on executive action . Do you agree that it is worth shutting down Homeland Security over this issue of immigration . Over this issue of executive action on immigration . Caller i dont think Homeland Security should be without funds at any time. However, why is that attached . Why is it attached to it in the first place . Guest that is just where the funding comes from. It doesnt make a ton of sense to us average americans. This is kind of where republicans have chosen to focus. Host mike in South Carolina, an independent. You are on the air. Were talking about all the key debates happening up on capitol hill with rebecca berg. Lawmakers are not here in town this week, but they will be returning next week and then this issue of funding for the Homeland Security department looms over them with a february 27 deadline. We also have the issue of new authority for fighting isis and other domestic issues out there. Mike and South Carolina, an independent color, go ahead an independent caller, go ahead. Caller good morning. My comment is being that we are having so many problems with mexico, why doesnt our government and the people here ask mexico if they would like to become the 51st state . That way we can all just get along and forget about the border and go on about our business and quit letting these people come over here to try to feed their families. Everybody is bickering and bickering and we would save so much money by just asking mexico if they would like to become a state. Host ok mike we got your point. Cliff, a democratic caller. Caller hello how are you two ladies doing . I am a caller from ohio. ThiS Immigration thing we are always talking about we are a melting pot. This country would not be a country if it was for lets say the republicans. Lets say texas kept the mexicans out. They brought him up, use them as slaves, and now they have a problem. Now they dont want them. There is a problem there. There is a big problem. Guest one of the Big Questions of course with the immigration debate is to what extent do we still allow guest workers. That is where you see a lot of support from both sides of the aisle. Republicans like to fashion themselves as very probusiness. They want space in this debate to allow these workers to come in and help businesses and the economy. That is one of the stickiest parts of the debate is how do you square that circle and allow these workers to still come in while securing the border as republicans would like to do . Host tim in michigan, an independent caller. Hi tim. Caller top of the day to cspan. It is a privilege. Thank you for taking my call. I have two things to talk about. The first one is that basically there are two kinds of immigrants in this country. Those that came in the front door with a visa and overstay their visa therefore becoming illegal. Those people are the ones we want here. It is too hard for the kids that we educate to make them citizens of america or just send them back to their country to compete against our country. The other thing i wanted to bring up is something gomez said earlier. He said the people that are going to get these new licenses that would not be getting obamacare. If you are an employee and you have two people standing in front of you waiting to get a job, one is forced to get obamacare because he is an american and the other is here on this french of visa or what everyone a caller and he doesnt have to pay him obamacare. Which one will he higher . Which one will he hire . He will hire the one he doesnt have to pay obamacare for. What is in this government and on some of the people got a job by month and host thank you, tim. Im not sure if rebecca berg is a Political Correspondent with the washington examiner. We will have to get an economics reporter for that one. Take the first part about the immigration debate. Guest he brings up a great point with a student visa. That is one of the areas where you see a lot of ilLegal Immigration happening. People are coming to the country illegally on these visas and just staying. One thing that jeb bush pointed out recently is why there should be these immigrants into the country and how we can reform and a positive way. One thing that he said that i thought was interesting was that we should be looking at this as an opportunity, a draft pick every year like an nfl draft pick and we have 600,001st round picks. He sees this as an opportunity to bring in the skilled workers who otherwise would not be in the country and use it to benefit our economy. Host how does this shake out with the 2016 president ial election hanging over it and do these republican contenders see this issue of immigration as one of the biggest ones that they have to take a stand on . Guest absolutely. It is something that republicans dont really have a choice. They need to talk about this. A do not want to be seen as the antiimmigrant party. That is one area where we are looking at congress and the next two years to see how do republicans and congress act on immigration. That will set the tone for the 2016 president ial election. I know that these candidates are hoping that Congress Acts responsibly on immigration and do not come off as completely antiimmigrant. The question is, are these candidates going to have a solution to the problem beyond secure the border and some of the rhetoric that we have party heard . They are going to have to have some Detailed Solutions to bring ford. Host what other republicans in congress what are the alternatives that theyre going to do . They do not like president obamas executive action. What are they talking about proposing to bring to the floor in the next years . Guest i think the first step will be the Border Security bill. One caller earlier in the show mentioned that they already passed a number of these bills in the senate and they do not go anywhere. And the republican senate, we may have an opportunity to see some of these bills go to the president s desk. That would create an interesting dilemma for the president as to whether he beat of some of these bills that are brought to him. Host you are on the air with rebecca berg. Go ahead. Caller hi. How are you all doing this morning . My question is i keep hearing that Immigration Law is broken. I want to know how it is broken . We have laws on the books right now and why arent they being enforced . That is my question. Host ok, walter. Rebecca berg . Guest the laws are difficult to enforce and that is why we see so many Illegal Immigrants in the country millions of them. It is relatively easy to come across the border and stay here. That is the biggest problem. That is why we see this discussion taking place when democrats and republicans asked how to fix the laws. How can they be enforceable and realistic it realistic . Host francis on a line for republicans. Welcome to the conversation. Caller good morning. How is it having a hard time to do on immigration . Look at george w. Bush. He had 40 and won the election. If the republicans dont do anything, they are going to have a hard road to the white house. They have to lose something. Do something. They have to do something about it. George bush won because he won 40 of the electoral vote. The republicans wont say anything about it. Host francis, i think that mitt romney in 2012 got mid20s of the hispanic vote. Caller exactly. Republicans are not thinking far. They are not. Host url public republican. You are dialing it on that line . Of the republican contenders, who do you like on this issue . Caller i want to say huckabee because he did something about students in arkansas and also bush. They have to say something. Huckabee will do something about it. Others will not say anything about it. Host ok. He is not hearing it from the other candidates. Except for jeb bush and my cousin b. Guest i think he will hear it from the other candidates. No one has actually announced that they are running yet. This is quite notable actually because at this time in 2008, barack obama had announced his candidacy. Mitt romney did. We were moving at a much faster clip. We have not seen anyone announced yet. There was a report that rand paul would not announce until april 7. We still have time until these issues get address. Host you wrote a recent story about this will they, wont they in 2016 . Guest no one wants to be the first out there to get the scrutiny of a president ial campaign if no one is out there with them. The other problem is fundraising. You do not want to get into the middle of a race in the middle of a fundraising quarter. What jeb bush is trying to do is to have this shock in all shock and all fundraising quarter before he announces his president ial bid. A number of considerations. Host when might he make an announcement . Guest i think spring and early summer is the range where we are looking for most of the candidates. I think maybe march at the earliest and for the latest, june or july potentially. Host what about the calculation of april . Guest it is the beginning of fundraising quarters. You want to post a strong First Quarter and show that you are a serious candidate and that you can raise money. You also do not want to jump in. Rand paul wants to make sure that he gets his campaign and placed and get these big hires firm up before he gets onto the national scene. There is a lot of homework that these candidates need to do on policy as well. Even though some of these senators deal with Foreign Policy on a daily basis for their jobs, it is never at the level of someone who is running for president. They need to be ready. Host kentucky, ron, independent color. Caller. Caller hi. How are you . Thank you for taking my call. On immigration i do not know if anyone has realize this, obama has given all big businesses and 3000 tax credit for halloween for hiring immigrants instead of white people are black people. Host where did you read that ron . Caller i heard that on fox news. The funny thing about it is that 42 of hispanic population does not even care about anything. They do not want to become citizens. All they want to do is come here work, send their money back home, and go about their business. Host is this really a political win for either party if they were to do something on Immigration Reform in terms of the hispanic vote . Guest it is. It may not be as much of a driver as people think, but it is certainly something that affects much of the population directly or by one or two degrees of separation. And so, this is something that is going to matter. That is why you see republicans talking about it. You see democrats talking about it. Everyone is going to have to talk about this issue as one of our collars pointed out earlier. Hispanics are a huge block of voters. Hispanic voters are getting even more influential because there are even more of these voters than ever before. We see more and more each year. Host we will go to marissa and fayetteville, arkansas. Caller good morning. I am immigrants. I came here from mexico and i am married to an american citizen. This whole immigration thing has been problematic for him. He feels like he has been discriminated because he does not make enough money because to be able to qualify for you to get a green card, you have to be 125 above poverty level. He has had a hard time finding a good job because of all these problems that we have had with the economy. So, it is difficult for me and my son. Now, we do not know what to do because of this obama thing, we thought it would get a way to get my green card eventually. It looks like it is not going to happen like that. This is affecting not only immigrants, but citizens that cant meet the requirements that the law has established. Read our we really are in limbo right now. He is a citizen. I am an immigrant. I came here with a student visa. We cannot find a solution. We do not know what to do. Seriously. Host orissa, what do you want the president to do to respond in response to this texas judgeses ruling . Caller i do not know. Everyone thinks that immigrants just come here to work and not get back to the country. I would love to give back to the country, but we do not have a way. Host in the republican party, howd do they treat immigrants to seek a better life . Caller guest that is what we have seen with jeb bush. He says that we have to show compassion to these people. These are people affected by these decisions. It is important that these problems be solved for them. There are many republicans who do take a much more cynical view of immigrants. They are more concerned with keeping them out as opposed to enabling more to legally come over to the United States. That has been a very start division among republicans. And we will see that widen. Host you can look at the editorial pages today on this issue. The wall street journal of their opinion Obama Administration reviewed. Federal courts say he cannot rewrite the law by himself. They write, they support a generouS Immigration policy, but president obamas political winds are the wrong way to get there. That is the wall street journal editorial on this. They call this a judges assault on immigration. With a humane immigration policy, president obama is tackling a huge running problem dealing with millions of people who are working and living here and the government cannot possibly after hand and deport all of them. Christ the Washington Post Editorial Board the Washington Post Editorial Board. They say that theres a Silver Lining in the decision. It is an escape hatch that offers revulsion speaker john boehner. Mr. Boehner, is in a good position mr. Boehner is in a good position to convince his caucus to pass a spending bill with no poisonous riders. If yes is a sect xterra need to do so, it will lend credence to the gops case that it is prepared to use as majority in congress to grandstand. To govern, not grandstand. Guest we are not seeing republicans move in that direction. These are based on preliminary interviews and preliminary reactions to this ruling. We are down to the wire with this funding for dhs. It will be in the last few days that republicans will use this as the Washington Post used it as an escape hatch. So far, not looking like that way. Host tiffany in new jersey. Caller thank you for taking my call. I think that people need to understand more arent the laws for immigration different opposed to bordering countries like canada and mexico versus somebody who is like from england or spain or somewhere else in the world . That is just one. The second one that i was going to say it is the ban. When you come illegally, somebody who comes illegally but say, gets caught by Border Security within six months their band is only a year versus somebody who comes further away from the border or more towards the middle of the country and they are here for 1015 years and they eventually get supported, their band is 10 years. I think people need to understand that this is not really fair. I think the punishment doesnt fit the crime and it is really heartbreaking for all these dreamer kids. I think it is very wrong, very wrong to separate families, no matter what they did. The punishment does not fit the crime. Host ok. What about that point, rebecca bird . Rebecca berg . Guest i think it addresses how difficult policies will be. There are so many different factors to consider and inconsistencies in some of these laws and the punishments for violating them. That is exactly why we are going to see this as an issue for many, many months to come. Host backup bird rebecca berg, thank you. We continue with our cspan bus tour of historically black colleges at Tuskegee University. Youll be talking to Brian Johnson. Well be right back. The cspan cities tour takes both tv and American History tv on the road, traveling to u. S. Citizens to learn cities to learn about their history and literary life. We partnered with Time Warner Cable with a visit to greensboro, north carolina. Christ after months and months charles halpern, was making one more walkthrough. In the acted at it, he looked over and saw an envelope with a green seal on it and walked over and noticed the date with an 1832 document. He was a single male from a panel and in an upstairs room, uncovered a trunk with porches. This was this treasure of dolly madisons. We had this story of available to the public, display different items from time to time, but trying to include her life story from her birth to death in 1849. Some of the items that we currently have on display are ivory calling card case. They had the calling card included with dollys signature as well as her nieces, anna. There are a pair of silk slippers that have tiny little ribbons that tie across the arch of her foot. And the two dresses are the reproductions of a silk, peach silk gown that she wore early in life and the grand velvet down gown which is part of this collection and it is now election that has accompanied it. Christ watch all of our events from greensboro. Keep track of the Republicanled Congress and follow its new members to its first session. New congress, best access on cspan, cspan2, cspan radio, and cspan. Org. Announcer washington journal continues. Host throughout the month of february, the cspan buzz has been making visits to historically let colleges and universities across the United States. Our journey started on february 4 and Howard University in washington dc. Eight universities overall across the u. S. Today, we are joined by Brian Johnson of Tuskegee University. That is where the cspan bus finds itself today and alabama. President johnson is boarding joining us onboard the cspan bus. Good morning, president johnson. Caller good morning to you. Host we havent talking to other president s on the series. One of the things that has come up repeatedly as how to retain students who specifically attend historically black colleges and university your university as a standout for student retention. Can you talk about that and what is your secret . Guest absolutely. Theres really no secret. Here at tuskegee, we have been really strong with our program. We have 3100 undergrad enrollment. We have 2100 and stem fields. The retention leads directly to graduation and a very impressive job placement rate. Our students here are the best and brightest and they remain very focused than that. We also have a very new program that started a couple of years ago, a quality enhancement plan in our first year courses were our students get the assistance that they need in many of these mathbased courses. We attributed to the tcl program to create quality enhancement plan. Host is there a message to deliver personally to College Freshmen as they are starting their educational career about staying through the course and achieving graduation . Guest absolutely. And eight months here, at test the university, president s are always there and involved. I have the pleasure of participating at those. We try to motivate them and tell them about our great tradition and are and our founder booker t. Washington. There are many luminaries and are great distant list alumni and the students are currently here. We try to motivate them with the best and brightest examples of what makes tuskegee great and how they can also make it greater. Host president johnson, talk a little bit. One of the reasons that we learn why students cannot finish their educational career is finances Straight Talk about that and how your university deals with that. Guest obviously, these are questions that are pressing for not only Tuskegee University but many institutions. The balance between the university and ensuring that it has the appropriate that tuition revenue and also ensuring that our students are properly financed and properly packaged with the right sort of discounting that an institution can provide. Im very pleased to say that arent cetacean institution our institution does it surely well in securing scholarships in different fields and also our alumni. They do a great job and restricted giving and scholarship in. However, the institution has to be careful and we spent a lot of time managing our discount rate. We obviously have to provide institutional aid. These students are going to be attracted by great institutions. We here at Tuskegee University secured topnotch students. The students have choices. We try to make sure that we properly balance the aid that we provide a discounted scholarships and we also encourage them to participate in internships. In s tem related fields, we hope to add a tuition. We had a multifaceted approach and discounting to our students here. Host in information provided by your university, your Graduation Rate is 47 . What is that mean to you . Guest that number is not where we wanted to be. We are still not very pleased that it is where it could be. By that, we obviously have a number of things that we have to look at. Obviously, when one considers Graduation Rate, one has to consider retention and persistent. With recruitment and persistence, one of the things that we have to do, many students leave for a number of different reasons. It is not because they are doing well, it is because of some of the issues that you just raise. They do not secure enough scholarship money by having a way of a gpa that rises to the level that would secured the meritbased aid. Some leave for various issues. Sometimes, it relates to that they do not find the area or the housing facilities in a manner that is consistent with what they would prefer. Some leave for personal issues. One of the things that we want to do in increasing that Graduation Rate is to engage them in a number of initiatives. We talk a big deal care about student engagement. And coed activities beyond the classrooms, we find that if students link on to, obviously they link on to wanting a good job, or obviously, they want to stay because they want to graduate with credentials. We try to connect them to our brand, are tuskegee alumni, our football thing our basketball team, and more portly, leadership programs. University wide programs speakers programs. These are the kinds of things that students when they go home on christmas break, fall break spring break, they say you know what question mark i want to return to Tuskegee University. That is what we are doing to make sure that Graduation Rate goes higher. Host cspan has got the opportunity to speak with the heads of many historical by colleges and universities. If you want to ask questions to Brian Johnson of Tuskegee University, heres how you do so. 20 274 88001 for all others. Give us a call and well get to your calls momentarily. President johnson, you talked about the signs and related programs. He talks about government grants and contracts, you received about 37 million. Does a good portion of that deal with stem related topics . Guest stem related topics . Let me say that tuskegee has historically done well and acquisition of federal research dollars. That is one of our strong areas. One of the things that the university is doing here within this administration is wanted to create a diverse portfolio of dollars that we bring in. We know that stem related funding is our bread and butter. We want to partner with private corporations, not only federal dollars for the research. We also are trying to create University Wide steam by inviting and reminded people that in 1985, tuskegee made the decision to change the name from Tuskegee Institute to Tuskegee University by broadening and expanding. It is always want to be in our dna. We know that a number of foundations and corporations in students who also want to attend to ski university, that should create more interest in federal dollars for our stem related programs. Host what kind of research is going on currently . Guest we have been successful and Aerospace Engineering for instance. We have received money for our work in our Aerospace Engineering program. Obviously, we produced a strong number of percentage of africanamerican engineers in the nation. A Veterinary School we are one of the foremost reduce or producers of africanamerican veterinary graduates. These are significant areas and building the kind of Research Brand here at the institution. We are in the midst of a wonderful transition here where im still learning the falconry. Falcon the faculty. We also have agriculture obviously. We are pleased to announce a new building here under the leadership of our college of agriculture where this building will be housing the department of agriculture there along with our faculty there. They will be able to engage with ongoing agricultural work. We are very pleased with the Ongoing Research here and our faculty. Host president Brian Johnson of Tuskegee University. First call comes from stephen and connecticut. You are on with the president. Go ahead. Guest caller thanks for taking my call. Tuskegee has a long history with civil rights going back to the famous and men. Air men. I want to talk about civil rights for the american muslims. We have always had great representatives like mohammed ali, kareem abduljabbar, malcolm x. What happened in chapel hill reminds me so much of Martin Luther kings eulogy for the burning him birmingham girls where he discusses the low of the man and humanity and how god has a way of bringing out the evil. Where are the student standing with my friends from chapel hill . Guest your friends from chapel hill is there a particular matter there . There have been a number of issues in chapel hill. Would you be more clear about the issue that you are raising . Host he is gone. But i believe he is referencing those situations the shootings. Guest sure. Obviously, our students have been longstanding in our engagement with civil rights with Tuskegee University. Not only students, community members. More specifically, our students have been deeply involved with the ferguson shootings. I, myself, have not seen or heard of student groups articulate engaged on the issue of what has occurred in chapel hill. But nevertheless, i am sure that they are engaged in a number of different issues that they find to be important. Im sure that is equally important to them and we trust and we hope that they will do the right research in regards to what the issues are and find ways to engage and support issues that affect all mankind. Host regina is from st. Paul minnesota. Caller actually, it was my son who attended. He is like the Third Generation who attended hbcus. I had a great uncle who graduated from tuskegee. I just felt the value of my son attending a Historical Black College was just second to none. His character, his selfesteem his entrepreneurial spirit, and just his view of himself as an africanamerican just changed. He is just so proud and really believes that he can do anything he puts his mind to. He had the opportunity to meet other africanamerican males and females who are academically motivated and have higher aspirations. Im just really grateful that hbcus are still thriving and in existence. Guest i appreciate that comment because it is a comment that needs to be a clarion call to the value of hbcus. We have several reports that indicate that although, many African Students and minority students are attending predominantly white institutions, the fact remains that after an american graduate schools, master degrees lotteries, veterinarian degrees phd degrees, these africanamericans who have gone on to these posts i can area cements postbaccalaureate cements one of the things that you find is that the Common Thread is that they are really grounded in hbcus. They were trained in these environments where they dug deep in a rich sense of the history of who they were and then they metric it lead matriculated to predominantly white institutions where, and of the times, they still feel the need to congregate whether it is student unions or where they cultivate. Many graduates have that, particular from Tuskegee University. Host randy from clearwater florida. Youre next. Caller i was going to speak about black college person. Host randy, you are on. Go ahead with your question or comment. Caller my comment is they are a black college, but there are u. S. Citizens like every other race. I was wondering if that college was an integrated host president johnson, go ahead. Guest i thank you for your question, randy, i believe. The reason for creation of historically black colleges and universities were due to frankly, the africanamericans not being permitted to integrate. Obviously in the 5060 years since many of these civil rights legislation has passed, that immigration integration is still a long, painstaking road. Obviously, Tuskegee University is integrated. We allow students of multiple races to attend. Obviously, predominantly white institutions are still integrating. And both of these contexts, we still have a long way to go in dealing and grappling with the history and way in which our nation has still with the question of race, and particularly and higher education. With that being said, there are spaces for institutions like Tuskegee University, just like the previous color indicated where students who either hail from innercity grounds are upperclass backgrounds where they were the best in the smartest in the class. They attended predominantly white institutions, but yet they found that they were the only ones or the intellect was not affirmed or their full creative expression or their history not acknowledge. Many of those students who come from well educated homes and our many sins who come from innercity homes they say i want to go where i can lead and i can be firm and learned about my history and i want to see flesh and blood examples of africanamericans who may or may not meet dissipated be detected in mainstream programming or commercials or music. We believe that obviously institutions like Tuskegee University that provide that space for those who need that space. We do not make it a requirement that we believe that every student in the world ought to be at tuskegee. We do know that there are students who value from learning about our rich tradition, our rich history, and our rich future. In that regard, we think that all education is important and peter belies are important. Pwi is important. And especially, Tuskegee University is important. Host how integrated is the teaching faculty there . Guest our faculty is very integrated. I do not have the specific demographics on what percentage are African American and what percentage are white and what percentage are asian. I assure you that our provost i just appended a provost from the diminishing republic. Many of our engineers are obviously international faculty. What we find in our demographics is that we are probably more diverse in our faculty ranks and test dvd in tuskegee than the faculty ranks at predominantly white institutions. Host in new york, go ahead please. Caller i graduated from htc you as well. I have a comment and a question or suggestion directed to the president of Tuskegee University. First, im a guidance counselor at a high school in new york. It is a big struggle trying to expose students in the north primarily to hbcus in the south. Many times, they are not able to take advantage of these. We are competing in new york city to keep them in a city in new york or a State University in new york. They always emphasize the money and the tuition is way cheaper. Heres my thing i have students who say they have to give me an hbcus as well. The students are going forward. The prime example to the president of Tuskegee University i had a student who was just accepted to Tuskegee University. I know you just talked about the retention rate and the Graduation Rate. When you have a student as far as new yorks city to alabama, one of my suggestions to the students was why dont you reach out to the city and see if they have some type of program with theres a chaperone that can provide a big brother or big sister who would come pick you up from the airport and spend a day on campus and stay in a dorm with a chaperone and sleep in their room and basically show you the community so that you can get there . And when you get there, you are predisposed to what you actually enroll in as a freshman. You realize host we got it, caller. We have to leave it there. Present johnson, go ahead. Guest we have over 40,000 alumni. Critically and you are, we have an Alumni Chapter there. We cannot always cover the spans of new york. One of the things that we do is we use our alumni. Our alumni loved tuskegee. They talk tuskegee, they lived to ski they eat tuskegee. What are they do one of the things that they do is have certain fares. Our local alumni showed up and was able to talk with the public constituents and High School Students were in attendance there. I do believe that there are ways in which to engage students. We do our very best in our admission area to deal with unique and particular students. There are a number of students who have the desire to come and they want to visit. That can be cost prohibitive however, we do address inquiries. We do our best to elicit the support of whether it is alumnus or the faculty or staff member who is voluntarily put a student of her voluntarily mentor a student. Of course as a president , nearly everyone reaches out to me directly. Obvious a, i cannot mentor and take up and deal with every single student but, through my staff and through my alumni and through my faculty clearly those are ways. I appreciate thats ingestion. That suggestion. Host our guest is Brian Johnson of Tuskegee University. From cincinnati, ohio. Thanks for waiting. Youre next. Caller thank you. My name is raymond. I am a graduate of Tuskegee Institute. All my family are hbcus graduates and my wife and my children are graduates of tuskegee. I just have a comment to make. We love tuskegee as do all the alumni, but im looking forward to your rain there at the school. Im hopeful that we will see our school go and progress as it has over the last hundred or so years. Im confident that you will help bring us to the next level of accomplishments. In terms of student enrollment in terms of programs, all those and in terms of our recognition in the country as a good Educational Institute for all races and for others to attend. Host thank you. Guest thank you very kindly for that. Id like to encourage you. Im not sure if there is a local Ohio Alumni Club there. I would encourage you to create one and invite me there. The second thing is i want to thank you for really pointing to what the university is currently doing. Your first two tuskegee. Edu. You refer to test the. Edu tuskegee. Edu. We have a master theory and disseminating that through our campus committee. Our vision document outlines the way in which we hope to grow Tuskegee University. Many people may be unaware that Tuskegee University after the passing of the founder of the t washington, this institution have 1500 students. Nearly 100 years later, we celebrate him and it has only double. We believe that this institution can grow and accidentally. I can grow through online programming and also by increasing and not decreasing stem programs. We put University Wide steam by inviting all students to understand that Tuskegee University is built not only on tradition, not only on admissions but it is built on a trajectory and on a solid vision for the future and the history of the institution. Host what is your study expected to be impleaded . Completed . Guest i appreciate your comment. I am engaged in a yearlong selfstudy. It will be completed at the end of the year. We are well ahead of paste pace. We had something that was very encouraging. We only had seven items. These items were only documentary items. As you know, we are part of the regional accrediting area. Tuskegee university is part of that and we go through the same old reaffirmations and there is a compliance cap. We are not moving to a reaction. Im using this report in this my first year to learn about the institution and do a selfstudy of not only those items that cover the report, but also those things like statistics of the institution, understanding the way in which we manage our student affairs, understanding where our primary advancement and fundraising dollars are understanding what is our baseline for alumni funding. Understanding and also creating outcomes. We know that we are moving steadfastly into a performancebased culture. We are moving steadfastly into a Performance Scorecard that has been recently discussed. [no audio] we will do with what that deciduous distinguished online just indicated. Host from new jersey. Go ahead. Caller my dad went to tuskegee. I must tell you that it has had a h amend its impact on his life and the life of his family. I myself did not attend an hbcus. Im attending boston university. Had there been a bit more online offerings, i definitely would have attended. Host two the point about online offering, how is tuskegee capable of that . Is that something you want to expand . Guest you must have been reading my vision document. Im pleased to say that we are presented to our board of trustees at our upcoming Board Meeting of approval for online delivery. We already have an infrastructure and platform that can accommodate up to 10,000 students that only accommodates 3000. We arty have eight programs where our faculty members are excited about offering wonderful stem programs online. We have progress reporting on when to notify a regional our Regional Agency crediting program. It takes little to nothing at all to put these programs in place and get them up and running. We believe that Tuskegee University not only has the brand, but the quality of the program to be online. We are looking forward to both of these programs in the fall. We trust that the board of trustees will support that. Even as we go fort into the future to not only have the startup of a programs, but to go beyond that as financially. There are a number of programs here at Tuskegee University that we believe that giving into that area is also an additional way and increasing, not only are traditional revenues, but increasing the experience and exposure to Tuskegee University that this gentleman pointed out. Host juan is from alabama. Go ahead. Caller my father graduated from tuskegee and 32 in 1932. I graduated from tuskegee in the 60s. My brother also graduated from tuskegee and the 60s. In reference to integration tuskegee in the 60s, while we were yet in the full battles of Race Relations in the south, at tuskegee, i had friends in classes from africa. This was in the 60s at tuskegee. They were integrated then and they are integrated now. Many of my teachers were cox location teachers with when we were at tuskegee, we were ready to meet the world, not to fight the world, but to meet the world. Guest i appreciate that. I hear these wonderful stories from alumni throughout the nation where ever i go, where ever i travel. They come and they tell me about the greatness of tuskegee. In many ways, we are not trying to recapture it. It is already here. We are china to propel it in the future and part of our future document. We are installing a globalinternational office. This is not only for our undergraduate students to have opportunities to expand their International Reach beyond campus, but for those International Students who already matriculate to our vet school programs, our engineering programs, our vet school programs. We want them to find a place here on this campus, not only a place for them to be isolated as it were, but a place or they can integrate with our students here who are domestically born here in the United States of america or in the state or in the region or in the nation here. I appreciate that commentary. I think that the history of tuskegee is wellknown. Much of that history is still present, still active, still alive. We are constantly reminding people to tuskegees trajectory. Turn to husky because to test geeky because what made it great in the past is obviously what we hope will leverage into the future. Host charles is up next. Go ahead please. Caller i went to john c smith university. My son went to duke university. I have one question. First of all, it is wellknown that hbcus are having financial programs problems. Are your alumnis supporting you adequately . Guest is my alumni supporting me adequately . Let me say that alumni has always supported Tuskegee University. We always want to do more and more more. When you talk about adequate support, let me just tell you this. There is no greater alumni and the history of hbcus or otherwise then tuskegee alumni. Tuskegee alumni constantly support through various giving in terms of their restricted giving. However, make no mistake. I do acknowledge the challenge. One of the most important things that we have at them straight to our alumni, not only are alumni, but our donors, is that restricted giving and scholarships help our students and it is very important. We will continuously accept that. We want to give to our annual funds. We want them to give in this particular areas of this institution can use annual fund money to help with the present needs. The on that, we also want to encourage not only alumni at Tuskegee University, but all president s one to encourage their alumni to know that it is not the total amount that are alumni give, but it is the percentage of our alumni giving. Otherwise out of 45,000 graduates, i want a 100 giving. I do not think youll ever hear president saying that we are totally and completely satisfied. I will tell you this my tuskegee alumni are the best and brightest because they were students that were the best and brightest. Were looking forward to the genetic theory trajectory where they are more willing to give to Tuskegee University. Host president obama wants to give Free Committee college for two years. If that were to go for, without the direct cup titian to universities like yours and without that be a problem in the long run . Guest that depends. We are still in the midst of our selfstudy. We need to look at the types of students that would be impacted here in Tuskegee University. Obviously an micelle study, lemon me just say this we recruit a very high quality topnotch student that has opportunities, not at committee colleges, but at other Major Research and elite private institutions. Im not delved into that particular statistic and that demographic as it particularly relates to to sticky tuskegee. What i will stay about this state about this we are in a 21st century environment where you have to be able to have your niche. We believe that tuskegees academic programs, particularly our stem programs for minority students, are second to none. Their ability to persist and graduate and ability to get jobs in these stem related fields. Im not sure if those twoyear programs would be to the extreme detriment of our university because, in some ways, those two years may or may not care with it the kinds of requirements that would prepare them for successful much circulation into agricultural or engineering or vet school or even business. Im not as pretty to be able to provide a real response to how it it would directly impact test key epa let me say this i believe that test geeky will remain strong in any performance based model as we continue to track our document and also ensure that we continue to make a value to students about about you of attending our institution for a full four years for their much regulation. Host here in los angeles. Go ahead. Caller good morning. My point goes to the question of funding. Heres a little history of why these institutions were established in the first place. As you very well know, they were pretty much formed during or after reconstruction. This goes to the question of federal funding. Have the collective body of black founded universities or colleges consider the question collectively as far funding is concerned of the question of reparations . Because we know, according to history, that the reconstruction. Tion period was primarily the reintroduction of jim crow. That brings at disparity and statistics in all areas. I do not think you need to explain integration or this or that or the other. And your faculties or any other thing as it relates to giving your attention to dealing with the undeserved, to this day community, which is the black committee. Host thanks. President johnson, go ahead. Guest you asked the question of whether hbcus have collectively answer this question. Not to my knowledge, but i know that there are a number of organizations that have had questions about what we can do collectively. To your question no. Im not personally aware on a discussion on the half of hbcus or historically minority serving institutions on the question of what relations reparations. Host in jacksonville, heres roy. Caller im from jacksonville, florida. We have dr. Duncan who was the band director. Odd historical note, on a historical note, at the time when the first colonel armstrong asked Booker T Washington to come to alabama to establish the school. Later on, i had a cousin who helped booker t start that school. We asked him to come to eatonville which is in florida. That is where the poet was in the community at that time. He was in the part of florida outside of orlando. That was my cousin charlie. Charlie was out of the carolinas. Host do not mean to interrupt. We are running short of time. If you want to ask a question of our guest or make a statement caller my last point is my point between mr. Washington and what was the purpose of the school in which way should the negro go at that time, do you think it is still relevant to pursue manufacturing like your university was making bricks at one point . Guest i appreciate that question. I always like to point out that obviously the citizens of tuskegee and make it county macon county, they made the petition to alabamas state legislature. They provided their own money and went to general armstrong and said, find us someone to start an institution here. Then, he selected t washington booker t. Washington who we attribute to be the founding principle and president. There are many people who are similar to your cousin who played a significant role, names who we do not want to ever forget. To the point of the needs of an institution like booker t. Washington, i do it a decently a daily commentary about booker t. Washington. As a president , most people reduce into a political or social leader, but primarily he was a president. It was a complete consideration on what he meant in vocational. On hand, the notion that post slavery, africanamericans had acquired certain tools and search skill sets that could be translated into economic independence as well as education, but many times, many people fail to point out or to recognize that the complete configuration of locations stems and hails from the latin origin which is a calling vocare to call. That is a hand skill. That is something rooted in character and consistency. Your question about the role of that kind of institution obviously, we have already in many ways cap that tradition. I think of George Washington carver they were all progenitors of teaching. They involve their students fear this is always been a place here at tuskegee. Obviously in the 21st century, this is hindered by legal capacity. Our students are paying for the education now. Many of those services, they already performed. It is really nice to harken back to that model. There are elements that we are using and trying to and there are elements that we are using and trying to implement, as we point out daily. All the same we still must move steadfastly, persistently into the 21st century by ensuring that the institution provide these services for our students, and where appropriate to embark them to extend learning beyond the classroom into meaningful experiences that will help the university, the community, as well as the students. Host