george zimmerman verdict. send us a tweet, if you go to twitter.com/cspanwj. we want to get your thoughts on the implications of the zimmerman verdict. here is what president obama had to say in a statement he put out yesterday on the zimmerman verdict. he said -- "the new york times editorial" weighs in this morning -- what are your thoughts on this? stand your ground law, should they be debated and revised? , where the verdict took place, this is "the miami herald." larry in hernando, mississippi, a democratic caller, you are first up. people like him are judge, jury, and executioner. , do youder these laws think that gives people like george zimmerman the power of judge and jury? -- and and exited executioner. that law should be repealed. he killed that boy. there is no doubt about that. it is just a crying shame. a kid going to the store should not die like that. host: jonah from the nashville, tennessee. this law is a recipe for civilians who are not trained in law enforcement to become law enforcement. it is ridiculous. trained toliceman know when to take action. and yet you are putting guns into the hands of untrained civilians like george zimmerman. then you have people with mental health and other problems and the people who are against gun control do not want these people to be restricted from having guns. that means any civilian is trayvon martin. it is not matter if you are black and white. african americans are more likely to be targeted that you have to believe that anyone with a grudge, including a woman who , if she decided to defend herself on this law her rapist could say he is standing his ground and killing her. host: we will go to richard in mount vernon, new york. caller: the stand your ground -- he wasoo long ago black and his victim was white. nobody complained. the problem is the construction of the situation. mr. zimmerman is not white. hisfather is white but mother is spanish. were darker iton might not have been a problem. there have been a lash of break- ins in florida. here is a guy who is a neighborhood watch man. what else is he supposed to do? we are not saying it is right. could have gone back door. host: what about the "stand your ground" part of this? nobody made a complaint about it. it does need to be changed. i agree with that. this is from reuters. have stand your ground laws. the bright orange states are unlimited, 24 states with unlimited stand your ground laws. no duty to retreat regardless of where an attack occurs. the lighter orange states are somewhat limited, that is seven states. it extends to places outside the home such as a vehicle or place of business. the lighter orange states, seven of them, have a limited "stand your ground" laws. we are getting your take on these laws from the zimmerman verdict. "the new york times" announced this piece -- scan in florida, democratic caller. i am 12 miles from fort lauderdale. host: so what do you make of all this? caller: the stand your ground -- it is a matter of intelligence. when a man with a nine millimeter in a car follow someone with two flashlights, startingf the car, the concentration, and then starting they -- confrontation, and then shoots the guy, it is a one-sided decision. "the new york times" said it that because of the stand your ground laws the could not make an arrest. once you know the facts, he admitted it. it is on tape that he followed the guy. he looked at the guy and said he was no good. what are you going to do in the dark? follow someone in the dark and see what they do. it is unbelievable that this country can put up with that kind of, it is unbelievable. go to virginia, a republican caller. you are on the air. caller: i believe that you should be able to defend yourself. i think that george zimmerman did exactly what he had to do. what really started this whole -- especially people that not -- that have the skin are upset about way this is per trade since the beginning. they portrayed trayvon mar -- portrayed trayvon martin as this kid. george zimmerman was literally being beaten. at does not matter. they say the cuts were small. he had lumps on his head. anybody who has ever been hit in the head knows that when you get lumps in your head that is pretty serious. is a tragedy but i think it was the way that it was played out, acting like it was h small , a preadolescent skipping school and eating skittles. host: what about the stand your ground laws? caller: it is a dangerous time. if i go camping or if i am in a car by myself, i will definitely get myself a gun. it is a dangerous place. there are people robbing people. those two black kids -- it is not the black kids. that is all garbage. there is a lot of racism. i think this kid, trayvon, absolutely hated white people. " calling peoplecrackers. -- calling people "crackers." this is on the "huffington post" website. also from the "huffington post" from in may this year -- that is a little bit about the civil rights commission and their vote in may of this year to investigate these stand your ground laws and whether or not there is a racial bias in them. in georgia,o paul independent caller. hello. caller: you look in eyes this, greta. -- you look nice this morning, greta. i live in a right to work. this is all from the horses mouth. remember when occupy was coming to georgia and the unions were on the streets? wehad a meeting up there -- don't mind if people come down here and do stuff. host: i am going to get you back on topic, what do you think about the stand your ground laws? were waiting on a black to be killed by a white. they hated. they harass you and in your front car. host: i am not understanding the link between stand your ground and unions. caller: that is what they want to get rid of. you want to hassle people. we don't allow stuff like that. i could stand my ground so long as you're talking about about something nice. if you are owing to mess with me -- host: donna from henderson, nevada. whenr: george zimmerman, he was first profiled, and this -- ofase of roe filing he said he saw a young man that looked suspicious. he first had the opportunity to walk away from the threat. he stand your ground laws should for you totunity protect yourself, not for you to place yourself in harms way. he then sought out the advice from the authority through a 911 call. the young man is on foot. he was then told to not approach the suspicious person. thehen disregarded instructions of the police department and pursued the threat. -- stand your ground laws should not give people the right to pursue and put themselves in deep position -- in the position to be in the way of a threat. that is like a woman chasing and then the man attacks her and wants to know why she was attacked. man could have saved both of their lives that night. him,y by not pursuing staying in his car, and going home, and allowing the proper authorities to check trayvon out. a young man is dead. -year-old is being treated like he is 12 years old, what does that have to do with anything? she does not know who trayvon is. someone of thee , thee of a thought or punk same as saying george zimmerman is racist and hates black people. we are getting your tweets and e-mails on the zimmerman verdict. .e want to get some other news all 100 senators are invited to a closed-door meeting in the old senate chamber to stalk about -- to talk about changing senate rules, possibly invoking the nuclear option. harry reid says we are heading that direction. congressional reporter is joining us on the phone to talk about this. guest: on the agenda? it originated from senator mcconnell's office. we have not gotten an agenda yet. i do not think we will see one yet. i think it will be an opportunity for everyone to clear their minds and possibly some sort of gang of ask members to stop the senate from pursuing a nuclear option. we will see if there is a group trying to pursue some sort of compromise. host: the last time this was talked about when the republicans controlled the senate in 2005 there was a gang of 14 that came up with a compromise proposal. is there a gang in works right now you go caller: not that i am aware of -- gang in works right now? caller: not that i am aware of. it is important to remember just sixame out months ago, carl levin and john mccain negotiated a compromise that some people have been derisively referring to as a gentleman's agreement because they do not believe it helped that function at all. host: what was that agreement? caller: some minor rules changes and a gentleman's agreement between reid and mcconnell. rita said he would not go forward with the nuclear option and mcconnell said he would work cooperatively with the majority process nominations and now each of them are saying the other has gone back on their words and they don't know if they can trust them anymore. harry reid want to do? how does he want to change senate rules? caller: he wants to make it easier to confirm president barack obama's executive nominees. that are specific nominees are controversy oh, especially those from the national relations labor board. republicans do not want to touch them right now. there is also the department of labor export and import bank that are the other nominees the majority is trying to get through. host: some report that republicans already have said let us move forward on these nominees. is the issue not resolved yet go caller: -- not resolve the echo caller: -- not resolved? not resolved. mcconnell made a counter offer -- that is really the sticking point. that could actually defuse the entire drama. host: how does this all work? they meet tonight and we will see what comes out of that meeting. if there is not a compromise and closer votes on some of how would the, senate majority leader put this on the books? caller: caller: he has been very cagey about this. basically what would happen is they would use a majority vote -- normally you have to have 67 senators to change the rule. there are constitutional options .o override that i guess that would happen as soon as the votes were to occur. we do not believe they would get enough support to move forward on these culture votes. harry reid may go to the nuclear option as soon as tomorrow morning. burgess everett with politico, thank you for your time this morning. we want to stay on this story with the so-called nuclear option and what might happen. he will show you what senate majority leader harry reid had to say on "meet the press." he was on that show as well as mitch minority leader mcconnell. we will start with harry reid and what he had to say, his argument for changing the senate rules. [video clip] >> a president, whether president obama, clinton, or bush, whoever is the president should have the people on their team that they want. the sky is falling. i have been a leader for the same time as john smith. airing the -- during the time that he was there, one filibuster. during the time president obama has been president, 16 filibusters. during the history of this country there have only been 20. it 18 times, we did it just a year ago. . want everyone to hear this the changes we are making are very minimal. what we are doing is saying, listen american people, shouldn't president obama have somebody working for him that he wants? the 15 people that are pending? they have been waiting an average of nine months. harry reid making the case for changing senate rules. his counterpart, minority leader mitch mcconnell, had this to say on the same program. [video clip] >> we have an opportunity to pull back from the brink in this joint meeting. we are going to have a ball of senators and the old senate chamber. i hope we will come to the senses and not change the core of the senate. we have never changed the rules of the sent by breaking the rules of the senate in order to diminish the voices of individual senators. we should not start it now, particularly since every one of the president's nominees that would be subject to this rule change have been confirmed. that was the republican minority leader on "meet the press," making his case on why we should not be changing the senate will story of -- the senate rules. be talkingwill about it this morning at the center for american progress at 10:30 a.m. eastern time. we will have coverage of that here on c-span. back to our topic, the zimmerman verdict and stand your ground loss, what are your thoughts on this? valletta co-had a piece that that ranut the 12 -- in may 2012. it says -- chuck in tampa, florida, a democrat, what are your thoughts yet go -- what are your thoughts? i like the law. have a loaded gun when you are tracking somebody echo he was not the treating -- tracking somebody? he was not retreating. host: lauren in los angeles. important to stick to the facts in this case. we have a tragic situation here. one of the callers said when the authorities advised him that they do not need him to pursue the gentleman, he actually stopped pursuing him and was attacked when he was on his way back to his vehicle, and that is all we know. "stand your ground," it has been politicized at this point. not a "stand your ground" situation. mr. zimmerman was attacked by trayvon, he was getting beaten. this was a case of self-defense. that is why the council did not do stand your ground, because this is not that kind of situation. -- this has to do with racism. the fact that the president is commenting on a local trial that -- i aming to do flabbergasted that this happens in the united states. takes this one case in politicizes it into something it isn't. host: here is "the baltimore sun." caller: mr. zimmerman has a target on his back at this point. they did not want to bring charges because they did not have the evidence. they actually hijacked it, the police chief was fired. the feds are now stepping in. al sharpton, jesse jackson, they are out of business if they do not keep race an issue. the idea of the federal government jumping in, from "the new york times," -- attorney general eric holder is expected to address this issue when he speaks tomorrow in orlando to the naacp. in virginia, floyd republican caller. hello. caller: i think the stand your ground law is a good thing. been on that jury -- i believe he was not guilty. is tryingr president to start a race war here in the united states. to black menently -- they rapedman a white woman. you do not hear anything about that. think eric holder is pushing for a race war. democratic caller from new york. chris, you are on the air. talking about us that 16-year-old -- he goes out by himself to get soda. that not have time everybody making comments that it is ok to stand your ground. it is not ok to just killed a 16-year-old. their life has not begun yet. you are willing to sacrifice your 16-year-old because this guy things that every 16-year-old is a criminal? an independent scholar from arkansas. caller: i agree with the person who just spoke. a 16-year-old kid, it was a tragic story. i think zimmerman is guilty of something, second-degree murder, i don't think. the police in florida are racist. i know for that of fact because i have lived there. there is a lot more in florida going on besides a boy killed by a white man. his: they have noted that mother is hispanic and his father is white. american think the people look at him as a white man and trayvon as a black boy. i think the defense did a good job making the zimmerman looking -- he did kill a boy, a young boy that had a beautiful life ahead of him. i feel sorry for both sets of parents. " has this piece on what is next -- that is in today's "usa today here cope he are asking your thoughts on the stand your ground laws. we will get back to your phone calls in a minute. let me get to other news. front page of "the new york times" this morning -- this link the piece this morning and arming the syrian rebels. the front page of "the washington post," -- this on the role that keith alexander has played as head of the nsa. the headline today of "usa today" -- this is in the politics of the nation session -- of the nation section of "the washington post ." in egypt, and th in the "washinn journal" -- page of "thefront washington times" this morning -- [captioning performed by national captioning institute] back to our topics about the zimmerman verdict. it democratic caller. hello. caller: thank you for the topic this morning. i just wanted to touch on one thing about this. i think it is a horrible law. if everybody just takes a chance to go to their computer, use google. there is a man named buddy jacobs on the federal council of the prosecutor attorney association. they are against this law. the conclusion is this law ought to be repealed. gang members and those dealing with drugs are out there shooting rifles. regarding george zimmerman. i have a 23-year-old. i think there is something wrong when a teenager comes out -- teenager goes out to a store and does not come out alive. virginia,e in independent scholar, hello. caller: good morning. i think the law is ridiculous. it gives irresponsible gun owners the right to take the law into their own hands. there is something fundamentally wrong with that. i used to carry a concealed will -- a concealed permit. it is too easy to pull out. i almost guarantee that if george did not have that weapon in his hand he probably would not have gone out the car and we would would not be having this discussion. host: what do you mean it is too easy? caller: it makes you braver than what you really are. host: and you caller: felt that way carrying the gun? caller:absolutely, and i stopped it. am i at the point where i need to start carrying it again? it is ridiculous. be thehat will have to final word on this this morning. coming up next we will talk withrohit chop -- with rohit chopra. later jack gerard will react to the president's climate agenda and the future of the keystone xl pipeline. we will be right back. lex earlier someone touched upon the idea that women could not really predict their role in entering into the white house. i did finally one political observer who commented at the 1860 election merri started with mr. lincoln when he was a poor young man and had no idea of being called to the presidency. i tried to lay out an educated guess that mary lincoln would not let something like human sacrifice come between her and her goal. she was a very determined woman. she did talk about mr. lincoln 's role of entering the white house. she was someone who was a true political partner. >> as we continue our conversation on first ladies we will hear from historians and authors, including catherine clinton about the role of the first lady and how it has changed with the nation. we are bullish on cable. obviously, initially it was video and over time it has .ecome broadband rolling out other services on top of that like home monitoring, it is home security plus. managing the thermostat, turning on your pool heater, there are new services beginning to roll out on that platform. >> we just issued an annual report. what we found was consistent with what we found in recent years, which is the average price that most people subscribe to continues to go up. it went up six percent in the last year. the price per channel has actually gone down in recent years. consumers are getting more channels and paying more for the package. whether that is good or bad, that is not our job of reporting on it. >> more from the cable industry on this year's cable show. tonight on c-span2. "washington journal" continues. host: we want to welcomerohit -- we want to welcome rohit chopra. we appreciate you coming on. a student loan situation, the rate has gone up in the senate and house is unable to come to some sort of deal. i want to take a step back on the whole student loan industry. we have known that student loan debt has reached $1 trillion. what is the impact right now on the overall economy? a lot of what we are talking about is next year's student loan interest rates. there is a bigger question of what we are going to do with the trillion dollars that is currently out there that go a lot of it is -- currently out there? we see it could be impacting people's ability to buy a home, qualify for mortgage, may be impacting people's ability to save for retirement, to start a small business. all of these pieces make actually have a drag on the .verall economy going forward if younger households are going to be part of a growing economy, student debt has to be part of that question. on the negotiations over the student loan rate, we are talking about all new student loans after the rate has gone up. the july 1 deadline has been met. from your office, what are you looking at for this? what does it mean for the consumer? it is a relatively small piece of the pie. is rate that has changed the subsidized federal loan rate. that subsidized rate is available for people who demonstrate financially in the effect between seven the lien to 10 million borrowers next year -- between 7 million to 10 million borrowers next year. the subsidized loan has zero percent interest while you are in's cool. a lot of what is being talked about is the rate that is being charged after you leave. the rate is something that impacts the amount of debt you have after graduation. it does not seem to be addressing the bigger problem, people goingare to be able to refinance or restructure their debt? the other take elephant in the room is college affordability. the underlying driver of so much of news student loan debt is the very high cost of college, which is effected by a number of things. are seeing is that many families really had to borrow much more or college because of the financial crisis and the resulting economic downturn. before, families were able to take out home equity loans, they were able to borrow against their retirement plans, they were able to use savings to fund the child's education. the crisis led to so many to facing unemployment. all of these things lead to people running up much more debt. host: we will talk about the overall cost of college in a little bit. focusing on this student loan 's greece, from your agency perspective, what do you feel is better for the student the senate democrats propose we keep the rate at what it is. and have countered with what we -- republicans have countered with what they see as a compromise. said let us goas forward with that idea. one thing that many borrowers are frustrated about is there inability to take advantage of today's historically low interest rates. we have seen interest rates on all sorts of credit products go down as the federal reserve has pushed its quantitative easing policy and market interest rates have gone down. student loan borrowers have not benefited from that. he margin between what the government borrows at the capital market and what is being charged to borrowers, at spread has really grown. wonder why the are not able to refinance student loans to lower rates. why are rates being charged outside of the metric of market rates? there is a growing sense that families and new student should be able to benefit from the broader interest market climate as well. on the other hand, if we look at a projection on what treasury notes will, what the prevailing rates will be over the long term, of course it raises the question as to how right -- how high those rates may be and what may be a contributor to high .ebt burden after graduation while the subsidized loan has no interest in school, the other to accrue interest and it could be a significant contributor to that burden. rohitwe are talking with chopra. explain what you do. when congress set up the consumer financial protection bureau and enacted financial reforms, they needed an office tot borrowers could go to get resolutions with their student loans, particularly their private student loans. so many borrowers took on private student loans, especially before the financial crisis. the standards were not the best and they are struggling with that day to day. they a tough economy. unlike federal loans that allow ,ou to restructure your debt private student loans do not have that option. we seek so many borrowers saying the same story. -- we see so many borrowers saying the same story. "i am having a tough time finding a job and i want to be able to restructure this that so that i can actually pay." host: is there anything you can do on an individual basis or do you take these complaints and look into the individual companies? , got: borrowers come to us to our website to file a complaint. we send those complaints to the company. often times the lender service is able to find an alternative payment plan. troublened the real people are having affording their student loan payments, particularly private student loans. to significant areas for exploration. one, how can people refinance their student loan's to take advantage of to date's lower rates and improve their credit profile? and how can borrowers in distress that are maybe under working or unemployed find a payment plan they can actually afford? if we can figure these things out we are going to see a large amounts of their monthly boat jets -- their monthly budgets to student loans rather than productive things such as starting a family or buying a mortgage. host: we are talking about student rates and college education. we have a fourth line for students ,202-585-3883. we want to hear from you and how much you have taken on. we will go to minute -- to minneapolis first. i have tons of questions. i am just going to focus on one or two. i have been hearing about the $1 trillion debt. i am curious, how much does it cost to run the department of education? student loan.r years ago i just assumed that the student loan would go away. they follow you. i have been working on paying it down. i have had a lot of interaction with colleagues in the department of education and talking with customer reps. i realize how fast it is. there are officers throughout the country and many in the this -- when i hear conversation about the student much itt i wonder how costs taxpayers to run the department of education. host: caller: your student loan is following you. caller:i am an older person. do you pay in your student loan? caller: i pay $100 per month. host: how long have you done that? he followed me over the years. a couple of years ago i just said i need to start paying it off. , i amat i am older almost 60, i am paying it now. that is not an unusual story. so many people who have student loan debts are not just younger households. there are people who have cosigned for their child's loans, people who took out debts later in life, and like the caller talked about it does not go away. when you default on a federal student loan the federal government is able to offset your tax refund, able to garnish your wages without a court order, and it is important that people do what they can to stay current on their student loans because it can have a real impact on your credit profile and your ability to get a loan. what we recommend to people that are struggling with their federal loans is to take advantage of the income-based repayment program, which allows you to cap your payments as a percentage of income. as the caller talked about, the department of education now administers the boca federal student loan oh grams. -- the bulk of federal student loan programs. the debate in washington is how much profit or subsidy should the student loan program be getting? you look at the figures based on the current market rates, the federal loan program actually generates a -- in government accounting, it generates a profit area people will be looking at how to balance the various equities between the deficit and the government's fiscal situation, as well as having affordable interest rates for borrowers. st.: mark is next from paul, minnesota, a student. go ahead. i'm still paying down my student loan from 20 years ago. one thing i wanted to ask you isut that is not well known have a daughter that tried to go to school but did not qualify for a loan. she only did up to a point. when you have a child that is 22 or 23 and they live on their own , are they considered a dependent under the student loan program? they do not qualify for very much student loan money. host: ok. ?r. chopra guest: the dependency status is a contributing factor in how much federal student loans they will be able to borrow. some families feel those limits to not allow them to cover the full cost of college and they -- parents need to take on loans. we do not want stones taking on too much debt. it has been difficult for families because of the rising cost of college. private lenders look at their models and they think about it carefully. twitter.have this on guest: the consumer financial protection bureau is the law of the land. we have a director currently in place. there is a lot of talk about the vote on confirming him. we are going to do our job. it is not just important for fpb.umers to have the c honest institutions are very supportive of what we're doing because we are making the marketplace more fair for them. they will not lose market share to those who may cut corners. twitter.have this on guest: there is a lot of questions about should the government be providing student loans? there is one important reason for doing that. for borrowers who do not have much economic means, they would not be able to get credit in the private market in some cases to go to college. there is some valid points and that should not be government -- the government should be thinking about how to fund higher education so it is not so out-of-control. there are a lot of forces that are causing tuition to rise. host: is that something your group will be looking at? havesort of power do you to go to colleges where to go to governments and say, it is too high? guest: we want to be able to educate consumers about how to make good choices. one thing we worked on is so many students have a tough time comparing financial aid offers. many people find out there acceptance letters and get lots of financial aid information. so much is fine print that is difficult to navigate. we work together to create a simple shopping sheet. it gives you clear information so you can make comparisons. how much is the tuition? what is the school giving me in terms of grants and scholarships? what is the other aid i qualify for? that allows borrowers to be able to see how much debt so they know what their monthly payment might be. and also what they will sacrifice. over 700 colleges have adopted this. more and more families need to shop and the good consumers. host: there is a new book coming out and what it means for students. riter refers to a loss decade when colleges were chasing high achieving students to snatch them from competitors and going deep into debt. host: did you inform students and parents about how colleges are spending the money that they receive? guest: i think that the department of education and others based on legislation do publish lists about some of these high tuition schools. we're trying to make sure students and families have information's so they can make good decisions. we have to remember most students attend public colleges. two-year community colleges and state universities. it is not entirely commonplace for the schools to have some of the things that you talked about. there are a lot of forces that have been driving up student loan debt. many people look at the state support of higher education and that is not kept up. we need to look at the state of family budgets. ledfinancial crisis families not being able to afford the cost of college and leaving their dependent children to borrow much more. as we start seeing the housing eal, hopefully these things will happen, that families will be more prepared to invest in their child's education and maybe they will lead to more of a slowdown in the big annual origination number of student loan debt, which have topped $100 billion each year. debt at graduation has grown by over 50%. it is around $27,000 now. many people think that number will be a problem for all of us. host: we are talking with rohit chopra, the assistant director of consumer financial protection bureau. we are talking about student loans and congress unable to come up with some kind of deal yet on the student loan rate. here is a story from cbs that says those working on a compromise deal went back to the bargaining table last week. their legislation would cost much more than they expected. i think the price tag was $22 billion. we have a tweet from boring file clerk. caller., attending a community college. as soon as i transferred to a i need touniversity, file for myself. two questions.ou that congress can still make a deal for student loan rates in order for the rights to go down? deadlinee be another for student loan rates to go up? if it is, when is it and how can congress make a deal this time? thank you. discussed ifave there is some movement or deal to change interest rates, they may be able to do it on a retroactive basis. the student loan interest rates on the subsidized loans are .% 0% while in school. think the important thing here is that college cost is an underlying driver. questioning is college worth it? we need to make sure that it is. you have to choose the right program that is a good value for you. if we look at the r statistics on college graduates, they have much lower unemployment rates and they earn more over the course of their lifetime. there is a college wage premium. people who go to college generally make more. the gap between college graduates and noncollege graduates is growing. that is mostly explained that noncollege graduate wages have fallen. inflation,t it for college graduates have had flat or slightly declining wages over the past 10 years. it is more important than ever to go to college. it is leading to higher debt loads and that means more risk. people should think about how much they want to borrow. from we have a tweet laura. guest: there is some mixed evidence on this. we have not been able to show a causal relationship between credit availability and tuition. see is that you there has been a large growth over the past 15 years or so in profit sector compared to a community college. many people believe loan programs may help accelerate their growth. people are worried that ordinary market forces might not be at play. that is something we need to look at holistically. are people finding programs and getting some real return out of that. twitter.have this on guest: this is an interesting question. many people say, "oh, is this going to be like the subprime mortgage crisis?" what we see is that it does not pose that kind of financial risk. when you default on a student loan, unlike credit card or other credit products, the government has extraordinary collection tools to get paid back. they can garnish your wages without a court order. they can offset your tax refund. you cannot restructure this debt in bankruptcy. it really does stay with you. collect ament does lot of that money even when you default. the issue is not whether it is going to cause a stress for banks. is it going to cause a drag on economic growth? have studentholds d are they going to be able to participate in the economy? there are record low interest rates. so many people are not able to refinance their debt. host: larry has been waiting in mississippi. caller: good morning. host: you're on the air. caller: thank you for taking my call. who isa daughter approaching 40 years old now. a junior college at first for monetary reasons. then she had to take out a loan to go to a four-year college. she finally got her loan paid off. i have seen traffic on the internet. a kind of disturbs me. have kids with student loans and those student loans have been forgiven. i saw it on the internet. i got it from several of my friends. i do not know if it is true. guest: there have been some e- mails that members of congress and their families and staff do not have to repay their student loans. that is not true. employees who work for school districts, local governments, state agencies are able to take advantage of certain public service loan forgiveness programs. there are additional programs available for teachers, certain nurses, and members of the military. there are those forgiveness programs that can help a little bit. it is not true that members of their families do need to repay their student loans. host: we have a tweet. for is your budget overall activities dealing with student loans? guest: we think about our activities not just by product or individual financial institutions. we have overall functions to make sure the market is working. --those dodd law frank responsibilities for the large banks have transferred to the cfpd. and other banking regulator was disbanded as part of dodd frank. we have the supervision group. we have and enforcement group. we have a consumer education group. abouty of the issues are educating consumers so they can make good decisions. our budget is set by congress and is capped in law. we make sure we are composting all of the functions that i just outlined and to make sure the market is working. emergingay ahead of problems if we do it right. the subprime mortgage crisis had a lot of clues early on. a lot of the issues we face in student loans, the clues are right now. we are able to monitor these markets and talk to policymakers and make sure the law is being followed. host: where is your agency located? floor we started on one at a sublet space with the treasury and we have moved to a building near the treasury and the white house on g street. host: who do you report to? the comptroller of the currency and the federal reserve, the fdic. we are an independent agency. our leadership is nominated by the president. banking regulators have been independent to make sure there is a steady hand that is not changing based on the current political winds. online for republicans, john from connecticut. son -- my host: you are breaking up? caller: he attended a private school in virginia. loans.student [indiscernible] new york group. host: i apologize. we are having a hard time hearing you. let me put you on hold. cincinnati, ohio, barry. caller: how are you? good morning. i have a question about my student loan. i graduated with a masters in education. i have about $60,000 in private student loans. state that you said that agencies, if you work for a state agency, you have some of your loan forgiven. i work for the university of cincinnati. i wonder if i qualify for any loan forgiveness. guest: the programs are generally only for federal student loans. private student loans generally do not have the options for forgiveness are getting a new payment plan. so many borrowers are just like your situation. they are trying to pay off that debt. often they are in jobs that may be good for society but aren't the most lucrative and are trying to figure out how to make ends meet. the ability to be able to refinance that debt to a lower rate or to restructure that that into a payment that people can't afford is something that people have to think through. the underlying cost of college and what to do about the existing trillions. congress has been focused on the interest rates on a relatively narrow slice of the pie. this will affect between 7 million and 10 million borrowers. , they expectd loan between 7 million and 10 million borrowers. there are over 40 million student loan borrowers who have debt.1 trillion in so many people who graduated around the time of the financial crisis took on private student loans and maybe they do not exhaust their federal loan options. those loans are very different. host: than me show our viewers the current student loan interest rates. we have a tweet from matt smith. guest: that is a huge part of something that maybe the public has not realize. does notnt program require a large subsidy. officegressional budget cites the subsidy as negative. it is something that is tricky for members of congress. many of them want to make sure that college is affordable and that people can leave with a reasonable amount of debt. there are other issues that they are dealing with. many people wonder whether that big spread between the current interest rate and what the government is borrowing, it is almost at a historical high. from "thee is a piece "the washington post." host: it doesn't mean it is looking at losses. there are losses for the government. guest: look at the loans that default. the congressional budget office estimates those loans will collect around $.80 on the dollar. for certain loans, they will collect far more than a dollar for each loan. that is not to say this does not consider the telegram --pell or other programs the government invests in. the administrative costs are separately accounted for. it is difficult to compare this we wouldinary way think about profits and losses. host: that $51 billion profit that was cited is not necessarily the number. guest: it is the number in terms of government budgets. act,ay the credit reform this is the way that government accounts for loan programs. which isnal program ,assed in the mid-1960's the government used to show it as an expenditure the year that it was put out. time.ould recoup it over congress used a guarantee program. they had mostly banks issue loans and they would simply guarantee it. many people thought that did not show the cost either. so later they would change that law so that all "profits or losses" --you need to account for it in the year of the loan is made. host: adam is a student in bloomington. caller: good morning. i am a student and i work. [indiscernible] you have to be knowledgeable in this economy. it seems to me we need to incentivize people to go to school. [indiscernible] host: ok. adam breaking up terribly. i think we got the gist of that call. guest: we have to figure out ways to provide incentives for people to go to college. the searcher would suggest that higher skilled workforce is better for the local competition. that is the strange catch 22. it is more important than ever to go to college. the roomf the cost, for error of not graduating is pretty slim. there does need to be a counter has -- a comprehensive look at it. if there's not a change to the interest rates and as congress act, at reauthorizing the they take a hard look at the entire structure and not just the interest rates but everything from college affordability to other people can restructure their existing debt to the right type of rate structure. how can people take advantage of low market rates well still not having a payment shock? it is a comprehensive look that needs to happen. host: kevin in new jersey. caller: yes. my son is a senior. i am a single dad. how is hefind out going to apply to college without a four-year scholarship and do the things he needs to do with the student loan situation. whatnot even abreast of you guys are talking about. what area of information would i go to to find this out? guest: great question. so many people are struggling with the same question. we have anance.gov, whole module devoted to paying for college. how youps you navigate might be able to compare different colleges, see what the costs might be and see how much scholarships you might qualify when you apply. how to apply for student aid including pell grants and student loans. would tell you how you can navigate between federal loans and private loans. so many people find this system complex and confusing. we need to do our part to make it simpler. no one should be afraid of the system. there are resources to help walk people through it. job to to do a better make it easy to navigate. it should not be a gamble. it should be a decision you make with your clear had. you soohit chopra, thank much for talking with our viewers. we turn our attention to the climate change agenda with jack gerard, the president of american petroleum institute. the u.s.hn sopko, special inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction. he will explain a waste of the taxpayers money. but first a news update from c- span radio. leaks --n the an essay nsa leaks.e an essa the information would allow someone who read them to evade the surveillance. mr. snowden has insisted the documents not be published because the information could harm the u.s. government. lawyers are preparing arguments on whether bradley manning should be acquitted of some of the charges due to a lack of incriminating evidence. the judge will hear defense and government arguments this afternoon. cruz isan senator ted heading to new hampshire as part of a summer swing on the presidential calendar. senator isn scheduled to headline an august the republicanor party. the trip represents his first visit to new hampshire. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. theye are bullish on cable. have multiple services. obviously, initially it was video and over time it has voice.broadband.but also rolling out other services on top of that like home monitoring, it is home security plus.it could be things like managing the thermostat, turning on your pool heater, there are new services beginning to roll out on that platform. >> we just issued an annual report. what we found was consistent with what we found in recent years, which is the average price that most people subscribe to continues to go up. it went up 6% in the last year. the price per channel has actually gone down in recent years.what we see are consumers are getting more channels and paying more for the package. whether that is good or bad, that is not our job of reporting on it. >> more from the cable industry on this year's cable show. tonight on c-span2. continues.journal" host: jack gerard its back at our table. i want to get your reaction to the president's recent speech on climate change. we'll see what you have to say. [video clip] beour energy strategy must about more than just producing more oil and about building just one pipeline. been a lot ofas controversy surrounding the proposal to build a pipeline, the keystone pipeline. the state department is going through the final stage of a proposal. that is how it has always been done. allowing the keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our nation's interest. our national interest will be served only if this project does not exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution. the net effects -- [applause] our climate would be critical to determining whether this project is allowed to go forth. host: your reaction when you heard that. guest: he talks about the environmental impact of the keystone xl pipeline. this is the fourth environmental review that has taken place on the pop line. everyone one of them has answered the president's question. there is no significant impact to the environment as a result of building the keystone xl pipeline. on iscond part he touches that of the national interest. the president has to make a determination. is the keystone xl pipeline in our national interest? oil right here in the united states. we believe it is in the national interest. this was a fourth review that said there is no significant impact to the government --to the country. host: the epa was critical of it. from julyngton post" 10 -- a letter has been sent to the state department. they say the analysis was fundamentally flawed. guest: what they are saying is they are trying to change the standard. comprehensivees a review. there have been four of them. every one of them has concluded the same thing. there will be critics out there. there is a small group in our society who do not want any oil or natural gas production. those are some of the sharpest he keystoneng t xl pipeline. what is in our best national interest? high oilhave record production in the united states. canada is our number one trading partner in terms of oil and natural gas. facts,u look at the there is no significant environmental impact as a result of building the pipeline. this pipeline will bring a lot of u.s. production down to the gulf coast for refinery. it is much more important than just the canadian equation. the: can you speak to international consulting firm? this firm is a member of the andican petroleum institute has worked as a subcontractor on the proposed alaskan pipeline project. the state department hired this firm to write its report on the pop line. guest: this is a red herring argument. the state department hired the best in the business in terms of those who understand oil and natural gas. they brought them in as a consultant. how might this impact commerce and energy equations? consult with the government all the time as well. this isn't new to have experts. it is quite likely a doctor belongs to his local medical association. tois a form of credentialing make sure these people that are given advice are the experts and the best in class in making these determinations. suggestions that there is a conflict, the state department made an informed judgment and hired them because they are experts in their field. host: environmental groups are rallying for a decision by the president. talk about the campaign ad. guest: we are doing and educational outreach and talking about all those who support the building of the keystone xl pipeline. everybody from president clinton, resident bush -- president bush, organized labor. this is not a partisan issue. this goes back to the president's's statement on gases.ouse classes -- overll continue to provide 50% of that energy. we remind people there is broad t.pport for i build the keystone pipeline. reliable it makes for energy for all consumers. host: there was a recent opinion piece in "the washington times" that said the president will not approve and because warren buffett has a large stake in the railroad industry. the piece made that connection. you are saying warren buffett is for the pipeline. guest: he said this makes good economic and good energy sense to fulfill on the strategy. people on bothof sides of the aisle who have supported the keystone pipeline. we are just highlighting a few. that handful of shrill critics, they are a small group of critics. they have a right to be vocal. what is it going to take to fuel our economy and make us energy secure as a nation? host: will will the role be of railroads if the pipeline is approved? how does it work now and how would that change with the pipeline? 180,000e have over miles of pipeline in the united states today. the president has not approved the keystone xl pipeline. we are seeing more activity moved to rail traffic. the amount of product of crude oil we move by rail has gone up 178%. we need all forms of transportation. efficient, just like the keystone xl pipeline. we have demonstrated that is a great way to move this product. host: we will get our viewers involved. bob is a democratic caller. caller: i would like to ask the gentleman there. no one has talked about that corn that they buy and make into gasoline. the regulararge gasoline prices. explained that corn they are putting in gasoline. guest: that is a great question. to me give you a quick backdrop. the congress passed a renewable fuel standard. ethanol that comes from corn- based products into our gasoline supply. clients mandated to be blended will exceed 10%. auto manufacturers say you cannot put more than 10% in potentialou have the to do damage to the engines. we have been working on this on capitol hill. you cannot force additional blends of ethanol. the auto manufacturers will not warranty their cars. make sure they do not push it through that 10%. an importantrt -- consideration and does have an impact on price. toadding as much as five $.10 per gallon of gasoline. there are other issues we need to look at. it is important we have all forms of energy. the oil and natural gas industry are major investors in alternative and renewable forms of energy like ethanol. we think it has to be done in balance and properly. to be focused on how we continue to invest our resources and get those breakthroughs in energy technology. never forgetting our economy is asven by oil and natural gas our primary form of energy. we have to take a closer look at ethanol. to have anpotential adverse impact on consumers. host: jack gerard is our guest. brad is next in illinois. host: hi. you failed to mention there is a pipeline coming down to michigan that is leaking all that oil in a town. big businesses paid big money to keep it off the news. you tell the american people how energy efficient that oil is. guest: there was a spill in michigan about a year ago. 99.9% of all product that we move through pipeline or rail is done without any adverse impact and without any accident. occasionally there is risk associated with the business we participate in. , the numberseeing of stills has gone down over 50%. defiant of product released has gone down over 40% --the volume of product released has gone down over 40%. we need to look at the record and the facts. our goal and approach is to get zero accidents. we are committed to do that. there will be incidents because there is risk associated with producing energy. we work hard as an industry to get that risk down as low as we possibly can. host: there is this graphic on a website. take a look at significant accidents. through 2012.1993 year,00 incidents every sometimes reaching close to 300 dating back to 1993. guest: the trend is in a positive direction. look at the volume increase of activity. we are still continue to move at a positive direction. overall it is a good story of success. we are committed to having zero impacts and that is something we work at heart out every day. host: john is next from michigan. needr: we are going to fossil fuels and oil will be important in our economy for a long time. a question i had was the engineering of this type line. - - of this pipeline. the improvements are made as we go along. you take the infamous pipeline that goes from alaska on down and built back in the 1970's and the 1980's. could you describe the design of this? isn't like a ship? --is it like a ship? how much is supported? how much improvement has been made in designing this? what companies are involved in the the designing of this pipeline? stated,most simply people should be reassured that this will likely be the safest pipeline ever built. technologies continue to improve over time. we have remote monitoring systems today. if there is any incident, we would know instantaneously. there have been a number of conditions agreed to by transcanada in addition to what the law requires. havell make sure we do not an ace in and or spill and to protect the public and to protect land and water and everything we desire in this life and we all want to have a hosting environment. the national academy of science did a study. some of the suggested the corrosive nature of this oil will have an adverse impact. the national academy of sciences said absolutely not. what you look at the combination of the tech knowledge he and what we do to make sure there are no incidents and what we do to monitor this pipeline, it is a multibillion dollar investment. transcanada has come forward and listening to local concerns. they have moved the pipeline in nebraska to address those issues. it is state of the art and high- tech. we have a tweet from cspannkly. incidences a goes over and some echoes under. it goes back to john's earlier question. the process requires us to look at all those questions. transcanada has done a remarkable job in making sure it is state-of-the-art and probably the best in class built today. matt we have a tweet from smith. guest: not at all. i do not know where that came from. risk is no more additional associated with this than there is any other pipeline has been in existence for many years. the nature of the product has no more corrosive impact. over time, we have constantly improved. the cars we jive today are better equipped. the public can have confidence that we are committed to zero risk and zero releases and we are investing billions of dollars to make sure those things do not happen. int: we will go to mick new york. caller: can you hear any information about those meetings that were held behind closed doors with dick cheney and the oil companies back during the bush administration. thank you so much. guest: i am not sure which meetings you are talking about. host: halliburton. the new stories that were out there about dick cheney meeting with halliburton. guest: his energy task force. during the bush administration, they develop their energy policy and there were numerous meetings where they cut folks to gather and they had meetings to develop their energy policy. there were some news reporting taking place. there continues to be meetings take place with environmental interest and others. in ased to participate many meetings as we are invited to. opportunity tohe express our views, how we do this at affordable rates and protect the environment at the same time. meetings continue in washington today and in our state capitals. that is all part of the process. debate, theust we better the public holocene. have, thisalogue we gives the american people a better chance to get involved. just like this show. we share thoughts and ideas. we can come to resolutions. peterwe have a tweet from hibbert. guest: that is a great question. carbon emissions in the united states all right 1994 levels. we had about a 10% reduction in the past four years. we are producing a lot of clean- america.atural gas) in the reality to your question is our carbon emissions are on the decline today primarily due to the production of natural gas. we are leading the world today with 1994 levels. we did that from a free-market perspective. it wasn't a mandate from the congress that drove us there. we allowed the production of clean-burning natural gas with defiant sufficient that a true of the price of natural gas down from about $14 to about three dollars today. host: will the pipeline raise carbon emissions? guest: there has been a lot of talk about carbon emissions. those oils will be produced one way or another. the question is where do we refine it? reduced90, canada has greenhouse gas emissions by 26%. the canadians are highly motivated to reduce the energy. most of said this oil is the: to other oils that we already import and use. there is no real differential. we would suggest this is a better relationship than from other parts of the world. .ost: that raises this story and another canadian oil company is expanding its network of pipelines to carry thousands of additional barrels of oil. one of the pipelines could ship more oil than the controversial keystone xl pipeline. ones pipelines are the guest: i think what it does is make the point for something we need to clearly understand, the world continues to need more energy. it will find the energy and produce it for the benefit of their citizens. the manned -- demand for energy and natural gas continues to increase. the prime minister has said if the united states does not want the energy, we will ship it, primarily to asia. we think it is the u.s. best interest to develop the relationship with canada to build the keystone pipeline and continue the close north american network to produce the energy. allows us -- allows us to rely less on the volatile parts of the world. you are right, other pipeline companies. we believe we can do that right here in north america. today the united states is the number one natural gas producer in the world. that has taken place as a result of the crude burning natural gas i mentioned to you. the second aspect is experts, outside experts, a project of the those from europe of the u.s. can become the no. 1 oil producer in seven short years. think of the change in the global world and if we produce our own energy right here at home, refine here at home, put people to work with good-paying jobs, reliable energy. billions of dollars in revenue to a federal state government, and make the energy secure. we will have less concern over what is taking place in the global world if we do it right here in america. , the the map will show you pipelines that are being built, here is the proposed keystone pipeline. colors thatones in the canadian company is expanding to carry thousands of additional barrels of oil to and from the united states each day. did you talk about the impact of oil and gas. what about the situation in egypt? >> live at ongoing challenge in egypt. that is what contributes -- contributes to the volatility. 4 million billions of oil per day that come through the suez canal. anxiety.a lot of what happens if it gets cut off as a result of unrest? that has significant impact on the global supply. that is why we emphasize strongly, if we can produce the as wet right here at home see it in places like north dakota, texas, which continues to grow, calif. -- a lot of opportunity to do right here at home and we would worry less about the outside decision, volatility in part of the middle east if we had our own production right here at home. important consideration. caller: good morning. the arctic and burned some of the stuff i am going to say, but canada voted the pipeline down to run it across the ocean, and that is only like 400 miles. is owned by the chinese. oil is going to china. they just flat lied about where the pipeline was being made. it was being made in china. in texas,g made finishing up the pipeline. and on top of that, this does he confirmed when he started talking was the fact that they will add our oil into it. it is not an oil pipeline. it does not get taxed under any kind of manner under the oil pipelines. they're going to stick our oil into it because they cannot move that stuff with an auger because it is like a jar of peanut butter and jar of sand. guest: i do not want to be combative, but what you said is incorrect and not factual. it is a light, sweet crude which is an oil to be refined. what is coming out of canada is the heavier stuff, which is what the refineries are built to refine. that is why the canadian oil sands is so important. a good part of our energy equation in north america. it is the best in the world right here able to refine the product efficiently. that is why we need to continue to provide to the refineries to be consumed here for the american citizenry. i am not sure where you get your information, but it is not factual or true. host: independent. kentucky. caller: i worked in the oilfield all my life. work back in the 1970's and the oil fields. i started out as a pumper. most of these people calling in could not tell you the difference between their rotary rigs and sputtering rate. i know how those wells have to be cemented off. i know how they have to be pressure tested. of what we golue through out here in the oilfields. is a majorne economic boom for the united states. let's promote it. let's promote our own oil. they come in and made the plug of old shop wells. these people could not tell you how they for rockwell's. they could not tell you what it pays own is. i have seen it. i have sat 48 hours on a bulldozer. i know exactly what goes on. host: he said this is a big economic boom. on average, how much did you make in the oil field? caller: i quit high school to go to work in the oilfields because in the make more money oilfields just doing cleanup. around wells. most people with families was making. there is excellent money to be made in it. i would never have had my first car is not for the oil fields. guest: i think he raised a good point here. dinky for your comments. i will give credit to get your the show and talk about your details. the key to the oil industry service. seen an interesting dynamic in north dakota. the no. 2 oil producer in the united states. wages inok at the north dakota, over $90,000 per job. the median wage for everyone else is a little over 40,000 per job. we have young people coming out of high school today making twice as much as mom and dad have ever made. idea that to be positive. lally producing our own energy right here at home. -- particularly producing our own energy right here at home. stories to beeal told. we created thousands of jobs across the country with producing our own energy. willie -- we believe there are thousands more. tional jobs over the next few years. historically oil and natural gas has been regulated at the state level, which we believe it should continue to be regulated at because states understand year -- differences in geography and geology. active in robust regulation. we welcome that. we welcome their regulation because it is important to protect the environment and workforce. a secondo not need is layer of regulation coming from the epa that will duplicate what states of artie dunne. we have a governor's the and we know how to regulate this activity can produce energy. we believe that is the way it should be handled moving forward and not bring washington and unnecessarily to create chaos and conflict. twitter comment -- in but are give it defies logic and fundamentals. more supply in the marketplace put more pressure on price. would you add the amount of supply we're talking about from keystone, 850,000 barrels per day, it should have a significant impact or a direct value of bringing the down and putting pressure on prices. the fundamental argument is we produce 2 million barrels of oil per day more than just a few years ago. what we see is it is having a common affect, even on the global price. a recent study released that suggested why the price has not been as volatile as it could happen is because the u.s. is increasing production. we believe we should -- continue to increase production. of the outer continental shelf is off-limits. we are allowed to only look for natural gas and 13 percent of our resources. we believe that is bad policy. it is clearly not in consumers' best interest. we need to change the policy. caller: i have a few questions and a point. my first point being, the gentleman is trying to say all of the petroleum -- natural gas especially is good for the environment and they got 99.9 percent success rate on orwell's, but what about the petroleum document released by petroleum companies that said 5 percent of all natural gas wells fail within a year? host: i will have mr. girard and answer that because we're running out of time. when youam not sure see failed what that means. what i was talking about earlier is successful carsportation through rail traffic. to point out by and large it is very successful. we do have vocational risk we have to manage, but when you talk about wells or wells being depleted overtime, i will tell you, here is a fact a lot of people do not understand, we hear about fracturing, a breakthrough technology to produce the oil and natural gas right here in the united states. we have been using that technology for over 65 years. we have drilled over 1.2 billion -- 2 million zero wells was that and there is never been a case of contamination as a result of hydraulic fracturing. that is from the epa administrator. it is important to get the facts right to make sure we're dealing with facts as we develop policy. i know there are strongly-held views and opinions on the debate. believe of weaken ground it and structural -- factual information, we can do it. do it believe we should effectively and clearly at home, put the people to work and provide low-cost and affordable energy to all consumers. host: when you expect the president to make an announcement about keystone? guest: the president is finishing up the environmental impact review, and then he has a window of time to make a national interest determination. everything we're hearing is it will likely be on october time frame the decision. with all the pipelines that exists today, why is keystone necessary? expandit continues to infrastructure. the economy is growing, population is growing. we need more energy. you look of the pipelines we talk about, and we continue to need more infrastructure, much like we need more highways to move more people. we need more cars, buses. so the reality is we will need energy. today, for every percentage of gdp, we do not consume half as much as we do in 1980. we're doing better in the efficiencies. we can always do better. we need the keystone pipeline to bring energy to the consumers. overall, what are we seeing right now? what are your predictions for the rest of the summer? let me tell you what we're seeing right now. we're seeing a bomb but in the price largely due to the unrest in egypt. about 4 million barrels per day that comes through the suez canal. people are trying to protect -- predict what it will be. the look of variables like that. if egypt were to settle down, i think we will see downward pressure on the price. gain woulde game -- be to produce our own and produce more of it. energy, byrican americans for americans. that is a very positive thing for us. of theresident ceo american petroleum institute. appreciate it. coming up next, your money segment continues. in afghanistan reconstruction spending and where your money is the inspectoropko, general for afghanistan reconstruction joins us next. >> speaking of your money, and consumer spending numbers show americans spend more at retail businesses in june. the commerce department says retail sales rose 4.2%, mostly driven by an increase in auto sales and gas prices. excluding volatile categories and building supplies, so-called 0.15%, the rose weakest since an january. a commitment to volunteerism bringing together presidents past and present. george h. w. bush comes to the white house today for a ceremony president obama is having to recognize the 5000 daily point of light award. the program created by the former president bush more than two decades ago honors volunteer service. the awards come from the description in the 1989 inaugural address of american serving each other as 1000 points of light. turning to capitol hill, senate democratic leader harry reid considering rule changes to filibusters. all 100 senators have been invited to a close-door meeting to seek a compromise on how to approach those nominated to serve in senior positions in the president's administration. the senate begins at 2:00. watch live on c-span 2:00. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. uponrlier someone touched the idea that women could not really predict their role in entering into the white house, but i did find one political that maryho commented started with mr. lincoln when he was a poor, young man and no idea of being called to the presidency than being a cannibal. [laughter] out an, i try to lay educated guess that mary lincoln would not let a little thing like -- like a human sacrifice come between her and her goal because she was a very determined woman. she did talk about his role of entering the white house. she was someone who was a true political partner. >> as we continue the conversation on first ladies, we will hear from historians and authors about the role of the first lady and how it has changed, along with the nation's. that is tonight at 9:00 eastern. last on mondays in the hour we take a look at how tax dollars are being spent. today we want to focus on a $34 million military headquarters in afghanistan. specialko, the inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction. let's just begin with the command headquarters in afghanistan. how did it begin? we opened up the investigation in february 2010. the army put the request in that inbuild a command structure southern afghanistan. within months the decision was made the army would not be in camp leatherneck, the marines would be there. the marine general took a look of the plans and said i do not want it, i do not need it, i will not use it, stop it. he said that in may of 2010. then the process just continues. that is what we find out. once you appropriate money, it gets spent. in 2011 the contract and started building it. what we essentially have now that was turned over to the military commander now, a building that is almost complete and no one wants it. host: we were just showing pictures of it. 64,000 square feet. accommodates 1200-1500 staff. a war room, briefing center and senior military offices. why can't the navy just use it? nott: the commander did need it. the marines corps commander had his own headquarters. did not want it. it is a rather luxurious taj mahal and did not want it. before the first shovel went into the ground, the marine corps commander who was running the mission said i do not want it, do not build it. ast: is there are ready command headquarters nearby? guest: yes. it is not as well-made as this one. they're very happy with that. it serves the purpose. go aheado said we will and build it? guest: we do not know. we will try to find the individual who ignored the marine corps general and continued with construction. congress saying about this? guest: we have got a number of letters expressing our reach, but no direct communication. i am hoping staff is compact -- is contacted about this. what does the executive branch say about this? they are looking into this. the white house and pentagon still investigating. and they are doing their own separate investigation. we will do ours and make certain we get to the bottom of the spirit and host: when will you put all your findings? guest: it will be a number of months. i just happened to see it back in june when i traveled last time to afghanistan. my staff was aware of it a few months before. we just started the investigation. the original purpose was going to be a command headquarters for an army division. apparently it was going to be a joint command headquarters. if you actually go in to see the computer room -- they did a separate computer room. we think it may have been a joint operation. that quickly changed. it is just left there now to sit. host: which company built it? was a we believed it british company, the best- constructed building i have seen in afghanistan. thatnd a lot of buildings are falling down. buildings that will electrocute students. buildings where the roofs fall down. we usually find a lot of shoddy construction, horrible construction. we're looking at other sites of poor construction right now. this one was perfect. almost perfect. the irony is just a few months ago. the military, even though this building will be torn down, spent taxpayer dollars to improve the fire suppression system on a building that will probably be destroyed. host: will the $34 million price tag go up? guest: absolutely. fire suppression couple hundred thousand. compared to 34 million or billions we have seen wasted, it is small, but one hand does not know what the other hand is doing. host: why do you think this building will be torn down? guest: those are the options being considered. first of all, the military does not need it. with the drawdown in the base where it is located, this building will be on the other side of the fence. this will no longer be encamp whether neck. as we draw down, the base will get smaller. this building will be left on the other side. it is a security risk for the u.s. to use it. is toree options, one tear it down because the military does not need it. it costs money to keep the military going. heating and air-conditioning is going constantly right now. the other option is to turn it over to the afghans. that may be good, but no one has talked to them. that is one of the problems we of scenic route. we did not talk to them. >> we have heard for allegations. and the third option, they hire a contract -- the third option is they were drinking at turning a classified room in which they do planning for the war, there were going to turn the war room into a theater. host: for what? guest: for movies. that was the idea. we will turn it into our room -- for room and record down of the bottom. 64,000 rec room and theater. it turns out there are not enough u.s. personnel to move into the base and use it for that. that probably is not the option. in all likelihood the building will be ripped down. host: this is one building we're talking about here. there inid, the camp helmand province gets smaller as we continue to draw down out of afghanistan. that this building will be on the other side. it poses a security risk. i am wondering about the president right now negotiating with the afghanistan president and considering as zero option the, that he just withdraws troops from afghanistan and does not leave some behind. what impact does that have on the equipment, items we have built, the stuff you look into? optionagain, determining whether it is zero or 15,000 is about my pay grade. a decision to be made by the president, administration, in congress. it will have an impact on the buildings and what we constructed. we're having close consultation with the pentagon and the state department that you have to consider the drawdown as you build, as you maintain. if we cannot get access to website, why are we building a base? how will we oversee the construction on that base? we're having conversations all the time. that ourrave concerns planning for the drawdown does not consider the ability for us to manage and oversee a lot of the facilities. falloutat is the taxpayer-wise? guest: it could be billions of dollars. what we are hoping is we do it smartly, and that the afghans won the buildings, programs we're providing them and are able to manage and run them. what are the lessons learned from iraq? guest: some, they did. there have been a lot of reports written about lessons learned in iran. the problem is, no one applies the lessons learned. what we saw has just enough -- just been repeated in afghanistan. our concern is it will be repeated. spencer and --ko, special inspector general for reconstruction and afghanistan, taking a look at the $34 million building headquarters in afghanistan that is likely to be torn down. good morning, and think you for c-span. guest: i believe there was a report done for the special inspector general. i believe he did look at that. my jurisdiction is afghanistan. he was set up just to look at iraq. i did not know the conclusions from that investigation. host: democratic calller. go ahead. mostr: this is one of the outrageous issues i have heard discussed on c-span. that is number one. where does your responsibility like, and to do you answer to? who is paying your salary? starten did you initially your job responsibilities as being in some sort of an inspector role? i do not know where this is all i can tell yout any money is involved here is coming from directly involved here. bridges and roads are in dire need of repair. when will this all come to a screeching halt? am a: first of all, i federal government employee. i was appointed by president obama last july. i just finished one year on the job. we have about 200 investigators, auditors and inspectors. is to look at fraud, waste, and abuse. is if we find people who steal money, we will investigate them and get them indicted. we have brought a lot of indictments. if there are problems with waste, which is the vast majority, we try to make recommendations to improve the products. i am a taxpayer, too. i am outraged because the waste, fraud, and abuse that we have seen here was identified in iraq, identified time and again and does not seem like we are learning from what we have seen. what we're doing in the future, and we have done it in the past, but i personally think individuals are personally responsible. there is someone who made the decision to ignore the general recommendations. we will identify those people. we will identify those people that have made decisions that will cost the taxpayer money. i think people should get fired. when was the last time someone got fired for a couple million dollars grew up? if i screw up, you will get fired. -- i will get fired. for some reason, this system just keeps pumping out of money. i would love to see someone in a government agency come back to congress and say we do not need the money. that is what you should have done here. the dirty little secret on this case, and this is the reason why we focused on the 64,000 square foot building. a number of general came up to me the last time i was in afghanistan and said please, look at this. this is indicative of the problem of military construction. once it starts, it never stops. that is why we highlighted it. host: what about returning money to afghanistan? guest: trust me on that. i think congressman would love to see congressman return money. that is what we're hoping to see here. host: we want to get callers' opinions here. here are the numbers. what are your thoughts and questions about afghanistan rink -- free construction? we have a special inspector general. but on the job for about a year looking into the cost. taxpayer dollars for reconstructing afghanistan. his tweet -- guest: you would have to go to war website. we list all of the reports and findings. have beenf people indicted for stealing money, bribery, kickbacks. and a number of recommendations have been included in the defense authorization. i have ae a qucaller: question about the military headquarters that was built. why did not get in order before it was built? why did they wait to have the hearings until after it is over with? does not anybody talk to anybody about this before it is built? now it has been wasted. host: i think she is talking about the congressional hill mentioned that might be talking about the headquarters. know they're having a congressional hearing looking at contractual issues. this might be one of them. i think the calller asked a good question. we do not know why no one has stopped construction. how could this be going on? it is pretty big. the size of a football field. did not anyone wonder what is this thing being built at the corner of the base? that is what we're trying to find out. is a hot line you can call if you have information about reconstruction efforts in afghanistan. do you get a lot of tips? guest: we really do. when i appear on shows like this or give testimony, we get more hot line complaints. if you see something, if you see fraud, something suspicious, someone coming back from afghanistan and aldus said it has extreme wealth, call us. that is how we get our tips. that is how we find soldiers coming back, contractors coming back bodying mercedes. they are buying a fancy cars and all of that and we get that information and will run it down. there is war profiteering going on, and we would like to know about it and follow up. we give an amenity to people would give us information. some have been under investigation. the: wanting to know about $34 million headquarters in afghanistan -- guest: that is an idea. i do not know anybody that wants it. it is pretty big, but that is an option. the key is next. democratic calller. -- vicky. caller: thank you for c-span. you bring the most interesting and provocative speakers on. youreason i am calling is guest said something about appropriations. it got me to think of the total mindset of businesses sometimes and even and the insurance agency. if you have to say -- have the money, you have to spend it otherwise you'll never get it for the following year. we also had a state capitol building called the taj mahal. about the cost of it after they were built. it is always we find out after the fact. the administration is supposed to be held for accountability. and this is what president obama is preaching. was wondering how your speaker in theout accountability pre-planning, instead of after the fact. guest: the speaker raises a good point, and that is a problem, does not seem like much planning. the suit -- through the money at the problem. i can understand during the war. you're talking about soldiers lives on the line, but there should have been more planning. particularly if there should be planning now, and that is what the concern is. as you have the drawdown concerning -- occurring, there should be a uniform plan by our government, all the agencies on the government, just like the calller raised, what will we do as the troops get drawn down? what programs do we do? succeeded in what did not? which programs do they really need? i am sad to say we're not seeing really good planning. we do not think our government knows what works. i sent a letter to every government agency and said tell me what programs worked. what are your top-10 that successes, and what were your biggest failures and explain why. you know what, they could not answer. they do not know what the top ted successes are. i just came back last week from a conversation with senior officials in the pentagon and said they had no idea what works. that is shocking. 10 years into the war our government cannot rack or stack, cannot prioritize what works and what does not. if you have an unlimited budget and you were throwing as much money at it, that is not as important, but our budget is decreasing. our ability to work in afghanistan is decreasing. we really need to know what is working and what does not to we do not race -- waste money. that is the key issue we are focusing on, getting the administration and congress to do some hard thinking, hard planning on what to use, what programs to do going forward. host: what power will you have to make that happen? guest: the bully pulpit right here. every audit,we do, every inspection, every minute alert letter is made public. host: what is your tenure? is this officee goes out of existence when the amount of money for reconstruction not yet spent falls below $250 million per year. right now the amount of money appropriated, authorized, but not yet spent is $20 billion. we expect to be around for the long-term. not yet spent on reconstruction. right now in the pipeline. martinsburg, west virginia. independent calller. caller: good morning. from theike to say, 1980's stars like michael jackson they would write songs about we have money for wars but do not have money to feed the poor. no one shines a light on it. but when congress is passing bills at midnight and 2:00 we tell our children nothing good happens when you're out in the streets past midnight. if congress passes these bills they do not read, midnight and 2:00. then we have to wait and see what the bills are. the tea party had a point when they said just read the bill. if congress does not know what is in the bill, how can the people know what is in the bill? that is a good point. i think we should all be accountable. congress, the executive branch, contractors, and the american people. i know it is difficult to read the bill, but followed the news and follow c-span. we are all responsible for our future here. we cannot just complain, we have to do something about it. host: a question on twitter -- i did not have an answer. i wish i knew. i am certain all whole lot. we have another building we will expose called -- called the melting building. it is literally belting because of the way the construction was done with the brick. there are lots that the afghanistans will never use. i attended a meeting of afghanistan officials last time and they are coming up with a list of buildings that we're turning over that they had never even heard of. now they have to maintain them or use them. we do not have a number, but unfortunately we are afraid there are quite a few. watched c-span a lot. benghazie watched the e gun runnings, hr and the thing is accountability, and i have not seen any from the administration. i have watched your colder multiple times like. why should we expect in are nottan that people held responsible for. and i want to know how the public can have confidence that people will be held accountable? guest: the president appointed me. i think if you look at my track record for the past year that i have been on the job, we are holding people accountable, whether they are in the embassy, contractors, civilians, military. i cannot speak for any other incident. i am not responsible for that. we have had the full support and backing of the white house and will hold people accountable. we will indict people who steal from us, no matter where you are hiding. this week i hope we will announce something that will be very significant about us having identified in sees millions of dollars in afghanistan that will be made public this week i hope. take thisshow that we seriously. host: can you tell us more about this? guest: not really because it is under seal and i do not want to go to jail but we have identified people who have stolen from the government and identified where their banks were. we have seized it. we're the first u.s. government agency to do that in afghanistan. hopefully it will be unsealed this week. a fantastic effort by might investigators. they are thinking out of the box and they are taking names and doing it. i would say watch my website. if you do not think there is some of the government holding people accountable, go to my web site and follow us on the news and twitter. host: boring file clerk wants to know -- extent, theme calller is right. we were created too late. i have only been on the job a year. but the nice thing is, if we can do it, the statute of limitations allows us to pursue it, so we are pursuing the money. that may be the biggest thing for us to do. we may not be able to invite everyone, but if we can track down the money, we're going to seize it back for the united states taxpayer. host: are you looking at the money that has been given to the afghanistan president? how much money has been given. accusations of corruption there. guest: i will not talk about an individual case for the president or anybody else in the administration. we will pursue the facts as we see them. host: john, democratic calller. -- host: having a really hard time understanding you. but baker to karen. -- let me go to karen. on militarymillion installation in afghanistan. how much is that budgetary breakdown for transportation costs alone? that is the end of my question. thank you. transportation for what? the material? is the what transportation? how much money was just to send material over there? have an exactt number for this facility, but the calller has identified a serious problem. every weapon in, every issue, almost every bit of construction material has to be brought into a afghanistan. likewise with the draw down a lot of the equipment has to be brought back at great expense. that is the cost of fighting a war in afghanistan, just like a cost in iraq. probably more expensive because of being landlocked. mountainsng over the and is very difficult. you have identified a great cost. a dependent calller. independent calller. caller: i have been with the department of defense for about 25 years. and i have known the spending structure has real problems. we have known about this issue that, and and before i do not like the idea that we will continue to investigate, continue to pay for investigators to find these people when we know the system is broken, the system needs to be fixed. talk, and talk is cheap. i just think the money should be spent on solutions, because it could be fixed. guest: i think you are right. there are fixes to be made, but people are personally responsible for their actions. we cannot forget that. just because the system is broke does not mean i will allow someone to steal money. i think people need to be identified. of i have worked in a lot administrations and departments. i never seen a lot of agencies. the one thing that comes through is personal accountability. you are accountable. who sees the.s. 15 problem, ignores the problem, and allows the ways to occur. i can cite an example. we will be announcing something today dealing with the culvert denial system. these are coleworts the troops trouble over it was supposed to put up bars and materials to stop the terrace from putting bombs underneath the culverts. was a bunch of contracting officers were too and it never checked. they never did due diligence. they never went out to see if the afghanistan contractors actually put up the great spirit and now all of a sudden our rotation came in and there was a new contract things -- contracting officer, and he took his job seriously. he was responsible. he checked. he found that none of the culverts were there. as a result of the incompetence and laziness and stupidity of those individuals, american soldiers died. afghan soldiers died. actually believe in accountability because a bunch of contacting officers did not do their job, americans died. one good american contracting officer did his job and saved countless other american soldiers lives. so yes, i believe in personal accountability. we will hold people accountability. we will make recommendations for fixing the system. if you have to do both. -- you have to do both. host: what is the cost? the costen it comes to of american soldiers lives, the cost insignificant. fraud cana post, kill. i hope people take that seriously. we will put the poster in every base in afghanistan and every place here in the united states, too. if you know about a place, call us because it could kill your son, daughter, or friend. republican calller of next. caller: i want to say good morning to john and you. guys get all of guesspeople who are i liable for killing troops and all of this. $34ther question is, illion, we are in debt -- thought -- how can i put this, $34 million for headquarters. where do they get this money at? we are in debt in cannot really afford this. we do feel they should spend money a lot wiser. that is the whole issue that we brought to the attention of the pentagon and generals. time of general says do not build a facility, is listen to. host: john sopko talked earlier about the hot line his agency has set up. 329-8923. they have received a lot of tips about fraud in afghanistan reconstruction efforts. is it mostly after soldiers returned from afghanistan that you get these tapes? we pick it up also in afghanistan. we are located in not only kabul, but we have criminal theytigators helmeted, and move around. placeselmed and other and they move around. individuals make a difference. to iowaa case where national guardsmen identified a problem that did not make sense in we were able to convict afghans that head stolen fuel. host: next calller. dod auditor in indianapolis for 25 years. we got to be fairly familiar with this. there is an overarching systemic problem that dod and the army do not have a good accounting system, so the basic data structure would help to the controlling is not there, which makes your current job much harder. turned itestion, we over to nato after the initial conquest. i was wondering to what extent they do is involved in the problems we have now? joint command with nato. ofy have their share problems also, although the vast amounts of money that has been spent is coming from the u.s. taxpayer. we have allies contributing, but the vast majority in casualty's and money comes from afghanistan. host: what about the first point that dod does not have an accounting system to speak of? guest: that has been the joke around town for years, that the books are not audible -- auditable. host: why is that? guest: because people have not been held accountable. no one has been fired over that. is thegets fired, that sad thing. holdingif we start people accountable, we will not have bad folks and records. no one was reprimanded for throwing money at this problem and not really thinking about it and planning. i think people need to be held accountable, and -- harry truman was a great president and everyone blames wife isn't the president knowing this? he has a lot of things on his plate. to make people who need the right decision, whether it 12 -- all of 15 or these people have to be held accountable. host: dave, calif., independent calller. make it real quick. caller: i just want to say we should not be afghanistan or any of this -- any of those countries. clear-cutting meals on wheels for seniors and poor people and spending billions over there on a wasted system. we should not be there. it is a waste of money. the american people are fed up with the wars and we should pull the troops out. this guy should not have a job or doing that because it is a wf money. host: i'm going to leave it there. what is meant for your job, for your investigators? guest: we will be focusing on the planning, as i mentioned. on thosee focusing contracts that go along with the planning. we will spend a lot of time looking at the election. we will be looking at the ways the afghans are going to be raising income. can they raise real income and taxes so we do not keep having to pay all that money? we will also be focusing this week on