Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20160421

I want to begin with the Associated Press and their story on the exit polls from the New York Primary on tuesday. The headline that the heated primaries energized dems and divided gop. Voters saw their party being divided by a contest featuring months of barbs and heated rhetoric among donald trump, ted cruz and john kasich. Exit polls on tuesday showed the vast majority of democrats willing to back either of the candidates in november while significant chunks of gop voters some candidates in the field that they flat what not support. Independents, join the conversation as well. Has this energized you or do you feel this chanted or divided about the Political Parties . Lets go to mike in south carolina. A democrat. Is this energizing you or do you think it is dividing the party . Think it is energizing, it is bringing up issues that generally do not get brought up. I think in general, the primaries have helped the issues, at least in the Democratic Party, to be brought forward. Host do you think the criticism andate from Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton each other, is that doing damage to the party . Think it willt actually damage the party because i think that is the expectation. Toy have to face something put themselves ahead of the other. Contrast, who each of them are. I hope it is done civilly. You have to make contrast between you and your opponent. Host now that Hillary Clinton won in new york and her delegate lead is even larger, some that Bernie Sanders should tone it down. I think if he handles it and recently has not been quite as civil, if it is he needs to tone down some of the rhetoric, but not on the issues. The issues, he needs to come out again as strongly as he did, but be respectful and civil in how he does it. Same for her. Host shes been critical of him on gun control. Think that ist helpful in the way it is brought out. If it does bring up a stark difference in their positions, it needs to be brought out. Again, respectfully and civilly. Host next week, we have five states that are voting. One of them is connecticut. This is Hillary Clintons latest ad she is running in connecticut on gun control. [video clip] my wedding was one of the last things i plan with my mom. It was a bittersweet day because it is one big reminder of the giant hole where she used to be. My mom was my best friend. She was the principle of the sandy hook school. My mom was murdered while trying to protect the children in her care. Is the onlyton candidate who has what it takes to take on the gun lobby. She reminds me of my mother. She is not scared of anything. Thats how i know she is the person that can actually make a difference. Thats why i believe in her. Thats why millions of other americans believe in her. Finally someone who can change things. Host Hillary Clintons latest ad. Bernie sanders is running one in pennsylvania suggesting she would be tough would not be tough enough on banks. He tweeted this yesterday that is what Bernie Sanders had to say on twitter. Mike, let me go back to you. Is that civil come is that ok . Caller i dont like it when we use a gun violence issue for political advantage. That is the that way we want to handle gun violence issues. I just think it is a tragedy when that gets used in the political debate. , i do think the gun issue is a big issue. I just dont like the way that is done. , he keeps talking about wall street and wall whatt and wall street we need to do is decide how do we reform it and get behind some kind of reform. I dont think her connections with wall street are something that disqualifies her for anything. Host are you supporting Hillary Clinton . Caller right now, i have not really decided. I like some of the issues that Bernie Sanders has brought up. I think he has driven her more to the left, which would cause her to almost have to support some of those issues. Host that is mike come a democrat. Democrats,ng both republicans and independents, is this process energizing your party or is it dividing them . Keep dialing in. This is part of the discussion in the newspapers this morning. Front page of the Washington Post. What is next for sanders . We will take more of your phone calls here. Let me show you the wall street journal front page. Donald trump sat down with its reporters. Im not going to blow it is what he told them. Brenda in greensburg, pennsylvania. Democrat. Good morning to you. What do you think come energizing or dividing . Caller for bernie, it is energizing. Iseally dont know if it energizing hillary. I think she is going to win. Im voting for her. Now,anted to ask you i have lost my train of thought. All the money they are raising. Are they using that to pay off the delegates . I thought my vote counted. You know . Delegatess though the are the ones making up our minds , who they want. Are they being paid from some kind of host i have not read a report about that direct link. You are talking about the superdelegates. Do you think that is dividing the party . How this is working out with superdelegates versus pledged delegates. Caller i do. The superdelegates come i theose are found superdelegates, i suppose are bound. Host the superdelegates can change their minds. Far, the vast majority of them have said that they are committed to Hillary Clinton. Caller ok. , it is divisive because he is not getting the super pacs. Bernie is raising money. It is from 27e contributions. Theres something in the back giving him more money. 27 and have over 41 million in the background. You know what i mean . Host lets go to the other side and learn more about this nominating process for the republicans. The rnc is gathering in hollywood, florida this week. Joining us on the phone is alex isensatdt, a reporter for politico. What has happened so far . What is on the agenda for today . , people started ted cruzngs here came in, john kasich came in. The men spent the entire day here. They have heard a lot about the rules debate and how they can change the political convention. That is not what this rules committee can do. Suggestions in a separate rules debate one thing they will be talking about today is whether to move from rules usedmentarian at the u. S. House of representatives to a different set of parliamentary rules. The other thing that is going to happen today, you will see a bunch of top aides to donald ,rump, including rick wiley they will be coming in and Briefing Members of the rnc for about 90 minutes. You are not expected to see donald trump come in. This is a big deal, the fact that trump is dispatching his top aides to florida. Trump has been bashing the insider delegate process. He is sending his entire team, much of his team here to florida host . We will be covering this rules meeting happening at 2 00 p. M. ,astern time today on cspan3 you can watch it there. Tell our viewers who will be this will reair at 8 00 p. M. On cspan. What is the difference between the roberts rules and the parliamentarian rules . Guest let me try to boil this down a bit. Rules is what has been used at Republican Conventions for decades, really. What it basically does is gives a lot of power to the presiding officer, the person who runs and gavels in the convention. That is the role being played by House Speaker paul ryan. It is a rule that basically gives a lot of discretion and power to the presiding officer, the person gaveling things in, to control the proceedings of the floor to say do the ayes haveor nays cap it . It . Moreoberts rules gives power to individual delegates on the floor. If any delegate has any point of order or objection to the proceedings, any issue they want to bring up, it they disagree with how a vote is being called, the point of order, the objection has to be recognized. The people who want to change say at a time when there is going to be incredible the eyes of the world will be rulee rnc the summer, this would add transparency to the process. At 12 30 p. M. Eastern time, the rnc will hear from the florida governor, rick scott. He will be addressing the Republican National committee then. We will have coverage on cspan3. What do these campaigns want out of these meetings . Senator ted cruz and Ohio Governor john kasich showed up in person. Donald trump is sending his top aide. Want . O each of them guest they want to start making headway with these rnc members. All 168 members will be delegates. Even though we dont know how things will turn out given we dont know what the final delegate count is, these delegates could have real power to decide the nomination, so its often these campaigns try to woo these people over. Its interesting to see how all of this is going to play out. Host because these folks will in in a contested convention, some will have to vote for the candidate who won their state, but after that, some of them are freed up. Guest the vast majority of these delegates here are going to be bound to support on the first ballot whoever it is that wontheir state that their state. Numberdy gets the magic on the first ballot, on the second ballot, the vast majority of these people will be free to vote for whoever they want. What are these insiders saying about who they might pick . Guest great question. A lot of them are keeping their cards very close. It is pretty clear, if you look around the country, ted cruz has an advantage when it comes to the insider delegate game. Hes done a much better job in of gettingstates slates of delegates that support him out to vote. And to participate in local conventions where these delegates are decided. Donald trump is trying to make inroads. Aides andis group of others, those who know this delegate process. He brought them onto his campaign to do this kind of work. Coveringx isensatdt that rnc meeting in hollywood, florida this morning. Fromwhat you just heard alex isensatdt about this the processhow works for republicans and how it works for the democrats, does this energize the party or is this dividing it . Fred is a republican in maryland. You get to vote next week. How do you plan to vote . Caller i took advantage of early voting here. They went from electronic to paper ballots here. One of the tactics the left likes to use. They left all 16 candidates on the republican side. Lowan be confusing to a information voters. I think it is energizing us. With eight years of the obama regime, total corruption in the government, the state department, the epa, the irs, obamacare, even the fbi with the hillary mess, weve had enough. Donald trump represents a successful citizen. Represents the people. He is not a politician. He will be soon. Until then, it is the corruption he is trying to clean up. Greg in chattanooga, tennessee. Independent caller. What is your take . Caller this president ial race is really a human race. This is a big event for humanity across the globe, i think, because of the way, like the last caller said, this is about having one of us, a regular thatn, not a politician think we dont have internet out here, that cant tell hello, hillary. We know no one died in sandy hook. Drill. It was a host cal in new york. A republican. Caller it is energizing the party. Our county voted strongly for trump. All the big money people are trying to take trump out. I watch fox a lot. I see that fox is starting to turn on trump a bit. Thats pushing a lot of people away from fox news. Trump is standing on his own and everybody is trying to come after him because the big, strong party people think they can pull the rug out from under trump and its not happening because the people are voicing their opinion. I love to see trump trump and what he stands for. Well and does very takes the republican nomination. For ted cruz to say i cannot get 1237 trump can get 1237. Even before they get to the convention. Trump,f it is not donald do you still vote for senator ted cruz . Caller i would. Host lets a donald trump is close to the number of 1237 but not quite there and after they do a few you ballots, it ends up being senator ted cruz caller i dont think it is fair. Trump is showing that he has the majority of the delegates. Theye we should back asked trump not to go independent and he stood up to that and now, the Republican National convention wants to wipe their feet all over him because they do not like that he can stand on his own. Host if that happens, what does it mean for you and the Republican Party . Caller it means that whoever is going to be the republican nominee, i would back them. Janice in jacksonville, florida. A democrat. For your party, is this energizing word to you think all of this, the way it is happening, the nominating process, is a dividing . Caller are you talking about andeen senator sanders secretary clinton . Host yes. Caller i think bernie is playing dirty. I have been so energized for hillary from before she announced in the first place that she was going to run for president. When i had my mother and we went to see her and i knew she was president ial material. Totally 150 energized for hillary. I worked tirelessly when they opened the democratic headquarters here in jacksonville before the florida primary. I did everything under the sun i could do, i may even miss an appointment. I feel bernie is playing dirty. I cannot vote for bernie if she does not get it. Because of the dirty tricks i feel he is playing. Host what will you do . Stay home or vote for a republican . Caller this will blow your mind. Some of the guys out there talking trump stuff, do not alienate women like me. If bernie should get it and there was quite a weird rumor before the florida primary, if bernie should somehow get it, i will not vote for bernie and this might sound a little crazy, im strongly considering some things that trump says, i like. If bernie gets it, i will not vote for bernie. I would vote for trump. What they said that headquarters before the florida primary, there was a certain rumor there from the inner circle, if hillary gets the nomination, that green party thing that nader did come there was rumors that there would be a massive by then write in bernie people. To criticize that commercial that was unbelievable why have had people who something horrible done to them, why shouldnt they channel that into something constructive, like a candidate who represents what they are passionately for . That young daughter who loves her mother, the principal who was killed, hillary and the thankf the movement god host i have to get in more voices. First, the New York Times front page. A new pennsylvania poll puts mr. Sanders 13 Percentage Points behind mrs. Clinton despite heavy spending on television advertisements. That contest taking place next tuesday. We will begin our primary coverage that night at 8 30 p. M. Eastern time. Rod in new york. Independent. Good morning. Caller how are you . Host doing well. What do you think . What do you see happening with the two parties . Caller right now, i think it is very confusing with the primary process. Trump complaining that it is and stacked against him, it seems like a day late and dollar short for him. Even his two daughters did not understand the process. They cannot vote for him as independents. People seem to be generally unaware that these are private organizations, like clubs that make their own rules. It is so nuanced and complex. Articularly in the rnc i hear people arguing about what the candidates are saying and the soundbites and so forth. Trump is the great dealmaker, apparently. If you cannot make these deals to get the delegate majority plus one to win, he apparently will not be the great dealmaker. I think it is a great civics lesson, as well. Ple are generally unaware i cant even understand it. I wish someone would write a Childrens Book explaining how it works. You can see animated videos on it is sobut complicated, i even went to lectures on it from professors, it is such a difficult process to understand. Some of your callers said, our vote does not count, it is the delicate who can pick, maybe they are being paid off. What is going on . Gore lost the popular election to bush. This has been going on for quite a long time. Apparently, this system has been in place since kennedy. Im confused. It is all going to play at a contested convention for the republicans in cleveland. Cspan cameras will be covering it all. We will see the process play out in philadelphia for democrats. Is this primary process energizing or dividing your party . We are hearing from independents as well. Other news come out of flint, michigan, three have been charged in the water crisis there. This is in the Washington Times this morning. You probably heard the news from the treasury secretary, Harriet Tubman will be the face of the new 20 bill. No worries, hamilton lovers. He will stay on the 10 bill. Tubmans image will appear on a new series of 20 bills, making her the first africanamerican to appear on u. S. Paper currency. That from usa today. Let me show you Hillary Clintons tweet on this the queen of england is in pink for her 90th. She will be meeting with president obama tomorrow. He is in saudi arabia. He has met with leaders there. Many of the leaders from the gulf nations of saudi arabia. The story in the Washington Post. President obama had a two hour meeting with the king. The next two days will part of an ongoing effort to set the relationship with saudis on more solid ground. From there was a discussion about that 9 11 bill in congress that would allow the families and victims of 9 11 to sue for and governments involved in the september 11 attacks. To sue foreign governments involved in the september 11 attacks. In the Washington Post, they have this story about saudi backed lobby firms. One group would earn 1. 68 million by the end of 2016. President obama in saudi arabia today. He will be in london friday and saturday. That lunch with the queen on friday. On sunday, he will be in germany. Jimmy in san antonio, texas. An independent. What do you think about the nominating process . Caller i think it is a very it is a necessary good. It has brought young people into the process so they can vote for their future. It has sort of left the oldschool people in the dust. Hillaryery frank is an afterthought. She goes along with whichever way the wind is blowing. For john kasich before i would vote for hillary. Let the young people plan their own future. It doesnt make any sense. I agree with the lady from pennsylvania and the guy from florida. We have to get back civics in the American Government and American History and english and math back into our school system. Host look at what some of the republican candidates are saying on twitter. John kasich saying the more you he is saying that is why he should stay in the race. Poll, onlyohead john kasich wins against Hillary Clinton. Diane, a republican. Caller i think it is discouraging. I have been a republican since i registered to vote. I have never in my life felt so disgusted with the Republican Party. I dont understand it is a circus, a joke. Host what do you think should happen . Think the people should be voting for who they want to vote for. These delegates, what is going on is almost insulting to people. People want donald trump. It seems like all of a sudden, we cannot go to the polls and vote for who we want. When i was 16 years old, we would go to the polls, a curtain would close behind you, you would vote for the person you wanted, you do not have to worry you did notfraud have to worry about the vote not been counted. I feel like i am being dismissed as an american citizen and i have no say in who i want to run for president. If the nominee is not donald trump, what will you do . Caller i will not vote. The Republican Party will not get my vote. In baltimore, michigan. Democrat. Caller hello. How are you doing . Host im doing fine for what you think, energizing or dividing . Think it isnt thessarily dividing democratic process. Bernie sanders is a socialist. He admits it. In my opinion, that is not all that far from communism. I dont want a communist leading this country. All t leave that, at we dont need that, at all. Hillary clinton will be a fine president. She is not perfect, but nobody is. Sanderss Campaign Manager was asked what will be his political affiliation will senator sanders stay in the Democratic Party forever now . Hes a democrat. He will be supporting the democratic nominee. Host that was mr. Weaver, the Campaign Manager for Bernie Sanders. Bill in riverside. Republican. Caller i think this is a good thing for the Republican Party. It is really shaking it up. Creating a little stir and about how partisanship works. In the long run, regardless of if donald trump gets the nomination or makes it as the nomination system has brought a lot of things to light. It can begin the healing process way the hardline extremists who seem to control. He party i think it is a great thing. Caller erica in springfield, virginia. A democrat. Caller i think that bernie brings honesty, transparency to this process. I cant believe how so Many Democrats dont see it. Of theee that the root problem is the corruption in the election system, the corruption when you are part of the , when you take money from these big corporations, you are part of the problem. You are not against the problem, you are part of it. All the other candidates have received money from big corporations. You cannot change anything if that does not change. Bernie sanders is not a communist. The callers are ignorant for calling him communist just because he says he is a democratic socialist. Democratic socialists want social policies for the majority of people in need. Host the question that was posed on the front page of the Washington Post thi this morning what does Bernie Sanders want . S is what they write his recent attacks on clinton have alarmed her supporters, they are now listening closely for a change in his rhetoric as there was in clintons at. Oughly the same point in 2008 steve in ohio. Independent. Good morning to you. Caller thank you for cspan. Host what do you think, energizing or dividing . Caller energizing. The 106 Million People who did not vote in 2012 will come out and show how they really feel because they are angry and realized that they are letting somebody else to find them. Define them. You the pundits have no idea what is going on in the minds of the American People and the candidates and the parties all think the American People are dumb. Thatnk they will find out the American People are not so dumb. Host jerry in d. C. A democrat. Caller good morning. I think both parties have been energized. Seasons primary. The democrats cannot lose, whether it is with clinton or sanders. That iinly would hope would see a woman in the white house in my lifetime. Im not sure that hillary is the one, but maybe so. Been of energy has exhibited in both the primaries, both the democrats and republicans. Good. K that is host that was jerry, a democrat and washington, d. C. We will take a short break. When we come back, we will talk to ryan costell congressman ryao from pennsylvania. Cardin fromor ben maryland. We will talk about environmental flint, including the water crisis and the president s trip to saudi arabia. Yesterday, the House Investigative Panel had their second hearing. Heres the story in the Washington Times. House republicans noted that abortion clinics essentially get paid for doing nothing. At the heart of the hearing yesterday was the evidence put forth by republicans. Take a look at this exchange. [video clip] i am going to yield myself 10 minutes for an opening statement. Madam chair regretfully, i need to bring up an issue regarding the packet of materials, the socalled exhibits provided to your staff yesterday. We have just received your opening statement, which was released to the press, i just saw it for the first time. In your opening statement, you make extensive reference to the package of socalled exhibits. Before you make your opening statements, maybe we could resolve the issues otherwise, we are going to object to the documents referenced in your opening statement. , i will goadam chair over what our issues are with those socalled exhibits. That you andld us other republican members intended to use these materials to question witnesses today. It is my understanding that these documents have been given to the witnesses in fact, several of the witnesses mention the documents in the written statements. I reviewed the documents yesterday. Some of them were created wholesale by republican staff. Explanation of the underlying Factual Foundation for this materials, the methodology that was used in coming up with these charts or some of the graphs that we had. To bey, i believe them misleading and moreover, the conclusions drawn and frankly stated as fact in the staff d annotated index are false. We have had things that have ,ome to us from whistleblowers subpoenas from former employees, citizens, that have filed requests the panel whistleblower portal and internet Search Archive Search Engine that is the way these documents have come to us. Washington journal continues. Host here to talk about education and workforce training is congressman Ryan Costello, represents pennsylvania. He is the cochair of the 21st century hills caucus. What is this caucus and what is the goal . Guest good morning. The goal is to align our educational system and anditutions with career workforce training so that when students in high school move on to either college or even potentially trade school, they are garnering the skills that are needed in order to compete for the Jobs Available in the new economy. Host what are these 21st century skills they need . Guest great question. Just yesterday, the wall street journal profiled the u. S. Occupations at the greatest risk of labor shortage. Occupational therapists to those fields that require math and , and theengineers other big one is nursing. Some of those professions do not require a college degree. What are we doing during a high years to makes your theres curriculum available make sure there is curriculum available to become valuable members of society . Are continuing to call for those of skills and the type of curriculum so they are ready to work. The Fastest Growing jobs in the American Economy are ones that are going to be paying low retailservice type jobs, home assistance. They do not pay very well. What theu balance economy is demanding and the types of jobs that people would like to get . Compress andngs more employees are needed, that will naturally lift wages. These jobs are started jobs. Once you get into a particular field, you can move up to become a supervisor and ultimately in manager. I dont think anyone expects at the age of 21 or 22 to be making as much as they would like to make when they are 30, 40, 50 or 60. Host what our schools doing or not doing . Guest in pennsylvania, we have intermediate units or vocational high schools. If you are not on a collegebound trajectory, what you may choose to do with your Public Education is go into the iu space. There, you can learn everything on how to be a machinist, autotician, hvac repair mechanic, trucking, there is a lot out there in terms of what you do with your hands, advanced manufacturing is increasingly required, some Computer Science skills. That is where employers are indicating there is a gap. Host is that happening elsewhere . Guest all across the country. Host is the federal government playing a role . Guest the federal government plays a role with the Workforce Development dollars that flow down to the states and ultimately down to regional authorities or Economic Development councils that provide the Workforce Development programming. What i and many others feel is extremely important is to further involve local industry the businesses and industries in my town may be different than yours. Thatant to make sure industry in that region is playing a very active role in saying these are the skills that we need, lets make sure our lets make sure curriculum and training reflects what our need is present day gettingthe point of an education is to make sure there is a job available for you. Host congressman Ryan Costello here to take your questions and comments about this issue of the right training, the right education for todays workforce. Republicans, 2027488001. Democrats, 2027488000. Ndependents, 2027488002 start dialing in now. The every Student Succeeds act just passed. What does that do to address having the skill set for the 21st entry . Guest first, what weve done is reduce the federal role in our Public Educational system. Everything from teacher evaluation, curriculum, state driven, not federally driven. Weve reduced the mandates associated with federal testing and evolve that to the state. Administrators believe there is more than enough student testing and we dont need the federal government adding an additional layer of testing on top of that. I have an amendment that does just that to reduce the mandatory testing at the federal level. , thea student takes a test objective of the test should be a measurement of what the students achievement is and where the weaknesses are so curriculum can be designed by the teacher and local school board to help improve what those weaknesses are so the student is continuing to progress and improve academically. That shifts into what are the strengths of that student, are back tolegebound the career awareness issue, making sure students know what opportunities are available for them as they graduate and what kind of training and Academic Studies should they pursue while they are in the educational system so they are prepared. Host what is the role for Community Colleges, Vocational Training how do they get the right students they need . How do they impact the whole process of getting kids these skill sets . Just at the Montgomery County committee college on monday. Innovationpened an hub for everything from aquaculture to emerging industries and Business Models that are cutting edge and changing yearbyyear. The Community Colleges are really innovation hubs, both degrees and a situation where whether you are an adult going back to school or you dont have the a fouryear degree, you get another two years to nurture your skills and determine where you want to head next. Host you too many kids go to fouryear colleges . Guest Everyone Wants to pursue a college education, should. We should not create a stigma that if you dont want to go to college that there is not a. Orthwhile career out there i worry about that. I dont mean to suggest that we should not encourage college. I just meet is it just that we should ensure we are amenable to students wanting to go a and we wantrection to provide the support and tools to make that choice. Host new york. A democrat. Calling first for haveact that we need to mandatory voting for the presidency of the United States and put it in the aspect of the government deals with most of the Educational Needs of the citizens of this country. Because the government is the one that basically deals with most of us, we should have a more patriotic stance on voting and changing the whole dynamic of this country. Host i thought you were finished. My apologies. Caller i believe he was mentioning that he would like to see mandatory voting. I dont know how one would enforce that. I appreciate his call. Host kurt in waco, texas. A republican. ,aller congressman costello think you for the opportunity to call in and i appreciate your service to our nation. Ive always been a proponent that not everybody fits college. Workforce Development Boards have a list of targeted occupations that are specific to that Workforce Development board area. What can the government do or what would the government due to push down those targeted occupations to the High School Level so we can capture those young minds, thinking about tech school, not simply focusing only ut, etc. University, to help those guys out . Once again, i appreciate your service to the nation. Guest that is an excellent question. Precisely that is what we are doing with the caucus i cochair. Every region in this country is a little bit different. The private by making the dollars flexible, there are Certain Industries, nursing shortage, occupational therapy, those careers rooted in stem, that is a nationwide need. There are certain regions that have Certain Industries that are much more prevalent in their region. By making sure that private industry plays a role in the Workforce Development board i used to be a county commissioner. Making sure that private industry is as involved in that as possible and is a participant in shaping the curriculum, that is the fault and that is how you make sure the federal dollars flow down to the local level, working for the individuals anding the training aligning with the needs of the industries in that marketplace. Host wayne in harrisburg, pennsylvania. Democrat. Ler i want to make a note when you are applying for a job, they take you to all these interviews. For, theyob you win would teach you how to do it. Now, you have to go to school. Jobs eventhat some run a credit check on you knowing that most of the minorities have bad guest thank you for your question. I will give a shout out to commonwealth of pennsylvania and. Two things, one, i do not know how to respond with why an employer runs a credit check, but i can say that you are right about what employers expect on day one when you start a job. The 1950s,ound in i was born in 1976, but in todays marketplace, the notion that the company will train you sothe job is much reduced, the need to get that training while you are in high school, while youre at a tech school, community college, it is needed. That is why we need to make sure, we spend a lot of money educating children and young adults in our country. There is a substantial amount of loan and grant divided to college students. We just need to make sure they are working, so the training does take place so that employers want to hire you. Obviously, there will be some onthejob training, but your question is precisely why i think this issue is so critical for our country. Host john, independent caller. Welcome. I feel we should tear up every trade deal that was done and the credit check is because they go by credit to make sure you are responsible. That is unfair. That should be taken out. Have got to get these companies back. The jobs keep going overseas. There is no more steel being made. They are being shut down. All of this is a big problem. You want to put americans to work, get rid of Foreign Workers and tell companies, you have to be patriotic to your country. Know if we will vote on tpp this year or not, but there is a lot of frustration and it is manifesting itself in the president ial election on both sides. The belief that trade deals lead to displaced workers, a loss of of thatd the other side is a trade deal is supposed to open up markets and create more export opportunities, which agriculturalore products, manufacturing, and what we do do on the Automotive Manufacturing side to the exported. What has not yet happened is the u. S. Trade representative has not released the findings on the Economic Impact of twpp, but the gentleman is voicing of frustration shared by a lot of people in the country. Host that is the Transpacific Partnership trade deal with 12 other pacific nations, vietnam, malaysia, etc. Guest and canada. Host and canada. [laughter] we will go to steve in pennsylvania, republican. Caller good morning, cspan. Good morning, brian. My comment is, are they bring gain in people from the private instructors for like five weeks in the semester to thate them to the course the professor is teaching so that they can line themselves up into the private sector, the students i mean, so that they get their first hand information and related courses to the job at hand so that the students know which direction provides them the best experience when they finish the course . Question. Ellent in reading, pennsylvania, youre probably in my district, but i am not certain, but the run Year Community college, technical institute, both of them do precisely what you said. You said manufacturing recycles used car batteries, carpenter technology, tracking, there are a lot of large employers, particularly where you are from, and i were present the county, to do just that. Lso think that part of the part of being in congress is learning about the challenges of what policies you can do to make things better. Part of it is applying things that look at the local level and sharing those ideas with other congress, particularly those in the caucus , to take those practices and apply them nationwide, so excellent question. Late points. Host mike in ohio, new philadelphia, guest i did not know there was a philadelphia in ohio. Host new philadelphia. Caller i graduated high school in 1966, and every high school at that time had industrial, classes forcasional boys and girls. Shortly after i graduated, i know in cincinnati, these vocational high schools started up. They had four of them around cokes. Ati called scholar every counting on the state of ohio has at least one. To buckeye son went Career Center where he learned the trade trade the problem that you have got right now is we bailed out the Automotive Industry and as a thank you, gm is building a 5 billion plant twoexico, ford is building ,1. 3 million plants in mexico the american express, cisco and several other companies a couple years ago fired an average of 23,000 people that were qualified, and they were in this ram and they wanted congress to pass abuses to replace them for people who would work for practically nothing. Disabledr, who was that work, went back to college, got his Mechanical Engineering degree at 861. He cannot find a job anywhere. When the company that he worked for found out that he had a degree, he is therefore not , so theyto work terminated him. He is stuck with no disability payments and he has stuck with over 100,000 that in education debt in education. You have to stop letting these Companies Fire American Workers that are qualified with the skills and bring them in. The program here suggest that it has been around for 40 years. Way to reinvent the wheel. Have a nice day. Guest i hope that you have a nice day, too. Rather than reinventing the wheel, we are trying to mission that the programs work. I think you are voicing a lot of the same frustration that the caller previously mentioned. There is Something Else i think we should talk about, and that is our tax code. It is anticompetitive. I cannot speak to the bees this reason why any of the companies you mentioned moved jobs elsewhere speak to the business reason my any of the companies you mentioned moved jobs elsewhere, but there is an overseas operation that generates profit, gets taxed overseas, and if they bring that money home, they get taxed again, so there are trillions of dollars sitting offshore of american held profit, that if we weld simplify our tax code, would get a lot of that money back and be hiring more workers here rather than firing workers and shipping jobs overseas. I understand what you are saying. I think we are here to talk about Workers Development training in part to read you are mentioning why jobs are leaving. I think some of that is our tax code and a regulatory environment. Eedee on twitter wants to schools,re are educators failing students and taxpayers. Spending two times as much of less than average results. Guest i didnt want to say that students or teachers are failing. As with every Government Program and with power country works, we just need to make sure that we are reforming, simplifying and using the best practices and that is what i am looking to do. Of the calls,some there is a frustration out there because there is the feeling that we can be doing better and we should be doing better. Part of what i try to do day in and day out, like members who are republican and democrat, is to the right thing. Sometimes, we disagree, but we try to work together, find areas of compromise and make things better. Suspecting you will not be critical of teachers given you want the son of two Public School teachers. His mom listening . Guest that is true. Mom and dad are retired. Host that might be the reason, right . Guest yeah [laughter] hereone who is listening today can point to a one teacher who made a difference who is either a mentor, a role model, or help them and taught them something about themselves that they did not previously know. We have challenges in a Public Education system, but we are where we are as a country as a result of it. We are the greatest country in the civilization has ever known. While we have problems, challenges and we have frustrated, i think it is important to look at why we are great country. Host hillary is next in manassas, virginia, democrat. Toler i just wanted highlight the importance of unions and unionization. Certainly with high demands in lower paying jobs in the future retail service, it unions can. Ake these jobs profitable they can allow people to have retirements and to work with a anddard that they can raise increasing the opportunities for trade schools i also think is important. I think there has been a lot of discouragement for unions. It seems to be corporate and private sector favoritism, and i think we have to reverse that trend. Host congressman . Guest i respect her opinion. There is the right to collectively bargain. Host do you agree that unions have a role in boosting wages . Guest they are certainly part of the campaign to lift wages, but i think senator sanders is on the 15 an hour theme. I think we would lose a lot of jobs in this country agreement raised the minimum wage to 15 an hour. Host lets talk about the president ial campaign. Pennsylvania gets the vote next week. Explain how republicans collect delegates come how that all works in pennsylvania. You are running to be one of those delegates. Guest sure. , iny state in the country the state political party, republicans, need to cement plants to the rnc by october and then they sanction the delegate process from that state. Pennsylvania historically and continues to elect delegates that follow. We have 18 congressional districts, so there will be three elected in each of those districts, that is 54. Then there are 17 at large delegates. The 17th at large delegates are appointed by the state party and they passed a vote for the winner of the popular vote on the first ballot terry thereafter, they can vote for whomever they like. The 54 can vote however they would like. They are unbound, unpledged. There is nothing that they can say or do that would require that they vote for particular candidate on the first ballot. Aat is what i think creates heightened importance about pennsylvania heading into the convention, assuming that no thisdate gets to 1237. At point, there is only one get 1237. That can candidly, i ran for delegate back in january because i felt that in my congressional district, what i did not want to see happen was a delicate a delicate run, get elected and have already read their mind upon who theyre going to vote for and be unwilling to vote for anyone else. With all due respect to then 2012, there were often times some candidates were approved for delegates and the upper candidate a only and they will never move. I think that delegates should reflect the will of their voters , and also there is a subsequent ballot, look at things such as who was the strongest candidate in the general election and how do they perform in their state, pennsylvania, and how are they doing in the battleground states across the country. I think that his original ball a reasonable approach, so i trust my judgment and i would also note that there is a sign of alternate delegates, so if it does go to the convention, there would then be an alternate delegate put in their place. Off which candidate ticks all those boxes you mentioned . Guest if you look at polls across the country, john kasich is the only republican candidate that beats Hillary Clinton in the bible state. Number one, i think republican candidate for president needs to in every state that mitt romney won. That you need to look at colorado, and four or five others. This is the president ial election and it will come down to 10 states, so its candidate, assuming we on the second or third ballot, which candidate performs best in those states . I think that is a relevant question. Host that means if you become a delegate when is that voting . Guest tuesday, same as residential. Host so, you are saying that in the first ballot, you will vote for donald trump. There will definitely be a contested convention, what will you be youll be running for john kasich . Think the delegate or alternate delegate should reflect the will of their voters in their congressional district. On the subsequent ballot, a lot of other factors come in. I think you have to wait what happens on the first ballot but you also have to look at who is the storm is candidate to beat Hillary Clinton. An interesting article this when he, i think in the wall street journal, the 1237 number means something. It is the majority of the delegates. If you dont get the majority, it means that on a second ballot, other factors become relevant. President Abraham Lincoln, as we know him, would not have been president Abraham Lincoln where it not for the contested tovention and the need to go a second ballot because on the first ballot, no candidate got the majority of delegates. The this article in opinion page written by former chair of the Republican National committee, lets get this straight about the convention. Majority rule always has, always will guide the republican gathering, so for all of you that are confused or interested in how this is going to work, this is in the wall street journal. Guest or angry. Look, your question earlier this morning i thought was a brilliant question. Is the Republican Party more divided or more energized . I think the answer is both. We have had historic turnout across a think every single state in the country thus far. We are a very energized party. We are divided but we are at the moment in time when obviously a big contrast between the candidates is being accentuated and we are there are a lot of emotional voters right now and that is perfectly natural and understandable. My hope in my belief is that by the time that the convention rolls around, and as we leave the convention, we will be a unified party with the nominee we feel is capable of winning the general election. Just to remind everyone republican voter out there, and i think you agree with the, the objective has to be to nominate the stock is candidate to win in the general election. I understand i am talking to some democrats out there who may be voting for Hillary Clinton, but as a republican, i would like to see the republican nominee defeat Hillary Clinton in november and the role of all voters is to go through that process to determine who the candidate is. Host have you heard from all three republican candidates . Guest i have not. I have heard from various campaign operatives. Words, because there is a lot to talk about donald trump not reaching out guest by your use of the word , i have got phone calls and emails associated with people from the campaign. Host in pennsylvania, republican. Caller yes, good morning. You are definitely spot on as far as the Vocational Training in the schools. Here is my question. Part of the School Districts in pennsylvania, a large portion of the budget goes to a pain for Pension Plans in the state of pennsylvania. The federal do, and representatives at the federal level, help the state representatives fix the pension plan problem in the state of pennsylvania so we can allocate more of our money to these vocational jobtraining programs . Thank you. Guest great question and i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but i cannot do anything. Impeaches the state retirement system is governed by state law, so that would be for your state senator and governor. It is one of those areas where Public Education is designed to be a local issue with the department of education at the state level being sort of the organizing umbrella, so i am not able to do anything. Host we will go to bill and humble, texas, independent. Caller good morning. I think we made a paradigm shift with the way it is structured in the country. In my opinion, we should shift the money that is being spent on the 13thcation into and 14th grade, which you have the option of taking the academic route or vocational route because at the parents are advocating responsibility, they are just dropping off the kids, prek, it is babysitting, that is all it is, and we should shift that money to 13th and 14th grade. Be Free Education and then the state should provide the last two years if you want to go on to the academic route. Host bill, we are running out of time. Guest prek is School District by School District decision. Gentleman is proposing getting rid of prek, which is the local School District decision and adding two years at the end, which it would be expensive and it would ultimately be a state determination and not federal. Host we will have to end the conversation there. The houses gaveling in at 9 00 eastern time, so thank you. This is a wonderful program. I like to watch as much as i can and i appreciate the opportunity. Host great, come back. We will take a break and when we come back, well talk to ben cardin, a member of the Environmental Works committee, so you will get his thoughts on criminal charges in the flint water crisis and the president s trip to saudi arabia. We will be right back. Book tv has 48 hours of nonfiction books and authors every weekend. Here are some programs this weekend. At saturday on new and, look to the is live at the Shakespeare Library in washington, d. C. , to marked the anniversary of shakespeares death. , she discusses her son and the columbine shooting and her book a mothers reckoning living in the aftermath of tragedy, which traces mental illness. She is interviewed by the ceo of the National Alliance of mental health. Murder suicide is a small subset of suicide [indiscernible] perhaps 1 or 2 result in the killing of someone else, so my recommendation is that we focus very much on trying to understand suicide and trying to prevent suicide so that these things do not interrupt into a terrible tragedy. 1 30 sunday afternoon at p. M. Eastern, back programs of at this announced the years pulitzer prize. This years history recipient recalls the life of general george custard in his book. Isis in take a look at a book black flags. Booktv. Org for the complete schedule. The 400thy is anniversary of shakespeares death, and on that day, the library in washington, d. C. , which has the Largest Selection of shakespeare documents and memorabilia in the world, will be hosting an event commemorating his life and his impact on our literature, our language, our politics and history. Look to be will cover that event and. As it begins a new afterwards, we will have a live nationwide call in with shakespeare scholars. You can join in the conversation as well. Henry and his wife spent many years and many dollars collecting shakespeare artifacts , documents, memorabilia. It is the Worlds Largest collection of shakespearerelated documents. Join us on saturday, april 23. We will be live beginning at noon from the forger library Folger Library of 400 years of shakespeare on booktv. Washington journal continues. Host back at our table, ben on the top democrat Foreign Relations committee. I want to begin with the news on flint. Washington times has the headline free of charge. And there are more charges to come. Three charged in flint water crisis. And there are more charges to come. What is your thought . Guest there is action that could have been taken that couldve saved children from exposure to lead, so i am not familiar with the specifics, but it seems to me those that were in charge took action or did not take action they should have to protect children. The bottom line here is to make sure we have the resources in this country for Safe Drinking Water, clean water, and we do not do that today. This is a national problem. It is not just blends. In baltimore, the water fountains in schools are not been operating for a long time because of lead exposure. We need a stronger effort. Yesterday, i introduced legislation with my colleagues in the senate. The concert a comprehensive bill that will provide resources, modernizing our laws so that we can make a major change in Water Infrastructure in america. Host what would change or how would it be a major change . Guest with the Current System of providing resources to local resources, a triples the dollars under the revolving funds to provide grants to lowincome families to deal with the pipes that lead into their homes that contain lead, provide them to our Schools Commission the water that children are drinking is safe. It updates the laws of the Environmental Protection agency as it relates to the standards notice, sond public it is a conference of bill that deals with Water Infrastructure and lead poisoning. Host is a bipartisan . Guest it will be. Im confident and the Environmental Works committee has been a strong champion of increase in resources for Water Infrastructure. The appropriations process, we are working with republicans. We hope it will move significant paths this year. Flint was a wakeup call. It is a problem nationwide. Host for the legislation deal with the aging Water Infrastructure nationwide, and if so, what is the cost and how many years . Guest it would deal with the national problem. The cost of this will be within the budget. We will not add to the budget agreement that we made. We believe this must be a priority. The problem with water for is out of sight, out of mind. You do not see the eroding pipes underneath our streets until they break. When saw in this region river road became a river and had to close, we need to make sure that we modernize our Water Infrastructure. Host when to you suspect this could actually get a vote . Guest in that Environmental Works committee, we expect to take up the next couple of weeks the act. We hopes parts of that will be act. Included in the we already are considering the appropriations for an extra we hope it will be part of the appropriations. Host lets go to Foreign Relations. You are the top democrat in that committee. President obama had a twohour meeting with the king in saudi arabia. Some say this is unprecedented to talk for that long. Why do you think you think he did and what is going on with the u. S. Saudi relations question mark guest i think relations . Guest i think both countries, the gulf countries, are critically important in our campaign against isil, extremist forces. I was in saudi arabia a couple weeks ago with some of my colleagues. I met with the kanga. We had a chance to talk. We had our differences. We have had our differences on aria, iran, but we share common mission, and that is to prevent iran from destabilizing the neighboring states, whether it is syria, yemen, olivia. When they libya. When they create a vacuum, isil comes in and causes huge problems. Saudi arabia understands that and they understand the relationship with the United States is important to stop that. Host president obama called saudi arabia free riders. Why and did you agree with that . Guest i think all countries could do more. Made ated states has major commitment of resources in the middle east, and the United States leadership is indispensable. There is no question, but the countries in the middle east need to do more themselves, including saudi arabia. Yes, we would like to see the countries step up and provide more soldiers, resources in a campaign against isil. Host what are they not doing . Guest it is a question of a coordinated plan. The saudis have been focused more on yemen, their neighbor, and they have been providing considerable military operations in that region. That region now has a ceasefire, and we are now in the process, we hope, of getting province between them. If we could do that, the saudis could take some of the military commitments that they used in yemen and focus that more on the problems we have with isil in syria. That is what we would like to see. Yesterday in the papers, it said the administrations goal is to convince saudi arabia that there could be a cold piece between them and iran. To think that is achievable and what would that mean . Guest i think iran is a dangerous country. I think it is naive to think that they will adhere to some type of a cold peace. They are aggressive today and interfering in other countries, so iran is clearly involved in syria, yemen, libya, so i think it is naive to think that they will all of a sudden change their ways. They have supported extremists, sort ofts, and they are dont care whether government is stable or not in neighboring countries, so i think you cannot be naive and think that iran will be quiet. Host this is the russian post next two daysthe of be an ongoing relationship to set the relationship with saudis on the more solid ground. The Obama Administration has sold the saudis more than 95 billion in military hardware over the last couple of years. Saudi intelligence has been essential to the counterterrorism fight against al qaeda and islamic state. Take a look in the wall street journal, president obama looks to reassure allies in the middle east. Arabiahat, saudi followed by australia, united arab emirates, iraq, egypt, indonesia and the top suppliers of u. S. Crude oil, canada and then saudi arabia. Talk about that relationship. Guest we have a very broad relationship with the golf countries, including the saudis. They like i weapons. There are other sources they can get weapons from. They can get weapons from china, russia, europe, there are other sources available to them in order to get arms. They rather deal with the United States for two reasons. One, we have the best weapons, and secondly, we have the best training and they know we are reliable. We also shared the same mission as far as stability in the middle east. They recognize the differences between our countries. We have major problems with the saudis as they relate to human rights, womens issues, foreign labor. We have got to make sure that we do not ignore the fact that we have a Strategic Partnership with these countries, but we had to nation that whatever we do furthers our Interest Rate host with those two interests on the table, lets take calls. In nebraska, republican. Yes, i live in hastings, nebraska, several years ago or last year, the epa came to taste the water. Back in 1994, the woman passed away from the water. Watersband got a clean place for people to get free clean water and it was dedicated to his wife. Epa in it be that the adam say adams county would not allow the to test and hastings, nebraska, said they would tested themselves . I dont understand how they cannot have epa test the water. Guest i am not lay with the specific circumstances, but epa does have the responsibility and obligations to make sure Water Supplies are safe. Not only Safe Drinking Water but clean water and they are responsible for the implementation of the clean water act that was passed in the 1970s. That includes testing. Irt of the legislation that saw yesterday, along with my colleagues, would provide a broader testing to make sure that our children are safe in theres to water, and it are any problems, there is a notification that provides for a greater immediate response, including the use of fema if we have a major problem. I agree that epa needs to know and they need to know the status of water to ensure that we have clean and safe water and they have to be able to test. If theyre not getting that axis, that is wrong and they need that authority. Host in north carolina, democrat. Caller good morning. My question is simple. I am just curious as to why i hear no one speaking about the longterm effects to the children that have been drinking this water. It andgoing to pay for is this not a call for reparations . Becausecan americans anytime that comes up, who will get the money and he will pay, but when they needed money to bailout the banks, it was no problem. Thank you. Guest you raise a valid point. O lead is acceptable in water it robs children under full potential and it is tragic and the cost is astronomical. Let me give you one example that is ready personal in maryland, the case of freddie gray. I think people know about the tragic circumstances that happened when youre ago this undressedhich we had in baltimore. Freddie gray was robbed of fiscal potential because of the engagement of law enforcement, but also because as a young stick, he had blood poisoning, lead poisoning and it denied him his full opportunity and cost of problems throughout his life. We risk, at our own peril, the cost and factors if we do not deal with the lead issue. It is not only the humanitarian and right thing to do to make sure that everyone is safe, it is also a tremendous cost to the society. The obligation that the federal government is to make sure that our children are safe. Int three have been charged the flint water crisis and steve on twitter asks, does anyone believe that rick snyder will be indicted by Republican Attorney general . Guest i know there is an independent investigation being done and the u. S. Attorney is looking into criminal matters. I am not up to date on the specifics of a criminal investigation, but i do know that the investigation is ongoing. Host in maryland, john, republican. Caller yes, good morning. Guest good morning. Caller were you the guy that treaty orthis iranian arrangement to give them back money that was in escrow and i you are talking about iran being involved in all kinds of terrorism, sponsors of terrorism . Why did you make that available to the president to force this agreement . Host we will get his response. Listen on your tv. Guest i am not sure which legislation you are referring to. The iran agreement was subject to approval or review by congress. There was a resolution of disapproval. , voted against the resolution against approving the iran agreement. It is now the law, and i will make sure that iran never becomes a Nuclear Weapon state. What i was able to get done as on theking Democrat Senate Foreign Relations committee working with senator corker, the chairman, is to make congress engaged in this so we had more transparency, more committee hearings, we had more public knowledge. I think as a result of what senator corker and i were able to do, there was a close review during the negotiation process. I think we actually got a stronger agreement and better ways of enforcing an agreement and we will continue to do that in congress. I think the congressional role is the right role and oversights as agreements are being negotiated and the president acted under his authority. There were not enough votes in congress to override what he had done. I did not think that was the best agreement moving forward. Now it is time to make sure it is enforced and for congress to work with the administration and the International Community to make should that not only does iran become a Nuclear Weapon state, but to take action against iran for other actions such as Ballistic Missile testing, supporting terrorism, violation of human rights. We have to be very strong to make sure that iran is held accountable for these actions. Deal has this iran nuclear changed our relationship with saudi arabia in a negative way . The headline in the washington president stepping not air force one, was greeted not by the king but a lower ranking royal. The king personally greeting senior officials from other gulf nations arriving at an airbase. Mr. Obamas arrival was not shown live. You are reading too much into those issues. I think saudi arabia understands that the most Important Alliance withth the United States sharing their same security interests in the middle east. They understand how important that relationship is. There were disagreements on some of but we did in syria, there are disagreements on how we handled some of the iranian negotiations. We are past those two moments. I think the saudis understand that the relationship with United States is critically it will bend that long lasting beyond one administration, and that they recognize the importance of the visit of the president to saudi arabia. Host should the victims and families of the 9 11 attacks able to hold the saudi and suent accountable them for their role in september 11, if they had a role in the september 11 attacks . Have athe victims should path toward compensation and that is the key point. Those who are victimized, there should be accountability and they should be able to get relief. They issue asked how that can be done is a matter that we have a bill pending in the united state senate. The administration has voiced strong objections to it. The saudis forest strong objections to it. It has to do with the issues of sovereign unity and accountability. We are trying to understand the administrations concerns to see whether there is a path forward to accomplish our objective. That is to give away to where the victims can be compensated. Host what about the 28 pages of the report in the investigation of what happened and what led up on september 11 that people have called for the release of them to the public . Guest the 28 pages is part of a report issued for part of the 9 11, it is being reviewed now by the administration to see whether it will be released to the public. Parts of it will be redacted and released. I have reviewed those 28 pages in a classified setting, so i cannot comment on it under my oath of office. I cannot give my view on it, but generally, we are giving as much transparency as we can make. The more transparency, the better off we are. Host what could they learn about the 28 pages . General . Talk about in i dont want to get you in trouble. [laughter] guest i dont think i can go down that path to comment on the reports. Host the decision from the Supreme Court yesterday, this is from the Washington Post yesterday morning. TheSupreme Court cleared way for american victims of terrorism to collect nearly 2 billion dollars in seized iranian assets, but not without a one from the chief justice that the court was undermining its authority. Guest i have not read the specifics, but i have read the news accounts of the Supreme Court decision. I think that is good news. I think it is saying that congress is the legislative branch of government out of concern parameters, they are permitted to act on issues of compensation. In this regard, congress has passed a law, provided relief in regards to a certain issue involving iran, and the Supreme Court has withheld the congressional power to provide that type of avenue for relief. Host does that set the precedent for the 9 11 bill or is it not related . Guest it could be related. We would have to read the specifics of the case. Raised by theing administration and the saudis may not necessarily be the constitutional power of the congress. Im not sure about that. , [indiscernible] which is longstanding. Congress does this, with the saudis take action that could compromise u. S. Interests in saudi arabia . 9 11, those responsible need to be held accountable. I think congress has a right to move in that direction and the local administration will hopefully to europe how to get this done. Host you will go to st. Louis, has been earl waiting. Good morning. Caller i am watching your program this morning and you listed the number of countries in the middle east that were receiving american arms and how much they would receive, but you left out one country that received the majority of military hardware and that is israel. I was just curious, why wasnt israel mentioned . Host this is the list together by the wall street journal. In 2015 by the millions, and you can see the list there for yourself. Can you explain, senator . Guest this is different. Were talking about arm sales, and arms sales, the saudis are number one and they purchased United States weapons and it goes through the notification process, and there is involvement to make sure that it is acceptable. It is not a native country and it goes through different scrutiny, so that is the arm sales. There is also military assistance which involves israel and other countries in which the United States is providing help. Host illinois, a republican. Feelr senator, do you there is a [indiscernible] going on with the sunnis and the shiites working together and how does russia fit in with that . Guest it is very interesting. When i was in saudi arabia, i asked the king and crown prince and deputy crown prince, if there was a leader elected in syria from one of the religious parties, does that person represent all the religious parties for sects . And the answer is, we do not care. We have shiites in a country that are part of our society and government, not a matter of what is the sunni or shiite. It is someone who will represent all the people of the country, so what theyre looking at in syria, a leader that will represent all of the communities of syria and to has the confidence of the people that will defend their communities. We have got to stop the bundling that is going on. That i think is the key to stability in the region, and that is the type of leadership we need in syria, iraq, and the type of leadership that we want to see iran stopped to interfere with countries in an effort to the shia stir up minority in countries the cause military problems or stability problems leading to isils ability to attract fighters. Host does that leader exist in syria . Guest i dont know. Not president assad, he has to leave. I am sure the president is hearing the message clearly, there can be no peace in syria with a leader who has killed so many people and has dislocated so many people, so assad has no credibility in that region as the person to head syria, but it a shiite or sunni, but that is not the issue. The question is whether they will represent all the people. Host what credibility does president obama have in that region . It is not the president but the United States. They look at the United States as the most important Single Player of leadership in that region. Under president obama, the United States has breath and the ties to that region has strengthened the ties to that region. We have been engaged in libya. They look at the United States as a key partner in their desire to create stable regimes representing all of their citizens, not creating voices for extremist. They need to get rid of extremists, so they look at the United States, president obama as a key partner in a, pushing those objectives. Having as that mean presence at all times in these regions so that extremists as a have seen, one america withdraws, then extremists come in . Guest i think United States must be engaged in the middle east. There is no question. Do not want to see american roots on the ground. That would be counterproductive. Withember the conversation the king of jordan that said, we dont want this to be a western crusade. The people of the region must , and theemselves challenge we see today in iraq and syria, is whether the sunni aibes can be protected by government that has had its governmentin getting forces to protect sunni communities and the Shiite Militia will have to be the national force. Is tok the challenge develop that type of security in the region. The United States is critically important. Our airis our military, support, our Technical Training that can help provide that climate and it would be for an extended period of time, but ultimately, it is up to the syrians, the iraqis, saudis to defend themselves. Host in massachusetts, democrat. Good morning. Caller hi. Senator, i am a fan. Theres [indiscernible] under committee . Guest yes, he is the chairman. Caller what about environmental . Guest yes, that is the environmental committee. Caller are you a Climate Change denier . Guest no, i will be giving a speech today, tomorrow is worth is earth day, and president obama will see many countries signed the top 21 agreement for 196 countries. 98 of global emissions of the world will sign a commitment toward working together to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions. Of thestrong supporter u. S. Leadership globally and in this country to dramatically reduce our emissions. Caller did you hear senator on and those 192 countries are going to be sorely disappointed . How do you work with someone like that . Guest i have known jim everson second to congress. We came to congress in 1987. He is a good person. He is just wrong on climate. Look,y i answer that is, lets let the scientists determine what we need to do in healthy. Keep our globe but can we do in order to protect our environment and future generations . Scientists tell us what we need to do. The overwhelming opinion is that the activities of us on this earth is affecting climate and that we have the ability to change for the better, and if we do not do it soon, it will have had this topic impact, so we need to act. Host this bill that the senate passed, it is tailored to a modern energy landscape, that is the headline that the New York Times a quote put on it. A bipartisan measure to better align the electric and gas systems with the changing ways that power is produced in the United States. Approved it was 5812. Guest i think you have them host oh, 85. I mixed them up. Sorry. [laughter] guest it was a major advancement of an energy bill. We were very proud about that. By partisans are working on it now. It contains many provisions that many of us are working on. The main goal is to increase our energy supplies. Our carbon Source Energy supplies, we ask questions to deal with the friendlier environment, and it also deals with Energy Conservation and a major way, so we use less energy. It is a major bill. Also included in that bill, some of our major Environmental Programs that are being reauthorized. There are bills that i have filed that i was able to get into this legislation. Those are major bills. Host the New York Times says it needs fixes. Guest if i would write the bill, i would write it differently. I was disappointed we cannot get the tax reductions that wouldve to have for new opposed the same Tax Advantages that the fossil killing industries have, the socalled fossil puling industries have, the socalled provisions. Host thats go to virginia, independent caller. The house of the gaveling in at 9 00, so we will go there, but go ahead with the question. Caller good morning. Good morning, senator. Was, we are a country that fights for human rights, against aggressors, oppressors, so the question is, why are we not doing anything against the aggression of saudi arabia . They have their army going into another country, oppressing people who are just demonstrating against the government. They do not have any arms or anything. They are being killed every day. Nothing has been said about that. Saudi arabia is funding the boko haram, and all the other groups all over the world. Planeshe people who flew into the World Trade Centers or saudis were saw this. The only people against the 9 11 bill were saudis. We dont say anything about them. Always say is, you are on this, on that, why cant we have a peaceful relationship with iran . Guest i want to know your comments about that. We do say that. Objections to my how they handle foreign labor, human rights, and you are absolutely right about how the saudis to handle these issues. It is also true that in the gulf countries, they do support organizations that we believe are terrorist organizations. We have seen that between several of the gulf countries and terrorist organizations. Aggressive in changing that behavior, so meetings that i held in the region couple of weeks ago, im sure the president is following up on those in his visit, we have gotten their cooperation to change their behavior, to change and share information about their Banking System to make sure nothing gets into extremist hands and terrorist groups. We are Getting Better cooperation. Is it where we want it to be . You are right, it does not trade too much of their resources and the people are going to terrorist organizations. It is complicated for what do i mean by that . The royal family in saudi arabia is huge. Huge. [laughter] yes, are a lot of arms and some way think are doing things that are against our interests and we will very much be vocal about that. That word has different connotations now. President obama speaking right now to the gulf nations at this summit, not just with saudi arabia leaders, but with other arab leaders as well. An update for all of you, we told you that the Campaign Manager for Bernie Sanders said , evena democrat for life post election if he does not win in the president ial primary, but reporter that he is already filed for election in the senate as an independent. There is the paperwork at the top of that tweets for the 2016 committee information. That Bernie Sanders is filing as an independent to run again two. Ears from now in vermont we asked our viewers earlier, if the nominating process, if it is dividing the party. , to think that Bernie Sanders in his campaign, given the gap right now, needs to tone it down . Campaign hask the been healthy for the democrats, and i think it will help Hillary Clinton be our nominee and the next president of the United States. Host you have endorsed her. Have endorsed it. Senator sanders is a good friend terry p has raised a lot of important issues. In the heat of the campaign, there will be days where i wish things were handled differently, there is no question about that, but i think overall, the campaign has been healthy for the Democratic Party in our country. Host should he stay in the race all the way until july . Guest that is his decision. He has to make that judgment based upon the way that he is running his campaign, the supporters and how he thinks it is best to manage the remainder of days for the nomination. Host your colleague Barbara Mikulski retiring. Quite a primary underweight for her seat. You are not endorsing and that primary. Why not . Guest let me remind marylanders that this is the last to vote until it 00 tonight, and if you have not voted by today, tuesday, the polls open early morning, until late night. Vote on tuesday. I believe we have to the people running. It is up to democrats to make that judgment as to who they believe will be the best. Host donna edwards, africanamerican woman, she is saying in making the case that it should be a woman and it should be an africanamerican ,hat represents maryland, not no offense, and other white man. Guest each candidate brings certain strengths and weaknesses to the campaign. There is no question about that. I want the marylanders to nominate the person they believe will be the best to represent their interest in the United States senate. We have had an incredible leader and we want to make sure we have our very best to fill her shoes. Host senator ben cardin, thank you for your time this morning. As we told you, the houses gaveling in early, so we will bring you there live coverage on cspan. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] the speaker the house will be in order. The prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. Father conroy let us pray. Merciful god, we give you thanks for giving us another day. Bless the members of the peoples house. There are many important issues to be considered with multiple interests and priorities dividing the house in its deliberations. May the inertia of habit that has solidified various blocks of opinion be stirred to productive action and grant that a new light might shine on creative solutns