Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20161201

Leaders. If you live in the Eastern Central part of the country, 202 7488000. You can join the conversation on wj, or as well as cspan go to facebook. Com cspan. The phone lines are open. We will get to your thoughts in a moment, democrats only. In a vote that took place behind closed doors, nancy pelosi one 13463 against tim ryan. Here is what she had to say. Today has a special excitement to me because i think we are at a time when it is well beyond politics. It is about the character of america and how we go forward in our caucus to put forward our values, which are what ignite us as a caucus, to differentiate between us and the administration that will come and washington in january, to take that message clearly to the public is something that is of historic challenge. The American People see the urgency. We have a responsibility and we embrace the opportunity that is presented. E know how to win elections we have done it in the past and we will do it again. By making that differentiation, but again, this is so much bigger than politics. It is about the character of america, the responsibility to the people, our obligation to our founders, our gratitude to our men and women in uniform, and our respect to the aspirations of americas children and families. I have a special spring in my step today because this opportunity is a special one, to lead the House Democrats, bring everyone together as we go forward. Host nancy pelosi yesterday after winning an eighth term as the minority leader for democrats in the house. The New York Times reporting that for years few would even consider challenging her. After a wave of Tea Party Republicans swept democrats out of power, she lost by 43 votes. Yesterday, she lost 63. Ryan is up first in houston, texas, a democrat. What do you think about your Party Leaders . Caller i think we are doing a great job. I think we did the best that we could in the president ial election. I think president obama and mrs. Obama did the best could. You cannot talk about drug deals or prostitutes. You elected someone that is immoral. Boxut all black people in a and made it like all of us are getting killed and not working. Tell a shame and i want to all the black people out there to hold onto your money, because this president right here is not for us. He is not for all. Host before you go, what about the economic message . What about Donald Trumps economic message . Does it seem to resonate with voters . Do democrats need to stop talking about social issues, which some democrats on capitol hill said, and talk more about Economic Issues . Caller you cannot talk about economics if you do not talk about social issues because social, all of that comes as one. You need to talk about, he never worried about Economic Issues. He wants to pay people less. He wants to keep the minimum wage as is. How is this guy supposed to be someone who is a champion for economics . He let people to work and did not even pay them. How can you elect someone like that . Host bobby, jackson, mississippi. What do you think about the democratic leadership . Caller i think that nancy pelosi is a very effective leader. She knows how to get things done. I really like her and i was absolutely in favor of her having another term. Fact that about the democrats have lost as many seats as they have under her leadership . Thatr i do not believe she is to blame for all the losses of the democrats. A 100 democrat and i think there are other factors that come into play. Host like what . Caller well, people are saying because of the losses on november 8 that they are pointing toward her, but i can say, you could probably blame part of it on her, a fraction on the president , a fraction on hillary who i supported 100 , and other things. I think she is a very effective leader. Host what about the argument that leadership does not represent the middle of america . If you are looking at your screen, nancy pelosi represents a district from california. James clyburn on the coast, south carolina. Maryland, also on the eastern coast. Then you have joe crowley who represents the district in new who, and Linda Sanchez narrowly won the vice caucus chair slot yesterday and she is from california. Tim ryan was running from ohio saying that leadership needs to reflect rural america, middle of america. Thatr i certainly believe that is a factor that should come into play, however i would marylandcalifornia and are great democratic states. I really do not have been a problem with some of the leadership coming from states where the people are very democratic leaning people. Host that is bobby in jackson, mississippi. Wasph crowley of new york elected chairman of the House Democratic caucus. He was vice chair of that caucus. For theking over now democrat from california who was term limited and could not run again. The New York Times also says that disappointed by the outcome of the leadership election, a handful of democrats who had vowed mr. Ryan from ohio to press forward with a proposal to turn some jobs into elected positions. At plan is expected to meet assistance from ms. Pelosi who retains the power to appoint people to those positions. Some democrats have expressed an interest in the idea. Selected ms. Pelosi Ben Ray Lujan of new mexico to again laid the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in the House Democrats picked up just six seats in this election. Morning an update this from politico that says that nancy pelosi yesterday sent a letter to rankandfile last night, just hours after fending off the first real challenge to her control in years. Ms. Pelosiports that has decided to support changes to the leadership that will loosen somewhat her grip on democratic hierarchy. She will back the election of the chair of the d. C. Cc and will throw her weight behind five new leadership spots including two for junior members , and she will create the positions of vice chairs or vice ranking members within the committee to give junior members more of a say on what goes on within panels. Serious dissension the ranks, due to the fact that the caucus is topheavy with veteran lawmakers. That shuts out more junior members of having a role in policy and messaging. She might end up on the wrong side of the issue so she moved to head off the fight before it ever got that far. The average age of the democratic leadership in the house versus the average age of thisepublican leadership, tweet, House Republicans average age is 47 years old and the housee age of the democratic leadership is 76 years old. What are your thoughts on your Party Leaders . Caller good morning. Nancy is a good leader but the Democratic Party has to go to the local government to let the people know that this is a multicultural United States of america that makes America Great, even the military. They also have got to remind all of the people, especially the republicans, you have the president , the house, the senate , and the supreme court. Fordo not have any excuses not passing laws. You do not have no excuses now. You have the whole pie in your hands. But the results be brought out and lets bring it to them, put the pressure on them. Let the Republican People understand that, does this party represent america with your standards and principles . If they cannot do that, then it is time to put them to realize that this party is being duped into a party that is not constructive to your personal levels. It is simple. We have got to do that. Host eddie in st. Louis, missouri, what do you think . Caller i think nancy pelosi has done a good job but it is time for change, new blood, new leadership, and new ideas. I think we need to focus on job creation because it reduces crime and that is what we need to do. The more jobs and money goes into our community, the less social programs we will need. When you adjust job creation address job creation you are addressing a lot of the programs the issues that social programs address. It is time for a change and i ,hink you leadership, new ideas a new vision and new blood is what the Democratic Party needs. Host listen to tim ryan who represents the youngstown area. This is what he had to say after the vote. i think we got the message out that we wanted to get out, that as democrats we need to talk about economics. Usis the issue that unites and i believe in my heart if we are going to win as democrats, we need to have an economic message that resonates in every corner of this country. Leadership of this election united as democrats to take on the challenges that we forward. Oving i am disappointed, because i like to win, but i think it was a great discussion for us and honestly, i think the party is better off. Ryan the 43yearold tim who challenged nancy pelosi for the top leadership spot, he was backed by some members of the Congressional Black Caucus and nominated to take her on, ultimately losing. The Washington Times frontpage story, democrats reaffirm pelosi as leader despite losses. Her backers agree that the party must do better to connect with voters in the flyover states but says democrats problems are the fault of others. Lucille in redding, california, you agree . Not. R no, i do not with the Washington Times. You read only from the Washington Times and bankers bible. Host not true. I read from the Washington Post, politico, roll call. Caller you never read from los angeles. California is never heard from. You are only on the east coast. You used to read from the boston globe and the arizona republic. We are bigger than fly over. California is huge. , fromso given that california is that why you think it is important to have nancy pelosi is the leader . Caller absolutely, and i hope the electorate puts Hillary Clinton in as president. That is still to be seen. These try and read some papers from california. Host fairpoint. We try to incorporate all of the papers, as many as we can across the country but i hear your point on relying on the east coast papers. Eric in juliet, alabama. Good morning to you. Caller i am from joliet, illinois. Host illinois. Caller i think nancy pelosi did a good job. Democrats, i do not think they should have to change too much has just like the obama elections in 2008, and in 2012 it kind of tethered off. The same thing will happy with donald trump. I think with 2018, i do not think he will have the same amount of voters that he had in 2016, and on 22020, he is not going to have the same amount of voters. People came up the hill to vote for him but as they see he is not going to provide for them like they hoped, the votes will tear off and we will be back. Host speaking of president elect donald trump, the wall street journal, donald trump plans to hold a victory rally in cincinnati, part of a broader thank you to her. We will have thank you tour. We will have coverage of that on cspan2 and cspan. Org, and you can listen in with the cspan radio out if you are not near us grain radio app if you are not air a screen. Then there is an article about his choice for hhs secretary, tom price, republican of georgia. Times, democrat see medicare is a winning wedge issue and they will take it up when the senate will vote on the nomination of tom price. To press mr. End price on the subject during his confirmation hearing. They see a wide opening for political gain given the 57 million Older Americans who rely on medicare, including many white midwesterners who voted for mr. Trump. Price has supported privatizing medicare. For democratsne in red states. 10 democrats face reelection and joe donnelly has made it clear brook no overhaul of medicare. Seen at trump tower yesterday was linda mcmahon, the former chief executive of the World Wrestling entertainment. She talked to reporters and said that they need to stay tuned on what she might be considered for in the trump cabinet, something about Small Business administration. She ran for senate two times. There is also news that sarah palin could be considered to take over is being considered to take over the Veterans Affairs department. That in the New York Times as well. , was of stories about the announcement yesterday from the president elect about who will take over as commerce. Billionaire investor wilbur ross has been tapped as the next commerce secretary. Spoke to the Media Tuesday at trump tower, ross has been called the king of bankruptcy. Spent 24 years at rothchild where he headed bankruptcy advisement process. His wealth is estimated at about 2. 9 billion. There is this from usa today, frontpage, largest tax change since reagan. Donald trumps pick for treasury secretary is eyeing breaks for the middle class and for businesses. We will talk a little more about that coming up. There is the latest from the transition efforts of the next administration. Only, gina inats jacksonville, florida, what do you think about your Party Lawyers leaders . Are you satisfied . Caller i am satisfied with nancy pelosi retaining her seat. I do not think the party and dutch problem in the democratic i believe because of Voter Suppression and an effort for the last 50 years, republicans to suppress the africanamerican voting. I think this is the reason that trump won this election. Democrats for being too laid back. They did not fight enough. Trump had surrogates after surrogates talking on behaves talking on his behalf. Issues that democrats would have used to vet donald trump, they did not use those. It has just been an allout effort of Voter Suppression. The democrats are being too laid back. I do not see where the republicans have any cause to brag or beat their chest because they won this election, because they have not won an election fairly to me in the last 50 years, so to speak. So i pray that the democrats will wake up and that they will fight a little harder. And the old and Young Democrats will come together because the bible says the old man is wise and the young man is strong. If they would come together, work together, they do we could overcome. They need to work on undoing all of the wrongs that have been removing, finding a way to get around Voter Suppression. When you see 17 republican start out to become president , they already had a plan. They knew they were going to win this election from the beginning because they had their plan in place. That asstion would be democrats we fight a little harder. Host heard your point. Joining us on the phone is tara golshan who is reporter for the website vox to talk about the Election Results and the president ial recount effort being led by Green Party Candidate jill stein. Why is jill stein seeking a recount in wisconsin, pennsylvania, and michigan . Guest that is an interesting question because ultimately it will be really hard to change the outcome of the election. Jill stein said that is not her purpose. Nothas said that she does support either main Party Candidate and that she just wants to make sure that the , thatty of the votes there is validity to the votes. She wants to make sure that the green party votes and libertarian votes are being counted accurately, and that is ultimately her mission. She wants to ensure trustworthy elections. Host where has she seen discrepancies . Where is her evidence that something was wrong in those states . Guest there was a report from a group of experts that raised questions but to be clear, there was not any direct evidence. The professors and election lawyers and statisticians are not claiming that. They say based off of statistical anomalies that could indicate possibly something went wrong, but there is no direct evidence. She bounced off of that and said, we should check, which is not necessarily the wrong thing to do here. , wehere is a possibility saw interference from international governments. We did see hacking. And she is saying, why dont we just check . There is a process to check. Host who is backing her efforts . Guest she started a Grassroots Campaign to fund raise. Overnight she fund raised within 2 million. They say she fund raised more than 6 million, so people seem to be paying for this effort and interested in it. And really kind of exploded over thanksgiving break. I think is that a lot of democrats feel Hillary Clinton should have one and it is easier to hold on to help. I did a think that is jill stein point or what the evidence supports. Are the Hillary Clinton supporters helping to pay for the effort . Guest they did say they would support the effort. In terms of the direct organize organizing and fundraising, that is through jill stein. Host when does this recount starts and what is the deadline . Guest wisconsin is supposed to start today, on thursday. Pennsylvania is a little bit more influx of because thattially, the way recounts happen in pennsylvania is a little bit more complicated. She filed a legal petition and their court date is on monday. , she filed for yesterday and it was accepted. Ultimately all the electoral votes need to be finalized by december 19 and by december 13 for the recount so they can make the official announcement. Host you said dr. Stein is fundraising for this. How much will these recount efforts cost . Guest they cost a lot. In wisconsin the estimated amount was 3. 5 million that she paid. It turned out that it was 3. 9 million in estimated costs but the Election Commission gave her an underestimate for the cost and they will charge her more if it costs more. In michigan i believe it is under 1 million and pennsylvania it is a bit more than that. I think she would need around 7 million to pay for it. Host any indication she is able to raise that much . Guest it does look like she is being able to. The donations keep coming in, and she has raised a fair amount of money thus far. Golshan, thank you for playing that all out for us this morning. Guest thank you so much. Host back to democrats only, your thoughts on Party Leaders. Nancy pelosi winning her eighth term to be the minority leader in the house. She was joined by her longtime leadership colleagues bennie hoyer from maryland and James Clyburn from south carolina. They have held those positions from 2003 and 2007 respectively. Linda sanchez said, the first latino voted to democratic leadership was voted to vice chair by a narrow victory, by just two votes over her colleague. Joe crowley is going to take over as the democratic chair, Democratic Caucus chair. Eddie in tampa, florida, what do you think of those names and faces . Caller i think it is all about the same thing that happened in the election. They picked the wrong person. He should have picked ryan because he had 63 votes. Hillary clinton did not pick bernie. She lost the election and we would not be having this conversation now. Toanted to make a comment the director that the fbi on the 15th got a warrant to open up diders computer, and how Rudy Giuliani know what on that wednesday . This was before it was set. Did you have a segment on that . Host that is something that nancy pelosi has talked about. How did Rudy Giuliani no, and she has called for the investigation. You want democrats to pursue that . Caller yes, vigorously. Host a democratic member of the house said voters made it clear the status quo is not working and said he was proud of tim ryan to have the courage to challenge the status quo. Laurel in illinois. Caller i think nancy pelosi is great they should give her a chance. I think the democrats are not looking deep enough to take a look at what is going on. The other day on Public Television and i wish i had written it down. It was a company that trump had hired to do what is called versusiptive analytics Predictive Analytics. They found out how many people were going to turn out to vote and then decide in the close states, in the states that had a real chance of them going either pep they did a lot of rallies, got peoples email information, and hounded down until they made sure that they got enough votes to do 50 of the turnout plus 1 . This was the people speaking in a forum, telling what they did and that trump had hired them. They did that in florida first and then they moved on to North Carolina and in and moved on to wisconsin and that they moved on to michigan. Thatould be really upset they have your personal information and they are going on facebook and finding out what interests you, and sending you bad news until you say yes, i voted for trump. Host democrats did the same voter turnout. They try to get your email said they can send you information when you come to a rally, get you to vote, get you to give them money. It is an operation used by both sides. Caller as far as this company was saying, it is the first time that prescriptive analytics versus Predictive Analytics has ever been used. I am going by what the guy that trump hired said. Host i am talking about the emails. Whatight the interested in the Republican National committee has to say about the election of nancy pelosi to continue on. They put this out, that the American People have been trying to send the Democratic Party in message by selecting historic members of republicans at nearly every office but nancy pelosi shows that democrats are not listening. Inexplicably keep rewarding her track record of failed leadership with successive terms as House Minority leader. The fact that tim ryan was able to peel off over 60 democrats in his campaign for minority leader reveals democrats have no United Vision for our country and our content to once again interest leadership to someone who has lend their party into total irrelevance in the house. Are just think they going to say whatever they want to say in order to justify their thinking. I think nancy pelosi is a good choice for the democrats. She has the experience, she has done great things in the past. I do agree that they need to start bringing in some younger people to take over for when these people are exiting. But i think she did a good job. I think the problem with the election was that we democrats went to sleep on what the republicans were going to be about. Making it difficult for people to vote, closing down polling places, that went on extensively in a lot of these places and nobody spoke out about it. We got on the train too late. Progressivee more what theoking at potentials of the elections are so that we can stay ahead of the curve. Democrats are the majority in this country. College, it isl something that should have been abolished a long time ago because today it has no relevancy. It is supposed to be one person, one vote. Host sebastian in miami, democrats only. What do you think about nancy pelosi and the other leaders . Nancy pelosi joining Chuck Schumer of new york who took over for harry reid in the senate. Caller good morning, how are you . Host good morning. Caller i would just like to say that i am just, like the other brother just said i would like to reemphasize the fact that i am a disgruntled democrat that has just gone independent. I have thrown in the towel on the Democratic Party, and i hope that someone somewhere in the Democratic Party that is actually in office is hearing, and not even hearing, is listening because there is a difference between hearing and listening. We have gone off the rails. , weust brought in basically sent one of the worst candidates that history has ever seen in Hillary Clinton as someone to who was basically nothing more than a neoliberal disaster in the making. Bernie sanders was the man. That is who we should have brought in. He would have easily stopped out trump. We are definitely not the Progressive Party and i do not think we have been for the last 20 to 30 years, if you look at things in hindsight. Definitely, the Democratic Party is more or less has more or less become the republican party. Florida,e is in tampa, go ahead with your thoughts. Caller good morning. I think nancy pelosi is fine for the party. Also the comments that you just read about the republicans, of course they will say things like that. Democrats for some reason, they tend to jump the wagon on their party. They are not like republicans. Republicans, even if they do not like whoever is running for president , they still vote for them. But democrats always jump the wagon and go to the other side. We need to be together. Theyot do anything always say a house divided. That is the truth. And then we had a lot of democrats who did not care for which i think she was the best person that ever could have ran for president. It was a lot of them that did not care for her. They criticized her. Trump, this man, he is crazy. It is crazy that they would vote for somebody like that. How in the world can they get a donald trump to be president when in their face they saw all the things he was doing . It is crazy to me. They need to be together. You cannot do anything if you are separated. Faceman was lying in their and right now he is showing them he was lying in their face because what is he doing now . Everything he says he would not do he is doing. The poor person who voted for him, that is not going to happen. Trump will help the people like himself. He could care less about poor people. Host the president elect tweeted out this week that he will be holding a major News Conference in new york city on december 15 to discuss the fact that he plans to stop running his business in order to make full focus on running the country and make american great again make America Great again. While i am not mandated to do i feel its it is visually important as president in no way having a conflict of interest. That, aion to littleknown Ethics Agency and the government which is charged with keeping the executive branch abreast of ethics regulations and helping with the transition of a new president , has several tweets that they , we out, one of them being told your counsel we would sing your praises if you divested. We meant it. This to vested sure divestiture does when handing over control could never have done. The lines that potus should act applies. Usc 15 a series of tweets coming from this littleknown agency. The New York Times says this, in fact mr. Trump has made no such commitment to divest, at least publicly. In a series of Early Morning posts mr. Trump said he would separate himself from the offices of his vast Global Business empire. Details and did not say whether he would divest his assets, an important distinction. Bat in the New York Times this morning. The front page of the wall street journal on oil prices, oil surges on packed to cut output. Said wednesday it would cut production by 1. 2 Million Barrels a day. It expects producers from outside the group including russia, to join with additional cuts totaling 6 Million Barrels a day. The cuts were deeper than many analysts expected. They hope the cuts will shrink a supply glut that has been set in part by the shale boom. Politics in North Carolina, the governors race, a partial recount has been ordered. Exceeding to the wishes of pat mccrory, the state board of elections ordered a recount of 94,000 votes in Durham County in a election that has not been decided. Columbia has approved a packed that is most likely the last hurdle in an agreement. They u. N. Has stiffened sanctions on north korea. To body voted yesterday impose a cap on coal export, the of hards chief export currency. On the domestic side from usa today, though charges brought in charlotte against the officer in scott. The District Attorney announcing yesterday that officer brent vinson has been on administrative lease leave since shooting Keith Lamont Scott while he waited for his Childs School bus. The officer fired four times, hitting scott three times. Scott dna was found on the gun recovered at the scene. Career prosecutors all agreed with this position and they revealed it to the scott family before announcing it publicly. They say they were profoundly disappointed but thanked the prosecution for their detailed explanation. Georgia,n augustine, what do you think about your policy leaders . Caller i think they are great. Some people Start Talking about nancy pelosi, remember the last two elections the democrats won. Not got inanders had haverace, hillary would won by a great margin. I like Bernie Sanders but he could not win. Clinton would have been president today. He is another ralph nader. Host you blame Bernie Sanders . Caller yes, because he split the vote up. Host lynn in fayetteville, North Carolina, cohead. Go ahead. Caller i think the democrats need to look at the will of the people. What do people are wanting something new and fresh but behindthescenes, they can still have the support of the more senior leadership. Thealso, i think that republicans have a triangular relationship. If you take out one of the sides then they cannot function. , iare so focused on trump thought about trying to get him impeached which may happen in the long run. The democratsnk really need to focus on is the ones that he is appointing, to find out where their weak links are and have some town Hall Meetings in those states, in some of those small blue states, and find out what the people wanted and what we lacked. And tell them what the leadership that donald trump has put into office, or has what they are not going to not do that they need. Andhey can see firsthand leave race out of the question, leave race out because that is what they want us to talk about. Talk about the dysfunction and misconceptions being told to them and what they are not going to get. When they find out they are not going to get it, have another town hall meeting and another discussion, and get people to see the democratic side for the future. Host when the 115th congress convenes in january, republicans will have at least 240 seats and democrats will hold 194. Control of one louisiana seat will be decided in december in a runoff. Thanks to all the calls this morning from democrats. We will take a short break and when we come back we will be joined by Texas Democrat gene green. Later, pennsylvania congressman , onlie dent will be here military construction and Veterans Affairs. First this headline from the Washington Times, Border Patrol on capitol hill yesterday right of childcare, alarmed at the swarm of children and families that the Border Patrol agent having to take care of. This is from the new Border Patrol chief. Here is what he had to say. I refer to the border with ua involvement seized and family units as one of humanitarian at this point. We know that basically of the otms, which is about 63 of our apprehensions is focusing on units, it isfamily about 43 to 44 of our overall apprehensions. Alone is around 50 . That takes a lot of funding to sustain those operations knowing that basically 100 of those family units are released into the United States. That is why i call that a humanitarian mission. I refer back to midnight one evening, i was in a sector where i saw a sixyearold and 11yearold holding each others hands that have made the trek from honduras. I do not refer to them as a National Security or Law Enforcement threat, but the Border Patrol is dedicating a tremendous amount of resources taking those folks in and processing them. Dedicatedesources are to being professional childcare providers at this point. Alone has established the second pcb Processing Center which takes about 100 to 120 agents to man and take care of the family units. We just recently opened up a temporary Holding Facility into reno to help with that in torino to help with that. It is a high cost to run that facility and provide the resources. Becently when i traveled to rg the supervisor in charge said we will do whatever this country asks us to do, but i never thought i would be as part of a procurement ordering baby powder and maybe wipes. I just got from one sector where agents wanted their jobs during theiry agents, one of jobs during the day is making sure that burritos that are being provided are being warmed properly. Washington journal continues. Host we will talk with gene. Reen lets talk with the democratic leadership elections. Guest i voted for antipelosi. We were in the majority. I sat down with her. We worked on health care and Energy Legislation even though there is some philosophical differences between texas and california. She has worked harder than any leader i have ever seen and it was about a two thirds vote. Not to take anything from congressman ryan. He is a good friend and i have worked with him also, but that happens, we lost an election and were hoping we would pick up more seats. Host what do you make of congressman ryans challenge . He was able to peel off 67 some votes. Do you think as the republicans claim that this indicates democrats are not unified . Guest i think you will see us unified because when you see what is happening on the notblican side, they have super majorities in the house and senate. We picked up six seats. In the senate they will probably have 52 senators so they cannot break the filibuster. I think it is a little closer than most people think, although losing the presidency was a usgh one because so many of Hillary Clinton when my district with 70 of the vote in an urban district in houston. We have bigger turnouts than we ever had in my career. It is frustrating, but we deal with it. Lost, thecrats have lowest since 1929. How do you brought in the appeal . Guest i think that is part of my job and also the democratic senators, to talk about we have a president who is probably going to be an unprecedented president. We have never had a president who tweeted like he does. That is good for open government , but it is also unusual. Trump isidentelect inaugurated, we will deal with it. I have served under a lot of different president s and governors so we will work with him, worked with him when we can. Host do you think you will be able to work with tom price who is mr. Trumps nominee to head up the human and Health Services . Guest he and his wife and my wife are good friends but we are not physically there. I have been with tom on health care seminars and it is a position, every physician i have ever met just wants to help their patients and i think i share that with our future secretary of health and Human Services. I hope that is what we can do whether it is making sure that people have access to health care, and i hope he continues to shared. When politics get in the way of people having health care, that is when we ought to step back and do our job. Host what is the proposal put forth by the republicans on medicare, and how do the democrats react . Guest speaker ryan has a concern that we do not want to privatize medicare like we did in 2003. We brought Health Insurance companies into it with medicare advantage. That has been some success but but again i want to make sure whether it is our seniors or anyone else, that they have access to health care. We are doing some great things in our country on health care and want to make sure my constituents can benefit. Host one thing that appeared to have bipartisan support is the house yesterday passing expediting therapies. Century curesst zach . Guest it started years ago. They set a goal to try and jumpstart medical research. Has been over a decade cutting federal funding for medical research. To look at some of the cures we are just a little away from, we need more research and fda reform. We have been working on this bill for about three years, and in its reduced amount because it went to the senate a year and a half ago and we had a lot of giveandtake, it is still a great shot in the arm for medical research and also fda reform so we can get this cures to the bedside. Host details from the Washington Post, a past 39226 and would set aside money for biomedical research, intended to streamline the drug approval process. Medical Device Companies have been pushing the legislation for more than a year, riding a wave of rare bipartisan support. The final bill contains a cornucopia of Health Care Related provisions including one billion for opioid abuse prevention. 1. 4 billion for president obamas Precision Medicine initiative and 1. 6 billion for the Brain Initiative to map and understand diseases affecting the brain. What about the concerns from critics that this would erode standards . Do you share that concern . Guest no, i do not share that concern. Part of the goal was to look at the fda. When it takes a long time to get from the lab table to the , there is somea examples of pharmaceuticals that have taken six to eight years to where doctors can prescribe them. We do not want to cut down on to make, but we want sure the bureaucracy does not get in the way and that is what our goal is. We started out with a much more ambitious plan. We won it 10 billion over five years and a half 1 billion for fda reform. A billion butlf we lowered it for medical research. This is a big win for the National Institute of health, because they do not do that kind of research. They find all kinds of programs. M. D. Anderson hospital which is like sloan catering in new york, nihived an age funding funding. Cancer treatment is revolutionary. The Precision Medicine, the president talked about it. We are seeing great things in Cancer Treatment that were not around three to four years ago. Liverpool,h in east ohio, a republican. I have been a lifelong democrat. I voted republican this year. I believe there was a misconception when it comes to this election. Many people thought that this was a whitewashed election. It was stated in many news medias that uneducated white people or people without College Educations swayed this election. The point is, bluecollar workers swayed this election. And many of us were democrats and we voted republican. Many of us were union members, including myself. The Obama Administration and Hillary Clinton many times fortised white americans things that they did not do. Were racist that we even though we voted in a black administration. We were told we needed to be more sensitive to other peoples needs. This is not true but we were offended. That i know means exit a whitewashed election. Host lets take your point. Guest i think in what you are when democrats lose pennsylvania, michigan, and wisconsin, we lost the bluecollar workers, and im still a union member. I paid my way through college as a union printer. I think that happened across the country, and i think president elect trump addressed the trade issues. I did not vote for free trade agreements because im in a bluecollar working district in houston. Typically we do great on International Trade at the port of houston, but i represent those who work at the plants on the side of the port of houston. Democrats,t, and as should have been more open to changing some of these trade agreements starting with nafta all the way up to the transpacific. I am hoping you will come home in the next election. Host what could bring that voter home, specifically with the Affordable Care act . People are seeing their Health Care Costs and they cannot afford it. Do, how canocrats you agree, where can you agree with republicans to possibly fix the Affordable Care act . Guest my response from some republicans is any legislation that passes, we have to revisit that law. We passed the Affordable Care act in 2009 and we have had a number of sessions since then, but the only time we have had 60 plus tries to repeal it, i want to fix it. The problem with the Affordable Care act is just like when i had a business, or managed a business. If we had too many claims on our insurance our rates went up which is what happened. The sickest people are getting the health care, but a lot of the younger people, the people who are well are still going without it and paying the fee from the irs because it is a fine. We have not had that universal coverage that we aim for because you cannot have an Insurance Plan public or private, where you only have people that are very sick Getting Services without people paying in. You have to have the healthy folks and the people who are ill because the healthy folks will get ill sometime. Over the last six years, the republicans have said we did not created and we are not going to fix it. Now they have the presidency, the house, and the senate, and i would love to be able to fix it. Before the Affordable Care act in my district, we had the highest in the country of people who worked and did not get insurance through their employer. Is, i have over 50,000 constituents who do not have any kind of health care because they 50,000 people without insurance in my district. I would like to sit down with republicans and say, we want people covered instead of having everybody go to the emergency of us more. Osts all host headline in the Washington Post. It said replacing obamacare may take years. Texas said it will take time to move people who use of obamacare programs into the new Health Care System they have promised to create. That process is further complicated that republicans have never released a proposal for how they would replace the system. Guest hindsight over the last six years, ive heard from republican majorities say we are going to repeal and replace but the only thing we see are repealed. Withld be glad to work them on replacing with somebody that provides Health Care Coverage for your host lets hear from michael, independent. Caller good morning. With what the first fellow said. I always vote for the democratic and very rarely republican ever. I gave up because you only support illegal aliens and their issues and minorities, you forgot about us. You forgot about the white workingclass and now you got it. Me tellg obamacare, let you something you had a majority and the first two years of obamas presidency. And what did you do . Why didnt you give us a singlepayer program . Hasnt a in the world you do nothing for us. Now you elect pelosi and trump is electing all kind of insiders. Where do you expect people like any satisfaction from any of you. I seemed you are all corrupt a you should all be voted out and i am for term limits. Thank you very much. Guest appreciate your opinion. I have a bluecollar district although a huge majority hispanic. Hardworking people. Obviously, i disagree we only work with undocumented. Those folks do not vote no matter what people say, in texas, they do not vote. About his argument about the Affordable Care act, the democrats did not deliver . Guest we did the best we could evil with our majorities. Passed byhat has ever legislative body needs to go back and be revisited. We have not done that. I would agree, there are things i would have a voted against a lot of them. We have not had that chance. Singlepayer,r a you will never get a singlepayer out of a republican majority congress. Host a democrat. Caller buddah. Guest south of austin. Caller absolutely. I am out in the country. We love it out here. In travis county, a wonderful place. Pardon me. Lets talk about you did touch on my concern one of my concerns. I have quite a few. What are we going to do about keeping medicare . My husband will the 69 in october and he just retired. He is on medicare now. , ryan and drug all want to privatize medicare. I am really worried about this. , theve got the democrats democrats have got to come up with a sound plan to keep medicare and Social Security because trump and ryan are going to push through publicist nation a Social Security. We are living on that right now. I teach, a Wonderful University really focus on students well, i will not go into that. Texas state, come see us and send marcos. Youthful waters. Cos. N san mard please protect medicare Social Security. Guest it was created under a democratic president ial president in 1935 and has been a success. If anybody tells you our budget deficit is because of Social Security, it is wrong. Granted the trust fund has the federald government borrows and pays with an interest rate. Social security is not the issue. Medicare is an issue because even though those of us working and paying medicare taxes, seniors pay fc, a lot of the money come from general revenue. We have problems with their. I do not want to see the privatization of medicare anymore than what we have done. Well problems there. It used to be my seniors in my area in houston, only 20 were medicare advantage, now it is up to 40 . They have products that would help and it is working. It is a cause issue. We have to figure how to pay for Seniors Health issues. Host independent. Caller hello. Good morning. Yeah, i am along with everybody else about the democrats. You do not see evolved. You hang on west nancy pelosi. You give us Hillary Clinton. Hung on to debbie. It is nothing that people seem the democrats that make them want to continue to vote with them. It is nothing there. Guest we have lost elections since 2010 and we lost the president ial election that all of us were surprised at. Think, their problem, i i have a district in houston thats overwhelmingly democrat. Maybe with all of the redistricting over the years, republicans and democrats, i have a district that hillary got 70 in. Have three democratic members in southeast texas, 10 altogether. Seven republicans and three democrats. Dont blame the democrats because we are not the majority. Everything that is happened since then through congress is not the by republican majority. Host michigan, and republican. Good morning. Caller good morning. I would like to remind your guest that Health Insurance was originally an inducement to sign up with an employer. It was offered as a benefit. They wanted to attract quality people. They wanted the best perspective employees to sign up with their Company Rather than go to competitor down the street. Earth thisdea how on got blown up into simultaneously an entitlement and mandate and i think it is not only wrong in and of itself but symptomatic of this whole tendency to make everything and entitlements. Guest i agree that Health Care System we crated in the 1940s was wage controls and for companies that wanted particularly in michigan, a bluecollar area, they crated incentives for employees to stay because they cannot give them more money because of price controls. What frustrates it during world war ii, we rebuild western europe. We rebuilt japan, south korea. The countries we rebuilt have a Single Player payer for everybody and their country. Right now, a person this a job in michigan or texas and you have that job, but the nest question, does my employerprovided insurance . Over the years, will say that employer insurance erode because Small Business an even larger business said we do not have to do it. That is part of it should be part of your job. If more employees covered it and thats what the Affordable Care act it did, if you have 50 or more employees, you need to provide a Health Care Plan that is the standard plan. It ise right becoming entitlement. The choices people do not go to the hospital except for the emergency room so their diabetes, it calls us more. Costs us more. Butas become an entitlement a necessary entitlement for people to be able to take care of their families. Host Washington Post reports president elect by picking tom price is signaling he would like to move in the republicans direction of repealing and replacing and saying the price plan advocates the use of private Health Savings accounts that allow workers to set aside money for health care spending. Republicans are planning to use a special tool known as reconciliation at that would allow them to avoid a filibuster and repeal obamacare with a simple majority. The replacement legislation would not have that same protection as it moves through congress, it means the republicans will have to work with democrats. How do thing they would do that . What togain, if you repeal it, lets see what you are going to replace it. Do not say, we will replace it next year. People need Health Care Every day. The 20,000 people in our willict that has announced be thrown off. Also a lot of good insurance reform in that revision. And that is why the republicans and president elect trump will say it is hard because do you want have preexisting conditions where the Insurance Company will not take you because you are diabetic . One of thewant biggest reforms in there is under the Affordable Care act, every premium dollar, 80 percent of that is required to clawback in health care. That was revolutionary. , back in health care. When we pay our premiums, 80 of that will come back. Before that, it was 60 or 50 . That is probably one of the more popular ones. I hope the republicans will leave that in. Health care, you should be able to receive a print host marie is up next, a republican. Caller good morning. I wanted to talk about the Social Security. I wanted to remind him, it was democrats when Lyndon Johnson in 1968, yet a democrat house and he had a democrat house and senate as spent too much money on the Great Society which was a failure. When you wanted to run again, he did not want people to know that he had spent so much money. They agreed to take the money out of the trust fund of social acurity and put it into general fund so people would do not know at the time he had gotten us into so much debt. Ever since then, we couldve had raises. It has not been put back with interest, otherwise, we could have had a raise every year. , ifmore thing on medicare this president obama spent 760 billion to start what is not Affordable Health care, are we going to get that back with interest if it changes . Of course not. I wanted to remind him, it was the democrats that have taken the money out of Social Security and medicare. Social security is not an entitlement. I know we have used a lot out of it. We have paid into it. And we should be entitled to get that back. Thank you. You areirst of all, right. Social security, we pay into it and our employers pay into it. Typically, we got more back the based on what your employers pay. What you said about lyndon. Ohnson, we researched that and i found out that Social Security administration, if you go to their website, they talk about it. That was never a lump sum of money. I heard that rumor for the last 30 years. And weve got documentation from the Social Security administration that the federal government borrows the money, by law, the only place Social Security can invest the trust itd and it goes we borrow. And we pay it back with interest. If you go to the Social Security website, i am sure it has that information. I was concerned that lbj did it that. That is not correct. Social security is paid for. It is not part of the federal issue. Medicare is separate. But not has a trust for nearly as good as Social Security. Host a democrat. Caller good morning. The reason why the democrats have not been winning is because they do not get out the lies that the republicans has and that is the biggest problem. Democrats are disbanding the story like with the story said about lg they lbj how democrats borrowed money from Social Security and medicare. That is the first time ive heard a democrat defend against that rumor or lie. That is why the democrats have not been winning just like with the Affordable Care act. When they were negotiating that and president obama said if you like your health care, you can keep it. Amendmente, but an indicated that, no, you cannot. Therefore, the democrats did not get out and say the republicans amended that and the president was telling the truth. That life flourished and that is what is happening for all of these years. Democrats need to get a backbone and stand up for themselves for the host less a response from gene green. Trying tore been defend it. I hope you heard of recent call because i am a big supporter of the Social Security plan. My father benefited from it. I want my grandchildrens generation to have Social Security. Been around for years even before the internet. It is just not true. If you go to the Social Security website, you will see it is not true. We pay the money back. Social security, i do not want it investing in wall street. I want them investing in the strongest in the world for the trust fund and that is you as debtbecause women u. S. Because will never defaulted. You are right, we need tough fight more. Was created by a democrat president. Host a republican. Caller good morning. It is really morning in california. About illegals voting in california. When you go up to register to not have to show nothing. You do not have to show your drivers license or anything. That on the the other deal about medicare, when i was going to the doctor, my doctor dropped me because because of the Affordable Care act or obamacare. So, i think these democrats should get a crying towel and stick to it. Bye. Guest i do not know about the crying towel but love a lot of fights. Maybe a fighting towel. In texas, when i register to vote when i was 21 back then and now you can do it as a team. I filled out a Voter Registration card and i showed my birthday and i am sure california has the same thing. And now you can do at 18. They can check that. Also a line if youre naturalized citizen, where you naturalized . Those records can be checked if they want to. Abouthear all of this illegal people voting. That is not the case, at least i know it is not in texas. Host a couple of tweaks. George asks tweets. Uple of george asks jodie ask guest historically, health care has been tied into unemployment. One of the only countries that provide health care based on your employment area that is traditional. Therefore both here at tried to build on the employerbased and that is why the president and people said if your company likes of the insureds and you do, you can keep it. A lot of Companies Realize they can send their employees to the Affordable Care act. I would not mind looking at other options, but i am hoping our new secretary of health and Human Services work with us. The bottom line is that people need health care whether the medicare is a senior or Affordable Care act, whatever they want to call it. Healthgoing to need care. They are going to need the health care. They will show up in emergency world we will pay out of tax rates if they do not share the cost for host is at the aca a cash cow . Guest Insurance Companies are part of it. Originally, they opposed it because some of the restrictions like you have to pay 80 of your premium out to benefits. They also were hoping that because we would cover a lot of folks, insurance worse because you spread of the risks. Not all of us will have open heart surgery but you want to make sure those folks are covered so you have to have people well enough that they pay in premiums. Thats what insurance is about. Auto insurance, Home Insurance or Health Insurance. Right now, we have more six people six people and thats what Insurance Companies saying they have to raise rates. That wouldve happened anyway in the free market because thats what happened before the Affordable Care act. Host a republican. Caller good morning representative green. I have one question of. Actually, i have a couple. The first, where does the subsidy come from when you offer to the poor . Two, why not start taxing sugar . And three,have have the federal government increase our output of sugar, that would bring the price down you are for the federal i am an urban democrat and i am not that familiar with farm subsidies. Your idea of taxing sugar. Excess isgar in probably not good for you. Diabetes, obesity but on the federal level, we probably still support our Agricultural Community and sugar is a cash crop. In south texas, they grow sugarcane. Right the federal government does some things that are not healthy for our constituents. Host gene green, the ranking member, the top democrat on the energy and commerce subcommittee on health. Valerie in lafayette, indiana. Caller good morning. I just wanted to encourage you, representative green, and the rest of the democrats. I want you guys to stay strong and fight for us and these people that are calling in negative about democrats, in four years, they will probably be back around. Because after president elect trump and arrested republicans get through with us as a country, they are going to see that it was all a con game. Just stay strong to fight for us and i appreciate your service. Guest thank you. And as a legislator, i like to legislate. I will legislate with republicans or democrats for the good of the people in our country. I held that is what we will do. Host marietta, florida. Caller i have a question about the bill you are sponsoring. As far as medical research. All of these about the Affordable Care act and how expensive insurance is and we cannot afford it now, but yet some Large Companies are getting a large chunk of money from the taxpayers. A lot of folks cannot afford insurance that they offer now for the Affordable Care act. Why do you folks keep sponsoring legislation and approving it for larger dollar items when we cannot afford would be half what we have . Best wishes to you. Guest thank you. The Affordable Care act when it passed in 2009 was paid for. Whatever the cost to the Affordable Care act has been for the federal government, we had to raise money elsewhere. None of the Affordable Care act costs with into the national debt. The act that just passing the house and hopefully the Senate Next Week is also paid for because i believe of our national debt, if we are going to fund something, we do not just new to add to the debt. We need to see where we can cut. Sometimes pay for our illusionary. For example couple you selling example, we have you selling oil for infrastructure a it is part of this paid for the cures. The senate can change that areough the numbers now working with the senate to get a bill they would accept. Even the cures act would be paid if we syria if theory, sell the oil. Comment from texas, i would rather us not sell it for 50, lets wait until it gets to 100. Host up next is john in new hampshire. Independent. Caller a good morning. I would like to make 2 comments. Say if youd like to guys would legalize marijuana, use that money towards that Health Care System. You are talking about billions of dollars. Rubio ominous bill, marco cut the subsidies to cover for smaller Insurance Companies, thats why the rates went up. Thank you very much. Guest what you say about a lot of our states are doing, legalizing marijuana, congress, i have seen over the years has changed. We have had bipartisan majorities who allow for medical and things like that. Some states, colorado, out west, on the national basis, i do not think you will see us doing anything like that. Know if it is that popular. States have the right to make those decisions on their own. Host glendale, maryland. Democrat. Is,er my question or issue this whole voting for trump was completely white lash. Every caller, every white male is woe is me, you forgot about it. It is no way we forgot about white males. White males is the center of america. Everything is built around this. Me, for the minorities, the immigrants, we do not key get the attention or medical coverage. It was an act an educated, bluecollar workers voted against democrats. The fight is to bring medical care to everybody but that without it, you have people who are sick, who have spread disease and they needed that help. We have to do that. We have to keep the medical benefits there for everybody. Guest where all in a this together. We are all in this together. I explain to people, we have new immigrants. All of our families came from somewhere else. Historically, we are in immigrant nation. We also have a tendency that people did not like the irish. Nowadays, it is acceptable. People did not like the italians. Here, pool the latter up and now you do not want hispanics or asians or Something Like that. We are in immigrant nation pretty if you come here to work, that is what our nation is about and we want you to them to support your family. A lot of countries that are common from, they do not have the opportunity. Host an independent. Caller good morning. How are you today . Yeah, what i do not understand about the democrats is why all through the election they never mentioned about the outrageous cost under the bush junior administration. When he became president , the average bluecollar family paying 5,000 and after he left, 12,000. That is why people were screaming for a health care program. The democrats never mentioned it. All of this stuff about domestic, Ronald Reagan [inaudible] that are other industries will benefit from cheap labor. The democrats lost the election. Saves General Motors bum michigan votes republican. Why . The fed never told the people what republicans are doing. Thear as health care, democrats need to tell people under bush it with the one under 40 . 12,000. 140 . Youre paying under 30,000 a year today under obama, you are aing that much better under republican administration. Host lets have the congressman jump in. We will not have passed the Affordable Care act if insurance system we had was five. Fine. Myhad a district, 44 of constituents who work and did not get insurance through their employer. If left employerbased insurance, we should not have 44 not having insurance. We worked on it. The committee and i are proud to bend to say with expanded health coverage. With it butoblems there are problems with any piece of legislation, any legislative body does. What will say because we lost the majority in 2010, we cannot go back and fix some of the things under the Affordable Care voted 60 times to repeal it. The republicans have the presidency, the house and senate , i what does see what they can do and i want to work with them as long as they provide health care. In North Carolina. A democrat, our last for the congressman. Good morning. Caller good morning. The way i see it. After the elections, president ial elections, Hillary Clinton it anointed to be the next president. As far as immigration, were all immigrants. They need to come in the proper way. Thank you. Can do you think democrats work with this president elect donald trump if he says i will include a pathway tos is that ship with border security, building the wall . A pathway to citizenship with border security, building the wall . Guest i want to protect our country. We do not want people who will harm of coming care. We need border control. Any country that has 10 million, 11 Million People undocumented who have been here and their children are probably citizens, why would we not let those folks have a pathway to citizenship . That is bend a big issue. Apologies like to have people come in but they do not want to them to stay. They wanted them to work. We do not make people, u. S. Citizens. If they want to and they are not felons or anything, we ought to have that pathway and that is the bottom line. Host congressman, thank you for your time. Withxt we will talk charlie dent he serves as the Top Republican on the appropriations subcommittee that works on military construction and Veterans Affairs. Later, today is world aids day. To combat hiv and aids, we will be joined by dr. Deborah birx. , the chairyesterday the Budget Committee who was recently selected by president elect donald trump for the next health and Human Services secretary talked about the current budget process. A covered his speech at brookings institution. A little bit of what he had to say. Sitting, we need to begin discussion on reform where it began. The constitution. Article one gives congress the power of the purse, the authority to determine the level of taxation and spending. Over the course of many years in many congresses through republicans and democratic it has ceded too much authority to the exact of. With given the president and the regime too much power which is weakened as a representative framework. This is got to stop. First and foremost when it cost to the budget, congress should go first with its proposal. Under the budget process reforms lawmakers will consider at congressional budget resolution with information gained from a Current Services estimate from the executive branch prior to the president s omitting his or her request. Time and may seem like a small distinction but the current scenario where congress is responding to the president s budget is backwards and in a fatah ineffatical. We should align our fiscal year with our budget year. January 1 is when it will begin. It will reflect the schedule of congress and provide lawmakers more time to get work done. A propose putting in place plan to reduce spending on unauthorized programs. Tosubstantial part of goals ands that congress a failed that the fundamental failure of oversight. Issued a declare justify its intention to do so. Ishin this same framework appropriations process and changes to the timing and design of how we keep the governmentfunded passing 12 individual appropriation bills through congress has as i said earlier field to occur consistently for quite some time. Has gottenn that claim is are dropping the goal of improving 12 annual appropriation bills and instead spending the first year of congress in dealing with the authorry manners and verizon spending for two years so congress can spend more time on oversight and the latter half. A popular concept, i do not believe will solve in and of itself all of our budgetary woes. The concept is received broad bipartisan support. Host we want to welcome congressman charlie dent of pennsylvania. Fetch or the military construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations subcommittee. A lot to talk about. Not supporting donald trump for president. You voted for mcmullens. Where do you think you could agree with him . What are you hearing from him they think i will get on board with the . Guest i love for with working with a new administration. There will be areas of agreement and we will work with them. I look forward with working with a new administration. I am sure we will have to serve a check to make sure they are moving in the right direction. I am looking forward. To strike a try much better tone and measured and hopefully will be able to have a constructive working environment. Host any particular policies . Guesstimate i suspect on infrastructure, transportation, tax reform, a lot of areas on agreement. These will be difficult issues to manage. I think there is a consensus we needed to move forward on those policy measures. I am looking forward to that conversation. How do we do it . There will be a lot of discussion. On trade, a little thornier. Tax reform in infrastructure is what they want to start. And health care and that will be very complex. Times, thee new york trunk team makes promises that that will be hard to keep. Mr. Trumpmments from and some in his administration specifically his paper treasury guest interesting. I had not seen that particular analysis. I will tell you the house ways and Means Committee will have a bite of this apple. The president and his administration will propose a tax reform plan. I can in sure you that the house will have its own plan and there will be negotiations. Planis in the president s at the moment may not be the final product at the end of the day. Sure we will end up adopting various pieces of the president s plan but there will be a lot of house and senate input and a lot of people with strong opinions. Host democrats critical of mr. Trump choosing stephen newton, a n, a walleter mnuchi streeter, saying they will support the rich. What would be your stance . Guest the question on the treasury secretary. This administration will be able to fill spots. Mr. Mnuchin has been chosen by the president and i suspect he will be thoroughly vetted and that will be other nominees and that will likely prove most of them, if not all of them. In terms of people from wall street coming to work in administration, we have seen this happen before. The Obama Administrations had officials from wall street, Goldman Sachs and elsewhere. Nothing really shocks me. The president is going to surround himself with people he is comfortable with and that is what is happening. Some will be from wall street and so will not. We will have to deal with a. Host we have seen members of congress and the financial , allr, former politicians coming to meet with president. Have you been speaking with the truck Team Trump Team . Guest i have had a conversation or two with the legislative folks just about some issues, more as it relates to how we proceed on funding the government for the balance of the fiscal year. That is something i am very involved with and trying to get a sense of where the administration is. Can you tell what the conversations have been like . Guesstimate most guest people who will be in their administration that we, congress, should complete our appropriations work this year in december so that have a clear deck starting in the new year. I would rather, my preference a continuingpass resolution to fund the government, the current level and take that out into march or april or may. I would rather not do that. There seems to be where this train is heading at the moment. That is not my preference. I think the new administration would be able to start fresh and not have to deal with last years work. Host how have they responded . You said it they wanted that the team with resolution . Guest president elect trump with his fingerprints on it this spending agreement for the balance of the fiscal year. My own sense is it is going to cost probably more problems then he realizes at the moment. We will have to deal with it in the you new year. I expect it will be harder to complete their appropriations bill in march, april or may. It will only get harder, not easier. Well for much better chance to complete our work in december. I think google have democratic cooperation now and not that much in the new year. , the when the Congress Spending bills that fund the federal agencies and you head up the subcommittee on military construction and Veterans Affairs. What does passing acr until marja means for the agencies you oversee . Guest in my case, it will not to make any different. My bill is adopted into law. We did that, the only one im ducted at the end of september. It was the first time we pass on appropriations bill on time, signed into law since 2009. That one is done. Of anl not have much impact in my jurisdiction, v. A. In military construction. For the other appropriation bills, justice of defense to labor and health and so many others, transportation, all of those agencies will have to live with this and make it more difficult for the pentagon to be able to move money where they need to move it. Though department of defense is particularly unhappy with a container resolution. They are not the only once. T will make it more difficult host what is your reaction that possibly president elect donald trump is considerate the former Alaska Governor sarah palin to head up a veteran affairs . Guest i will work with whoever becomes secretary of the eight if operative to be chair weather of v. A. If i continue to be chair whether sarah palin. I do not know who they will put in place. I look forward to working with his new administration. We have a lot of work to do to perform the ca v. A. Host another issue before we get the calls, that ethics chair in the house, the front page of ethicsw york times, an agency gets excited about a vague what did this Government Agency sent out a series of tweets congratulating him for doing that saying he is going to divest. The New York Times said mr. Promise. E no such tro provided few details in his post and did not say whether he would divest his assets. As ethics chairman, is it important to divest and why do you think so . That it is imperative president elect trump figure out a way to create a firewall between his role as president and his business activities. The wall street journal wrote an interesting editorial a week or so ago about that divestiture. That may be the best way to go. It is very challenging for somebody typically comment that to the office of the presidency, setting a blind trust may be less complicated if they had stock bones are whatever and they are selling liquid assets. President elect trump has a very complex financial situation and a lot of real estate and property. You cannot turn around and sell that in a nano second. Divestitureidea of is something you should consider. And hiss business assets a he will have to reconcile the. In my view, divestment would probably be the way, might be a smarter approach. The challenge for president elect would be Going Forward if he does not figure out a way to create these firewalls, everything he does is going to be questioned. Some of it fairly and some unfairly. That kind of issue, he has to think it through. I do not pretend to have the answer for him whether light trust or divestment. We should give him time. Host what does it mean to divest . Guest he would sell his assets in his business. Maybe just children, obviously, very complicated arrangement. It is basically to sell his assets and i suspect put them in a blind trust. I am not here to give him advice. We have to give the president elect a little bit of time. Host we will turn to calls. Veronica, a democrat. Caller good morning, congressman. I am in your district. I have my tv on mute. I do know if you hear me. Host go ahead and listen to your phone. Caller i will like to start off moving to pennsylvania from new jersey 25 years ago and registering independent because new jersey i had voted for both republicans and democrats. And unfortunately, at the time i called them before and mr. Dent was there and it was preprimaries, i cannot vote for him because i registered as a democrat. I voted for you in the general, congressman. And i support everything youre saying. I like that youre willing to work with anyone. I think it is so important. I hope i can ask you with a question that they little bit out of your will house. Its appointed to a great many people in berks county. Devastated byny, lyme disease. I do not know if you know about it. People in new york state knew about it and we are still suffering from it. The governor signed a law that said doctors could not be sued by insurance for doing longterm treatment of lyme. Isreally means also it infections carried by the same tick. As a matter of fact, the state of rhode island passed and even better law that said not only could the Insurance Companies not sue the doctors for longterm treatment but if they had to cover the longterm sufferers. Probably more than you ever wanted to know this morning, but i am wondering if you can address this yourself because youre in a different subcommittee, you might let me know whom i would dress among the representatives in the congress . Host i will have eternal of your tv take your the answer to whether congressman has to say. Guest thank you for that comment and those kind words. I hope everything is going along and berks county. First, i would like to say this i have a cousin who struggles with lyme disease. I have talked to her about this illness. I know how it affects her in many people like her. Stored in Appropriations Committee, ideally with the national health. I know there is a great deal of activity in investment in Research Going on in this area. One thing i am trying to do is make sure when we pass appropriations bill this year, we provide a significant increase in National Institutes of health to deal with this kind of medical research. I am not here to tell you today how those dollars will be direct in particular disease. I do not know we should politicize it. We are taking steps to address this at the federal level. And maybe you can call my office and we can speak and i can try to give you more specific information about what is going on with lyme disease. I cannot recall on the top of my head. We are trying to work on this issue. Host you can go to dent. Hou se. Gov to get the information. , aald in Newton Square republican. Caller pennsylvania. I was a democrat all my life and i switched to donald trump this season. Can you hear me . Host yes, we can. Caller i grew up in new jersey. I have to tell the congressman i am very nervous. About thecomplained v. A. I go to the v. A. , i have dr. Theor and i get absolutely best care in the world at the v. A. I watch them all of the time on tv. I think mr. Blumenthal is his complainsverybody about the v. A. And ive gotten extra care. And heres the problem i am having. Ive been trying to get through to the v. A. In philadelphia and you could never get through. It is always busy. Thats only, did the busy end. That is the only time i get the busy end. I hope the v. A. Donald trump will get the v. A. Straightened out. I get absolutely absolute care. I cannot ask for better care. I cannot go to a private doctor. You cannot get through. Host lets have the congressman respond. Donald, i am glad you are having a good experience for the most part with the v. A. I would say to you, you are having difficulties getting through in philadelphia. I would recommend you contact, representative castillos construct congressional district. Tell them and they will get right on it. I want to say there are a lot of very good people within the v. A. , medical Good Services services and other Services Every day and we thank them. We do have structural challenges within v. A. That will be addressed in the new year. Please contact congressman costello about your problem. Host junior, independent color. Caller i have a question about some of the finances and where they go. I turned on the tv, i am 70 years old. This frustrates me. I heard the other day they did a ofdy of over 2 million somebody sneezing on food and there was another, 500,000 and i cannot remember what it was about. Throughout my years, studies about how catch up, how fast how fast it goes through a bottle. Idiotic things like this that kobe put toward the line disease study. Studies that are important. World do we do studies that cost the taxpayers this kind of money . Money inn is a lot of my pockets. Host ok, judy. Guest thank you for the comment on research. A lot of research at that goes on the federal level. Think, is valid and wordy. You will hear stories from time to time about things that sound odd and is a waste of money and that could be the case. I will say you will hear stories about studying a particular plant or species in south america and somebody will say why would you do that, maybe because it has particular qualities that can be used for medicine. Even though the surface, it sounds unusual. Maybe 150 years ago when some guy in france was thinking about inically taking snake venom and put it into a horse. Discovered howy to save lives from snake bites. Oftentimes, there is some value to its prea purpose for it. I cannot justify every case. There are some that sound frivolous and need to be overseen a better by congress to make sure that kind of work is not going to be funded. Host this question of debt and deficits. This a headline from the Washington Post Congressional Republicans are not saying. Mcginnis of the president for responsible federal budget says this she goes on to estimate his plan trillion to the existing 19 point 5 trillion. How will it get paid for . Guest a great question and a concern i have. On infrastructure, a lot of talk about borrowing money to pay for this. I believe will have to find some kind of sustainable Revenue Service and pay for this as we go. There might be some borrowing, rates are low. We are going to have those conversations. The president elect said during the campaign he will want to do a tax reform less inclined to deal with the mandatory spending programs or socalled entitlements. Most of us recognize that in order to put the country on a sound fiscal trajectory that we are going to have to deal with the spending side of the equation as well and so the president elect is already, he shifted his position on some issues. I suspect he will not a shift a little bit here. Theres truth to the fact that many proposals do have the potential to add significantly to the debt and many members of the house, myself included, want managingetter job of debt. These are the kind of conversations we will have and we will not solve it on the program this morning, but stay tuned. Host you will have to, that. Caller how are you doing, congressman . I have a couple of questions. If president elect was a , would you guys give him or her the same leeway that you do with the donald trump concerning his businesses and the conflict of interests . Second question is, when when the Affordable Care act, did the republicans have a plan as far as getting as most people covered as possible, if not, all people covered . Did you have a plan prior to the Affordable Care act . If you did, why was it not implemented . Guest thank you. Let me talk about we talked about the conflicts. One of the challenges with president elect trump, would never had a president that is had this many assets, this much property, maybe since george washington. I believe he owned a significant amount of land. The rightot to be analogy. I do not know we have had this much wealth. This is a work in progress. Here we are, december 1, he is not assumed office. We have to give him a little bit of time to sort it out. No president in my lifetime is had to deal with these types of issues to this extent. This is complicated. I intend to work with him. With that said, the president will have to figure out a way to create these firewalls whether divestment or blind trust. Sort through that with his lawyers bring if he does not give your right, it will dock him throughout his presidency. ,n the health care law, aca obamacare, the republicans have for healthoposals care reform. I was part of a group and we had a series of proposals. About eight pieces of legislation dealing with all medicalthings from Liability Reform to insurance reform. We did meet with the president and we did agree on the issue of allowing young people to they went to stay on their parents policy until 26 as an example. We also agreed with needed to make sure people mad preexisting conditions had access to Affordable Health care through high risk pools at the state level. There are areas of agreement. As we move forward on the health care law, we know it needs to be overhauled, it is now working for too many americans. They feel like they are paying a lot more a getting a lot less. This law needs to be overhauled. How do we do it . Repeal and replace . Major overhaul . A major. Be host some saying it will take a while guest thats right. When it wasns enacted were disrupted. ,s we go about reforming replacing, overhauling the mall, we realize that again, americans can be disrupted. We cant do this overnight. It will have to be phased in on a gradual basis. Again, we have a lot of work to do. Tom price is the president s designee. He will have a lot to say about this. Also, we need to hear from the trump administration. 1 w maine scott. P to guest you guys never had a plan as far as the typical Insurance Companies. My question is, more than that is now that it is all said and entertain ayou breach of contract with mr. Trump as far as the things he promised america and said he would do things. How do you hold him accountable . This has been an ongoing thing. You cannot hold any of them accountable. Businessman, is there a possibility of a breach of contract for the things he . Aid he was going to do in my view, he has started walking back some of those views. Candidateed him as a on some of those policy measures. As terms of a contract, we do have a system of accountability. It is called an election. If he chooses to seek reelection, you and every other american will be able to hold him accountable. Youll be able to express your de sone or displeasure his performance. You can measure his work and actions during the campaign and. Ake a judgment thats how we hold people accountable in this system of ours. Host donald trump announcing that carrier in indiana would keep 1000 jobs in the state, not ship them off to mexico. Just on the road, another workersis laying off 84. Down the road is moving to mexico so this loss of jobs keeps happening. Im happy the carrier jobs will remain in the United States. Im lso tell you to they are constantly trying to figure out ways to lower companies from other states and maintaining their own job base. It raises the question if this company acts, then other companies will say hey, why not me . That is always the challenge at the state level. It appears based on what i have read on the carrier level, this is the state initiative. Obviously president elect trump has a lot to say about it. Question raises the and have always said in the but thats not the world we live in. It raises questions in the future. Go. R Companies May come and it does open up a bit of a can of worms. Mary, a democrat is next. Thank you for taking my call. I was watching and they pretty much crucified at the guy who is running the v. A. I was driving home a few months after that. They were talking to the new director and he was saying that 1 guys cut their budget by million and they were having trouble staffing their hospital because they were leaving for this reason. I just want to know if that was true. Did you cut their budget by 1 billion and make it harder for people . I dont believe i was at that hearing. No, the da did not have its budget cut. , the the a had their budget increase by 10 . This year, 3 . Fact, the appropriations bill that we passed, we worked with andand his administration it was very close to what the ident no, the v. A. Did not have its budget cut. Host bill, a republican. Talkr you hear all this that we are going to update our seaports. The row lines are always complaining. My question is if people want this stuff the areas the. Acilities are located in , whense people want this will they become self sustainable . I lived out in a rural area. When i go to the gas station, i have to pay tax. Fairness to little the people who want this fancy stuff they will have to pay for it. I have a daughter in law who rides the train. Three times as much to drive into the city as it would to ride the train. It is just a question of fairness. If people want this stuff they want to pay for. Guest a comment on infrastructure. I think we would miss an enormous opportunity. I will give you an example. Bridges, we have a lot of structurally deficient bridges in the United States. Pennsylvania has more. We want to do infrastructure work. Difficult to get the spade in the dark to do the work. In any infrastructure reform i want process reform. If the bridges are structurally , can we not waived a lot of the federal rules . Remember when the bridge collapsed in minnesota. In 437idge was replaced days because we treated it as an emergency. That is how i think we should treat a lot of our bridges that are structurally deficient. Is, time is money. To the extent that we could shave a lot of time off the projects, we could get a lot more work done, rather than neverthis all up and ending process reviews. Criticismse of the is nothing was shovel ready. We saw a lot of routine maintenance projects. They put down the asphalt and did a lot of curb cuts. I saw a lot of work that was really not necessary, but that was the only thing they can do because the other projects were not ready to go. Host we will go to minnesota. Tim is there. You are on the air. That congressman is on a subcommittee and i wanted to know just how much of our money will go to the military next year. Our military is larger than all Major Industrial countries of the world combined. Towhere from 660 billion 800 billion are the last numbers i heard. Treasury 1 , labor 1 , science and math 1 , justice 2 , and so forth. Guest let me try to answer that. Military construction that i deal with is a relatively small portion of the overall Defense Budget. We spend over 600 billion a year on defense. It is a smaller piece of the Defense Budget. It is a very important piece, but it is a smaller piece. You mentioned that the Defense Budget represents over half of the Discretionary Spending of the United States. With as a member of Appropriations Committee that 1. 1 troy and dollars, a little over half of that goes to defense and the other half is nondefense. If your concern is how we are spending federal money, most of our money is being spent on entitlement programs. That is where most of our money is going. The percentage of defense spending has been the climbing over the years. 4 of gdpent almost on defense. Back in the 1960s, i suspect the number was closer to a percent. We do spend more than most countries. We have obvious responsibilities. Tot percentage is going continue to shrink relative to the rest of the budget. Host stephanie, a democrat. Caller i had a comment in a statement. That the lastus time the republicans held the house, senate, and the youidency that every time had a depression or recession. I can only hope that the democrats stand up and be trump. On is to mr. When you guys tend to givee, you up too much tax cuts which go into ato depression or recession. Let him respond. Think the only time in where they control both the house and senate is during the Bush Administration so that im not sure where you are getting your information from. We have problems to solve in this country. It is going to require collaboration. No party can get everything at once. We have a United States senate. You need 60 votes to determine a bathroom break. 52 republicans, 48 democrats. We will need at least a eight democrats to pass something in the senate. Lets keep that in mind that there will always be some collaboration. Said, most things you will 60 person vote. You cant always expect always expect agree on republicans to agree on anything. In any major change, we need by sparks and bipartisan agreement. Victory rallies across the country. First stop is today in cincinnati, ohio. We will be covering that on cspan. Org, cspan2, or the cspan radio app. His first stop will be at the carrier plant were 1000 jobs were saved. Congressmen come always good to have you. Thank you very much. Guest thank you. Aids day. Y is world we will be joined by dr. Deborah birx. Earlier this week, the center for Global Development held a discussion between the u. S. Relief andd the aids how it will support other countries efforts to fight aids. To achieving strengthen the longterm sustainability. We are well aware of the need for more resources. By some estimates, per annual spending will need to decrease by almost 40 . In an environment of plateauing donor resources, partnering countries will need to take part in an increase in responsibilities. It is also more important to maximize the effort of every dollar. Finance industry has a ministry as a key role to play. The donors have been channeled through ministry and other government organizations. Finance ministry and Health Ministries often do not speak the same which could inhibit effective collaboration. Given the current finance environment and the finance ministries role, it is important that these organizations collaborate. In doing so, they will maximize value for money and in the hiv response. Central to these efforts will be to overcome challenges around Public Financial Management systems. In many cases, this requires strengthening the management Source Systems with a non developing robust budget execution systems. Strengthening Human Capacity and linking the systems to systemwide improvements. Washington journal continues. Dr. Deborah table, birx who is the u. S. Global aids coordinator. It is world aids day. Tell our viewers why it is important to have this day. Guest it allows us to reflect on the epidemic, where we are, where we have been, who we have and have not served and look at our progress and also a time to remember those who we have lost. Prevent losing others. If you look in the United States, more than one point 2 Million People 1. 2 Million People are living with it. 2005 22014, the annual number of new hiv diagnoses decline 19 . Heterosexual contact accounted for 24 . Where are we with a fight . Guest i think that is a critical question. It,ss you are on top of every minute and every day, you get behind the epidemic and once , itget behind the epidemic ensures we are putting resources be. E the epidemic needs to sanlook at the history of francisco and oakland. They are talking about new infections being less than 100, less than 90, they intend to get to zero. You look across at oakland. Do your programs reach them . Do you have the right message . Host what is the difference between the two programs, those two cities . It is stark where everyone has focus. Veryw the mayor is dedicated to the issue there. It started to expand to a group or we do not have focused activity. Now they are having a huge impact and continue to have a great impact. San francisco, new york, were ground zero 30 years ago. Getting the information from oakland has been key. When you look at washington dc washington, d. C. , 10 years ago some of the prevalence here was higher than many countries community,but the the government, the mayor and all the resources together really said had we people get diagnosed and get them on treatment . In incidence have plummeted the city. There are effective programs. It is taking it from paper to action. Host what are the federal programs . How much do they cost . We have two rumor the local Community Groups that continue to work tirelessly against this epidemic. I think it helps that the churches are taking this on to ensure that everybody on sunday is aware of the risk of hiv and to be tested. Yes, there are federal and state dollars. Yes, we recently had brian white it takes everybody together and i think we never want to lose track that no federal or state program will be impact without money. Host how much . 15t somewhere between billion. Nd 20 the number continues to change depending on the cost of medication and access. It has been from the beginning a that wensive response need to have prevention, treatment, have the immunity, the state, the federal and whatt and science nih has done to provide us the tools has been extraordinary. Host where are you seeing increases in infections in the United States . Thet when you look across entire United States and you look across the south, that is where you see hotspots. We look for hotspots symmetrically and globally. It is areas where there is more transmission. Often areas where people dont know their status. No one is intentionally transmitting the fires. When you first get infected, you are healthy and you stay healthy for a long. Of time. When you talk about motivating a 16 euros or 17 wrote to activate with the in iraq with the health system, that is not really something for their every day life. Those messages have to evolve from talking to a 30yearold down to talking to a 60yearold. What is the president s emergency plan for aids relief so far . Is an Amazing Program Congress Really took this up lee, senatorra frist, senator kerry, and president bush historically for the First Time Ever in history and the world stood up and said we are going to invest to say peoples life around the globe. That has now fastforward 13 years because it is the first time we show data that we are beginning to control the epidemic. And weay 13 years continue to save lives, but now we have the impact data that says those investments brought us to a place where we are actually changing the very trajectory of this epidemic and are medically decreasing it. At how much has decreased, over 50 . In what countries are you talking about . In what countries are you talking about . Sour and saharan africa, south america. Host we are showing our viewers a map of the socalled hotspots that you were referring to. Of an aidses a goal Free Generation by 2030. Host theres a goal of an aids Free Generation by 2030. Is it possible . These threes what surveys in the field were about. Needs work done at the community level. These were done at the community level. Looking at the community level, what services are being provided and are those services and having an impact . We have the evidence. We have the scientific evidence. We have all of the Clinical Trials that nih has supported that says if you do this, you can have an aids Free Generation. Going from there to and permitting these programs in a full country is quite extraordinary. Now we are showing for the first time that it is changing the course of a pandemic. So, yes we can. We need to continue to focus our resources. Every day we get up are we changing the dollars we need to . You change the people, locations everyday. Otherwise you can get behind. This is a virus that spreads quietly and that really takes programs that are comprehensive. Host if our viewers have questions about the virus, about the science, about the effort to combat it, we invite you to call in. We have the ambassador and dr. Deborah birx to take your questions. Hi there. Er the governor, he cut that off. Talk about indian and the role that planned parenthood plays. Ande are clinics everywhere altogether i think communities are being served in different ways and i think we dont prescribe or tell how states should actually implement these programs because they are more effective they are the local they are to the community. I dont know this specific case, but we know through our advocacy that if people were not being served, we would know immediately. Host do you see in infections go up . With people dont stop medication. 86 91 that is extraordinary that people have that level of dedication. Host what is the medication . Guest it is a combination of different types of drugs that inhibit the virus. Or they can keep the virus from binding to yourself. They all work into a complementary way. We have a combination of three drugs in africa that costs less than 100 a year. They have been extraordinarily accepted by those in the u. S. Every time we had a new drug we want to make sure that everyone of our clients had access because it was such a it wasting time because a tragedy to have people 20 years old and 30 euros dying. Euros 30 year old dying. They have much more durability to the first line drugs than many developed worlds. Colorado. S go to independent, youre next. Ive been in the hiv for prevention business years. We have noticed that a definite machines ondo andom machines in the u. S. Offshore. I have not heard from the u. N. Or planned parenthood for quite a while. Youuld like to work with and i am on the web. You can go to condomm achines. Com. Agot we launched two years what we call dreams. It provides a program of prevention that is meeting the needs of a young woman where the young woman is add responding to her specific issues. Doms are part of that and we continue to provide them at a very high level. In fact, we have increased. They are part of that. We havemake sure to know that people need to understand half the risk of hiv and sometimes 1524yearolds believe they dont have a risk. When a disease moves into a 1520 it is our job to make sure that people understand how this epidemic is moving and the United States it has moved into young men of color. And throughout the world, particularly Subsaharan Africa it has moved into young women who did not perceive themselves at risk. These are the things you have to constantly Pay Attention to. Ist ambassador birx responsible for implementing the aidsemergency plan for relief. It started under george w. Bush. As he told our viewers, the results you have seen the last 13 years you seen the results. An aides Free Generation by 2030. T goal and ibitious think what we have shown is achievable. It hashy do you think been successful so far . What has led to the reduction in numbers . Are threehink there components. One of them is utilizing data the granularon at level. We have results down to the site level. We have to know immediately are there certain areas where people are not being tested . We find incredibly innovative solutions. People in general are so humble and their new ideas, but what we definedn able to do is the areas of success and defined the areas that are lacking in success. Little bit like a starbucks store being open. Because no one likes cappuccinos or because they dont know about it . We have to look at why young men arent accessing treatment, what genders, age groups are we missing . Of an how you stay ahead epidemic and that they make programs effective so that every dollar goes to a highly impactful programs. Host what are your questions about the epidemic . Start calling now. How al, a democrat, youre next. Caller im a 54yearold white male. I have a modest income. What would be the best way for someone like me to give to this foundation and get involved because i have kids and grandkids coming up and im going to try to really educate them on it, but i would really cause. Help support the thank you for your work. You. thank is. Is what pep far really we are deeply grateful to you,. He American Congress i think that represents the best of all of us and what you just said represents the best of all of us. The best thing you can do is what you talked about which is educating your children and grandchildren. Thank you for your compassion being this is from arvind rollers could the difference is from the color of ones skin. Would you agree with that . Guest i think it is an interesting perception. The fact that someone does that see way means we have to how we are working. Until we look at ourselves and ourselves where we are providing services and saying our our service is open to everyone . I think the other piece that has worried me about that tweet and around the world is are the church is helping . Are the black churches talking about hiv, aids . I think they are. We talk about the churches in africa and say are they reaching out to individuals every sunday morning and ensuring they have awareness of hiv and aids . How to keep from getting infected and getting tested. Stan, from connecticut. Thanks for holding. Like to know why you and the government helped spread the aids by allowing men andave sex with each other making it legal for samesex marriage. You give aids to spread across the country by doing that. Host lets get a response. Guest i think we have to be aware of the data for it that is what it is so important. When you start to look at the ofa, we talked about how 25 spread. It is spread in prison. If you look around the globe, the primary mode and risk of spreading hiv, aids is heterosexual couples. Be very careful that we dont use language that further drives people away from services and keeps them out of the Health Care System when we need them to Access Services and become tested. Heres a question from jim on twitter. Given the difficulty of crating a vaccine, what is the current status . You for mentioning vaccines. There are two things that the community is working on. One is a cure and that is exciting and theyre making progress every day and the other is hiv vaccines. They that is the world came out of about 1015 years ago. Theres a really critical trial and it is being launched. It will be a critical trial and i believe that we will have a vaccine. I hope we have a vaccine in the. Id20 20s control theble to epidemic, but we will not be able to end it. We are talking about 30 79 withe living and thriving it. They stopped the medication, they can transmit the virus. We have to make sure we have a vaccine that is protective of all the rest of the individuals while we work on prevention. We are excited about the progress and we will be very excited about this trial result. On hiv,. Birx, focusing aids research. Assistant chief of the hospital at walter reed, director of the u. S. Military hiv research program, rose to rank of colonel at that time. And then, the director of cdcs global directive of aids, led to the Ample Mission of pep far program around the world. Why did you start this work . Host when i started in medicine, i was trying to decide what i wanted to do and i was so intrigued by the immune system because it seems like everything came to that whether the information that led to cardiovascular disease, the autoimmunity, and all those issues came down to immunology. In the middle of setting nology, i got a call about haitians coming to walter reed. I met young soldiers in their late 20s, dying where their immune system had collapsed. In talking to those patients, they knew they were dying, yet they stood up to say fight for the ones behind us because why there might not be anything for us, please ensure there is something for those behind us. I have never seen that in medicine. I felt so disempowered and they were so empowering because they believe if we work hard and got a scientific breakthrough, we could make a difference in the future and i think that level of unbelievable selflessness to be concerned about the others, was so inspiring that everyday i remembered their faces and i remember d sector i made and their only request to meet was help those who are behind me. Lets go to jason, a democrat. Caller i have a question and comment. I would say that the Affordable Care act says that no one can be turned away for a preexisting condition. I would like to know if aids and cancer and those diseases are covered. Also, there was a guy who got control of the eight still that cost about it in dollars and he 1000 ahe price to like pill. How can we combat that . States beforeted pep far was created very seriously responded to the epidemic and insured everyone had access. The ryan white act representedte what some of our problems were. He was discriminated against everyday. He wasnt allowed to go to school. He wasnt allowed to go into grocery stores. People shunned him because he got aids. Philia who asked when he asked when he wag he asked that we do not discriminate against each other. He called for the lifesaving treatment of everyone. Those are all safety nuts to accessthat everyone has to the lifesaving drugs they need and is also available to aca so there are safety nuts below safety nets for hiv in the United States. It has always been that way. What are the cost of drugs for someone who is using them to prevent aids . That is a difficult question because in the United States where we have had different commendations to combat that is a difficult question because in the united resistance, the drugs in the United States cost much more. Africausing drugs in that were available in 1996 and those drugs have been to 91 the cost longer of the United States is different because they have had to go under new therapies. We have not seen the same thing. Host robert, republican from illinois. If you are going to a different country and you go to do youcountries take a blood test for hiv . Guest i didnt get to talk about how Much Technology has it hasd and how much been made affordable to us to utilize around the globe. Hadthe last decade, we have what we call rapid tests. In lessiagnose someone than five minutes to matter where they are in the world and now we are working on a new confidence where people can test in their household and then come to the clinic to receive lifesaving treatment. All of those options are available. I think the aids, hiv field has really benefited to Companies Working together to bring to the field new technology that helps. S year, pep far tested 75 million individuals all with the rapid tests. To do 75 million tests, that is an enormous amount of commodities and supplies. Host tony, independent. I think it is rational problem iids think many times you want to ve a problem you have to the history of aids has not been discussed so far. One thing i noticed was that in 1974, henry singer released [indiscernible] a call to reduce the african population and then in 1975, 314,dent ford signed implicating henry kissinger. Guest thank you for bringing up the history of aids. Hiv has been that a norm asleep study. We have blood samples going back decades. Im glad he talked about the history of aids and where the virus came from because like it is a virus that came from animals and adapted to humans. The is what ebola does, hi hiv does. Hiv is one of those viruses that jump from primates to humans. Humans that were involved in bushmeat harvesting in the rain forests of cameroon. They were constantly exposed to blood from primates. When you use machetes and you have cuts on your arms, it was transmitted from primates to humans and adapted. Hiv it is our to really look for those viruses and predict prevent that jump or when it does happen find it quickly. Rapidly. Ls patients it was silently spreading before we recognize it because people with lifespans with hiv without treatment is 911 years. Without anyonead knowing about it for decades. Shirley, south boston, democrat. Im calling because the caller previously touch on my question of origin. It back in the 1970s when i was in the health care profession, i noticed that gay pride parades in your city. A lot of people of color in those parades and she keeps talking about africa. I dont feel that this disease started in africa. It started to me in new york with unprotected sex with white, gay males. Host i have to leave it there because we are running out of time. Guest this is why it is important to look across the history of the epidemic and understand epidemiology. You point out a very important concept and perception because we only see what is around us. When we see what is around us, we make assumptions about how the virus came and how the virus transmitted. Yet, that isnt consistent with all of the data we have now, what we call the epidemiology and the evidence and how the virus spread. Go back to the data because that is where we have to ground ourselves because that is how we combat diseases. How we ensure that everybody who is hivpositive to getting adequate treatment and ensure we prevent new infections. Host what about scientists vanquishing the patient bureau myth . Guest exactly. Data continues to evolve. This virus has been sequenced in great detail. Each time it is spread in each time it replicates in your body, it is a little bit different and you can use that to map where the epidemic has been and where it is going. More questions on ar. Gov. U can go to pepf thank you for your time. Guest thank you. That does it for washington journal. Mike bost to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. Signed, paul d. Ryan, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the order of the house of january 6, 2015, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour ebate