Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20160516

Administrations guidance to Public Schools over allowing transgender students access to bathrooms and other facilities. Democrats, 202 7488000. Republicans, 202 7488001. 202 7488002s,. You can post on our facebook or twitter pages as well. This guidance came out last friday. It was a joint letter by the Education Department and Justice Department. It says that as a condition of receiving federal funds a school agrees they will not exclude separate deny benefits to or otherwise treated differently on the basis of sex any person in its Educational Programs unless expressly authorized to do so under title ix. The letter also gave specific guidance when it came to the use of restrooms and locker rooms. Heres some of that section from the letter which you can find online at the Justice Department and education to urban. A school must allow transgender students access to facilities consistent with their gender. Themchool may not require to use bathrooms inconsistent with their gender. A school may make individual user options available to all students. Some of the guidance they came out last week from the Justice Department. We want to get your thoughts on this issue again, the numbers. 202 7488000 for democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. 202 7488002 for independents. You can post on facebook as well. Poll taking a look at this issue asks about the issue of transgender students. Say, would you favor or oppose laws that require transgender individuals to require facilities that correspond to their assigned sex at birth rather than their actual gender . 25 percent of those respondents say they strongly favor that. Strongly oppose, 39 . Somewhat favor 13 . Somewhat oppose 18 . We will start with sandra. She joins us from virginia on the republican line. Im calling on the democrat line. Anyway. I definitely unalterably opposed any trying to make people go into a bathroom that is different from what they look like right now. Ofwhoop de doo about nothing here. If there is a concern completed by having the bathrooms in use all over the world. I have seen them and used them and did not feel unsafe. Lock they go in and door and use the bathroom and you are the only one in the time so theres no chance of anybody believebody else me, waynesboro is not a liberal town. If there were some kind of thing like this going on here i would have heard about it. I think its a lot of maelstrom in a teacup. Host has your School District reacted at all . Your reaction would be the same . My reaction would be to straighten up and fly right if they started making a problem where there is not one. There has not been any reaction that i know of. Host lets hear from the republican line in fredericksburg, virginia. If my daughter was in a gym class and an individual who had made it does vision or it wasjust the way it was that of a different gender was passing through regardless of how anyone would think it would be if she was a woman and that , it would or whatever be hard for her and that would be something that i would immediately say no couldnt take that to it seems shocking all of these things are taking place kerry isnt it interesting that now it has come to light does bring a lot of thoughts to all of us about all of it that are reasonable fonts. Everybody seems to have something thats important to say. Regardless of all that is said, if it were my daughter i would and if my daughter was going into a restroom i would also go in with her and stand at the door. Thats what fathers do. Are you speaking from a hypothetical or do you have a daughter in Public School . Have had a daughter in Public School. Now she is out. What i really think is that the are alle what we concerned about. Once we arrive at a station where we have critical thought process than we can kind of take care of ourselves. But isnt it really something we are all concerned about the youth and being that there is somebody there to watch and make sure that their arrival in this situation is going to be what we are able to honestly with a night when we are trying to go to sleep. This is a very disturbing situation but it has to be addressed. Everybody seems to have something that is worthy to say and i think that everybody that says something is worthy to listen to. Host lets hear from a estelle in memphis. Caller i am very concerned about this. What i really dont get is why all of a sudden actually i do get it. Its a spiritual thing. We as parents, as teachers, as adults thinking about children governing themselves in a sexual nature. Rich teach children. Thats how they learn. We teach children. Thats how they learn. If we are going to allow children to go where they feel they need to go, i think we need to talk to them. This is the whole premise behind what is going on. We are treating children as if they are already adults. If we are going to allow children to go to what bathroom they feel like they need to do and they have not attained the age at which they can determine things for themselves, why not let murderers murder . Not let children get a drivers license because they feel like they can drive . Its becoming more and more prevalent in the media and thats what causes me to think, why now . Why all of a sudden . Dont like that people want to say what women can do and cannot do in restrooms. Where is it coming from politically and to is benefiting from it . Think that when we get down to those areas we will find that there is some sort of process taking place that we are not aware of. It doesnt matter what other people do in other countries. We are americans and we live in america. We built this on the foundation and could spiritually. Were just not pleasing god right now. I think we should stand up. Im very upset that my government cant impose upon me things that are happening thats beyond my control. What about the people who are just living our regular lives and want to continue to do so . Why are our concerns not being heard . Host that was the independent line. Independents, 202 7488002. Republicans, 202 7488001. Democrats, 202 7488000. Another independent calling from west virginia. Caller i would like to comment on the fact that a lot of these people that keep calling in and saying if my daughter or if my son. As far as i know there has never been a documented case of any of this happening. This is kind of like the smokescreen that has been thrown up about changing Voting Rights and all that. Theres like a. 03 chance of that happening. Its just a smokescreen to distract people from whats really going on around here. I have been reading articles about what is really in the North Carolina law that people are ignoring and is much more onerous than what they are proposing about the bathrooms. Host so you say this is not a big issue . Caller its a nonissue. It wasnt an issue when they brought it up. There has never been a documented case of anything like this happening. People just want to go to the bathroom. Perverts are going to do you think a sign on a door is going to keep someone from walking in . Host thats bob in morgantown, west virginia. One of the reactions they came shortly after this announcement from the Obama Administration. Dan patrick responded to the and he thought about what might happen because of the administrations guidance. He kind of projected what could happen in his state. Here are some of his thoughts from last week. Kids have issues when they come to school and schools have a tough job accommodating them. This is taking one child with an issue and saying everyone else thewhatever reason superintendent and now the president have it makes no sense. Its going to undermine Public School. This will be the end of public education. People will pull their kids out. Homeschooling will explode. Private schools will increase. School choice will pass. Host lets hear from catherine in massachusetts on the democrat line. Caller good morning. You know this is the most disgraceful thing in the world. When you come in this world you are either male or female. You should admit no freaks. Turn himselfnot into no woman and a woman aint got no business trying to be a man. Its a shame. To heaven. Has risen americas sins have reached into heaven. You all say you dont know what hes doing. I got three grandchildren and i dont want my granddaughters going into no bathroom with some rest of man trying to be a woman. Its how you think makes you a woman. And these ministers and these its called this morning in springfield. Im 85 years old and i have never seen weather like this. Something big is going down and america is hiding something from the people. They have done everything they can do to bring this one world order. Host ok. Lets hear from deborah on the independent line. Caller its good to talk with you again. Welcome cspan. I love cspan. You asked a question earlier. Am i seeing a response from this event. We were talking about it in church. Everyone is talking about it my church. The target who is made mentioned that they were going to open up the bathrooms. These parents are not going to go to target anymore because they dont want these kids in their bathrooms. Its an overreach to say that this is some kind of sex discrimination. People choose to be transgender. Host the Lieutenant Governor was talking about the possibility of people pulling their kids out of school. Caller yes sir. I sure do. Iis is my pastors kids who was speaking about. I asked him specifically what do you think about this . Thats how i found out about target from them. The kids themselves. I think its going to have a real effect. I dont think the president has any right at all to tell us what we should do. Thats deborah in georgia. Here is bernard from new york on the republican line. Caller good morning, cspan. Have two quick topics i want to make a comment on this gender issue, the bathroom issue. I also want to make a comment about susan swan. Host are you still there . Make your comment about the bathroom issue. Caller number one, this top doctor at Johns Hopkins , top psychiatrists said this whole idea of changing genders is a mental issue and that people who support it are actually enabling people who are sick. Number two, any scientist will tell you its impossible to jenner a mailce into a female. He remains a male disguised as a female. The second point about this is that obama has no right this toer to not send the congress, not have any conversation about it. The third thing very important. Yesterday you guys had a conversation about facebook answering out conservatives. Im survey that was calling for 25 years into cspan. I was censored out. You have my phone number. I went against al sharpton. I said he was a cheap race hustler. People called in from some leftwing outfit and told susan susan swan that brian then what is a racist. She bandmate. Band me. Im thinking about bringing a lawsuit. I would like to hear from cspan. You have my phone number. We can settle this amiably. Not settle it on the air. Our policy is to have free access for people to call in. And talkinging now about issues on this network so clearly you have access to the network so we will leave it at that. Lets hear from amy on the democrats line. Caller hi there. Thanks for the opportunity to speak. It seems like a lot of folks are calling in to if i had to guess i would say that they probably have never met a transgender person. Onseems like theyre sending their ideas about what being transgender is and what one or anddoctors might have said personal opinions and not actually having talked and spoken with somebody who has lived the everyday life of being a transgender individuals. It is not as cut and dry as people think it is. People think you wake up one morning and decide to be the opposite gender. It doesnt work like that. You are who you are inside and sometimes the person you are does not fit the way your body looks. If you are somebody who is unfortunate enough to deal with beingroblem in your life, hassled about which bathroom youre going to go into when you pee like ato normal human being is one of these problems terrans gender people have to deal with every single day and people have no idea what its like on a persons psyche beyond all the other things they have to deal with in life. I hope people would take the time to maybe seek out somebody who has experienced this in real life like another reallife opinion or experience about this before they sound off about whats right and wrong. I appreciate that obama has come out in support of all americans not just the one that people are comfortable with already. Maryland. s amy in on the page of the New York Times this morning it highlights the issue of transgender children with a legislator from congress who is serving as an advocate. He is a miami republican told hisday parents about his new gender he did so in a letter that he left on her bed and then he grabbed a packed bag and went to a friends house unsure if he would he welcomed back. His shocked parents grabbed the phone and told him they loved him and asked him to come home. Her husband and son will appear in an ad with a group known as save. Here she is talking about her family situation from the group saves ad. [speaking spanish] host here is jim on the republican line. Good morning. What do you think . Caller i disagree with it. I think its going to have a really adverse effect on the Public Schools. Of they the bathroom showers and locker rooms. You have a 65 240 pound male who thinks hes a wants to be a girl and go out for the Girls Basketball team. This could be devastating to all aspects of Public School and and thank you very much. Host the guidance that was sent by the Administration Last week does have a section on the topic. F athletics you can read the document for yourself. This is the guns that was offered to school. Guidance that was offered to schools. 202 7488000 for democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. 202 7488002 for independents. Harry on the democrat line. Caller good morning. Im a moderate democrat. I disagree with my president. We could just build or make extra bathrooms for transgender. I dont believe that you should take a young boy who wants to be female and put him in another room with other boys and not place. Me kind of take even a coy who wants to be a boy and goes into a boys bathroom. With the recent situation where a girl gets beaten to death in the bathroom, you are setting schools of for it nathan on the republican line. Caller i think this is a really to allowzy thing someone to decide whenever bathroom they want to go into. You know we have laws that keep pedophiles from living within a certain distance of schools and now we are saying its ok for them to go to target and go into whatever bathroom they choose for that day . Its not going to be a problem is to say that theres no pedophiles in this world and that theres no child pornography on the internet. And this just goes to show you the ineptitude of our government today. Noortunately we have president ial choice in this matter. Jack on twitter says the point is, no one cares. Let people be. This is just distractions from the real issues of policy and governance. Fronts a story in the page of the Washington Post this morning. Months before the defense secretary said the pentagon would be taking steps towards allowing transgender people to serve openly in the military, Patricia King became the first openly transgender member of the military. She said her commanders have been supportive. The services have some dress uniforms that include skirts. They also allow different hair lengths for men and women and have different fitness requirements for them as well. William in North Carolina on the line. Good morning. I dont have a problem with the lgbt thing as it is. It is one part of it which causes africanamericans a lot of consternation. That is we cannot sue in state court for racial discrimination. Ad that is definitely republican thing so that nobody considered for discrimination. And that is my comment and thank you. Host jacksonville florida, democrat line. Caller i called to comment on the transgender bathroom thing. I agree with the people who think it is a smokescreen to discriminate people and all aspects of their lives. That if you think have the parts of a gendered then that should be sufficient for you to use the bathroom. If you need to sit you go in with the women and if you need to stand you should go into the mens bathroom. I think that people who are concerned about their children imheir own unease believing that forever we have had people that were molesting other people and they were not transgender. They were people that look like you and me. They are your neighbors and husbands. Those are the people who are the predators. I wish they would not single these people out for wanting to use the bathroom. Tuesday is primary day for kentucky. Hillary clinton says a two state defeat might not manually change her delegate advantage but it would be embarrassing for her to continue losing states. There is some concern that the rt during will concern include conservative democrats. She predicted her Energy Agenda would put a lot of coal miners out of work. Coal miners booed as she took stage. Hillary clinton talked about her husbands role in a Clinton Administration saying that his focus would be on the economy. Going to put in charge of revitalizing the economy because you know he knows how to do it. She told supporters in kentucky. Annamaria in los angeles on the republican line. Good morning. Caller yes. Thank you for accepting my call and good morning. I was democrat all the time. Except now i vote for mr. Trump. I think hes absolutely right. Leave the things how they are. How they were for many years. Without spending millions of dollars that can be used for better things. We are not transgender. There are exactly how husband, wife. Brother. Host pat is next in plano, texas. Caller im here. My comments are not so much on the merits of the bathroom issue but the fact that we are prioritizing it to the degree we are. As a country whose middle class is being eroded on an ongoing basis. Losing all sorts of jobs and everything else. School performance is down. Why are we focusing so much attention on this . Avoid the big important issues and well so much on some insignificant issue how important it is to a few people. To me this nation needs to get back and prioritize. Host what makes you think that other issues are being bypassed because of this issue . Drownedthey are being out by this. If you get on some of these shows on fox and he the average american they dont even know who are Vice President is. How many senators we have. And our democracy to succeed. Somehow the media needs to put forefront with just as much passion those kind of things that made our country great. But we seem to focus our passion on obscure social issues. Its clearly pushing out other things that are more important i think. That was pat in texas. Part of last weeks press conference with the white house. The press secretary talked about why the administration issued this guidance when it comes to title ix authority. That defense from josh earnest. The idea that individuals are discriminated against because of their gender identity is the basis for the guidance we are putting forward. Nobody should be discriminated against because of who they are. Our suggestion is that the rules should apply to everybody equally and thats the basis of this guidance. That every student should have to facilities that every other student has access to. Nobody should be discriminated against because of who they are and thats the basis for this guidance. Thats also why we say no student is forced to use shared facilities. If there are alternate facilities available that are made available by administrators than every student should have access to those as well. The New York Times talks about donald trump and how social conservatives are looking towards a trump candidacy. Should he become the nominee . Heres how they are reacting. Saying that by mollifying many conservatives he could prevent some uncomfortable defections in july at the convention. Tony perkins president of the Family Research council goes on to say, lets give donald trump the opportunity to make the first move. He has already riled suspicion after saying he would absolutely favor reworking the Party Platform to include exceptions to a ban on abortion. Republicans say revising the abortion language is a nonstarter. A longtime member of the Platform Writing Committee said mr. As comfortable with trump. Susan in connecticut on the democrat line. Talking about access for transgender students. Morning. Ood im so happy to be able to speak today. Yesterday i was in northampton massachusetts for my daughters graduation with her fee on a. I daughter is straight at never saw something so wonderful as a variety of genders and people were allowed to be who they were and they were so accepted. Mewas a little strange for because i dont see many transgender people in my community. But i think its a wonderful thing that the Younger Generation can teach us a thing or two. Also for people that are very religious, they should remember everything god creates is wonderful and useful. Theres variety in his creation. Host what do you think about this guidance issued by the administration . Caller i think its wonderful they are trying to allowed the same acceptance that i saw at the campus where everyone was a and no one felt stigmatized. If there are people so uncomfortable maybe they should make special single stall bathrooms for them. Are uncomfortable they dont have to share a bathroom with the rest of us who are accepting of people and they can be the ones that are stigmatized when they go tease use the restroom because they are uncomfortable. Host run from florida on the republican line. Good morning. Good morning. Thanks for taking my call. The president doesnt even have the Purse Strings. He cant deny federal funding. Is that a transgender in the commercial . The guy with the beard . Host her son, yes. Caller hes trying to be transgender and hes growing facial hair . Get the commercial. If that guy walked into a womans bathroom would you accept that . Just because he talks feminine. That was insane. I dont understand the commercial at all. He didnt look like a woman at all. Host he started off as female and transitioned to a male. Guyer if he looked like a and he went into a stall i would not have a problem is that. With that. Its a crazy thing. Whats going on with this world. Where did they go to the bathroom before . What was the big issue before . Ive never heard about it until now. The government is overreaching with this issue. Obama cant keep his hands off anything. Aboutone more story donald trump from the front page of the wall street journal. The ability for him to finance a general campaign. Have come to the conclusion that trump income is not enough to self fund. While his Campaign Began last summer a Financial Disclosure he said he had between them deep Million Dollars and 232 million in cash. That would go fast. This would leave hundreds of millions to be made up and his businesses dont produce that much in a year. Income is likely to be around 160 million. Theres a graphic that helps you break down were various money comes from. Thats the wall street journal this morning. Bill is on the independent line. Good morning. Caller heres the thing. Im listening to this. Like a lot of the callers, its a smokescreen. Its an absolute smokescreen. Heres the thing that i think would be very serious. Its going to be a serious thing. If by somehow someway president obama stops sending that federal money to the schools and the states because they are not adhering to his socalled letter that he sends out, if he stop sending that federal money to to help run School Systems in the states, there is going to be such a backlash against the democrats, it the teachers unions will be the first ones because they are not going to be able to pay the teachers. I dont think its a very wise thing that president obama is to maintain some legacy that is imaginary in his mind. This is a ridiculous thing. It was never a problem until four months ago and now all of a sudden its a great big problem. Its a big smokescreen. Wont do it. He will not withhold those federal funds from the state. It goes to the education. He wanted to it. Its a bunch of talk. In virginia on the republican line. You are on. Caller good morning. Your show is great. Thank you very much. Thanks for taking my call. Was ourent i had creator created us as man and as woman. I can believe im the wizard of oz or i can believe as the president does that im a king. But that doesnt make me the wizard of oz. That does not make him the king. Are created the way we are created and thats the reason they put the signs on the restrooms as they put them. And as a couple of callers have brought up, this was not a problem until about four months ago. It seems as though we have a divide and conquer type situation going on with this administration ever since the very beginning. Im concerned about it. Said can theer president withhold the Purse Strings from these schools . I do not have an answer to that but he has certainly been very adept at doing many things without any interference from congress. I dont know how this will play out. In the very disappointed entire movement. People wholieve that wish they were other than what they are or believe that they other than what they are i feel in my heart for them. I am a christian. But i do feel in my heart for them that something is wrong. I dont understand it. Perhaps psychologists or psychiatrists would have an answer for it. Lets hear from richard from new york. Republican line. Caller the administration has cut compared this to jim crow and the civil rights act. I was a sophomore in high school in 1964 and i remember the passage of the civil rights act. To my knowledge no one i never knew ever had to forfeit our right the cousin of the passage of that law. However today my 10yearold is required to forfeit her Fourth Amendment rights to privacy because of this lunacy. I am just going through the roof on this and so are a lot of other people that are usually pretty politically calm. Host what do you think the reaction is going to be from the School Systems . Caller everybody is scared to death about losing any money. The economy in Central New York is just terrible. We keep varying the numbers about dog jobs. Thats richard from new york. A story out of baghdad saying the Islamic State launched an assault on a natural gas plant. They killed at least 14 people. It started at don was a suicide car bombing. s overall militants broke into the plant and clashed with security forces. The Islamic State affiliate news agency credited a group of caliphate soldiers for the attack. The wall street journal takes a look at the ability to get access to Health Insurance in rural areas. That insurersng are quitting the rural exchanges saying the entire state of alaska and alabama are expected to only have one insurer on the market place next year. The same is expected to be true in kentucky and other states. Than 650 counties appear to just have one insurer. Democrat line. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I decided to use my one call for the month to call in about the bathroom issue. Come from an environment where you look for solutions. I think Everybody Needs to go ahead and read the letter that was sent out by president obama. It is a guidance. It will leave you with an opening to come up with a solution for the problem. Its a problem on both sides. The transgender and the ones that are not. There are reasons to be concerned. There are reasons to be proactive and come up with a solution. You can have one bathroom where you have a key and only one person goes in at a time. This is not a Group Activity when you go to the bathroom. You could have three bathrooms in public spaces. It is marked malefemale transgender. So we will not have some of these problems we are having. These bathroom facilities you dont have to make new facilities in places like target. Theres more than one stall. More than one commode. Split the bathrooms up and rename them. But the walls in. Give everybody a sense of security. The transgender and the nontransgenders. Please. I appreciate the opinions but lets look for solutions. Lets get this done. Texas couldernor in look for Solutions Rather than consider taking away funds for poor people. This is another form of separating the people in this country and thats my comment for today. On theelen from maryland democrat line. Last call on this topic. We will change topics and talk a new study that takes look at the state of roads and bridges and transit projects generally known as infrastructure. It comes to the conclusion that more money is needed to fix problems with those. The program, the Obama Administration is preparing the next resident of the white house. A discussion on president ial transitions later with martha kumar of the white house transition project director ers talk about a speech the headline says donald trump during that speech. Heres a bit of it from yesterday. Life politics and in ignorance is not a virtue. [applause] its not cool to not know what you are talking about. [laughter] its not keeping it real for telling it like it is. Its not challenging political correctness. Thats just not knowing what youre talking about. And yet weve become confused about this. Our nations founders franklin, madison, hamilton, jefferson they were born of the enlightenment. They sought to escape superstition and sectarianism and tribalism and know nothingness. They believed in rational thought and experimentation and the capacity of informed citizens to master our own fate. That is embedded in our constitutional design. That spirit informed our inventors and explorers. The edisons and the Wright Brothers and the George Washington carvers. And the steve jobs. Thats what bill this country. Built this country. Today in every phone in one of we have access to more information than at any time in Human History at the touch of a button. But ironically the flood of information hasnt made us more discerning of the truth. Ways it has just made us more confident in our ignorance. [laughter] webssume whatever is on the must be true. We search for sites that just reinforce our own predispositions. Opinions masqueraded as facts. Our wildest conspiracy theories are taken for gospel. Im sure you have learned during your years of college and if not you will learn soon that there are a whole lot of folks who are book smart and have no common sense. [applause] thats the truth. You will need them if you havent already. You will meet them if you havent already. The fact that they have a fancy degree you have to talk them to see whether they know what theyre talking about. Qualities like kindness and compassion, honesty, hard work. They often matter more than Technical Skills or knowhow. Host if you want to see more of that speech at Rutgers University from president obama, cspan. Org is where you can go to see that. Theing us now to talk about state of infrastructure in the United States is casey dinges of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Good morning. Can you talk about your organization and what role it plays . Asce is a professional organization. It has been around since 1852. 150,000 members who work in the private sector, government, research and academia. Its mostly a Technical Organization but we moved out of our headquarters in new york city and came to washington to have more of a policy influence. Host one of the things you do is keep track of federal spending when it comes to infrastructure and put out reports. Your latest takes a look at gaps between what is being funded and what is being needed. What did you find . Latest in our the failure to act series of economic reports. Has done a number of infrastructure report cards were me great the nations infrastructure. Cse are a lot of ds and on that report card. Policymakers were asking is, what difference does that make us . Felt there were some very powerful Economic Issues related to the infrastructure. This is the foundation of the platform on which you will build the modern economy. 2011arted doing these in 2012. The latest we have come up with is if you look at the upcoming if we just continue as we are investing at current levels the u. S. Can expect each family to lose 3400 per year. Underachievewill by three point 9 trillion by the year 2025. Business sales will lapse by 27 trillion. 2. 5 million jobs are at risk by the year 2025. Infrastructure is always a safety issue. Certainly that is the primary consideration. This is a profound Economic Issues. Host you may think of issues like potholes or old bridges. Is it just that . Is there more to it . Guest if you look at the transportation roads bridges and transit. We look at this issue. We are looking at an annual funding gap ofs work around 100 billion a year. The nation is investing about half of what it should be in the transportation area. We are not saying this is just a federal issue. The feds and the state and local government are all involved in this. You are seeing more private sector involvement in infrastructure. Have been built across the country. He see high occupancy toll lanes. Publicprivate partnerships. As a rule of thumb we are investing about 100 billion a year and we should be investing twice that as a nation. That is a big number. When you look at the economic theequences and the size of u. S. Economy, 18 trillion is our annual gdp. We should be able to figure that out between the levels of government and private sector. These generally exist on a state level and primarily should be a state problem. Guest not completely. The states and local governments do have a big role in this. About half to two thirds of the spending occurs at that level. That still leaves a federal role. The interstate highway system which is one of the modern marvels of engineering in this i sure someone give a speech last week in the capital where he highlighted the interstate system. It is a partnership. To build on the interstate highway system theres about 80 federal funding and 20 match from the state. There are different types of roads. There are millions of miles of local roads in this country that the county governments oversee. Imagine this country without an interstate highway system. Dinges of the American Society of Civil Engineers is here. For democrats. 202 7488001 for democrats. 202 7488002 for independents. Heres what she said about Infrastructure Spending. This was back in december 2015. Shows the political process encourages a systematic tendency to overestimate the benefit and underestimate the cost of Infrastructure Projects. You mentioned the latter part. What about the former part as far as the planning process . Guest in terms of an overestimate . I have not heard that critique before. On both sides of the aisle on capitol hill, these investments are always considered good for the economy. I dont know if we ours splitting hairs about the the benefits. We are looking at this report as three to one benefit cost analysis. We are seeing right now that the current state of the infrastructure is costing each household nine dollars a day. Thats whats being put at risk. If we put up three dollars we can americas economic losses. Big benefitetty cost ratio. I dont know why we would not pick up Something Like this. Passed 300ss billion of Infrastructure Spending last year. Do you think that is all you will see . Guest thats a fiveyear bill. We are locked in unless a new administration decides to make that an immediate priority. Have been the most we could expect out of this kind of politically divided congress. In the past year, its called the fast act. It doesnt move fast enough in our view. There are some increases in that bill for surface transportation. There is some flexibility if states and communities need to do more on the transit side. There is some flexibility for that. People need to think about that as holistically as they can. Its not just about a road or bridge. Its looking at the whole picture. Plays a big role in allowing roadways to function in metropolitan areas. Host what was the difference between that figure and what the administration was looking for . Think the administration put out 450 billion. The big question is how are you going to pay for that . Hardtown has had a very time with discussions about the federal gas tax. It has not been raised since 1993. It is still at . 18 a gallon. 16 states across the country have raised their gas taxes. This is red states and blue states. There are also starting to index the text to inflation so it will not lose purchasing power over time. Host we have viewers wanting to ask you questions. We have tim in ohio. Go ahead. Im superintendent of the water system and in 2010 we built a Water Treatment plants. Pretty much had to. The cost on that was 1. 3 million. On the idea of looking at the price of it, i figured, without prevailing wage, we could have gotten in at 700,000. I think the prevailing wage is the biggest knock on how we get it done. Guest you are hitting on a wage issue. If you had a guest from labor sitting here, they would talk pretty hard on the issue. Morecould be an issue in than northern states. It is not an issue in the Southern States and other parts of the United States. I have heard other project and that where that was not an issue. The two would have been paid anyway. It is not always the case though ive heard the issue come up. Let me say, the national it runsucture week, today through may 23. Part of the coalition we have is not only labor, but also the u. S. Chamber of commerce, the association and other major groups in the United States. Is a Broad Coalition supporting the issue. If you look at the polling, there tends to be strong support for infrastructure. Democrats line in ohio, james, hello, go ahead. Looking at a lot of things talking about infrastructure. First of all, ohio. I travel around the country and traffic jams are terrible in all day, just terrible long. In ohio, a gem and just said hadt a prevailing wage, we come at the beginning of weredent obamas term, we supposed to do a rail system here and everything was approved and created 30,000 jobs in ohio. Governor kasich said he could not afford it and cancel that. We have done well with jobs in ohio, but with the infrastructure, the roads, and the rail systems, all things in ohio, our employment will be down to pretty much nothing and prevailing wage was not the issue at all. Was a matter of the people who benefit the most from the roads and transportation seems to be the people who do not want to pay for it. People want to pay for it. I do not understand why. Why hasntquestion, Congress Passed laws to allow us to take care of the infrastructure . It just dont make sense. Host thanks for the call, james. Guest i agree infrastructure should be a priority. It should be a bipartisan issue. I am looking forward to the Major Party Nominees engaging the issue bigtime. We have heard both candidates and i will add senator sanders speaking a lot about the issue during the course of the campaign. You mentioned the highspeed rail thing going back to the early part of the Obama Administration pair that was an ambitious proposal they had pair the national system, about 10 regions would be tied together. There just was not enough Political Support for that. Rail is part of our transportation, but if you look at the history of the united been much moreas emphasis on roads and airports in the United States than on rail rate railways. And we kind of look at mass transit a little differently as part of the roads and bridges system. Railways are a separate category we rated in our 2000 13 infrastructure report card. The rail system across the United States, the freight rail system, the great on that went up from a c minus two ac plus between 2009 and 2013. The main reason is a lot of those systems are privately held. A Major Economic downturn in 2008 and 2009 and the private sector showing its ability to adapt to situations, saw that as a big opportunity to invest in that is why the rail grade went up in the last report card. Host on twitter i believe he is referring to stimulus funds back with the Obama Administration, i dont know how was it accomplished . Guest the stimulus was about 800 billion in early to early 2009. About 100 50 billion at the most was spent on infrastructure. There was a little bit of a misunderstanding. That came together and are in that, you can understand if your Main Objective is to put people to work, it does make sense. Huge chunks of the stimulus were tax cuts, then you had another several hundred billion dollars from federal governments to state governments. There is not much left for the infrastructure. There was a missed opportunity. Massachusetts, mark is next, independent line. Caller good morning. Thank you, pedro. It seems like i always end up with you and you are a great moderator. And your guest, i have worked with you guys over the years. And i amnstruction from massachusetts originally, moved from new orleans, moving back to the northeast. Question, i definitely believe we need more funding, but it is these white whales, that sometimes the government, mainly states, and i use the biggest white well in u. S. History. On a smaller scale, i did a Research Project of my own, looking at two separate projects. ,cotts river bridge in maine built in just about year, the cost of about 64 million, a huge undertaking. I think it has got a thousand foot span. With the the bridge wires, ice to get i forget the specific type of bridge. Exhibit b is a bridge and boston whichuilt at grade level is basically just across the river. It ended up costing 56 million and the long and short of it is the 56 million bridge had a draw bridge to nowhere. The case of maine was an efficient use of funds. In boston, the street bridge, to me it just seemed ridiculous. Host thank you. Guest their heart there are 600,000 bridges in the United States. Sure about the exact bridge youre talking about. Bridges, roughly 60,000 bridges in the United States, are structurally deficient. Be inspected every year and not just every two years. Host it does not mean they will fall. Guest no. They could have things posted on them. Certain trucks cannot use them. Bridge, the memorial bridge, the lane had been shut down, the bridge would have to be shut down for five years unless major replacement occurs. There has been more of an emphasis and a focus, but engineers keep a close eye on these things, so Something Like a bridge collapse, as shocking as that is an people do remember the bridge collapse, it is highly unusual for Something Like that to happen. Bridges get closed were posted for Weight Restrictions and that has an economic impact. Trucks have to do workarounds and it takes longer for goods to get there. It is almost imperceptible to people going on what is going on. Impact being talked about in these reports. Host what do you estimate is the federal money needed to bring bridges up to par . It is not that dire. The last analysis, we are somewhere between 10 and 12 billion a year on bridges and we need to be spending about 20. The gap is 10 billion a year, very doable for the United States. Dave on our republican line. Caller yes. Down here in North Carolina, they do not even have tractors on the job at the time. When they pave the road, they already pulled it and it leaks thennd they come along they hit it right out and our bridges down here. Concrete [indiscernible] guest a couple of issues there. One is the type of chemicals we are using to treat ice and Road Conditions. There is always Research Going on there to use with less corrosive materials. Assuming we cant go fast enough on that side, you have engineers on the concrete and steel side looking to put certain coatings on reinforcements for the concrete structures so there is less corrosion. There is a lot of Research Going on into that issue. Safety has to come first and we do have to get the ice off of those bridges. Washington state, janet, democratic line. To talk about, whatever we need money for, roads and bridges, what that might be depends on election time, depends on what party gets in. I have seen it is a lot more money when the democrats are in. When the republicans are in, we go broke. Reagan spent all the Social Security money, we had no money and there was a deficit. And then clinton got jobs, 123 million jobs paid back to Social Security. That reagan put on welfare, we had trillions of dollars when we were done. And hesh junior got in had that war that should not have been any lie to congress to have it, and he was spending trillions of dollars, about every other day, for the war. Host thanks. Her point is this is a bigger issue because it is a election year. It is a big issue this year. I want to see the candidates debate the issue thoroughly. Reference card gets once in a while by the candidates. I would like to see a debate with just this issue. Hopefully, there will be multiple debates. I think this is big enough. Would like to see what the candidates have to say. The political perception the caller was drawing upon, let me ,oint out it was a republican eisenhower, who brought up the interstate highway system. It was something he felt personally very strongly about here it we see the limitations of trying to move military equipment across the country during his military career. Felt like it was in the best National Interest of the nation. It was actually during the reagan praise presidency that the gas tax actually went up pier 1 highway bills during his eightyear presidency. You mentioned president clinton. That was the last guest tax increase we had in the country. 1993. Only 4. 3 cents. Tax is onlygasoline 18. 4 cents per gallon or that is all you pay parity might be paying two dollars 2. 20. . 18 is the federal gasoline tax tax. That can be as low as . 20 per gallon, and i think some states go as high as . 50 per gallon. The average is . 35 per gallon. You are buying a gallon of gas, the tax you are paying on it is a relatively small percent of the overall cost of gas. Even now it is relatively cheap. We have been afraid as a nation tax. Ke on the gas eventually, we will have to get away from the gas tax because cars will be powered by electricity or another energy source. Eventually we have to move to a vehicle miles traveled approach. You are charged for the number of miles drive driven. There are a number of transponders in the cars now so it is easier for us to keep track of that information. Get to a Comfort Level as citizens and governmental agencies knowing how much driving we are doing every year. Driving is not only done by citizens. It is done by businesses and industries. I think people do it because they have to. If a truck has to be on the road to deliver goods, picking up stuff at the port where it just came in, then delivering it to a transshipment point, i think trucks will not be dissuaded. The American Trucking associations were deporting supporting a gas tax increase in the last transportation bill. Scott from new york, independent line. Caller i had a couple of questions. I would like to know what happened to the first 817 billion earmarked for the shovel ready projects. For two months. 20 miles at a time, orange , there are just a handful of times i have seen it is justing and like they bought the roads off to make it look like something is being done. Nothing is being done. I talked to other truckers when i am on the road and they told me they see that a lot. I would like to know what is going on with that. The orange cones, they sometimes have to set up a safety zone to work and it can take a while to set that up for the work starts to you might have just written by the runtime. It is disruptive for the driving public but we are encouraged to themaintenance happening in country. Keep that in mind, these are important maintenance projects that are happening. This is the second rack reference to the stimulus. It is with the entire stimulus package, it is around the total tax but a third of that was cuts. 150 billion max was spent on infrastructure. Have any questions about why theyre going in the middle of the day . Guest it will cost more to work all night long. Your paying more for your labor. You see major metropolitan areas, the work is done at night. Republican line, jim, hello, you are next. Caller is the law still in effect that states do not spend all of the money allotted, they lose it to next year . Yes, i think that is the case. Back in the 1970s, before 1995, they repaid that money sor just to save they did not lose the money for next year. Guest we want to be careful in government to not have perverse incentives. We want to encourage people to properly, at the local level to let something fall into complete disrepair so the defense would step in and put up the money for a project. Locals are still coming up with a 20 match. It is not like it is free money. You want to be careful working in the Different Levels to not create disincentives for perverse incentives for what would seem to the public like projects that are unnecessary or low priorities being addressed ahead of priorities. The federal money that goes to the state, do they guest he projects for what they have done . It is a complex system. Come, we are in the low 40s, 42 billion he year will come out of the Highway Trust Fund every year. . 18 per gallon that everyone is paying. Distribute thela money every year based on how large the state is and how many miles of interstate you have and things like that. There is a complex formula. Another 10 billion a year or so also paid by the Highway Trust Fund. That goes to the states for transit projects. Then there is flexibility states to moveo moves my money from the highway side to transit projects. I am forgetting how the money is actually distributed, monthly or quarterly basis. Our guest is talking about money for roads, bridges, and transit projects. Texas. Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Theye early 1970s, offered it to the states for the highway and they could guarantee the highways would last either 50 years, or 100 years. And they rejected the offer because they said it would put too many people out of business. As large as texas and the whole tontry is, they do not have keep going over the roads over and over again because they could be building new ones. You know anything about that . Thank you. I do not specifically know about that but you put your interesting issue, the infrastructure space. Is an important issue and an Important Role for the federal government. It is tricky, once you have an innovation, how quickly you can put that out into the marketplace. In the United States, you will have interests there, Big Industries involved in this, the industry will feel threatened by innovation, that is understandable. Our innovations are occurring in technology. It may not seem like that, but concrete keeps getting stronger and stronger. The strength of concrete keeps going up. Wasuple of years ago, there an award presentation, hybrid bridge made out of composite materials. Beam, verybridge lightweight and incredibly strong, reasonably cost. There are innovations but it is tricky to develop something new and then have 50 states adopted immediately. Developing a new technology, you want to see that get used as widely as possible. While forit takes a them to get along. If people were Group Sharing and things like that, less cars on the road. Patternsmerican changing as far as how they drive their cars . I can speaknot sure to the nation as a whole. You see a lot of people are resourceful when it gets to work and traveling around. There is a lot of ridesharing p we have these lines were people can have complete strangers driving their car, using hov lanes. For those who are not familiar with the traffic situations here, hov high occupancy lanes, they are here to there will be more than the future. It shows you how important the metro system is. A number of problems. There is a classic example of underinvestment. , 40yearold Transit System relatively young, 40 billion under invested. Deferred maintenance here. President gave a speech on the larger issues of infrastructure and he talked about why he thinks theres not enough money to pay for the projects. Obama the problem we have is the Republican Congress to reallyesistant taking on the product the problem in a serious way. The reason is because of an ideology that says Government Spending is necessarily bad. I addressed this when i was in the clinton. That mindset, that ideology, has led to not investing in those things that we have to do together. Seeing some of what the president is talking about in the house of representatives. He is see it in the u. S. Senate dared come in on major infrastructure bills, transportation, the aviation good bipartisan business there. In the house in the end, they were able to get the last transportation bill, which did have increases. It is just not enough of an increase to a dress the issue the way it should be addressed. Host host brooklyn, new york, john, you are next. Are you doing. Thanks a lot for cspan. I want to make two or three points. Congress,alk about not passing infrastructure bill, the democrat or Republican Congress, so i can know who to vote for . When they talk about problems we have with infrastructure it is congress. When you say congress, i do not know who you are talking about. Asked two, the president 20 5 increase in gasoline. Gasoline used to call list costs almost five dollars per gallon. What would be the harm in adding . 25 to it . He just said a little while ago that if you do not spend the money, the government takes it away. How about you make a plan so that wont happen . What about the state spending money first and then the government reimburse them . There. A few things let me focus in on, you mentioned the president 25 , i think you are referring to his last and recent edge it submittal to the congress. I am forgetting how he did this. Carbon tax. It might have been attacks on oil at a wholesale level. I cannot recall exactly how he was going to do that. Correct the net effect would have meant about . 25 per gallon on gas tax. And we havehen supported a major increase in gas tax and inflation. For the next few years, the gas tax would serve us well in the country. A vehiclet to go to miles travel approach were people are charged with number of miles approaching regardless of the way they power their cars. Going forth, people have to keep that in mind. I hope people do not get too hung up on the big other aspect and technology here. Program doing a pilot on the state of oregon. It worked out pretty well. People had an option. If they did not want a transponder on the car, a lot of people in the northeast have transponders because theyre trying to get through toll plazas. If people can get over that, and they look at this more as a fair way to distribute the cost as opposed to, ok, the government knows i joe 14,000 miles this year. Of the proposals for raising money for infrastructure came from foreign companies, companies that operate overseas. Is that something your group could get on board with . We will support any method of paying for this stuff that can get enough Political Support in congress were statehouses or wherever you are having your debate. We prefer the user fee approach, and somex, tolls have argued about these repatriating path if that were sitting offshore that would be brought back in the United States. That is the way to do it if that is how congress chooses to do it. We could supported in the end. Massachusetts, independent line. Caller a comment and a question. That, it is my opinion people who make a profit driving down the federal highway system should be paying more than those who are driving to work. That is my comment. The question is, do you and should we be looking at repairing some of the bridges and roads in different ways . For instance, in this area about 50 years ago, the interstate came through and now a lot of bridges need repair. Should we be looking at different scenarios for replacing bridges, such as a 25 year or 50 year bridge, 100 year bridge, 1000 year bridge . Thank you. Guest interesting comment about if you are a profit, you should pay more. Clearly, they are working for companies trying to make a profit. Your point i think has been addressed already. Whether you are traveling for like the and again, i essence of your question. Quality of life. Different bridges, that is an interesting question. Those are the kinds of issues planners and engineers and Public Officials would get into when they are looking at either building a new bridge when they do not have one in existence, or replacing a bridge. Theve not heard about request for 25 year bridges. 50 years is usually the minimum. Some of the Signature Structures going up, those have design lives of over 100 years. Host next, republican line. Caller thank you for cspan. A quick comment and then a quick question. ,any Infrastructure Projects the transportation system, because of evacuation and also the use for planes and runways. I want to get the guests opinion on these projects, one being the keystone pipeline. Also, the second, differently related, in rail,ore impacting our and last, certainly not least, i want to get your opinion on the wallf money to build a donald trump is talking about along the southern border. I would like to get his opinions on those three. Guest though we have 150,000 members of society, many work in a transportation space. As an organization, we do not take positions on specific projects. This one should be billed, those should not, those have to be made at a federal level care you have got a lot of andest Interest Groups you need to take that all into consideration. Especially with the kinds of Climate Information in the United States. Sustainable, that means they are economically justifiable, they mitigate and limit damage to the can the project if you do not see this environment in the country for the next con couple hundred years, you have got to worry about a number of issues. Sustainability and resilience, those are two going ahead. Make a general comment about the pipeline. As a general rule, in our view, people should be much more concerned about the age of pipelines in this country being addressed. Again, you mentioned the wall on is border, the what trump proposing, we will not take positions. One considering preparing infrastructure, has anyone considered making them ideal for Driverless Cars . How might this change how a look at roads and bridges . Isst very exciting what going on there with Driverless Cars and technology. I think the main motivation for these technologies, some of the other efforts going on, it is safety. The United States, we lose over 32,000 lives a year to traffic accidents in the United States. About 10,000 of those fatalities are related to Road Conditions where they are a contributing or a primary factor. 10,000 lives is a lot. That is the motivation, to make it safe. The way to have technology, as if her that human error. Is second issue here efficiency. Is there a way to squeeze five lanes of cars into four lanes of cars . We have all of these technologies together. Youre at a traffic light sometimes and you try to make a lefthand turn and 10 cars are in front of you and they seem to take forever to get that car moving. These technologies make something as simple as that less bothersome to the public. The condition of the infrastructure would be a factor in how effective those new technologies would be. Aboutjoining us to talk infrastructure funding and other issues, thank you for your time. President obama has announced plans to help them transition out of the white house at the end of his term and also preparing the next president of the white house. This week, we take a look at special Education Funding. All that when washington journal continues. The campaign 2016 bus continues its travels. It made a stop in new jersey to recognize a student can winter for her second prize video when a house become the home. Abby obrien for their second. Rize video following this event, the bus drove to Clinton Township middle school in new jersey to celebrate the second prize winning video. Over 215 classmates and family members and elected officials including it a congressman joined in a ceremony for zachary. A special thanks to comcast for helping coordinate this. Host our next guest is martha kumar. Tell us a little bit about the project and what is involved in it. Guest the project is an effort to provide information for new people coming into the white house in january. Records act ofl 1978 calls for all the records from an Outgoing Administration to leave that are aware and to be processed for a president ial library so the public can then view the record. Our project is a group of scholars and we do interviews with people who have served who we have chosen who are important to a new start in an administration my chief of staff, National Security council, press, communications, and some who are not well known like those who control the paper going in and out of the oval office. We do interviews that focus on the functions of the office and the responsibilities of the look at thed we office and how it has developed over time. We do essays that then focus on that and it gives an opportunity for a new person coming into and about their jobs. In the past two weeks, there have been two people in this administration who said that is the way they learned their job. They saw that, read the essay, and we do Organization Charts so we can show how the offices organize over time. Were there differences in the way democrats and republicans organized the individual offices, or in most cases is their continuity, that the offices are pretty much the same. The structure, they have the same constituents. Like the press office. Ofhas the same units as part it because they are dealing with press. The press have certain deadlines. It does not make a difference what the administration is. They will have deadlines the press office will have to work with. Host as president obama gets out of office, what do he and his staff have to figure out before he leaves in january . There is a lot he has to do. On one hand, they have to work on the rules and regulations they want to leave in place. Agenda to finish. Time, they have to prepare to leave the presidency in good condition. To do that, they have to be able to gather information throughout the government on what the programs are, the different agencies and departments, what the programs are and what the budgets are and what the positions are. So they can hand off the andrmation to candidates then to president elect and then to the president himself p or security will be part of the policy, domestic policy. Thes really all aspects of process of government and has beennts and what done, what they have been doing over the years. That mean donald trump and Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have to prepare themselves . Guest yes, they will have people that are working on aspects. Appointments. You want to know what are the positions you can appoint. Aboutre those positions it will kind of people do you need in them . That takes a while because you in youre, you know first couple hundred days, you will want to put forward maybe 400 names. You need to be in a position to do that. You also need to know how the government is now functioning. Save for Hillary Clinton, there are things that are different from the time she was there. Certainly, the development of social media, you have a different tempo than how a white house operates, for example. But you can have an operation off to the side where you have. Eople working on governing you also have to make sure that you have a Campaign Agenda that you want to take into governing and you have articulated that agenda and repeated it, and you have the public understanding of what that agenda is. Then you work on policy around that agenda. Our guest is talking about the topic of a transition and you can ask about what is happening between now and january and others, call the line host you can also send your thoughts at twitter. Our guest including barack obama, john mccain, also wrote a book on the topic. How george w. Bush and barack obama managed a transfer of power. What was the lesson he learned from george w. Bushs way . He started early. The president is what makes the difference. When the president is focused on it. He talkedr of 2007, to josh, his chief of staff, and said he wanted him to direct the transition and that this needed to be the transition. On withworking the departments about rules and regulations and what the , andines would he for him then you have the president ss Management Council meeting with clay johnson, the deputy of management at omb, gathering the agencies deputies to discuss what information they should be gathering. They met in the spring. Memorandum,out a and it was july 18. They pulled in the representatives of the presumptive candidate. That was in early july. Early june and july. He asked for representatives to be appointed by the mccain and obama operations. In and discussed things like the memorandum of understanding that needs to be created in order for representatives of the president elect to go into the departments and agencies to gather information, which is traditionally done. You need rules in order to do that. The rules are established and the memorandum of understanding. What bolton wanted to do was puts up both sides together and hammer out something both sides could agree upon. You have the election on tuesday and saturday the security clearances also, they discussed how that should be done. The obama people did that with over 200 names. Had that meant is they cleared right after the election. Host you are a guest. It is great to look at the transition and have some into look forward to. Will the residents who are leaders,s, community the able to withstand all the new changes that may come about before president obama leaves and right after he leaves office , with the infrastructure of transportation and the department of transportation. We can reach his homes and does and historical sites, if there had been a suggestion of federal laws put in place p we all know the federal laws put in place. You may not have a choice to stay where you are at your the second part of my question is, with the administration under president obama, residents in the state of florida, who are receiving assistant housing assisted housing, will they also have an opportunity within the president ial transition to have selfsufficiency programs to assist them to become selfsufficient host thanks for the call and more specific, how the mystery she does with it. Guest the administration deals with it. To find outdo try what all the programs are, what the status of the programs are, as well as what kinds of issues. If there are problems with how a program is being implemented, that is something they want to get a hold of. If necessary, they can make changes when a new one comes in. During a transition, the president is the president and the end of his administration, until noon of january 20, and he will be acting until that time. Host the process of the president ial transition from power. Atler im a Student University of california berkeley. First off, political transitions are very unique around the world are in my question is how would it take the process and mix with some of the developing countries in the middle east and africa. Second, what are your thoughts on obama . I know he is planning to stay in d. C. For two more years. The put transition for the next person power, or this guest let me take your questions about how deals can be transported in other countries. In november, i went to nigeria and worked on a conference at the National Democratic institute. Interested in the issue of transition and having a smooth transition for the next person who comes in as president. They were very interested in the issue. Legislationd of that you can bring about that would be helpful. I thought the most important thing was having a sound career that can make the transfer, that are actually doing the government operations, thaten the transparent you have legislation that calls for and has implemented transparency. Kept andrecords are then they are handed over. And that you really need legislation that ensures that. Have in the philippines now, they are going through a transition. In the processis of handing over notes and notes are also important in nigerian transition and other countries like ghana. They look to the u. S. As has it having a transition model. The government has become democratic and where you have elections where a person who ,ost actually gives up power that the american model has been very important. Staying in washington, that he wants to do because his daughter is still in school and he wants her to be able to finish high school. I would imagine he is doing a lot of traveling. He would do a lot of traveling and he may take the stand that president george w. Bush did, what is not to talk about your successor is doing. You had your chance at the presidency and you can talk about what you have done. And theyeally hard job do not want to make it more difficult for the person who follows him. Host how is president obama fought following this . Is there Something Different than the previous president . He issued an executive order which carries the law sign on march 28 of this year, that calls for certain types of planning. Legislation said the president may create a transition coordinating council, which, clinton was the first to create one and he did it by executive order and bush did it i executive order. Called for the president to create those if he wanted to do so. The 2016 law says they shall do it, there is no choice. And that it be done six months before the election, that you have the Transition Court meeting council, which will be and they get to choose who they want to have on it here but it is a cabinet secretary senior white house official, all of whom have a role in the transition and then an Agency Transition directors counsel. Counsel will be career people and they will ensure it moves from the career angle. Ohio, democrats line, linda is next. Caller a Beautiful Day here in ohio. Guest and d. C. , no rain. Exactly. Anyway, one comment, i have heard other countries admire the smooth transition of power here in the u. S. There is no coup or a takeover. That is a distinguishing characteristic of our government. Have heard other countries admire that. My question, do not laugh too much, but is that true that the Outgoing Administration staff will pull pranks on the incoming . Staff leftd when ws or clintons staff left, they popped off all the ws on the computers. Guest there were some that were done. There are price done. I remember the Administration Much earlier than the Clinton Administration guy who said he andtaken the Tuna Sandwich the ceiling had those tiles and he lifted it up and put his sandwiches into their to rot. I guess there are sometimes pranks that are done. Generally, theyre pretty harmless. The General Accounting Office did a study about the clinton to bush transition, and yes, there were some rings done. They talked about broken furniture. But the furniture is going to break during an administration. There was no indication that was done at the end. It is there tension if they are a different , during therties transition . Guest it can be but i think the time it would be most often felt is when a president loses the election for reelection. Then, you have not had the time to prepare for a transition because people would not have wanted to prepare because it would look as if they thought they would lose. The new legislation is important in that way because every president ial election year, the councils have to be created. Before, that gives a lot of time for planning. They make sure the planning is done. Host rodneys next from arizona, independent line. Caller good morning. There is a rumor around that a past and present family left the white house and took items from the white house. Whether that is chu or not is not up to me to even question but my question is, is there to supposed to ensure the inventory are housed in the white house and stay in the white house . Yes, you have an operation there. There is a resident staff headed by a chief usher. There are about 96 people on that resident staff. Comes uphe issue that with a gift given to the ,resident, and whether people the Outgoing Administration, wants to take some of the gifts given to them, which really go to the United States. Those, for some of the things, and take them if they want, but those are not part of the white house collection. The white house collection does not move. One of the interesting things is when a president comes in, they have a choice of what items they want to use out of the white furnish thetion to private spaces in the white house. Want, they could bring very little. A bureau bush brought chest that i think belonged to his grandmother and that was about all they brought. There are so many things in the white house collection that are in warehouse collections that you can really furnish it without bringing much but a toothbrush. Host we are talking about how president ial transitions work. Candidates for office, you talk about National Security. How much information do they get as far as National Security . Guest the National Security briefings are for the candidates nominated for the presidency. The National Security briefings are for candidates that have been nominated from the presidency. They would not get briefings until that point. They would get through things the National Intelligence operation and the director of national and they are not the same as what the president would get. 2008 particularly related to sources and methods of information. Those president bush did not want to hand over until he said that when the president elect was sitting in his chair that that was the time when you get sources and message. You dont need that complicated set of information. When you become president elect you are going to get some Additional Information you would over a candidate. The transition teams themselves, how are they funded . All of the Agency Review teams are volunteer. Funding once staff you have a president elect. Transition early operation is funded selffunded. In the legislation that covered that callednsition and alsonment space Computer Technology that would he secured. That cost in the range of 9 million. There were also private funds. The legislation covers private funding and has for some while. 5000e can contribute up to in individual and the names are publicly release. Host this is ryan on the independent line. I assume you are did you transition from bush into when you transitioned into the next candidate that wins . Guest we are a nongovernment a group ofn scholars. My partner in this operation is at the university of North Carolina. I for many years was at test the university and have retired. We are not part of the government. We are scholars interested in seeing the white house work effectively. We also provide information on president ial appointments. Professor sullivan has a project on that. Another that he has is is that he of the president s daily diary. If you have never seen one they are really interesting and you can find them in the president ial libraries where they tracked during the day just where the president was. Like, 9 00, as it comes into the oval office. 9 22 he goes into the rose room. There is a person on the payroll of the National Archives called the president ial diarist. A lot of it is pulling together secret service records. You get a good idea of exactly what a president does. Professor sullivan has a team that has been working all night so that we will know in the what couple hundred days is it that in incoming president can expect and one of the things they can accept is a are doing a lot of different things. I have gone through reagans diary for seven years. Its amazing how you have to go from one thing to another. You can be dealing with preparations for a conference with the soviet leader and at the same time you are meeting the poster child of one sort. He met a lot of children that had various kinds of difficulties and overcome them and he loved those sunshine stories. He was doing that, meeting the Small Business meeting. Just go from one thing to another and that is one of the things that somebody has to adjust. Burtonsville,om maryland on the democrat line. Caller good morning. I was wondering if there were boykind of good old outgoing president ial traditions like last meal or carving your ment. In the base guest there is a nice tradition that started at the end of the reagan administration. That is the chief usher gary walters was the chief usher who came up with this idea which was to take down the flag that flew over the white house the first day and the one that was flying and thosee last day are put in a box that is carved by the carpenters office at the white house. Using timbers from the original white house. Truman did a total reconstruction of the white timbersd some of the that came from the period after the burning of the white house in 1814. They used those to make the box. The resident staff gathers with the outgoing president and first lady. Around 10 00 in. He morning the chief usher speaks and the outgoing president speaks and it is usually a very emotional time. Particularly in an eight year tenure of a president because they know each other very well. That is a very nice tradition. Host debbie from North Carolina on the democrat line. Caller good morning, martha. I have a quick question. The transition of power is very important to americans and our allies around the country. My question is how do we transfer that type of power . We are supposed to be the most powerful nation in the world. To someone who really doesnt have any knowledge of domestic or Foreign Policy . How do we do that with someone who has no knowledge of what he may be getting ready to get into . Thank you for taking my call. Guest thank you. I think there are a lot of that wantboth parties to assess a candidate in making that transition from campaigning and governing which is a very large transition. There are people with experience who come forward. More of them were come forward as the Campaign Goes on. Think that any candidate i assume you are talking about donald trump. As a shrewd businessman he knows to figure out what your resources are. What your possible alternatives are. In situations. And that you need to gather all the information you can and very Serious Business and bring on people who are interested in governing. Is i think people are interested in the institution of the presidency and the date of the u. S. Government. A lot of people come forward. Ith experience to help we are starting the transition early. I think people will come forward. The seriousness that you take it. I think thats true with the president ial candidates and the president elect as well. What was your additional announcement that Chris Christie would be his Transition Management . Having a governor is a good idea because an executive has a sense of what kind of peace as you need to put together for a transition. I think also its important to have somebody with political whatience because you know the difference is between campaigning and governing and the difference between just possible t what are entering those into legislative priorities. The transition between campaigning in government is a pic on because he have to know what you want to do and how you want to do it and you need people to help you do that. In george bushs case when he was in what he wanted to do to off of the handful of priorities he had talked about during the campaign. He went week by week. First week was education because he had put great deal of emphasis on that and they could talk about no child left behind. And then talking about faithbased office in the white house and then in the departments. Military buildup. Tax reform. Came week by week because they came from the campaign. The campaign and governing are releasing together. Linked together. Host lets hear from scott in maryland on the democrat line. Caller hi. Im an atheist registered as a democrat. Do thirdparty candidates receive security briefings . Thirdparty candidates if they meet the threshold of an eligible candidate. An eligible candidate has to meet certain criteria. Include meeting the ofuirements of article two the constitution in terms of age and residents. And that they are on the ballot in a sufficient number of states that make up over 50 of the electors in the electoral college. And that they be regarded by viablel organizations as and that includes the commission on president ial debates. Have a substantial support in Public Opinion polls. Thats a very high threshold for third party. Host one more call. Mike is from columbia heights, minnesota. Republican line. Caller hi. Yes hello. We wanted to give praise to all the people who work behind the scenes to assist the president s, whoever it might be. Thank you. Guest thats very nice that people get some credit for all of the work they do. Working in people most of the campaigns and the transition are working very hard and most of them are doing it on a volunteerbased is. Basis. People on those Agency Review teams to give you an idea of how many people if you put together in the obama operation transition operation, if you put together the number counsel people and people who were working on Agency Review teams it was 679. Those were mostly people working on a volunteer basis. People who have served there before so they knew what information to or and how to gather. You were right that there are people and that they need to be given credit for the good work that they do. Has is somebody who watched this process play out several times, whats the best advice you can offer the next potential person who will occupy the white house . Think one of the most important things is making sure thatyou articulate these you want to carry into a white house and that you want to the developed and implemented. And then establishing what those priorities are. Developing aing on cadre of people who can carry that out. Need to have the priorities and policies established before you can begin talking about a cabinet. Are a lot of articles about who would donald trump have in his cabinet but you have to have your policies before you can choose your cabinet. Whennald reagans case they were thinking about particular cabinet people they that list of policies president elect reagan had and show those to those people. These are the positions of the and that hes taken wants to implement as policy. The priorities in the policies are inextricably linked to what you are going to be doing governing. This is martha kumar, white house transition project. She is the director of the project. Host thanks for your time. We will take a look at special education. Studentsin the entering these programs but also funding across the nation. Christina samuels will join us for that discussion when washington journal continues. Tonight on the communicators. We spoke with fred upton from michigan and bill shuster from pennsylvania. We also interviewed innovators aboutord Motor Company new technology, spectrum issues, and the upcoming spectrum auction. Look where we are today in terms of communication. We look at legislation we have already passed. We will see the fcc free up more spectrum. We are on the run. Putting in legislation. Encouraging people to look at how you build a road. Dealing with the companies here today. T do you need from the very first generation that we launched our focus has been on making your device as useful as possible in the car. For us that has always been about voice technology. There is great demand for more spectrum for unlicensed use. We are working with our colleagues at end cia. Watch the communicators tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan2. Washington journal continues. Host time for our regular your money segment. This week we are looking at special education. He will look at the funding and new numbers that suggest a rise in students in special Education Programs. Joining us is Christina Samuels. She is an assistant editor. Talk about this rise in students. Thing that the department of education does is track special education enrollment along with a lot of other indicators. One thing that we noted is that after a peak in 2004 there have steady decline. In the last two or three school years there was a small uptick of 200,000 children nationwide. Host was this k12 . Guest specifically children age six to 21. From fall of 2011 about 5 million plus students to about the fall of 2014. They will be getting these numbers and they lag a little bit. We will be checking to see whether there is this continued rise. Where the peakt was in 2004 we are interesting because the downturn had been going on for about eight years. To see this uptick is notable. What does it mean if we are seeing these kind of numbers . Guest one of the things we noticed is that there were changes in our students were being classified in addition to counting the students. What disabilities do they have . Are seeing a decrease in students with specific learning disabilities and an increase in students with autism. Bipolar disorder, kids with mobility issues. Other health impairments, decreases in specific learning disabilities and other categories such as intellectual disability. What it could mean for a School District is they will get a lot more expensive kit. Maybe their overall number might the changing. What you may be seeing is that some of the kids they have could are coming in with a lot of different needs and very specific needs that are more costly to provide. Host you said more expensive. Expand on that. People consider that the therapies for autism is applied behavioral analysis. This is the type of therapy that is very intensive. Its often oneonone. People have to be specially trained for it. More teachers, smaller class sizes. All of those things go into how much it actually costs. Students with speech and language impairment could insibly be taught primarily the regular classroom with just a pullout for some therapy over the course of a day. The expense comes from special teachers, facilities. Guest exactly. Specialeeded a classroom, students whose needs are such that they require and or a classroom with one teacher and one aide to six students. That will be more expensive for School District to provide. We are looking at special Education Funding with Christina Samuels. Have divided the lines differently today. If you are so if you are a parent, 202 7488000. If you are a teacher, 202 7488001. If you dont fall in those categories, 202 7488002. Education about 12 billion a year. 16 years ago the department of education did a large study of just exactly what special to Fund Education and that kind of National Study has not been done. We have some overall numbers in terms of what has changed or where that money is going. Just complicated studies for the department to do but theres a lot of interest now because we have all these kids. Looking at how the money is spent and used it is that going to be left for the next administration . Best they would have to something the next administration could consider because right now we dont have that much time. I know the individual states might track their funding. What you dont have is the ability to compare. Is how virginia is spending its money, what is it getting in its results compared to maryland . Oftakes an agency outside virginia to look like that. Do they look at the total number of special education students in a state or do they look at the degree of what is needed . Guest it is the most they areed formula looking at the actual number of students. There is an old and very outdated formula that the department has to look at this. Overall they are looking at student enrollment. Student needs, growth in certain categories, numbers of students overall. These play into how much the department sense to states. That the be noted federal money for special education is a tiny fraction of what special education costs. They make up the bulk. Guest by far. Is this because of hiring more teachers . What is considered as far as how a state states have a varying number of formulas that they use it in some states wyoming would be a state. Other states have weights where they could say, is this a student who has autism who is in a selfcontained classroom and they would get a certain amount of money from this date . If the student spends their day in a regular classroom and has this level of support they get a certain amount of money. Wayss very sophisticated the states do this. One of the challenges is you dont want to come up with something that gives districts to label a student a certain way. If they knew they were getting a certain amount of money from the state you might say heres a student was on the edge but maybe we will put him in a selfcontained classroom because the money is there. All sorts of things play into have a state decides how much money districts are going to get. Host special Education Funding. 202 7488000 for parents. 202 7488001 for teachers. Z 202 7488002 for others. We are with Christina Samuels of Education Week. Edna is from North Carolina on the others line. Go ahead. Regard my question is in to the funding itself. Wayis it done in such a that these kids are not really given a real education . Area thatschool in my deals with kids with disabilities. I had a foster grandchild that was in the school or if there are kids in these schools who truly can learn. Onese other hand there are who are very incapable of learning from a book. Do they notow why funded so these kids can be separated and the ones who really can learn can be taught and the ones who cannot learn from a book, what they can be dealt with in a different matter instead of lumping them all together . Fundingpecial education is one of the most complicated things. I wish i could say specifically what might be going on in her but one of the challenges always trying to come up with the appropriate placement for a student. The desire is to have students educated in the least restrictive environment that can meet their academic needs. Sometimes that works for some students and sometimes it doesnt. It is in some sense a zero sum game. Theres only so much money that is available. We best use this money for all the students we have with all those different needs . Host this is doug in staten island. Caller good morning and thank you for cspan. Basically im just commenting. Im retired. I have a selfcontained classroom which has six students with six separate parents and a teacher. As amount of service involved is for physically disabled children specialized in visual impairment. Of services these children need if they have multiple conditions we had two brothers that had conditions that happens in one in every quarter million children were they are half the size of what they should be and they are not able to make or see. Speak or see. They cant stand or walk on their own. Basically what we did was take the challenge of dealing with these students and trying to provide them an amount of Life Experience whether life had some sort of meaning. I sort of echoes the sentiments of this one parent who talked about a foster child. And i noticed extensively with the autism spectrum that has become more prevalent through the Education System is we went from mikes variants where we had one or two per children on school the autism spectrum. We now have basically two or three full classrooms of these students. It is the Education System going to do for the students as we 14,000 . E from one to what is going to go on with the funding . Guest one of the things thats important for me to locate these numbers is that they cannot be used to necessarily say how many children with disabilities are in the United States. A variety of different factors that go into identifying a student versus just identifying this date with a disability. He is absolutely right. The number of students with autism is explosive. 164 increase over 10 years. 190,000 kids from to 500,000 kids. There are larger numbers of children and other disability categories but the growth is really notable. A variety of reasons why that could be happening. A lot of all are seeing that there are decreases in other disability categories. Kids with intellectual disabilities, emotional disturbances. Those are going down. There is just an organic increase in the number of kids with autism and i think there is a tremendous amount of research in done in types of autism prevention efforts that i think there is something to be said at autismooks education. What is appropriate education, what are the life goals. Are the transition plans. What are the things these autistic adults, what are we going to be wanting from them and what do they want for themselves. Something School Districts have to talk about a lot. Host he said the education could go until age 21. Guest they might be in selfcontained classrooms or different transition programs. The students you see staying in school until age 21 have more severe disabilities. These kids would be going through appropriate transition planning into whatever their life is going to be after they leave school. Its challenging. Here is gary from ohio. Im sorry, this is stephanie from louisiana. Parents line. You are next. Caller hello. I have two specialneeds children in contained classes. And sadly i can speak up now. They are coming out of there. They wanted to teach them life skills and how to clean up. I had already taught them. They were not illiterate or incompetent. They had the ability to learn. Do is prepare food for when the teachers go home and be told he will never be nothing and you will never do nothing in life. Im trying to tell them at home, this is not where it stops. You can do these things. Why baby is coming out of that school. She is graduating. Somebody really needs to check out that system. My baby with cerebral palsy. She is so intelligent. It is her physical body that is handicapped. What did she learn . Nada. How to pick up something, for a glass of water. I taught her that a long time ago. Guest i have to say this is one of the biggest debates that i hear when im talking with parents about what kind of education should students be receiving, especially students who might have intellectual disabilities or some other kind of disability with, nation do we go for academics, life skills and functional skills . I think within the field there is a desire to see more academic learning for these students because they should learn how to read if they can learn how to read. To go through school and learn how to tell time and the next year is learning how to tell time that is not something i think a lot of people want to do. I do hear from teachers who say that they feel that they are toer a lot of pressure infuse academic learning for students for whom they dont believe that is appropriate and may those parents dont feel its appropriate. Among real tension individual students and what we are expecting them to do. Oft is there a specific set metrics a student has to know . It is supposed to be an individualized program so that is kind of the heart of the system. Every student gets an individualized Education Program. How often that happens depends on what School District you are in. I would say that one of the things coming from federal government is they want to see as part of every childs curriculum whether that child has cognitive disabilities or not. They want that child to learn as much academics as they are capable of. There is not necessarily a set of what youre supposed to know. A lot of students with disabilities are taking the same standardized test that students without disabilities take. So they are certainly being judged by that metric. Host betty from michigan on the parents line. You are next. Learning disabilities are being underrecognized. I feel like it is because of states like michigan will not recognize disability until the a child test at a ninth percentile. So the numbers are actually skewed and we are pushing through children that are not capable of learning but because their disability is not being recognized they are being discouraged and not taught the way they need to learn. One example would be dyslexia diagnosis. Have you seen that . Guest i have definitely heard those concerns that you bring forward about dyslexia. This is a good way to remind you that the numbers with different could very well affect how many students are actually identified with a disability. There are different policies that are in place. One cold response to intervention that people in the special Education Field may know. Its a framework of providing education so that hopefully a student will be treated for any concerns in academic lagging that they might have before it becomes a disability or before it become so severe that it is seen as a disability. Mixed feelings from parents about how well that is happening. Some people think its great. Some people think it is a delaying tactic. Mary is a teacher in magnolia, texas. Hello. Caller hello. Retired teacher but i have been working on a problem for the last 22 years and that is our intellectual disabilities. I dont think most people are aware that our iq medium has dropped dramatically. Among 80obably 24th if we are tested apples to apples. Notice that most of the money that is allocated goes more to the physical disabilities. Be onethink is going to of the problems of the nation. It affects everything in our society. I hope somebody is working on that and understanding that we really need to address this problem because i dont hear it much in print or on the media. But thank you. I hope your guest maybe can address that. Guest thank you. I was unfamiliar with the statistics the caller was citing about iq medium strapping medians dropping. Host Christina Samuels, in a regular School Budget sometimes you have to make cuts in order to make things meat. Does ah flexibility locality have when it comes to special Education Funding . There is actually written into the idea of the act that you cannot make cuts to special Education Funding except in very rare circumstances. States cant make cuts and districts cant make cuts. You can only go up. States and districts often dont like that. They would say there is no incentive to provide real efficient the if they could come up with a more efficient way of dividing special education services. Really cant make any adjustment to their budget to reflect that they have a Better Transportation Program or that they were able to move students into regular classrooms. Special education is a very protected source of funding in schools and in states. Are off of twitter asks why is more money needed for special ed when the students are now in regular classrooms . Guest it depends on the needs. It is written such that School Districts have very little flexibility to make dramatic cuts in funding. Some students are moving into regular education classrooms. One would think that would reduce costs but states cant really do that. Christina samuels of Education Week is joining us to talk about special Education Funding. Lets hear from paul, a parent in alexandria, virginia. Good morning. I have twin sons 10 years old both on the autism spectrum. All of the teachers who worked so hard with them, the prek program made a remarkable difference. They are in regular classes. Are striving academically. They are having friends. This is something you can work through. Your kids can succeed. Thank you. Guest i always like to hear a happy story. Host lets go to patty in wisconsin. Caller yes. Im happy for the previous caller that things have been working out for him. I worked as an aide for 10 years. I have a Nursing Health care background and i was shocked at the stress level in the schools. So much is very political. So many of the teachers are forced to spend their time documenting versus actually working with the student and the regular classroom teacher is so overwhelmed with all the needs of the classroom. Would you please address that. Thank you. Guest that is one thing i definitely hear a lot from teachers and parents. You may have a student disability in a classroom where teachers are expected to differentiate instruction provide different kinds of instruction for those students plus meet the needs of the regular students in the classroom and work with paraeducators or aids that are in the classroom. Is no easy matter to educate the students appropriately. The law requires that an individualized program host we had six students each with an aide. The law would require that . That is what theyre individualized Education Program calls for in my classroom, onetoone aide in a six to one classroom, that can be something that can be happening in some districts. Host this reviewer says in many School Districts people complain. Argument . Eard this guest you definitely hear this argument. Argument butthat special education students are students to. They are students in the classroom. They are in that district and they deserve an education just like all the other students in the school system. Sometimes there can be a concern that these students are being held apart in some ways or interlopers in the classroom. They are students in the district to have a particular need that the law says should be met in a certain way. Easy oray that this is that people are cavalierly yanking money from one way or another but i think its important to remember that these students didnt just appear from anywhere and decide we want to take all your money. There are students in the district and they need an education just like all students in the district. Daniel in texas on the line for others. Caller thank you for what you do. You are an inspiration. I used to be a substitute teacher. To emotional resistance dealing with this issue is what i find remarkable. Think, i donto want to deal with that kid because hes got these problems. There was one child i do with who couldnt go to the bathroom and i had to help him go to the bathroom. By the end of the day i was soaking wet in perspiration from working with this child. This child had some special equipment. The wheelchair where he could stand up and rolled himself around rather than sit down. Similar issue and other schools because i roamed around as a substitute. The other schools didnt even know that this kind of wheelchair existed. It seems to me that the emotional resistance to wanting to deal with this is a big barrier that needs to be overcome. One of the things that evenng away from the within the School District there can be such a different experience in schools depending on the Knowledge Level of the teachers and administrators, what they are used to. Especially larger districts that have a lot of schools can have very different experiences to the point where i hear parents anecdotally say that they want to have their child in a particular school because of betterey perceive to be acceptance of their childs needs. Low income students do they have to stay within their own distros . Certainly parents who have fewer resources often have to work with what they have in their own community. They might not have the to go to another school zone. Host a parent from ellicott city, maryland. Thank you for taking my call. Im really happy that this subject is being taught. Its a big issue. Of a son who is 21 years old. He is out of the Education System. Struggledwife tremendously trying to get the school to accommodate his needs. What i learned at the end of the day was a just dont have the infrastructure or programming to actually give them a good opportunity. I am now looking at what did he do after . Build aing to begin and post Education Program for him and people like him and he falls in the middle of the spectrum. Thats what im looking to target. How would i go about looking for funding to begin a program of my own to support and help these type of students . Guest i dont know. But i can tell you that the need out there is tremendous. From so many parents and educators the one is a veryact provides Legal Framework for what happens from the time they are identified till age 21. After they leave school what happens after that . It is all up to whatever is available in the community that parents are able to piece together on their own. Some colleges have students from programs for students with developmental disabilities. Of peace really a lot work in terms of piecing together what do you do for that child or that student once they leave school . My hat is off to this parent for wanting to do something for his own child and see what he might be able to do for others in the community. Host even with all the money we have been talking about, infrastructure and programming. I think its easy for me as a reporter to say this is what the law requires. It is very true when districts say this stuff is hard. It is hard when you have a student who needs very specific set of needs or has a very specific set of requirements. Its hard if you have a lot of students who have a moderate set of requirements. So i dont envy superintendents and state directors of special education who have to make these kinds of terrible decisions. Host for parents, 202 7488000. Or teachers, 202 7488001 deborah on the parents line. So glad i was able to get through today. Experience, i have twins both on the spectrum. I was listening to the caller from alexandria. Im in chesapeake, virginia. I moved back to chesapeake after living in another School District not even 30 minutes away in hampton. My children were previously in the chesapeake School District and we are back in chesapeake there is more of an academic heart for my son who is high functioning autism. As far as for my daughter who is nonverbal, in her classroom you have less students. You have three aides and a teacher and a nurse for one of the other students inside the classroom. She was put in a school outside of the district to accommodate her needs. Only issue is that there was a delay in her diagnosis because at 18 months around two years old i took her to be diagnosed but they delayed diagnosis. My feeling is that it had a negative effect on her. Host thank you. This mother talking about how she moved from one district to another to, they what she felt her childs needs were is something i see a lot. Parents vote with their feet in a way. There are networks of parents and they know that this district will be able to provide more for my child than another. This school might be able to provide more. Put a strain on certain School Districts that are known for having certain programs. A lot of parents are talking about autism. There have been a lot of studies about the incidents of autism and it is not evenly distributed around the country. Fewer kidsthere are with autism in arkansas or more kids are getting diagnosed in new jersey . Of that is because people may be going there knowing they or thes services diagnostic ability is stronger than they know they can provide for it. Guest ernie is from arizona. Is from arizona. Youre are on with Christina Samuels of Education Week. I have a quick question. Financing this would be a lot simpler if these politicians would donate one half of what they are spending on getting to thisto this cause special Education Funding. I dont even think that taxpayers would have to pick up anything. What do you think about that idea . Definitely are spending a lot on elections but special education is a multibilliondollar process. We are quite there in terms of elections. Speakingy in terms of about the political end of this, the ide a was last reauthorized in 2004. It has not been looked at since then. The complicated funding i need to talk about has been in this Holding Pattern since 2004. It will be interesting to see with the new Administration Whether it becomes more of a priority for reauthorization. Host christine on the parents line. Caller my name is kristin. Im a parent of a child. Her name is chloe. She is 21. She is actually working. Just wanted to encourage parents and tell them to educate yourself. There are so many resources out there and i am currently in a partners and policymaking. It is an advocacy course and i staterning so much about and federal policy, education, employment. Another thing. I commend the teachers and i commend you, christina. I have been listening to this whole show and its just a wonderful tool. Inclusion works and i realized that every child is different. But there are so many resources that teachers can draw from the classroom. Student mentors. Es. Whatever they can use in the classroom would help the kids so much. I think this callers conversation about how shes the poor through joining different parent groups is something that i am contacted often by different advocacy organizations and i think the parents try a lot of strength from working with each other. It can be very isolating if you have a child with a disability that is not unfamiliar or you dont know anybody else in your community. Schools dont necessarily facilitate parents getting together on their own. The internet is a wonderful thing. There are so many parents support groups out there where you can learn so much. You can know how to navigate the Education System because it really does require some expertise. Host this is a teacher in athens, georgia. Caller yes, hello. Its funny the last caller mentioned inclusion. Teacher ischool math try and inclusion class which had a number of special needs students in my classroom. Even though i had another professional in the room with me who that was their area, i often felt like it added new challenges to my classroom. Wonder how widespread that is across america. Our inclusion classes common . Does that have positive and needses for the special students and the regular students . Guest you are talking about coteaching. General Education Teacher and a special Education Teacher in a classroom. It is becoming more prevalent. There are challenges with it because you have two professionals who have the same goal of trying to make education work for everybody in the classroom but the way they are coming at it is two different ways. It is definitely becoming more common. I think it is still a question about how well it is executed. You can walk into a classroom and you dont even know who is who because the teachers are working so seamlessly together. Sometimes he walked into a classroom in the student with a disability is off doing something completely different from what the typically developing students are doing. Becomes, are we really using inclusion to its best effect here . Definitely some interesting questions. Christina samuels is the assistant editor at Education Week. Thanks for your time. Coming up we will take you to a live event. David jolly and rick nolan discuss the amount of time that members of congress spend making phone calls to raise political funds. This is at the National Press club. We join the event in progress. He said he was shocked to hear from party elders that in the next six months he needed to raise 2 million. That he was told was his first job. In february he introduced the stock act which would ban members of congress from personally asking for money. Rick nolan was one of the first cosponsor the legislation. He served three terms in the house in the 19th 70s and was elected to congress when he returned, he hardly recognized the institution because of the amount of time members spent buying for dollars. , toy, congressman join us get members of congress to put down the phone and actually solve america passes problems. Our guests will speak for a few minutes and then answer questions aired we have a number of reporters listening on the phone