Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20140108 : comparem

post your comments on facebook.com/c-span. us,can also e-mail [email protected]. the front page of "the wall street journal" frames the issue of poverty with the headline -- we want to get your thoughts this morning. start dialing and now. it can also go to our social media pages and join the conversation there. the wall street journal says this as well. those six republicans joined all including senators ayotte, murkowski, portman, and coats. the washington post reports this morning the president obama made coat -- made phone calls to sever all those republicans and urged them to vote yes on a procedural vote. this is part of the overall theme by democrats wanting to highlight what they call income inequality. chad and override -- chad in rhode island, what you think? i think that we have lost the war on poverty. thank you for your time. host: why do you say that? caller: when you have people working on a daily basis and have to apply to food stamps and , when our jobs have been shipped overseas and congress does nothing about it -- they go through the motions. these people really don't care about those of us who work for wages on a daily basis. host: you blame both parties? caller: yes. host: are there any policy solutions they should try? what congressnow, should do is get the unemployment benefits back to those 1.3 million people that are out of work through no fault of their own. trade, we need to erect barriers. we need to start producing and consuming in the usa. unemploymentng benefits, republicans say they should be paid for. what do you think? caller: i don't see that as necessary. these people have been paying out of their wages. they weren't too concerned when wall street collapesed and government gave them money to bail them out. republicans have no sympathy or mercy on the poor. host: danielle from washington dc, democratic caller. i'm reminded of one of of history ins which the vietnam war was fox but not declared. the war on poverty was fought but not declared. i think we have been in decline. i think more and more economic entities have been turned over to private hands. we are looking at it corporate debate that has been extended through the last century into .he next one i am in line with the thinking that sadly the war on poverty hasn't been fought. it has been declared. the legislation has been somewhat positive. i understand that mainstream democratic thinking that brought us social security. but mainly this idea that we're losing because of handouts or people are lazy, these are extremely over-simplified views from the white wing. i don't know why someone who is middle-class class would given to that middle class warfare. i don't see that legacy of johnson --he continued to fight for improvement. host: allen is our next caller from boston. good morning to you. caller: thank you for c-span. ine than 30 million people the country are under the poverty line. why do we spend these high numbers on the military service? [indiscernible] little children don't have any food, they don't have any home. there are disasters numbers of --host: ry " brickstoneal times the poverty numbers. -- breaks down the poverty numbers. these are 2011 numbers posted in "the financial times." 50 years later after lyndon johnson declared a war on poverty, are we winning at? it is a theme democrats plan to aboutp in 2014, to talk "income inequality." here is harry reid on the senate ahead of theay vote to consider extending unemployment benefits. here's how he ties the two issues together. [video clip] >> this is not good for the country. that told by economists for every dollar we spend in it gets ant benefits dollar and a half to us back, just like that. we have to start understanding that we have a country that not everybody is benefiting from what is going on with these headlines i just reported. the tophe last 30 years one percent's income and wealth has increased 300%. almost 10%. dropped i don't even -- i haven't even mentioned the poor. they have been hit hardern than than anyone else. the minority leader responded on the floor yesterday. he laid out the republican arguments for extending these unemployment benefits without paying for them. we should work on solutions to support those who are out of work for no fault of their own. but there is literally no excuse to pass unemployment insurance legislation without funding with to create good stable jobs and find money to pay for it. let's find a way to pay for these benefits so we are not adding to an already completely unsustainable debt. the administration seems almost totally disinterested in solutions that don't put government in the lead. it seems incapable of working with those who do not share that belief. why we are inely the situation we are in. you believehen government is the answer to all your problems that you talk about unemployment insurance instead of job creation. it is time to get away from temporary programs and give the american people the tools they need to drive an economy that truly works for them and for their families. host: mitch mcconnell talking on the senate yesterday before the senate voted on a measure that would extend unemployment benefits. want its said they brought to a floor vote this year. it is a vote that harry reid has promised as well. are we winning? illinois, independent caller. good morning. i would like to say no one gets ahead by working for someone else. there are a lot of people that would like to start their own business but they are almost handcuffed by these regulations and the hoops they have to jump through. out -- theey take us more they take out of our check back systemic the poverty. host: mark, our next caller, what are your thoughts? isler: the war on poverty political bs. it doesn't get to the real cause. poverty is tooof many people looking for too few jobs. and how do we get too many people, having too many children. let's get to the root. be talking about solutions to this with two members of congress. we will get both party's perspective. today marks 50 years when lyndon johnson declared a war on poverty. on the extension of unemployment benefits and the debate over whether or not they should be ratedor -- mark udall this out -- -- mark udall tweeted this out. the plan would extend unemployment benefits for three months. , after the senate cleared the 60 vote threshold to advance legislation, house speaker john boehner had a , saying the house will not take it up unless it is paid for. here's what the statement said -- the speaker would also like to see language on the president's affordable care act included in these extensions, as well as an agreement to go forward. jim from south carolina, a republican caller. good morning. if harry reid is so right and they economy is stimulated by unemployment, why don't we all just go on unemployment yucca people not working and not conjure bidding takes away from that effective the economy. i can't believe people believe his rhetoric. unemploymentd into they only paid in during a factor of 26 weeks, not for four years. it is a shame people believe this kind of rhetoric. is true the government created such a big economy. the governmente created such a big economy, then how come -- growing five or seven fold. here's a tweet from a congressman who too agreed with what you said. people aren't doing those jobs so they are taking away from the people who are doing goods and services. otherwise we could all do that. you have people who are not producing and adding to the economy. positive than everybody could be on unemployment. it is a silly argument. host: democrats feel like this is a way -- this is one proposal that you get at income disparity in this country. as we mark the anniversary of the war on poverty, what do you think the solutions are you go -- art deco -- the solutions are? i don't hear them give me concrete answers on how they are going to make income equality. don't hear their arguments other than helping out the far far low part of the spectrum. i don't know how that does anything for the minimum class. it just makes everything they buy more expensive. the economy is growing so that it is getting opportunities for the high end people to exploit overseas and make money. it is the re-aligning of the economic world we are living in. speaking outnes about this rebalance inequality. i don't hear them come up with any kind of concrete solutions. host: the wall street journal is reporting -- what do you want to hear from these republicans? i want to hear things that would go back to the simple part of creating jobs, like low tax rates. for increasingre taxes on capital gains. that just put a damper on people willing to take a risk and create jobs and take risks. one of the things that is disappointing is the far left and far right seems to dictate a theof the dialogue and middle democrats and republicans just absorb or hide from -- they don't want to seem to take action. to get a pendulum swinging from jimmy carter to ronald reagan from a from clinton to bush, from bush to obama. wheelies get these far right left pendulum swings. that is what it is going to take to move things along. if you're interested in what senator marco rubio is going to say, we are going to cover it. go to c-span.org for more information. he will be speaking on income mobility and the american dream. the wall street journal is expected to call for new measures to redesign welfare programs. said -- in a video. is expected to make it his primary scene when he gets the state of the union address on january 28. das from florida, independent caller. -- gus from florida, independent caller. would've been successful if we didn't have a president named president ronald wilson reagan. against the human nature and man, against him and his greed. those who have money in the bible states, all they want to do is more and more and more. economics -- it did not work and will not work. that one percent is nothing but greedy. do is revisit,d repeal, and correct reagan's economic policies. they do not want to share. that is what the one percent is. have you voted for republicans before you go -- before? caller: i don't vote. it is against my religious beliefs. host: what religion are you? caller: jehovah's witness. host: back to the wall street journal, related to what gus was saying. tim in wisconsin, democratic caller. your thoughts this morning on the 50th anniversary on the war on poverty. caller: good morning. yes,o want to say this -- there are a problem -- there is ith things in wtih this country. even though i worked the majority of my life before i i slowly created -- baffling to me. poverty is quite mistaken. i just listened to mitch -- i would have to disagree with him wholeheartedly. i'm having a bit of a hard time -- host: we got your point, we will leave it there. texas, republican caller, hello charles. my comment is about the war on poverty, which was brought about by lyndon johnson. there are several generations that are on welfare. am not blaming them for it. it doesn't do anything but it keeps them down. i know this man who was an engineer for one of the big computer companies here in dallas. they lost their job during the financial crisis. we were going to spend $35 for a couple of buckets. he and his wife were now washing did -- washing windows. and his wife went out washing windows. he is making more money now than he did for the computer company. where there is a will there is a way. host: on twitter -- that is also part of the democrats efforts to highlight what they call income inequality in this country. on the 50th anniversary on the war on poverty we are getting your take on whether or not we are winning it. moved by the democrats was yesterday to advance legislation that would allow the senate to consider other or not to extend unemployment benefits total costonths, a of $1.5 billion. democrats consider the legislation, to voted yes. "the washington post close quote reports -- -- "the washington post" reports -- white house advisers said that obama is going to discuss spending offsets only for a longer-term extension of unemployment benefits, not the three-month bill under consideration right now. president talked to senator mark kirk of illinois. he was a no vote on advancing the legislation because it did not include any savings or offsets to the legislation. that is the debate now, whether or not you pay for extending these unemployment benefits. let's go to lewis in michigan, republican caller. good morning. sad thing.s a we have spent trillions of dollars on this program so far. has just made more people dependent on the government. i am a senior citizen. they were proud families, real proud families. a majority of children are born out of wedlock and just dependent on the government. they created this problem. i don't think it has worked and it never will. betty in outlook turkey, new mexico, a caller, what do you think? caller: thank you for taking my call. spotrom florida was really on. it has taken america 30 years to realize that trickle-down supply-side economics, all these things, american public has been had with all these notions. if i am not mistaken, and please correct me if i am wrong, was it david stockman who worked during the reagan administration who just recently came out and announced to the public that yes, these weren't sales policies. i also think the notion of the welfare queen, the story that was told over and over -- sure there are people who abuse policies. it doesn't matter what kind of policies you come up with. there'll always be abusers. but that was something that was really overblown. the other thing i wanted to make a point on -- you had a gentleman who just e- mailed in a few minutes ago stating to the effect that raising the minimum wage decreases the number of jobs. there are no facts to back that up. that is something that is a total misperception. lastly, i called in some time ago and mentioned the fact that john boehner, speaker of the house, was probably going to go down in history as the worst speaker in the house in history. he had numerous bills that he could present to the congressional floor that would have run about millions of jobs. especially jobs that would shore up our infrastructure. resisted adding these bills out the floor, knowing full well the votes would probably be there because he has been pandering to this crowd known as the tea party. in other news this morning, you have probably heard that former defense secretary robert gaines is out with his memoir. it has been leaked to pretty much all the papers. coverodworth has the story for "the washington post" -- the criticism the most papers are leading with is dates was skeptical if not outright convinced it would fail , talking about the president posterity to put out a surge in afghanistan. memoir,on to say in his "i never doubted obama's support for the troops, only the support for their mission." inside "the washington post" this morning -- worked -- he was known as bipartisan detachment. provideir is likely to for the opposition party. he goes on to report that states acknowledges he did not reveal his dismay. "i never confronted obama directly over what i and hillary clinton saw as the president's termination that the white house -- resident's determination that the white house controlled every policy and operation." -"it was the most controlling i have seen since henry kissinger ruled the roof." also read how he ends his piece -- >> that is bob gaze in his memoir that it will be coming out january 14 -- bob gates in his memoir that will be coming out in january 14. he writes that he is to be buried in section 60 of the arlington cemetery his memoir is out january 14. have been several commentaries about him putting this memoir out. tweet that came out a republican senator from arizona. scott in ohio, independent caller. you are on the air. to turn your television down and listen to your phone. let's go to dorothy, a democratic caller. i agree wholeheartedly with the color from new mexico and florida. we have a property problem in this country that is really devastating. we have all these people unemployed, they cannot find a job. the president has proposed jobs bills. if you look at the infrastructure in this country ,nd all the people unemployed women can't work the pipeline. we need construction jobs, all kinds of things. they refuse to take that up. peopleel like different -- an extension on unemployment has to be pay for. what we need to do is put money back in the economy and that is what keeps it going. they keep getting tax breaks. scott, let's go back to you. you have got to turn your television down. build in nashua, new hampshire. in nashua, new hampshire. caller: i am so happy to be an independent. we have a war going on between the democrats and the republicans. a real war is between the very rich, the democrats, and the republicans. none of them are turning their head or are concerned about what is happening to this country. they don't care if we end up with one million kids totally uneducated because there parents aren't educated enough to help them. they're not doing anything to turn this country around. doing is trying to cut taxes for their best time to cut taxesy -- further, spend money we don't have further. what we need is less spending. host: from twitter -- you can go to facebook.com/c- span. we are marking the 50th oniversary of the war poverty today. lyndon johnson declared a before his joint session of congress pit today marks an anniversary, three years ago gabrielle giffords and others were shot in arizona in downtown tucson. wrote today in the opinion pages of "the new york times" -- as many of you know, her and her husband have taken up the cause of gun control. she says this -- tucson is also going to be the site of the memorial, marking the wounded and honoring the victims of that gun man who shot and wounded 13 people. the three-year anniversary will be marked on the house floor today. , who wasan ron barbara with the congresswoman that day, and who is injured, will be marking the three-year anniversary by leading a moment of silence on house floor. let me go to david in grand rapids michigan. was you make of the 50th anniversary of the world poverty today?cho -- caller: no matter how hard of us work -- how hard we work, i will never it was save the money to go to college. that was the plan, to take out loans, to make other people rich . isn't that what they do you go -- whatthey do you go they do? anita in north carolina, republican caller. i work with a lot of people that make minimum wage. i find a lot of them did not have basic common sense like the people who live off the land had . hour, to pay them $10 per that may be a little steep. you are more skilled people that could probably get a bit more money, people who know how to socialize with customers and know the standards of hygiene. a lot of times the company have -- companye children have to train for this show that has to train the children. the exterior four years for children to catch on to that. agree with the minimum wage been increased for all workers. but the workers who are experienced should have a bigger wage. the associated press reporting this -- "the wallr 2016 news, street journal" says this about senator rand paul's talk of leniency for edward snowden. they say -- also in "the washington times" this morning -- on this 50th anniversary on the war on poverty, our conversation continues here on "washington journal." we go to tom in florida, an independent caller. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. the comment i would like to to a dress that -- to address the language that our government chose to use. the "war" on drugs and poverty. i wonder when that term was developed. it reagan's era -- was it reagan's era? we don't want to be in a war. we are asking obama to get us out of the wars. i am simply encouraging our government to development another alternative in their anduage as far as this war gear it towards education. headline from the ap -- morgan in in the cot, new york, independent caller. -- mark in new york, independent caller. criminal think it is that in a nation as well see a -- as wealthy as ours we don't have enough places to live or food to eat. host: we are going to talk about this with two members of congress and get to the democrats approach to income disparity, as well as the asropriate tens -- what -- well as the republicans. will talk with were presented barbara lee from california and representative luke messer from indiana. that is right after this break. ♪ >> can any woman be adequately prepared for the duties of first lady? , yes. -- >> yes. wife of aare the governor or the wife of a first president or if you are the lady, in-law of a first think it is a golden opportunity to do something. i believe it was lady bird who said it is an opportunity to do something good. if it helps your husband, all the better. >> the world health organization estimates 6 billion people worldwide are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. many live in countries where the disease carries stigma and shame. by sharing the lessons that we have learned, americans can empower american women. as you all know, chicago is a city of neighborhoods. it is a city where walking a few blocks can chew into entirely -- and put you into an entirely different experience. goes from english to spanish, black to white, puerto rican to polish. the opportunity is available for a child growing up in one neighborhood being vastly different than a child growing up five blocks away. that difference can shape their lives and their life prospects from the moment they are born. >> monday, our original series, "first ladies, influence and images returns. also on c-span radio and c- span.org. washington journal continues. we want to welcome to our table congresswoman barbara lee. thank you for being here. we talked about the 50th ofiversary of johnson's that president lyndon johnson's war on poverty. -- 50th anniversary of president lyndon johnson's war on poverty. the supplemental poverty rate in 1967 was 20%. if you look at why it has to do ,ith a lot of the tax credits the food stamp program, medicaid, medicare, all of those great societies that provide us opportunities for people. we are a long way to go because we squeeze all of these initiatives and policies. primarily the tea party republican congress creating the job opportunities of people who are living or want ,o be lifted from the poverty they had those opportunities to get job training and jobs. what are the democrats solution? need to immediately extend unemployment, taxation. when you look at the fact that 11 million people have been killed -- have been kept from the ranks of the poor just by the emergency unemployment policy and programs, this is extremely important not only for those people to not fall into the ranks of the poor, but also for our economy and the economic benefits for people to receive unemployment compensation until they are able to sign for the job. we also need to raise the fromum wage from 7000 -- seven dollars and $.10. wageing range -- a living would be $25 per hour. we need universal preschool, childcare. make sure these assaults on the poor and the .orking poor stop the house passed a $40 billion cut in food stamps. what is that going to do? i have legislation to cut poverty in half in 10 years. we need republicans to still inmit or even reduce poverty half. we have a strong legislative agenda. host: the senate cleared a hurdle to consider the legislation. they are saying it has to be paid for. when has emergency employment conversation been paid for? those people are living on the edge, looking for a job. why are they being used as a political plot line now? three-month extension so we can work this out. i don't believe we can consider cutting benefits to pay for unemployment compensation. this is morally wrong and economically stupid. he said he was open to offsetting the cuts if congress agreed to a larger extension. oil subsidies, farm subsidies, corporate tax loopholes, you have areas that the republicans would not touch. cutting subsidies for people who are trying to survive, who are looking for a job, i don't believe that is a good strategy. i am confident the president would not want to cut benefits to pay for emergency unemployment compensation. i was at the white house yesterday when the president gave a magnificent speech. passion and his understanding. he was raised by a mother. myself.at i was on food stamps and public systems. this is a bridge over troubled water. people need that lifeline. we need that lifeline until we can figure out how this economy and economic growth can benefit everyone. how much we talking about the people receive for these benefits monthly? about: we are talking $500, to $800 -- $500 to $800 per month. look at what has happened, you have to add on top of that that a family of four is losing that he five dollars to $45 -- that a family of four is to $45.5 people on the bottom of the economic spectrum are being hit very drastically. host: and the impact on the economy? guest: huge. when you look at snap benefits, for every one dollar of food stamp benefits the economy gets back about one dollar 75 -- about $1.75. talking about 300, 400,000 jobs. there are economic impacts for not extending unemployment compensation. host: from "the wall street journal closed -- from "the washington post close quote -- post" -- shington they disagree on stimulating the economy. economists disagree with what "the washington post" says. to lose hundreds of thousands of jobs. that is a fact. whether they are conservative or liberal, most economists believe in the fact that air is a huge economic benefit. people have to pay their bills, buy food. people in the upper income level do not spend as low income people spend to get by. carol is up first, a democratic caller. you are on the air with congresswoman barbara lee. caller: i'm from georgia. we had a situation in my hometown, we lost 40,000 jobs. her switch from as we had our senator switch from democrat to republican. me tell you something, the gop is bought and owned. the blacks are not getting out of vote. withstanding everything that has 2013,ed between 2010 and we don't want to talk about the real issue, which is that we need to be telling young people they need to get out and vote. -- we areout and vote looking for ways. we seek everything that is going on. you all have a hard job being a democrat. you are telling me you have people on medicaid talking but you don't want that talking about they don't want you to have medicaid. i don't understand. we have arisen as to its tone people in georgia not to vote. told me i need to get better insurance -- and -- i answereds as with my nieces and nephews. host: we will let the congresswoman response. guest: you are right. there are efforts taking place. the votinge rollback rights act. i hope people throughout the country, especially the african- american community, understands what is going on in terms of voter suppression. helps people become more educated and aware as to the power of the vote and why we cannot allow this retrenchment to occur. we conductt that voter registration drives and stay politically engaged in between the election. thank you for your concern. one vote can make it difference. we saw a huge turnout in the past presidential election. we must continue with that momentum and enthusiasm and understand this is our country and we have the right and duty to vote. wants somehner concession from democrats if the government was to take over government extension. the tweets and -- -- dee tweets in -- would ask the speaker why in the world we are seeking concessions on emergency unemployment compensation bills. i would say that is just wrong, it is mean-spirited, and we should not do that. people are vulnerable and living on the edge. we should not talk about concessions only talk about people who work for these unemployment compensation. 99% of these people are looking for jobs. they need to be able to get a job. $1.4 million has been lost already. blaming the political causes the wrong thing to do. kentuckyepublican from was on the floor to advance the legislation. that aret is democrats playing political games with this idea of income inequality. [video clip] ofwe have seen a number stories about how democrats are planning to spend the year by making an issue of economic hardships. instead of working on reforms that would actually help people s plan to exploit those for political gain. that is a political speech, downright wrong. you can't tell me that extending unemployment situations is a political gain. we have low wage workers who are on food stamps. we have low wage workers who we are talking about providing a quality of life and the american dream for each and every american who deserves it. they all deserve it. people are working hard. that is a political speech. i hope the public understands democrats are up here fighting to increase minimum wage and extend emergency unemployment compensation. support ton get engage in debate for real policies, which create more jobs. >> let's go to david in oklahoma . independent caller. in the marine corps a long time ago. i can tell you how they can pay for all the unemployment and older people and all that. they need to cut the military budget and quit messing around and trying to kill people all the time. that would solve a lot. that is all i've got to say. thank you. thanks, david. began under crisis the bush administration with two worst. -- wars. our mennot to mention and women who fought so bravely, we lost trillions of dollars. this is where the economic crisis began and we cannot forget it. we can cut the pentagon budget. programs are in we have identified areas that could be cut in the budget. get out of afghanistan now. our troops fought reedley and it is time to end that. to restructure our security policy where our country is where we can remain global leaders, but also at -- also have a pentagon budget that is sane and rational. there are many members of congress who are looking at this budget and understanding there is a lot taking place. trillions of dollars in suitcases. that is a fact. we need to do better. were an outspoken critic of the iraq war. -- veterans are very upset they their buddies, their fellow people on the battlefield. what do you say to them and people who lost their loved ones? guest: our thoughts and prayers go out to these families. sacrifices made by these troops, i am in daughter of a veteran of two wars. the tragedies and losses can never be regained. i was personally against afghanistan. it was a blank check to use go backrever until we to repeal that. many members, 133 members, voted against the war in iraq. there were no weapons of mass destruction and no reason to insert ourselves. we see what is taking place now. it is traffic -- tragic. they have to step up. they have been trained. job they werethe asked to do in iraq. , wee who have come home need to help them with benefits and economic security and move forward and get these delays in their benefits corrected and make sure they have a semblance of economic security that they so deserve. that is what we have to do in congress. >> we are talking about income disparity. in alabama, republican caller. caller: yes, ma'am. you were talking about unemployment. where are the jobs? this have more jobs in country, we would not need all of this unemployment. the point. is economic growth and the creation of jobs have got to be the primary strategy. for creating opportunities for people to get off of unemployment compensation. the unemployment rate has and reduced. in some parts of the country, it is higher than other parts. this administration has tackled the economic issue as best as they could with the tea party republican congress putting obstacles in the way. we have to do better. there are many people in minority communities and rural communities especially, 99 weeks along this part of a long-term unemployed third we need to provide workforce training. we do not need to do that as a condition of unemployment. we need to invest through our department of labor and workforce training so people can have the requisite skills for the new jobs that exist. in no way should that be a condition. we have to create economic growth and job creation and address income inequality. senator mcconnell does not quite understand the gap between the very wealthy and low income is growing and minutes -- middle income. the middle-class is feeling vulnerable because they are on shaky ground. >> this article tweeted out saying -- guest: i have to just disagree. look at what the president has put forward. let's start with universal preschool and early child education. we have to start there. also, i am on the appropriations committee and i see each and every day the fact that the republicans do not want to in early childhood education, in head start. we see headstart start as the result of the sequester having been cut, we have seen all kinds of public education initiatives being eroded as a result of the lack of investment in our public education and the budget that require us to really support young people. workforce training, skills early childhood education, investment in our public schools, targeted arestments in schools that failing for a variety of reasons, that is what we must do. president and democrats in congress have been very forceful with our education agenda. >> ohio, democratic caller. good morning. i wanted to ask the representative about this sequester and the budget bill that passed. democrats helped pass those two bills. itt i'm wondering is, why is democrats -- i am a black registered democrat. i just wondered why democrats are voting for the bills and then get on tv and say how horrible and terrible they are and how bad the republicans are? we all know how bad the republicans are. we need a democratic congress and senate and also president. you are a member of the congressional black congress and i believe the progressive caucus. aren't you guys fighting harder for regular people? i do not. caret i do not just listen to regular media. what young to find out guys are for. you are not for working-class people right now. i do not hear it. you keep voting for budgets like the murray ryan budget and the sequester. they are killing us. let me thank you. i am sorry you're not hearing it. the chairman of the congressional black caucus is a phenomenal chair and she is leading the congressional black caucus on a variety of fronts in terms of our priorities. one of which is addressing economic growth and in -- income inequality. thendly, with regard to ive caucus, we have been around the country raising the level of awareness with regard , havingum wage workers to rely on food stamps and medicaid. raise the needed to minimum wage and make sure there are low-wage workers that benefit from the economic growth beginning to take place. i am sorry you are not hearing it. we have a republican run house of representatives. in working engage .ith the majority hopefully next november, that will change. leader closely was a phenomenal speaker. we passed many built and many of the recovery -- recovery act would save millions of dollars -- millions of jobs. as democrats, we are fighting to take action the house. defend thei have to progressive caucus and the congressional asian pacific american caucus, the hispanic caucus, and our democratic caucus, fighting agent every day for the average american family. every man, woman, and child, to provide these ladders of opportunity so that those who are middle class do not fall into the ranks of the poor and as the result of some republican policies, that is beginning to happen. budgetdid the two-year deal you voted for -- >> i did not vote for it. that deal did not include the extensions of emergency unemployment compensation. some members did not vote for that. of his voted for it because we did not want and other government shutdown. we have a responsibility to work with the tea party and the republicans to try to create a budget where we can minimize and get back to the regular order so we can have appropriations bills. >> clarify for the viewer you did not vote. jonathan says, does he quality mean my income should equal yours? should a janitor make as much as a doctor? we are talking about disparities and gaps. a janitor should make a living wage. a low-wage worker should make enough money to take care of their family. regional statistics as it relates to how much a living wage should be. in california, it is upwards from 15-20 dollars an hour. we are talking about people having enough income to take care of their families and do what they want to do. we have to provide those opportunities for increased job training and education and those who want to move up the economic ladder. those opportunities should be there but we are talking about huge gaps where the top one percent, the billionaires, the thisrate ceos, are making huge compensation. ceo compensation. when you look at low-wage to wide the gap is much for the majority of low-wage workers. host: carol next, independent caller. lady ini agree with the ohio. i think the democrats need to get more back on. from issues. do not turn away from the affordable care act. losingor the people these union jobs. nobody supports unions anymore. fouris the next scary letter word even though it has five. what about the union jobs? what about these corporations that take those jobs overseas? the democrats never voted for that budget. that budget was a scam. guest: the democrats are fighting to make sure the affordable care act works. 45 attempts to repeal it. majority of democrats support the affordable care act and want to make sure it works. over 20 republican governors refused to accept the medicaid provisions of that. a middle-class life here in america, the primary pathway has been through our labor union movement. you can look at the record of all the legislation's put forward who tried to erode road or undermine unions in the labor movement. democrats are standing firm and fighting hard. we are doing everything we need to do to make sure we are not undermining the middle unit and the middle class in our country. next up, republican caller . her, how wanted to ask can people trust the president after he lied about the obamacare situation? that is terrible. why did she think the democrats do nothing wrong? they do everything wrong. we are fed and enjoying dollars in debt and a do not know what they will do about it area -- it. we do notm not saying do anything wrong. we are fighting to do everything right. we are fighting to make sure there is economic growth and the jobs are created for people in our country so everyone can be part of the american dream. the president has come forward and talked about him is takes we made with the affordable care act. it is beginning to work. a lot of chemical problems. if you have any new initiatives, he was the only investor in the world who do not have the universal health care system for all americans and all of our citizens. we candoing everything to make sure the affordable care act worked, and the president has come forward and talked about it, and we have to see this as a way, one bullet in the overall process. but it is working. are beingof people covered and will be covered. >> the house voting this week on legislation to make health air.gov more sick era. this is a republican effort. we have to really look. seen the details. the efforts to undo and repeal the affordable care act. step toward repeal, i will not. class 10 minutes left with the congresswoman. we are talking about income disparity in this country. as democrat approach to it we mark the 50th anniversary today of lbj's war on poverty he on january 8, 1964. the front page of "the washington times" this morning -- guest: i just have to say, when you look at the fact the republican through the house wanted to cut food stamps by $40 million, the president did not support that. he put forward many economic growth initiatives that have tracks.pped dead in its let me read you -- i am glad you mentioned the 50 year anniversary. we have linda johnson come to capitol hill to greet her and talk to her about her family's history and where we go from here. i want to read some of the initiatives begun under president johnson. a civil rights act. the food stamp act. older americans act. social security amendment of 1965. housing and urban development was established then. the public works and economic development. immigration and nationality act. of 1966.rition act child protection act of 1966. the national school lunch act. we had medicare and medicaid and other policies established 50 years ago as a result of president johnson's vision, who begins to address poverty and income inequality way back then. many of these initiatives have been under attack and part of what has been taking place is democrats have been working just andreserve this safety net the government support system, cane policies, until we achieve full employment. that is what this country should get. >> democrats will be helping to highlight these? guest: every day, we will have 50 speeches. beginning today. what they havend accomplished, but also, what could take days if these continue to be eroded, and where we need to go from here. that is starting with extended the emergency unemployment compensation of raising the minimum wage. >> making the speeches during the morning our? -- hour? >> they will be at noon. lyndon will be in the gallery. she is a phenomenal woman doing on early childhood education. we want to say thank you to her and honor her dad and mother and to talk about where we are now in 2013 and how we move forward with the same values. that is what this is about. these are the american values president johnson 50 years ago set forth in his speech and those values remain. >> we will be covering that on our website. we cover the house gavel-to- house on c-span. you can go to c-span.org for coverage of all of the events. you mentioned lady bird johnson. she was part of our "first ladies" series. if you are interested in her , go to ourshe played website to find out more. let's go to camp in missouri, democratic caller. missouri, democratic caller. caller: since there is so much scientific evidence living that building seven was brought down with plea -- pre-planted explosives in 9/11, and 2000 building experts demanding a new investigation of its destruction, in the interest of transparency, why should we not have a new investigation into the cause of why the third tower ell? it when no plane hit it? we have to think once again of the people lost in that tragic event and recognize many investigations have occurred as a result of that. some conclusive and some inconclusive. evidence is still coming out, but i'm not certain a new investigation will lead anywhere. there are those really pushing for that. in a democracy, we have to continue to put our points of views out and continue to ask if what you believe is right. there have been many investigations of many people failing or accurate and provided the most in-depth conclusions. a tweet -- guest: these are really not jobs bills. we are talking about bills that would provide for more tax loopholes,orporate trickle-down theory type of policies. those that would create jobs. these bills do not create jobs. i hope you look at those bills very carefully and recognize the majority of them would continue to allow for income inequality to increase. we do not see any of those bills that would address low-wage workers, that would address raising people out of poverty, that would protect the middle class and create good paying jobs. the bills just did not do that and i hope you would look at them and see exactly what they would provide for. >> we are getting an announcement this morning, breaking news private sector employment picked up in december as employers added 238,000 jobs. clearly, the economy is moving in the right direction. under this administration, it is always been very difficult. we had an increase in job creation in the private sector, where we have seen you wrote in has been in the public sector with huge bug -- budget cuts. public-sector employees have either been laid off, the jobs have been cut, and salaries have been frozen. this administration, when you look at the unemployment rate, when up -- when the barack obama demonstration came in as a result of the economic crisis, that the bush administration created through their economic this administration has done a phenomenal job. we have a long way to go. and unemployment rate in the african-american community, communities of color, over 12 it -- 12%, that is unacceptable. he looked at different regions of the country, rural community unemployment rate, we have to intotargeted resources economically distressed communities where we can create more jobs and opportunity. it is clearly moving in the right direction in economic growth, that is key to winning this new war on poverty. host: republican caller in modesto, texas. caller: yes. where thehere unemployment is the lowest in the country. i am self-employed. 25 years. the problem with unemployment is you do not have a job there, you have to move on. your solution, if you don't have a job, you have to move on? caller: yes. you have to go out and find new jobs were there is work. people, trained hands, they have got their hands out. guest: i am glad you are working. i am glad there are parts of the country where jobs are more plentiful and economic growth is taking place. also, there are other factors involved. i know people often times who are unemployed, for example long-term unemployment, employers will not hire them for a variety of reasons. they may not have the skill set as the result of long-term unemployment. we need to invest in workforce training. , and rick is fortunate to be able to move around, some people are not that mobile and do not have the resources to move to different parts of the country. we need a regional approach to really create economic growth throughout the country, especially where the unemployment rate is the highest. >> democratic caller. , forwant to thank you bringing out certain things. i want people to remember the republicans said they wanted to president a one-time and it did not work, so they are doing everything else to try to make him look bad. i hope people really look at that. my other thing is, how many --es -- why don't somebody that is not the word i wanted to say. there,ne putting it out when you say cut government spending, that is not just washington. that is all the way down to your city government. you are correct. city and state government. when you talk about government spending, you're talking about public-sector jobs being cut. secondly, you're talking about services. ,e saw this with the shutdown one that unfortunately occurred. services were not provided. when you talk about government spending, we have to have a government that is functional, but we cannot talk about a .overnment that does not exist many members, especially the tea party, have come to congress not only to create a smaller government but to dismantle government. that is very dangerous. it is a government of the people by the people and for the people. inhere is an e-mail wisconsin. how much poverty in our country is caused by personal choices, such as -- guest: you are talking about a lot of social issues we need to address for providing strategies to help people. single mothers, i was a single mother. unfortunately, i ended up on public assistance and food stamps and medicaid. turning that time, we had some of these initiatives in place where i could get through college and take care of my kids and get a job. i ended up starting a business and working as a legislative administrative assistant on capitol hill. here i am today. it would not have happened had it not been for that. wes is very competent and are not making excuses for people. we have to have strategies in place and policies in place that help people overcome many of these issues and personal responsibility is a factor in this, but not the only factor. we have to recognize it has got to be a comprehensive approach to address all the major social and economic issues and inequality inequities we see in our society. i say little more about your personal story, how long were you on government assistance in the various forms? >> three years. >> in that time, that helped you go from where you were to where you are now yucca >> there is no way i could've survived during that time had it not been for that. it was a really hard time. often times, looking for someplace to live. fortunately, i had a great family who helped me out with my kids. i ended up going back to college. that is what i wanted to do. go to school. not necessarily run for public office, but so i could take care of my two little boys. i had been through traumas and difficult days. i do not know what would've happened to me had i not been able to go to the welfare office and say, i need help to get through this. the american people were there for me. >> what made you think you would go there? or was it a person that influence you? was, how i get to the next day and try to do research to figure out how to survive during that time. i wanted to take care of my kids. that was the biggest thing. what do i need to do? i knew i needed to get a college education. and be able to have the skills and the knowledge base to have the quality of life to take care of them. primarily, my kids. >> how old were your boys? guest: they were little boys. and family menrs now. i have five grandchildren and they are all doing great. i am so proud of my sons. me intwo kids who helped trying to figure out how to help them achieve a quality of life. i do not know what i would've done. that the american people and president johnson had these programs in place to help me through. a bridge over troubled water. people do not want to be on food stamps. they do not want to be and medicaid. they do not want to be on public assistance. they want to work and get a job and take care of their families. very much foru your time this morning. we appreciate it. we will go to the other side of the aisle and talk to a , lukeican of indiana messer. kiefer. francine [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> communities suffering from consistent poverty and light tomorrow. five areas across the country zonebenefit from promise initiatives. the program is designed to help impoverished areas. the president first announced the initiative last year during the state of the union address and says the announcement is a --tical step toward in forward in making good on that commitment. philadelphia, los angeles, southeastern kentucky, and the nation of oklahoma. from theommendation ministration on classroom discipline will be announced today. it is an effort designed to end the apparent disparities and how students of different races are punished for violating school rules. a school to prison pipeline stems from overly zealous school discipline policies targeting black and hispanic students that take them out of school and place them into the court system. the recommendations will encourage schools to ensure all school personnel are trained in classroom management, conflict resolution, and approaches to de-escalate classroom disruptions. the house gop conference and democratic caucus before the first time since lawmakers returned to washington for the second section of the 113th congress cleared c-span will bring you congress -- comments for members following the meters -- the meetings. a moment of silence this morning to mark the anniversary of the mass shooting that killed six people and wounded 13, including gabrielle giffords. you can watch live house coverage at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. the senate on c-span2. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. approachingine is for c-span student camp. what isg the question, the most important issue congress should adjust this year. is $100,000 in total prizes, with a grand prize of $5,000. get more info at student camp that work. studentcam.org. >> the session was the obvious consequence of notification. page or a sharp line, y e because he remembered, as he stroked his head, that the british were out there. pick the waiting to american states off one by one. i have to reiterate jackson thought the world was a dangerous place. that danger was something he felt personally. he felt it institutionally for the country. he believed the separation of the state would open the united attack, threats, coercion, by foreign powers, starting with the british. at seven: 30 p.m. eastern, part of american history tv this weekend on c- span three. continues.journal host: back at our table, congressman luke messer, republican of indiana. i want to begin where we began with congresswoman barbara lee. marking the 50th anniversary on the war on poverty. is it working e -- working? is hard to say it is working. there are admirable war -- goals , but ending poverty completely, that has not happened. as congress mentioned, the solutions here are about more than just money. if that solve the problem, billions of dollars have been spent and the problem is not solved. that is not to say we can abandon these principles, either. i think it is important we remain a country where everyone has an opportunity. i am a little bit concerned about the concept of income inequality. i am more focused on the concept of wage stagnation. the real problem for most americans is that the purchasing power in the middle class is far less today than 10 years ago and that is a reality. i was on the house floor and heard one of my colleagues give a speech where they got to the rousing conclusion of their speech and said, the income equality -- inequality in america is larger than the income inequality in nigeria. i thought to myself, is that because the poor in america are nigeria, the poor in or is that because the rich in america are richer than the rich in nigeria. the answer is the second half of that. we have wealth in this country that surpasses many others. most americans are not so worried about taking money from those folks doing well. they are just worried about their own life and being able to pay for their health care and energy bills and make sure their kids have an opportunity in life. what are the republican solutions? what is your approach? starts with a growing economy. a classic margin -- margaret thatcher line, she says, those on the left would rather the poor be poorer so long as the rich would be less rich as well. to the economic challenges of america is not trying to somehow make the rich poorer. it is to create economic growth. we talk a lot in this town about ended the and how we crisis and had a balanced budget for the first time in decades, but the reality of the euro was a growing economy. we had an economy that grew at three percent a year versus one that grew by one percent or two percent a year, we have more jobs, better paying jobs, and better opportunities for folks struggling to make ends meet. there are some things we can do to answer those areas that most families are most concerned about, health care being one and energy costs being the other, those of the two areas are costs have increased, and he does ideas, there will be a lot of debate around obamacare and the president posses health-care law and the implementation of that. if you just allowed every american to have a tax- expenses for health care, that would make a big difference and make health care more affordable. if you made one simple change that said, if you could sell an insurance policy legally in any state in america, you can sell in every state in america, that cost melt away a lot of drivers. when it comes to energy, we need to increase supply. the keystone pipeline is a debate that has symbolic need to do what we can. we have seen energy costs drop some in the last couple of years. we have seen the growth through abundantss, a more supply of natural gas. >> what about in the short term? democrats are making the extendt that we need to long-term unemployment benefits for americans. if it does not happen, there will not be economic growth. you will see retraction in the economy. >> it is interesting. emergency unemployment relief. forave been after it here five years now with this program. i was glad to see they are moving to debate in the senate on this topic. it is important that if we look at these further extensions of these programs, that we find a pay for it in the budget. budget, finally a bipartisan compromise in this town. it would be remarkable we would then be violating the budget within a few weeks. we are all concerned about people out of work. we are all concerned about the fact we have not had the kind of job growth in the economy we need to have. some of that is a reflection of this president and his policies. five years into this presidency, and we have not seen the kind of recovery one would hope. >> the white house said yesterday 200 40,000 jobs would be lost if you do not extend unemployment benefits. your reaction? >> that is a remarkable number. theory, the benefits go to folks who do not have jobs. presumably, what they're saying is that folks who do not have jobs do not have the money to spend the money, and another jobs would be lost in connection. this is all a short term band- aid approach to trying to solve the problems. it is an approach that has been taken for five years now by the administration. i think republicans are willing thatme up with compromises help this group of people who admittedly need help. if you're out of work, there is a classic harry truman line that it is a recession when your neighbor loses a job and a depression when you lose yours. the folks out of work, this is a real life problem for them. we have got to get dizzy on the kinds of policies that would get our economy growing. the increased costs associated with health care law have contributed to problems in our economy. >> the recent poll they did shows this is a popular idea. 63% support the idea of extending the long-term unemployment benefits. it should be allowed to expire. do you think it gets a vote in the house? class if we can come up with a pay for it. there is every reason to believe it could pass in the house. americans care about their neighbors. if their neighbors are out of work, they want to help. but we have got to do is move past these band-aid policies and get after the kinds of policies that will promote real growth. >> you are on the air with republican of indiana. >> good morning. i try to get in and i almost fell off my chair laughing so hard because she said, we are fighting for everybody. i do not think so. host: we are listening. caller: he spent 109 days in session and the approval rating is nine percent. i think the majority of american people do not think it. andhing but your own seats the benefits and everything you all make. that is my comment. i appreciate your comment. the truth is congress posses approval ratings are down and that is for a reason. seenyears, people have congress and feel like there is not enough getting done. my hope is the budget agreement we saw at the end of the year is a start. when you get to the point your approval ratings are below the approval ratings of things like cockroaches and mosquitoes, that is not great. we all have to bear our part of the responsibility. i am a freshman member of congress and have been here just a year. we're working hard to try to break through that. one of the things we are doing as a freshman crop -- class is we are trying to know each other across partisan lines. i was surprised how little interaction there is across the aisle. last night, i am the president of the freshman republican class. we had a meeting, john delaney, one of their two presidents, had a meeting in his home. we had 30 to 50 members of congress, depending on different times they were there, who were gathering just to break the impasse. republican caller. caller: the refusal of congress to acknowledge a certain reality rapidly diluting the trust americans had in their government. would you be willing to personally review the scientific evidence proving the third tower that fell on 9/11 was brought down with its closest and to meet with representatives of the 2000 architects of engineers to manning a new investigation as to why it fell when it was not hit i an airplane? he is skeptical of the government posses investigation of what really happened on september 11, 2001. do you care to respond? guest: it is my understanding there has been a thorough investigation and the matter is essentially understood and resolved. i am open to hearing information. if someone contact my office, we will look at it. host: david, independent caller. caller: good morning. first off, i think we can all cannot, thatbe we a $17 trillion debt is bad for and is possibly a national security issue. but, let's be real about how we got here. we had to unfunded wars. the cbo report says those two unfunded wars will cost about $17 trillion. that is kind of interesting. they said, by 2017. with all the peripheries around it. know, back in world war ii, taxes were raised in a patriotic manner to support the country and we did not do that this decade. we will take that point for the congressman. the caller makes an important point that we have a real spending crisis in the country. one of the challenges you have as a leader is that, while we have very real problems, there are no painless solutions to the problems. most of my republican colleagues have taken the position, and i would agree, that until we get serious about spending reduction, it does not make a lot of sense to start talking about raising taxes. if you pull money out of the economy, given the economic challenges we currently face, you will end up costing jobs. on the particularly congressional very areas of spending, the last several years, we have gotten very aggressive about spending in the area. we reduced spending in the area for the first time, multiple years in a row since the korean war. the real challenge we face is in the other areas. the nondiscretionary, the areas of entitlement spending. we have got to start to have real reforms there as well. it is very important to realize there is no way out of this without apiral growing economy. as much as we can try to manage the federal budget, what we need is more revenue that comes from more jobs and folks that are getting paid better out in the private economy. if that residue rises with a growing economy, we can help solve the problem. that is what happened in the 1990's and that is what we need to do now. host: a tweet -- guest: i would say no. the challenge we face as a party, it is important to thember when you are opposition party, and by definition, you are when the democrats control the senate and you have a resident that is democratic as well, some of what you have to do in your agenda will be to oppose the things the other side is doing that will be bad for america. we spend a lot of energy as republican standing up against the president posses health-care law last year. the way the law has unfolded in the last several months has shown we were in many ways right. also makes the important point that we cannot define ourselves just by what we are against. no meaningful movement in american history and that is ever really mattered and made a difference has been defined just by what it opposes. in healthve to do care and energy policy and tax policy is present republican alternatives that show people what we would do if we were in charge of all the areas of government. we can do a better job. you will see some of that in the next several months. whether or not to pay for extended unemployment benefits, the new york times editorial had this this morning. they write -- guest: one of the hidden words in washington is the word "deficit." the real thing that matters is our debt. a $17 trillion debt continues to grow. it is true we have gone from spending -- from adding to the debt to the tune of $1 trillion a year, to several hundred billion dollars a year. that is admirable progress, but we ought not pretend for ourselves that we're somehow not continuing to grow our nation posses debt. i recognize there have been bush years, for example, and many of the last several years, where we extended these kinds of unemployment benefits, but these emergency unemployment benefits have been going on now for five plus years. way to to figure out a meet these needs and continue to balance the budget as well. beyond that, it is fair enough to say republican rhetoric is not perfect. one of my goals in leadership is to figure out a better way for us to communicate our principles. i do not believe every person on public assistance wants to be there and would rather not have a job. a minimum, naïve, and frankly, not good policy to ignore the fact that you get what you and send in life. if you subsidize and fund certain things, you get more of it. it just happens over and over again. we are at a point where, frankly, when i talk to the employers in my district, they will tell you they cannot compete with the benefits government provides. they continue to have folks come thato say, why take a job i would get for a package of things i -- not working, it is better than the package of wages and things that you could give me if i do take a job. i will just go ahead and continue to not work. that is just a reality that is there and we ought not ignore that. too many policies in the federal government incentivize folks to not keep working. reaction to a democratic senator of new york had to say yesterday to consider extending long-term unemployment benefits. pass it, no strings attached. get it done and get it done quickly. second-best choice is finding a can worke pay for that on both sides of the aisle. i would caution people that is a lot easier said than done. worrieds i said, i am we may be being somewhat walked into a cul-de-sac by our colleagues who do not have an attention that intention of doing that. i do not know the answer but that is a possibility. the worst choice is you have competing pay for its that do not get paid for and we do not get it done and it hurts the economy and workers. commonhere can you find ground? >> first, i agree with virtually everything the senator said there. it is something we ought to get done, if we can. it is a fun day to be here because it is the first day of business this year. a difficult day to be here because i do not have to pay for an answer for you right now. we need to be serious about it. we found reasonable compromise. not all them are completely popular in the budget agreement of just a few weeks back. we ought to be able to figure out something here. the real world, people have to get along when they disagree. in the real world, people have to find compromises, places that, by definition, it is not where either side would start. no reason to think we cannot do that here. i see no reason on the first day back this year in congress to and justour hands spend another five or $6 billion without finding a way to pay for it. sheila is next, democratic caller. caller: i have a short story here. the 1950's, i was 17. i already had two children, preschool, and found out there was such a thing as welfare. before that, my grandmother was taken care of. anyway, the caseworker told me she had seen something in me. wanted me to go back to school and get my ged and i did. onto go tome college. i went to a business college. from there, i moved here to 1971 and was able to get jobs and support my children. no more welfare. i know that the caseworkers are probably overloaded right now. sometimes iskes for someone to say, "i see something in you" and push them. not demand. guest: i think the caller makes a great point about the magic of america, that america has been a place that you could come from anywhere and grow and build a life. i grew up in a single-parent family. on public were never assistance. my mom had a job over the last 40 years in a factory in greensburg, indiana. times were tough and there were more month than money at the end of the month. and we had to work through the last few days. problems that have to be dealt with. most americans believe in the concept of a safety net. we all believe folks down on their luck and out of work ought to have their opportunity. i just think we also, most americans believe the safety net ought not become a hammock. the issue here is what is the appropriate balance? i am optimistic we can find an answer in the coming days and weeks. host: what are the minimum wage? the president wants to push it? would you be willing to raise the minimum wage? caller: it is important that we be the way weon approach the concept. many people working minimum wage in america are not folks at the head of the household trying to lead a family. they are teenagers and college students working through college. folks that do not have much experience. months, those increase. my fear is we would cost jobs for those folks in those areas. a young person, and the wage gets driven up to a higher level, you may not get a job over somebody who is an individual, the head of the household. that said, i think it is fair to that you cannot lead a household on the minimum wage. if you were someone like my mother with two kids, and trying to make ends meet at that wage, it just does not work anymore. i recognize when you look at was wages, the minimum wage lower than it was in the 1980's. maybe a look at a college who areand two teens, not in that cow the gory, i would at least be open to considering that. that category, i would be at least open to considering that. caller: good morning. i have got one main question. , when is ae to know child and adult? 18 when they vote and go to war? 21 when they purchase alcohol? or 62 when they finally go on social security? over christmas, the president put out -- pajama boy. around in his pajamas drinking hot chocolate, discussing health care. as a man and an american, that is the most embarrassing thing i've ever seen. seen. in this country did not sit around in pajamas drinking hot chocolate building this country. they got up and worked their fingers to the bone. host: congressman? thet: i appreciate comments, i think they were feet pajamas, too. much younger than pajama boy, they got feet pajamas this christmas. they are 10 years old and younger. this is a point that you are an adult at 18 years old in many areas of the law. we seem to not recognize that in some areas. the future of america will be put -- built on people working hard, not how much we can squabble about the different benefits that individuals can receive from government. host: wanda, california, democratic caller. caller: thank you. number one, we could not raise taxes on the job creators for five years, we still do not have jobs. another thing i would like to how we can pay for the unemployment is stop giving tax breaks to companies that send their jobs overseas. manufacturing is gone. there are no jobs, but yet, they will not raise any revenue on the welfare corporate states that are getting all this welfare money. subsidies to do everything but put back into this country. all of these corporations, the money is being spent in other nations. either it with this visa they are trying to pass. could gohe day, kids to high school and get -- they could do wood shop, mechanics, homemaking. jobs, we had manufacturing. i believe that these other countries are feeder countries into this country, they are feeding those individuals in india and anywhere else to do electronic jobs and jobs that our college students can do, but they don't get the jobs. host: we will have the congressman answer. guest: two or three things, starting with the last one. a great point, america used to be a country where our education system recognize the importance of training and trades. now, we have somewhat erroneously decided to try to kids in a four-year college. many kids are dropping out and having student loan debt. toought to look at ways restore the importance of trades, -- of electronics, plumbing. we ought to look at those things. second, she talked about corporate tax rates and corporate welfare. for folks taking jobs out of the country. it is a little worse than wanda even maybe recognizes. that is that there are tax incentives for corporations to keep their jobs overseas and not bring them home. america has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the entire world, one of the top two. that is bad for jobs. we have a tax system that requires businesses that make money overseas to true up those taxes and pay an additional 10% taxation to bring money back into america. that is a bad incentive. the last issue she raised seem to imply that we have not raise taxes for employers this year. she said we do not want to tax job creators. because that would cost jobs. the president's health care law to been a huge tax burden businesses and job creators across this country. it is placed a glass ceiling on job creation in this country. it has been a failure. host: tennessee, independent caller. you are on the air with luke messer of indiana. morning, c-span. we appreciate the wonderful programs you have got there. to all three branches of government. i wish you greta and the representative a happy new year. host: thank you. caller: i hope president obama will turn this nation around and give all of us a happy new year. say to ourd like to representative there, my name is columbia, out of tennessee. i am a retired art teacher. there isng to say that a lot of important things that mr. messer can do for us. one of the things i would like to see him do is help support the president. i know he is a republican. there is nothing wrong with that, either. we all have got our views. trying to get to what is best for america. you think about the three major reforms. president obama has started the first one, health care. two other major reforms i wish you would help us out, mr. messer, help us get those other reforms on the table. host: congressman? guest: trying to think of what the two other reforms are. at -- tax reform and immigration reform. i think there are compromise on both of those. the underlying message is very important. ,e are all in this together frankly, america is a country that has faced big challenges before and has addressed them. most americans are tired of representatives that come to washington and spend more time focused on their party than they do on their country. the key is that we are going to have to start on each of these issues with places where there is agreement. as's take immigration reform an example. i think there is generally broad consensus among congressional leaders and the american people that we need stronger border security. our current border security is bad for national security and data for our economy because of all the expenses associated with it. we also a sense that have a worker documentation program that is broken. i was in a meeting yesterday with steve case, founder of aol, who gave a great analogy. could you imagine if we had our naval academy bringing students from india and china, training them and giving them the best training in warfare and then sending them back to their countries? requiring them to go back because we did not want their service. that is what we do with many of our technical education programs , engineering, chemistry, computer science. students,ing folks, thousands of them from other countries, bring them here and educate them and then do not give them at least to fit into the economy. build a life for themselves, be a consumer in the community. that ought to be an area of consensus we can fix. host: tweeting in. if our current median wages were comparable to the 1960's, would more people be paying income tax? if the middle class was doing better. guest: the statistics i have seen is that someone who is -- 10 yearsmaking $59,000 ago has the purchasing power of someone who makes $50,000 today, we have seen a $10,000 decline in purchasing power in real wages for middle-class america. drives the reality that much of the frustration the american people feel with leaders in washington. the president, for example, in his health-care law, was talking about something that was a very real problem for most americans. health-care care costs are too high, they increase. he had the wrong answer. as we lookoblem now at the way the president's health care law has unfolded, it is not -- it is clear that some people have benefited. they are people that have health insurance today that did not have it a few months ago, folks with pre-existing conditions have done better. -- half we hurt more people than we have helped? have more people lost health insurance because of these reforms that have gained it? one of the challenges we have, my party, my caucus as we move forward, we have to speak to that reality. we have to have answers that help people deal with the reality they face. i gave you one example, if every american, that up and say, since world war ii, if you have have health insurance provided by your employer, it is not taxable. you do not have to pay taxes on that. historical incentives in world war ii why they did that, over the course of the last 60 years, that has continued. areore and more employers dropping health care benefits, i think the individual person ought to be able to purchase their health insurance and it not be taxable. you ought to be able to purchase your health insurance with pretax dollars. that would, at least in the near, reduce costs. that is a real life example of something that would make people's lives better. hear fromcting to republican leaders today in washington talking about this issue. a potential toy 16 presidential -- a potential 2016 presidential contender, marco rubio, talking about income disparity. eric cantor, the majority leader in the house will be talking. as well as paul ryan, head of the budget committee. john, washington, republican caller. we will be covering senator revealed -- senator marco rubio's speech. caller: i think it is an economic problem. by incomeed disparity. it is causing a structural problem with our economy. tax code ofd by problems. if we fix the tax code, repatriate dollars overseas. change the tax code from capital gains and income taxes being so high and reverse that, we would take money from the rich and give to the poor. change the income disparity and maybe fix the economy. there is an example, that is the great depression. that is the other time we had income disparity. i think we are in a similar situation. that is my comment. again, theuld say, real issue is wage stagnation. purchasing power of the individual in their life. i think the politics of this is that it is easy to point fingers at the rich and point out the differences in income and use that as a way to score political points. what we have got to do as a country is figure out a way that we elevate the purchasing power of folks at all levels of the economy. ourou take a look at current government structure, there are two groups are well taken care of. when are the very rich. the very rich tend to do pretty well, they can purchase their way around whatever rules you create. if you have a dictator or a desperate or a cane, they ingratiate themselves to the king with money. in a system like ours, they have lawyers. in communism, it is different. the rich do well in every system. very poor today, the are pretty well taken care of. the folks that do not have worked, they have medicaid, benefits that economic studies have shown, most folks in the area have a benefits package of about $3000 a year. year.,000 a not a prosperous, perfect lifestyle, but it certainly among theica's poor richest poor and the world. the folks who most struggle in our system are those who are working at it. the second, third, and fourth quartile between 20% and 80% in our economy. it is a real frustration for folks in that world, a world where i grew up and lived with my mother and my brother in indiana. in that group have always felt like if you work hard in america, you would have a chance. a chance to grow into the other areas, to have prosperity for you or for your kids as they went on and lived the american dream. they hear they're leaders in washington not -- they do not hear any answers that deal with that challenge. i think what we have to do, we have talked about health care, frankly, with energy, we need to theease supply and promote growth of natural gas, for example. the energy sector. i think we have to look at tax policies that help that middle group of americans. we do not have the luxury of the kind of tax shelter ronald reagan had to work with when he did his reform of the 1980's. it is important to understand -- a lot of tax dollars, when they cut taxes at the top level -- working americans felt relief and that tax reform, too. and he tax reform package passed -- and he tax reform past has to help middle americans. host: ohio, democratic caller:.♪ feelr: a lot of problems i is the wage disparity as far as production goes. it started with reagan. if you look at production, american worker is producing more than ever. wages have stayed stagnant since 1980. that is the problem. host: what is the solution? people said,other quit giving the tax breaks to the upper part. what is going to create more jobs? putting people to work, spending money, or getting a tax break to a rich guy? host: congress men? guest: it is fair enough to say that the signature issue of republican reform ought not to be taxed protection for the very rich. americans are frustrated by that. we have to be mindful of every decision we make. they have consequences. corporate america today is that our tax rates are too high. overseas,t jobs to go certainly not too low. the -- part of what this discussion brings clarity on these issues is there are no payments answers to the challenges we face as a country. host: congressman luke messer, thank you for your time. coming up next, a conversation continues on this topic. focusing on francine kiefer's piece in the christian science monitor. democrats to push income inequality as their top issue of 2014. right after this news update from c-span radio. a.m. eastern time, a private survey by payroll processor adp shows u.s. businesses added the most jobs in a year in december, powered by a gain in construction jobs. the figures add to evidence that the economy gained momentum at the end of 2013. the private firm says companies added 238,000 jobs in september -- in december, up from 229,000. reports a new gallup poll finds that 42% of americans identified as independent in has, the highest gallup measured in 25 years. identification fell to the lowest over that time span. at 31%, democratic identification is unchanged for the last four years but down from 36% in 2008. to the midterm elections, alexander bolton of "the help" writes -- of "the are" writes that democrats working to retain the senate. republicans must get 6 seats. income inequality has been highlighted in this week's fight over unemployment benefits. not- economic growth might go far enough to quell voters' dissatisfaction. the senate meet at 10:00 a.m. eastern time to consider and implement benefit -- to consider on implement benefit legislation. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> if i were to identify as a single -- the single most important challenges to overcome -- theims, the notion reason why we are here today is because of the wahhabist inclination. it is notewhere that only a historical, it is anti-historical. it denies centuries of islamic theology and tradition and plurality. hundreds of years of diversity. the idea that to be a muslim you have to follow from the second oftury and a limited period time. i think our journey as american muslims has to be about refusing to be told by clerics who speak that islam and its ideals is a seven century reality. we are americans and muslims who need an islam of this we first century. america" muslim in part of book tv this weekend on c-span2. online, discussing mark levin's "the liberty amendment's go to booktv.org and click on book club. c-span, we bring public affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings, and conferences and offering complete, gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house. service of private industry. created by the cable tv industry 34 years ago and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. you can watch us in hd. continues. journal" host: on wednesdays in our last hour of the "washington journal ," taking a look at magazine articles. the christian science monitor's francine kiefer's piece "are cuts to push income inequality as taught issue of 2014. win ning tactic?" is it? guest: they are returning to their basic theme, sticking up for the downtrodden. it is successful in that way. it has been a traditional theme since the new deal and roosevelt's time. there is a problem -- it risk if they overreach. if they try for plans that are too ambitious and looked like it -- it might bee income redistribution, not popular with americans. we just saw for obamacare -- through obamacare that when people are told one thing and have to give something up for the benefit of society, giving up a plan you like so you can have higher standards that you don't want that are good for everyone else. you can get into trouble. the democrats are starting with a fairly modest strategy. expending -- extending unemployment insurance benefits and raising the minimum wage. they are controversial, but they are not -- the great society of collegiate -- they are not the great society of lbj. host: why start with these issues? to return toal is solid ground that the democrats know they are safe on, it has been a rough year for democrats through the president's president's- the visibility. he has been under attack for the surveillance program, for benghazi, for obamacare rollout. defenseive mo - - democrats are in defensive mode. deal issues help americans with the issue of income inequality and they are possibly ones that could go through congress and could the achievable. they are controversial, but not impossible. that is what the strategy is. starting with those issues. the president will be reiterating in the state of the toon other ways he wants deal with this. host: how will democrats make the strategy successful? if they are saying the middle-class and the poor in our country are not doing well. at the same time, defend the president's stewardship of the economy. guest: it is a fine balancing act. there is an internal contradiction there. animation that things are not going as well as they should be going -- and admission that things are not going as well as they should be going. kind of how the president walked the fine line yesterday, he had a group assembled at the white house whose unemployment insurance benefits have run out. he was saying we have made progress, he is always pointing to the progress that has been made, the jobs that have been created, declining unemployment rate. then trying to reach those people who are still struggling and still having a hard time, that is the fine line. what about the senate democrats that are vulnerable in 2014? about senatet democrats that are vulnerable in 2014? high: especially ones in unemployment states, this will be viewed as a good thing for them. they are reaching out to suffering americans. that will be helpful in that point of view. again, you still have the same conundrum. you have not done enough for me in helping the economy grow and so on. this can help with those suffering, voters still want more. host: senate majority leader harry reid has promised more. wage, whathe minimum are you hearing and when do you expect that to come to the floor? thet: i am not sure what timing will be. not too far out from where we are right now. terms of that -- the minimum wage has been supported by both parties in the past. be supportedll this time around is not clear. the public interview on the wage is -- the republican view is that it is a job killer because it increases expenses of business. the democrat view is it as to adds toower -- it buying power and economic road. if you look at where the american public is, they support an increase. if you look at the states, they y ahead of congress, 13 states have increased the minimum wage as of january 1. it is going to be hard for republicans to push act on this. -- push back on this. republicans are not shying away from this. marco rubio is giving a talk on it today, paul ryan as well. contenders.l 2016 are they going to make this an issue as well? guest: they cannot avoid this issue. been raised in a high-profile way by the president and democrats in congress. republicans are now being put on the defensive in an area they are not traditionally strong. they are often viewed as insensitive to the poor. the republicans are going to do is take their ideology, they're way of dealing with this issue, progress strategies, -- pro-growth strategies, tax cuts, eric cantor will be pushing school vouchers and school choice as a way to get education . this is a complex issue. it involves family life, it involves outsourcing, it economy.growth of the that means there are complex answers. republicans will be pushing their brand of answers. host: talking with francine kiefer of the christian science monitor about her piece on the democrats focusing on what they for 2014.e inequality larry, minnesota, independent caller. caller: good morning. your previouswhat guest was talking about when he compared the government safety net to the minimum wage. he was more focused on the idea donemore safety not minimum wage -- more safety net than minimum wage. the point of why somebody might have to stay in a safety net, if you go on minimum-wage, you will live under the bridge you build. one thing about republicans, they shoot downward looking for places to squeeze more out of. ever upward. pay attention. take a close look at the way people are aiming to try to get more out of who and in what way. thank you. host: francine kiefer? itst: an interesting point, reminds me of a story i read recently about a question being pushed on the minimum in california. it is being pushed by a haservative republican who libertarian streaks. what is interesting about his if we had a higher minimum wage, we would not need to spend so much on the safety net. that is one argument. shows that the argument for and against minimum wage are not monolithic. host: california, republican caller. caller: good morning. know, a problem with, you our -- with obama health care. we are getting hit by $200 or $300 a month. we are getting less for it. , my husband does not get a raise for $200 or $300 a month. i have even thought of us separating. and i go on something separate. i don't know, i am a little confused this morning. obama has lied. not just lied once but twice, he has not only lied about obamacare. he is not a president we can trust. host: let's take the trust issue. guest: your story is not unique. we have been hearing stories come out for the woodwork about people who expected obamacare to be a better deal for them. it has resulted in higher premiums or not the choice they want it or not the network they want it or not the doctor they expected to have. are real stories. just like yours. they do raise trust issues for the president. the is one reason why he, white house, has scrambled to fix not only the website but -- fixing the website is not enough. -- thesetories are stories are going to continue to come out and new ones will come out, problems not foreseeable. host: republicans saying democrats shift to income inequality to get away from the problems with health care. guest: it is a political strategy. they have to get on the offense if, you cannot change the subject unless you actually bring something new to the game and start talking about something else. the obamacare issue has been bruising for the democrats. is tothe first step extend long-term unemployed and benefits for some americans. the senate took the first step yesterday and clearing the even consider the bill. they are headed towards a final passage. what happens when they get their? guest: it is not clear there is going to be final passage of extended unemployment benefits. what is interesting is that democrats have not expected to even get this far. yes, this is a political issue. but there is also a real desire from the president to have this past and not just be something to be up with publicans about. -- to have this pass and not upt be something to beat republicans about. he lobbied republicans on the hill asking for their vote. there seems to be that negotiation about how to pay for the $6.5 billion that the benefits will cost. we will see where we come out on that negotiation by the end of the week. that newspapers reporting the president said he would not agree to a pay for for this shorter three-month period, perhaps a longer one. that voted yes, six of them, said they will not vote yes on final passage unless there is an offset for the $6.5 billion. guest: some of this might be leveraging. as they try to extract as much as they can on this. the democratic view is this is real emergency funding. past,e passed it in the we have extended it in the past without having to pay for it. the republican view, as mitch mcconnell was saying yesterday, in the past we did not have the level of debt we have now. whether that translates to working out on a pay for deal for the three-month extension or into have to pay for it for longer than three months or after the three months is up in the air. that is part of all the bargaining, we cannot see where that is going to come out. postbank doesn't get brought to the floor in the house -- host: does it get brought to the floor in the house? guest: only if there is a way to pay for it. speaker john boehner has said let's see what comes out of the senate but has insisted till now it has got to be paid for otherwise he won't look at it. yesterday, saying exactly that. he told the white house one month ago he would consider only if it was paid for but also if it includes something to help put people back to work. is not theng for it only issue. some people would like to reform the way it has been done. there have -- there was a slight reform in 2012 looking at job training. the benefitsw long last and so on. there were some adjustments made already in 2012. should there be further moretments made to help directly connect people who do not have jobs to the job market? host: baltimore, maryland, democrat. morning, greta. thank you for taking my call. i am a blue dog conservative democrat. i am really glad that you're just brought a conservative point of view, at least fiscally conservative, on raising the minimum wage. for averty guideline family of four is $23,050. if they raise the minimum wage hour, thousands of people would be a longer be no longerwould qualifying for these programs. going further, give them what they ask for. $15 an hour, yes, for restaurant workers. the poor families in america, especially with kids, householdhead of women. i was raised by a single parent during the 1960's. god for whatk johnson did, that allowed me to get an education and not be a poor black american. host: we will have francine jumped in. guest: $15 an hour is what restaurant workers who have walked out this year are demanding and what they say is a living wage. that may well be. the way that congress moves and even state governments move is not in such large increments. the current federal minimum wage is $7.25. what is being talked about on the hill that the president supports is $10.10. the president supported a lower minimum wage than that. democratic push in the senate is for $10.10, that is what he is supporting. if you look at what has gone through the states, i mentioned that 13 states have newman wage as of this year. another 11 states -- new minimum wage as of this year. another 11 states are looking at it in 2014. tois anywhere from $7.50 nine dollars at the highest, most are in the a dollar range -- the a dollar range, not of that is close to $15. to have that kind of a lead, which may be justified, that is going to have to come from grassrootstor, organizing, grassroots pressure, just like the kind that restaurant workers have been doing in order to move the private sector. lawmakers will not move that high that fast. host: michael, california, independent. caller: good morning, greta. i was hoping to get on with your present of messer. -- with representative messer, he is a politician who has to be accountable. ms. kiefer, you are not a politician. the fact that 400 people in this country, the 400 richest people make as much as basically 150 million americans, the tax code has to be changed. when reagan came into office, it was 74%, everything was going fine. to 28%,gan dropped it the country went downhill. combine that with the productivity of americans, it matched the profit rate of corporations for so long and split when reagan came into office. the way to solve income inequality is -- you have to do something with the tax rate. i cannot see 400 people making as much as 150 million people. guest: is a great question. is a for a new issue. there is a desire for tax reform in congress. there are some areas of agreement, lowering the corporate tax rate to encourage more job creation here at home. there are huge areas of disagreement. that is what lawmakers are stuck on right now. the simpson-bowles commission, a bipartisan commission, did point a way forward. obama had a commission in 2012. that just has not gotten anywhere. republican income the republican guy in the senate working with his house counterpart. the house committee leader in the senate, max baucus, is going to be leaving to become ambassador to china. their hard work they have been doing behind-the-scenes up in the air. there has been some agreement, there are outsiders pushing for tax reform. it has not been able to take it over the finish line on the hill. host: talking with francine of the christian science monitor about democrats focusing in 2014. inequality francine kiefer, you note in your story the gallup poll that was taken in december of 2013. americans cite first, their satisfaction -- their dissatisfaction with government. second, economy, there can problems fors top the country. the gap between rich and poor is at the bottom. therein lies the balancing act for democrats. trying to steer public interest to an issue where the party holds an advantage. guest: it is an issue. it is not the most salient most in the public mind. what was so interesting about that gallup poll was that dissatisfaction with government displaced the economy as the number one issue. that is not surprising coming out of the shutdown and the role ollout ofare -- the r obamacare. it is pretty hard to displace the economy. either the economy or the government, those are things people care about. the difference between the rich and the poor, yes, it is an issue. it could be a stronger issue the markets talked about. most top of mine. -- top of mind. you have to be careful with wording of polls. when the general economy is the number one or number two issue, that includes all these things. that includes common most people's minds, wage disparity, income disparity, wealth disparity. perhaps voters lump that altogether with the economy. host: susan, virginia, republican. caller: good morning. i have a comment. ever wondering if anyone considered how obamacare caused income inequality. the reason i say this is -- i work in an industry that in many cases has companies that are owned by corporations in india. they hire american citizens. they are not required by obamacare to provide health care. they can pay us whatever they want and don't have to provide the benefits that are required of american companies which forces those jobs overseas. i called senator mark warner's office to confirm that this was true. that they did not have to pay the benefits. i was told no, they did not. in fact, his office thought this was a good idea. it was good for globalization. if you consider this -- those regulations are causing income inequality. it is driving our wages down. thank you. guest: you make a good point. when regulations of any kind are added to either the safety net or adulation of business -- or regulation of business, business seeks a more costly way of doing business. whether it is obamacare or environmental regulation, there will always be a way sought to do something in a less expensive manner. that is what business is born to do. it is not surprising what you mention. off, you negative spin will see other, unanticipated spinoffs relating to such a major government program as this. host: journey the conversation on twitter. -- joining the conversation on twitter. paid towage would be fewer if we had a tight labor market where employees could say no. keith, indiana, democratic caller. caller: good morning. i believe what the deal is with our country, we are stuck. i believe, you know, the in there with 90 things to solve at once. they need to be broken down into groups and assigned more cumbersome -- assigned more congressmen. if you want to take your jobs overseas, do not come back, do not send nothing here to sell and get advantages. should assign , jobs to do the job coming back of a here, be accountable and only work on that one specific problem. host: francine kiefer? guest: not sure i understand the point. --it is that workers should we should not be relying on workers overseas -- host: jobs going overseas impacting workers in this country. has been one way productivity has calmed down in the u.s. inhas increased drastically the u.s., profit margins has increased through outsourcing. wages are not going to be responding when we have unemployment still fairly high-end productivity is so strong. it is going to the have to overcome that trend. host: mark, florida, independent. you are next with francine kiefer of the christian science monitor. caller: good morning. taught me about income inequality, if we go to $15 an hour, the president to find a full-time job as 30 hours, that 23,400 a year, you are still under the poverty line. the is not going to work. when the president came back for the fifth time from hawaii in the first speech he had, he poked sticks at the republicans. they're not going to get along if our leader, in his first speech back from a 17 day andtion in hawaii, comes in says the republicans want to keep people starting. republicansnt -- want people not to see their -- to feed their children. he is divisive, i wish the christian science monitor would write more about the device of divisiveness. an hour, i am relying on your map, even if it ,000,o to a salary of $23 that is not for one earner, that is for a family of four. $23,500.erson, in terms of divisiveness, there is plenty of blame to go around. i divisiveness in this town. democrats are blaming republicans and mitch mcconnell and the republican leadership me obama and the democrats. it is a firing line of equal strength and proportion on both sides. stepping back from that, it needs commitment from both sides, democrats and republicans. it is going to be tough to do in an election year where the senate is up for grabs. it takes two to tango. both sides have been equally divisive and would need to step back. host: @boringfileclerk tweets in. use ae democrats downtrodden card? guest: that is the fine line we were talking about. hand, you are saying, americans are suffering. on the other hand, you are saying, oh yeah, i am president and in charge of the economy that is causing americans to suffer. is way to deal with that point to progress that has been made, which the president is doing and democrats are doing. improve theto situation for those who have not been brought along. host: you wrote a piece yesterday, why unemployment benefits twist republicans into knots. ll, the thing is, this is a difficult issue for republicans. they put up many reasonable sounding points that americans would agree with on why they might not want to support an extension and unplanned benefits. one is, as i mentioned, the high debt. let's pay for this particular round. another one is, they are concerned about a temporary program becoming permanent. do you stop is when this temporary program? is 7% the benchmark, is 6% unemployment the benchmark? the concern is a temporary program becoming permanent. the effectiveness of the program. is it effective enough? should we look at how the program is managed? they have very legitimate reasonable questions they're asking. on the other hand, if they do not pose those questions in a they pose those questions in a way that sounds like they don't care about poor people and don't care about struggling americans, then they look like heartless republicans. they can have these issues, it is and how they frame them and and how they talk about them. that is why you are seeing five or six leading republicans beginning to address this issue on their own terms. democrats'itter, the economic argument. says it increases the economy. george, cleveland, texas, republican. myler: thank you for taking call. has anyone noticed that this guy jumps from one crisis to another? itinvented and other crisis, is a smokescreen to get off of obamacare. same thing on the war on women in 2012. today he is coming up with a program in poor communities. tax breaks and giveaways in poor communities, he needs to fix the tax structure for everybody. tax.hing like a flat has anybody noticed that, he jumps from crisis to crisis? host: we will take that point but also talk about promise zones. guest: he will be talking about ways the government can work with private sector to help poor, disadvantaged areas in several cities around the u.s. how education can be beefed up, how law enforcement can be beefed up. waste to attract private businesses into these to stress areas. -- these distressed areas. it is not a new concept. the concept of enterprise zones in the republican years of reagan and bush or promise rand visiting detroit talking about enterprise zones. this is not a new idea. it comes up when you have a discussion on poverty because they are difficult issues to solve. in cities, the effort is being made to deal with certain parts of cities. host: the point about the president going from run crisis -- from one crisis to another. house republicans this week are going to be focusing on the health care website. guest: they will -- they have made it very clear that obama can't will continue to be a -- thateme for them obamacare will continue to be a major theme for them for 2014 for the midterm elections. they will continue to push legislation and hold hearings. on friday they will vote on a bill that requires the white days to give, within two of a known security breach of information through the health care system, that the administration needs to notify someone of the. that requiresll the white house to update them weekly as to how many people are enrolling and what the nature of this enrollment are. they are continuing to push this issue and they will. host: denver, colorado, democrat. is ar: i understand this political issue. it is not -- it is a moral issue. there are people in upstate new york that are long-standing, good, hard-working americans that are on unemployment. are cannot get a job, there no jobs to be had. i would like to mention -- there seems to be complete failure in the media to note that republican ideas since reagan, for example. supply-side economics, they do not work. if weingrich said that raise taxes in 1993, we were going to have a recession, the world was going to end, on and on. he was wrong. yet they still continue to promote the same ideas. they are not interested in the safety net. what they want is just pure free-market capitalism. host: democrat in colorado. francine kiefer? guest: there are areas of the u.s. that are just changing drastically. back, sucht coming as in upstate new york. i has been to upstate new york, it is not a happy place economically. it continues to go downhill. arecauses for that multiple. a restructuring of the economy. not only outsourcing, moving to a service industry and away from manufacturing. using into high-tech and so on. these are structural changes going on within the american economy. tax -- the tax code is one aspect of how to deal with that. is education and training. so is the ability to move americans -- the ability and desire of americans to move to where jobs are. ie of the interesting things, am sorry i don't remember which republican it was that talked about this. discussing the idea of extending unemployment insurance benefits. one idea was could we add something that would make it easier, and incentive, to help americans moved to other areas of the country where jobs are plentiful? that is an interesting idea. host: days, independent. where are you calling from? caller: california. i wanted to say that minimum-wage should be at least $15. there should probably be a living wage. i am a little nervous. i hope you understand what i am trying to say. outsourcerepublicans all the jobs but don't want to give people unemployment and they have not created one jobs bill since john boehner has been in there and cantor. if they have a thing where people get unemployment, it should not have to be extended, they should get it until they find a job. maybe congress would start creating jobs in this country. host: francine kiefer. the discussion is going to be moving towards job growth again. it has been distracted in the last year, especially the last six months, through obamacare. if you saw john boehner's comments, and other vulcans -- and other republicans, they are trying to emphasize ways to grow jobs. the democrats also are emphasizing it. they have two different approaches to growing jobs. they both want job growth. the president for quite some time has been emphasizing things for as paying infrastructure, more infrastructure spending, which is an investment in america and something that doesn't create jobs -- does create jobs. republicans talk about tax cuts, both sides are talking about education as a needed training aspect for the workforce. the big debate is over. -- how you grow the economy, that will get more focus. if democrats are raising income inequality, that gets to the subject of job growth, then you will see the two sides come out more starkly on how to do that. host: the house is about to come into session, let's and where we began. the extension of certain unemployment benefits. to senate cleared a hurdle consider the bill. what happens next? guest: we will have a vote on whether to end debate and move to voting on the bill. you still need 60 votes to clear that. if that goes forward, you will vote on this ill. host: the house is gaveling in now. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] he house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of nuary 7, 2014, the chair recogniz

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