Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20140709

You ca you. The headlines reflect the dollar figure attached to this request from president obama and whats going on in the southern border. 3. 7 billion urgently needed. Other papers providing a break down, at least in broadways, of how the money will be spent. This is from the Associated Press this morning as far as how the breakdown goes. But when we look before we look at that, and there is the request, 1. 8 billion to care for unaccompanied children. For transportation, detention and removal, 1. 1 billion. To look at border agent pay, 433 million. The hiring of additional Immigration Judges, 64 million. We talked about that reaction from members of congress, michael burgess, a mike he control doctor tweeted this, saying that here is the message to president obama, on the border crisis, saying the president needs to come here. We heard from the minority whip, steny hoyer. The house must act, the time is now. Joining us on the phone to give us a little bit more input on this request is Josh Lederman with the Associated Press. Hes their white house reporter. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host how did this request go to almost 4 billion . Caller that 2 billion figure was not something that they had put out and that it was more based on peoples speculation and what outside groups were anticipating. When they put together these various chunks much money, the money for Justice Department, the money for actual security on the border, and then the big chunk of change for health and Human Services to be able to take care of these children. When you bring those three pockets of money together, it ends up adding up to close to 4 billion. The breakdown, you talked about the 1. 8 billion for health and Human Services. How much of this money addresses legal issues . The hearings that have to take place, the deportation process, how much of that money deals with that . Caller there is 84 64 million that is intended for the Justice Department to hire Immigration Judges. The goal is to really reduce the backlog of cases and be able to process these cases more quickly, and eventually be able to return people who are not determined to have a reason to stay here, that is legitimate, back to their home countries more quickly. And then spend another half billion dollars for border protection, overtime costs, trying to create more facilities to be able to hold some of these unaccompanied children after they are apprehended at the bordered. Host now that the request has gone to congress what is the white house expecting and what happens now . Caller the white house is hoping, its a bit of an optimistic view, that because people from both parties have been so insistent that this is a crisis in the Administration Needs to deal with this quickly, that theyll put their money where their mouth is and act quickly to approve the spending. Thats of course contingent upon people in Congress Looking at what the president is saying and saying yes this is the right way to go. Thats definitely a big if in the Election Year. But so far it seems that people on capitol hill have generally been open to the president s request and say that they are going to look at it, Speaker Boehner says he will look at it seriously. Some of the early reaction has been not so positive to it has actually come from the president s own party, from democrats who are closely associated with some of these immigration activists who are concerned about some of the other changes that the president is requesting to give his administration more authority to be able to deport some of these people more quickly. Host the president heading to texas and one of the headlines in the paper this morning takes a look at the meeting planned between him and the Texas Governor, rick perry. What is the white house hoping to gain from this meeting . Caller the white house is hoping to gain nothing from this meeting. The white house did not want to have this meet, and really tried tooth and nail to avoid having to do this border moment while in texas. And hes not going to the border, but hes going to meet with perry, and some religious and local leaders of that immigration, and that came after a big Pressure Campaign by perry and others to say why arent why isnt the president going to the border to see the crisis that many believe he at least partially contributed to . The white house i think looked at this as more of a political stunt, you know, pressure in Election Year for, you know, him to physically be there when thats not actually whats going to contribute to solving the problem. They really tried to avoid this. After the pressure got too big, i think they decided well sit down with this guy, perry, even though hes blamed this entire problem on the president , so theres not really a productive starting point for them to really do much of anything other than, you know, sit in the same room and discuss an issue. Host can you explain to the viewers the thinking of white house officials on why the president wont go to the border . Caller i think first they thought it was not going to be a good moment politically to have, you know, some of these photographs of the president on the border, you know, particularly when there is so much attention given to whether it was the president s own decision to ease deportation for children brought to the u. S. Illegally that so many believe contributed to this problem, and they just thought it was going to be more trouble than it was worth. I think that position kind of became hardened, and then as the pressure built on them, they didnt want to look like the president was adapting his schedule or doing things, you know, to play kate governor perry, and so it sort of heightened into this we said were not going to go so were not going to go, and become one of those, you know, washington fights that is more about form than it is about substance. Host before we let you go, tell us anything that you may want to add to the discussion were having this morning, things we havent talked about, specifically when it comes to this issue. What do you think is important to note . Caller i think the most important thing is the really difficult squeeze that the president is in right now, where hes asking for huge amounts of federal resources and new authority to be able to deport people more quickly to deal with this problem, and simultaneously bowing to immigration activity hists by committing to further ease deportation and take additional steps to make it easier for people in the country illegally in light of congress not being willing to act on an immigration bill. It feels like the administration is trying to move in both directions at once, because theyre getting pressure from both sides at once and its hard to see how those two policies will be able to line up. Host Josh Lederman covers the white house. Thanks for your time. Caller thank you. Host you heard him break down the big figures as far as the request is concerned, just to highlight what goes to homeland security, 1. 5 billion overall. 116 million for transportation of unaccompanied children. 109 million for immigration and customs enforcement, 364 million for the increasing cost of customs and border protection, 29 million for border enforcement security and task force programs and about 40 billion when it comes to increased air surveillance. All totaled, 3. 7 billion, the request from the white house, to deal with whats going on at the border. Here is your chance to weigh in on it. 202 5853881 for republicans. And 202 5853882 for independents. For those of you who live on the border, the southern border, 202 5853883. Lets hear from linda in mississippi. Democrats line. Linda, good morning. Caller good morning. Im just calling to wonder why havent the republicans done anything in the house to help president obama with the crisis . Our position in complying but not doing anything, and then again why dont cspan ask the question what has Congress Done for you . I am so tired of the republicans complaining about president obama not doing it but hes doing all he can to do it with no help from them. Host what should the House Republicans do . Caller they should sit down and try to amend the Immigration Laws. We dont have any laws. Those people, those children that are coming over here, its an emergency. Its they need to be trying to solve the problem. They are campaigning from one year to the next. They have not done anything. And he needs to go. Host joe from virginia, republican line, hello. Caller hi. First of all i just wanted to say that last call is a complete idiot. She is the reason why we had obama elected. Theres plenty of Immigration Laws. The problem is president obama and the Justice Department are not enforcing the current Immigration Laws. They should both be impeached. President obama swore an oath of office when he was sworn in as president of the United States. He has failed to carry out his oath of office in defending america and he should be impeached. On the 3. 4 million i believe that money should be used strictly for putting these young people on airplanes and deporting them back to their home countries. I dont see why the american taxpayer should have to pay for all of this and housing them and feeding them. They are illegal aliens. They should be deported and sent home. Host gregory is in pennsylvania, independent line. Hi. Caller hi, good morning. Am i on the air . Host you are on the air. Go ahead, please. Caller sorry. All of my grandparents and mother came over on the boat. It was not the may flower. Having grown up, and jersey city, im not antihispanic. I think the people, we the people, have a right to know. And those that we elect into a position of power and authority have a responsibility to know who, when, where and why anyone from any country enters our borders. And i dont think thats asking a whole lot. And as far as this 3. 5 billion, if we send aid to those countries where these people are coming from, then that aid, that money instead of giving it to those countries we should use that money to feed and clothe and house these kids, because they are kids. We got to take care of them. But thats the money we should be using. Host the request about the 3. 7 billion, representative john fleming, adding this. As a taxpayer are you prepared to support half the Central American Illegal Immigrants. A democrat adding his thoughts, time is now for the president to act boldly on immigration. Linda up next. Democrats line. Caller yes. Im not going to be so rude as calling someone an idiot, but the republican that called after the first lady, linda, is totally wrong. Mexico has some responsibility for their southern border. If im not mistaken, there was a law passed by republicans. We are responsible for people that are fleeing from their country. We do it for the cubans all the time, whatever they want they get when they come here. We did it for the jewish community, when they ran from nazi. We did it for england when they were leaving their country. Something has to be done, yes. Its not just the border, and its not obama. He is always blamed for everything. We do owe some responsibility, some of those will have to come back, but they are not coming from mexico. I was a little alarmed, i thought i was beginning to agree with the tea party that carries those ridiculous flags until i realized these are kids coming from desperate situations. These parents are paying thousands hoping to get them out of war torn cartels. We owe it to some of them. Host walt up next. Republican line. Hello. Caller hello. A real simple solution for this. Send them to the south side of chicago. Theyll be begging to go back to their country in two weeks. Host the north times from july 7th, a story looking at some of the legislative background to the Current Situation saying it was one of the finest pieces of legislation signed into law, a measure that passed without controversy, along with a pension bill, this is a piece of legislation were very proud to sign, according the white house spokesperson. Trafficking victims protection reauthorization act of 2008. The program would have been very effective around the world in trying to stop trafficking of persons. Now the legislation enacted quietly during the transition to the Obama Administration is at the root of the problem. Originally pushed by a bipartisian coalition of lawmakers, the bill gave substantial new protections to children entering the country alone who are not from mexico or canada by prohibiting them from being quickly sent back to the country of origin. That is in the New York Times. Lily is up next, democrats line. Go ahead. Caller two comments. One president obama going to texas to meet with governor perry, when i heard him say the other day he wouldnt even shake his hand. Next, why arent the governors of these states trying to stop the people from crossing their borders . Why do you put everything on president obama . He supposed to go out there, i guess, and stop the people from crossing the borders. What are the states doing to stop them from crossing . Thank you. Host senator jeff sessions, weighing in in an oped yesterday, here is what he adds. The funding request further advertises his administrations amnesty efforts, while explicitly omitting any request for expedited deportation authority. The request is not also paid for, the administration wants to borrow every penny. Independent line, hello. Caller yes, again, back to the two women that called, the first one, they are idiots. We have plenty of Immigration Laws on the books. Thats why we have obama in office because of these knuckleheads that put him in office. Look it up, people. Its a law. You enforce either by come in here you have fraudulent documents, you have to prove there is five gyms out there with the same Social Security number, you dont get hired until you prove it. You round these people up, arrest them with the 287 g program, you hold them in a camp someplace until you can ship them back to their country of origin and tell them you will never come into my country again illegally. Bottom line weve been looked back in 1986, and this law that bush put into place, sex trafficking people, not just to show up and say now im here. Its unbelievable what these people speak just because its a black man in office. Its im not racist, i just want the laws to be enforced. Thank you very much for cspan. Host usa dakota provides a tweet which shows a map, 30 coming from honduras duras, el salvador 26 . 5 from others. This is as of fy 2013. From washington, maryland. This is the democrats line. Caller hi, how are you. Looks like the republicans have learned a new word today. Stop calling people idiots. People have the right to have their opinions. The republicans are nothing but haters. You put a question up that always leads to hate the president. Thank god hes in office right now because republican means hate, do nothing, create angry for no reason. Its ridiculous. Republicans learn a new word, its called Work Together. People coming across that border are human beings, they are not illegal alley ins. They dont come from mars. We have plenty of money to do that. We have plenty of money for wars. If there were irish coming over their border, or whites coming over that border, nobody would be saying send them back. It would be help, help, help. Did the indians send the pilgrims back . Maybe they should have. Thank you, thats my comment. Host the New York Times takes a look at the courts. July i and preston writes its part of the administrations effort to determine the surge of migrants. Justice Department Officials said on tuesday, under the new procedures, those migrants could have their cases resolved and be supported within months instead of the two or three years those cases often take in overburden courts but the shift will have a broad impact on the system. The official said at least half of about 375,000 cases already languishing in backlogs will be delayed significantly longer. This is from north carolina, independent line, this is marlene on the request by the administrations 3. 7 billion to assess the border issues. Marlene, good morning. Go ahead. Caller good morning. How are you . Host im well, thank you. Caller every congressman, senator, the president of the United States, when they are sworn into office, swear to uphold the United States constitution. Article four, section four of the United States constitution, says the u. S. Shall guarantee to every state a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion. Now, what would people say if we had 60,000 mexican troops coming into this country instead of 60,000 children, who then can bring, if they get citizenship, can bring another ten people. You have literally ruined the United States as far as the diversity we have. We have one state that has gone hispanic. I live in new jersey. When i go to the store i feel like im in a foreign country anymore. Something needs to be done about immigration. I have five College Graduates in my home this weekend. One of them could find a job. We need to take care of americans, black, white, brown, yellow, whatever they are, should come first. Thank you. Host the lines have been divided four ways this morning as far as republican, democrats and independents, like always. If you live in the Southern Border State we have a special line set aside for you to give your thoughts, 202 5853883. If you want to make your thoughts known on that line. The Cleveland Plain Dealer this morning highlights an announcement made yesterday by the Republican National committee, that city being chosen to host the rncs convention in 2016, a photo of cleveland looking at that. There is also an accompanying story in the pages of the Washington Post this morning focusing on senator rob portman of ohio. The headline, rob portman has an eye on the big stage in cleveland, saying im not eager to do it myself. I know what its like, he said in a recent interview, but if nobody running is able to win and willing to address those issues, speaking about the run for presidency, then i might have a change of heart. Portman is confident his position on gay marriage is not crippled his ability to be a national candidate, arguing it enabled him to connect to young voters. When they find out that he supports same sex marriage he said many shed the and takism they usually reserve for republicans. He cant become a National Party unless you do a better job reaching to the 18 and 13. We are the votes of tomorrow. And we want them to listen to jobs and obamacare. From raleigh, nor cart line a. Caller all of these people calling in about immigration, if they knew the history of this country, immigration is a big plus to america. America is immigration. This is george bushs law about, and Obama Administration wants to change it. The democrats want him to. I think its a good law, george bush put it in place, but theyre blaming all this on obama. Host as far as the 4 billion price tag of this effort that the president wants to make . Caller i dont think he should do that. The thing is its like people need to go back and revisit it. The country built immigration, just like somebody called in and said if the other people coming over like cuba they wouldnt be saying all this stuff. Host so are you saying you dont want the president to spend this money, or are you saying this . Caller i dont think he should be deporting those people back. The children are trying to escape theyre coming over here to save their lives, and i just dont think we should do that. Host here is rose on our republican line. Caller hello. How are you . Host im fine, thank you. Caller im saying that president obama should use a pen to contradict president bushs law so they may be able to send those children back like they do the mexican kids. Im a christian, but were not responsible for all of Central America. Host so youre saying dont spend the money . Caller if they had to spend the money, i would use stipulations. It got to be some stipulations. They cant just give them the money outright, because obama is kind of acting alone. Host stipulations like what . Caller like strengthen the border for one. Send out the National Guard, if need be. We have to secure the border. We cant let every tom, dick and harry come over across the border. Host like i said before, we set aside a line for border states. Darrin is from california, on our independent line. Hello. Caller hi. I just wanted to respond to the republicans who want to call these ladies ignorant. We do need a little history remembrance here. If you see a black face here, its not because you are so nice and that you want diversity. Youre lazy. Every brown face is because when you let a slave go you open the border because you wont do your own work. Host what about this request of 3. 7 billion, what do you think of that . Caller well, 3. 7 billion, lets look at this. On those border states, before all of this, thousands of businesses create and sent overseas, those people that come from the border on the border states have made more money for this country than most of the lazy people in the red states. The red states are taken care of by the blue states. And these people calling people ignorant, i listen to limbaugh, and listen, no borders, because i wouldnt want to be one i wouldnt want to have voted for bush twice. I wouldnt have a political opinion if i voted for bush twice. Host the previous caller lets move on to joshua. The democrats line. Are you there from pennsylvania . Caller yes, im here. Host go ahead. Caller my statement is that i think if we were to Work Together as people, all them fighting obama, work with the man we might accomplish more than were accomplishing right now. But when you i heard a statement years ago together we stand, divided we fall. Thats whats going on. And there aint nobody over in this country that actually belong in this country. This country was already there was people here before we got here, before anybody got here. So i think it is wrong for them and the fellow that said hes not a racist, why do you want to send them kids back . Host james from twitter says why is it so expensive . Can government do anything on the cheap . Again, your thoughts on the 3. 7 billion request. A letter sent to congress to take a look at it, members of congress weighing in. For our next 15 minutes or so you can have a chance to weigh in yourself on the dollar figure, what it could be used for, or should it be used if you even have that opinion, again democrats 202 5853880, republicans 202 5853881, and independents 202 5853882 and for those in the southern border, 202 5853883. Wall street journal has more congressional reaction. This is senator richard shelby. The Top Republican on the Senate Appropriations committee. He said the funds should be balanced by savings ellsworth. Senator graham, said that wasnt necessary. Its truly an emergency, mr. Gram, said, it would be better if it were paid for but we cant find if we cant find a way to pay for it i think we need to go ahead and allocate the resources because this is not a good situation. Mr. Obama isnt visiting the border despite repeated calls from the republicans to do so. The president also extending an invitation to Texas Governor rick perry to join him, which mr. Perry accepted. You heard our guest early in the morning talk about that. From oak park michigan, good morning on the republican line. Go ahead. Caller how you doing . So the first thing i wanted to say was, you know, 3. 7 billion, thats an astronomical amount of money. People dont understand that, you know, when they talk about money. Thats 3,700,000,000, okay . And just to send people back, that seems like thats a ridiculous amount of money, okay . Thats number one. And you got people calling in and talking about we should work with obama. Obama is in the white house. He wont go down to the border and look and see whats happening himself. Why should anybody work with him . Hes not looking at the situation. Number three, we need to start getting more creative with these legislation that were having. If you want to deters illegals from coming in you have to have some kind of policy that says if you come in here illegally you can never come back here legally. That will deter people from taking that risk. Right now theres nothing stopping people from coming over here and taking a shot. Thats my comment, thank you. Host jim moran, democrat from virginia. Caller im encouraged by the have the that that was sent out in a tweet. Members weighing in tweeting, including senator ted cruz from texas, saying the president is right we have a human i terrian crisis on the border of his own creation. Mike from rockford, illinois. Thanks for hanging on. What do you think of it . Caller i think 18 billion that we give already to secure the border is a lot. Thats insane. The Bigger Picture im looking at is the destruction of this country. Is there any country out there that ever said to america they want to see us Self Destruct when they make it powerful enough . Because we are Self Destructing. They are manufacturing overseas, opening our gates like this, the flood gates, our college kids coming out of college with these loans, they cant get a job or house. I think we need to surround there is two kinds of americans, americans that are red, white and blue, and americans that believe in global initiatives. I think we need to surround the wagon, and get a party called surround the wagon and lead by example, and not what the big stick from around the world. There is a secret thing going on where were Self Destructing. We should look at the big picture. Thank you very much. Host the Supreme Court weighed in on the issue of contraception with the hobby lobby case, members of Congress Working to overturn that decision that was made by the Supreme Court. Thats the the article today in the New York Times. They say the billing put together in consultation with the Obama Administration would require for Profit Stores to provide and pay for contraceptive coverage along with other Preventive Health services under the Affordable Care act. Senate democrats said the House Democrats are developing a companion bill but it faces long odds in the house. A victory for religious freedom, elsewhere in the piece it also says that the bill does not amend the law, it explicitly preserves federal rules that provide an exemption from churches and other houses of worship that have religious objections to providing coverage for some or all contraceptives. The bill also preserves an accommodation for nonprofit organizations like hospitals, and charities, that have religious objections. Lets go to florida. Hes on our democrat line as we talk about this figure released by the white house about 4 billion to address issues at the border. Good morning. Go ahead. Caller good morning. I am a i voted for obama, and the reason i voted for obama us because the republicans are trying to privatize Social Security, and thats not the right anyway, 90 of the democrats this time the republicans are making a point, because if we have 17 trillion in debt, leaving American Kids in poverty. Its sad. Im i travel around the United States, from new york. Been in wisconsin, so all in between. Ive been working. When im trying to i apply for a job, and they would rather hire and i hate to say it, illegal a aliens, because thats the right word. You can go to mexico and see a movie and the title is come and live. So why people are saying illegal is the n word, which is not legal, its illegal. Host the republican line, this is lisa. High. Caller hi. How are you . Host fine, thank you. Caller i moved from the state of vermont down to texas. And it is absolutely ridiculous here. We need to take care of our own people. Folks in new orleans there are still tent cities underneath the bridges for our children born and raised here. I cannot get health care here because they will not take the obama plan. And they are turned into private hospitals that doctors have bought. So you dont have some other insurance, theres a sign when you first walk in, we will stabilize you and then ship you out. Now, if we cant take care of our own borders, what security is that for us americans, who work for 30, 40, 50 years and getting nothing, and we keep getting our Social Security cut, food stamps cut. I voted for obama and then ive been from vermont i always voted democrat. This next year im voting republican, no matter what. Because i think America Needs to stand up, impeach him. He broke our constitution. You know, nixon spied on our own people. Obama has been spying on allies. He gets it in his head with some notion of whats going on in this country. He lives not in the same world we live in, he lives in his own little world and makes up his own little rules. Host in Washington Post this morning talks about the hearing that took place yesterday before hearing taking a look at the v. A. , specifically looking at the role of whistle blowers. The Washington Post, josh hicks writes it was four Department Employees that testified before the panel that supervises retaliated against them for exposing problems at the v. A. Medical center, says whistle blower protection deserves as much attention as the recent scheduling scandal. Jeff miller reminded attendees that v. A. Brought to life falsifying appointment data to hear treatment delays, whistle blowers serve the essential function of providing a reality check of what is going on at the department. Unlike their supervisors these whistle blowers put their interests of veterans an above their own interests. Weighing in on this issue and had a chance to talk about it, and as part of the testimony that went on, is little bit of what he had to say. We all want the va employees to feel comfortable raising the problems and having them addressed without fear that raising their voices will mean the end of their careers. The va has stated it wants to make fundamental changes in its culture so the workforce intimidation and retaliation is unacceptable. Talk is cheap. Real change is difficult. I would propose at the very first order of business at the v. A. Is to take accountability seriously. If any v. A. Employees is shown to have intimidated or retaliated against another v. A. Employee, then that employee should be fired. Host 202 5853880 for democrats, 202 5853881 for republicans, 202 5853882 for independents, for those of you who live on the southern border 202 5853883. Dana from san diego, california, a border state resident, go ahead. Caller hi. I lived here 50 years and i watched my state absolutely fall apart because of illegal aliens. Everybody is blaming bush or blaming obama, thats not the problem. The problem is bush started all this stuff. Im actually a conservative, and i cant stand obama, but hes taking advantage of all this stuff. But you got the only thing thats going to stop this crazy influx of all these people right now is to go back and repeal that 2008 law right now, and fix it so these people can get deported quicker. But everybody is blaming left and right, the democrats take advantage of all those illegals big time. They have been doing it for years. Ill tell you what it is, its us against them, because i got kids here that are buy racial. I got kids that cant get a job after i put them through medical school because they cant speak spanish. All you people out there that keep talking democrats and republicans, this isnt about democrats and republicans, this is about you versus them. Host we had a previous caller ask why arent states doing more to protect the border. This person was defending president obama. If you had to answer the question about your state, is it doing enough itself to protect the border . Caller im in the surveillance industry. I work with the Border Patrol, install some of their systems. I have been talking to these guys for over 40 years. Theyve been told by the Obama Administration not to enforce laws, to catch and release. Theyre being told this. I talk to these guys all the time. Theyre scared to death because these are good federal jobs they got. They got houses down here, you know, these guys are hispanics, blacks, im talking all kinds much different people. They have federal jobs, been working there 16, 17, 18 years, they dont want to blow it. Theyre being told not to enforce the law. This isnt just obama. Bush did this stuff, too. I didnt vote for obama, i cant stand that dude. I think hes a nut case but im going to tell you straight up its both sides. People better wake up. This is you against them. These people, republicans want them to come in here, and i see, you know, where i live at theres a lot of pretty wealthy people. Theyre all using illegal aliens to do their work. Host thats dana from san diego. In the business section of the New York Times this morning, look at pending settlement being reported between kit i group and the Justice Department. Its those who are nearing a deal that could cost the bank roughly 7 billion to settle a civil litigation. People briefed on the matter said yesterday the settlement which is expected to be announced caps months of negotiations that grew so tense in june the government threatened to sue. The two sides are still working out some details. Citi is expected to pay roughly 4 billion in cash. The remainder of the 7 billion would include socalled penalties including mortgage modifications. Here is nick from south carolina, democrats line. Caller my concern is this. Obviously this is a humanitarian issue. You have children who have been manipulated and entered the country illegally, and have to be dealt with. However, it looks to me like its just another opportunity for someone to take advantage of americas problem within itself. In other words, we we foster this issue of confrontation between groups of individuals and we per sue that over and over again. And here again, we are pursuing that because here we are dealing with all of these children, and at the same time in america we cant even agree to provide Additional Services for many of the children who are in poverty here. So but its because of the gridlock in washington, the fight between this group and that group, and it is a manifestation that is destroying america, and its being used by those who gained from this process all over the world. The conflicts everywhere are fostered by individuals who want to see the conflict. Host one more call from texas, republican line. Caller hello. Host youre on, sir. Go ahead. Caller yes, theyre illegal. Youre illegal. You dont get to stay here. Youre legal, you get to stay here. Oh, by the way, just to throw in an extra comment, obama is not legal. Hes from kenya. Send him back, too. Host well continue our conversation with two guests as we go through the morning. Our first guest, representative David Schweikert, he adds his proposals taking care of those issues. Well be joined by doris meissner, as we continue on our topic of Border Security, and whats going on in the border as washington journal continues after this. [video clip], and if there is no one, then the president of course, is free to pursue his course of erroneous interpretations. What then becomes of our constitutional form of government . Watergate 40 years later, sunday night at eight everyone, on American History tv, on cspan3. Our first guest of the morning, representative David Schweikert covers the sixth district, also a member of the small caller hello. Host as far as the figures that the president laid down, what do you think of the dollar figure and where it goes to . Caller im a little stunned at the scale of the dollar figure, but were just now breaking down where the money actually goes, and some of the line items and priorities are also concerning. I think we were actually doing some analysis and of that 3. 7 billion, it looks like only about 23 million, 23 million, out of 3. 7 billion actually ultimately goes to some type of deportation operation. So the rhetoric isnt matching up where the actual line items are written into the piece of proposed legislation. Host as far as leadership now and who takes the consideration from congress, where does that go in the house . Who looks over this and who makes ultimate decision whether its voted on . My understanding is the speaker made the decision this will go through a normal committee process, which is appropriate with this many moving parts, tack larry being a congressman from arizona we have great interest that this be dealt with in a rational fashion but also a fashion where youre not just financing more of the same. Were going to probably in this conversation, how did this happen . Are we sort of the world works on incentives and disincentives. Will if were going to appropriate the supplemental money, are we solving the problem or just financing its continuation. Its going to be a combination of a couple things. One, we were hearing stories about this as early as january that something was happening in Central America, the Central American numbers were up at the border, and yet our consulates, embassies, this ann administration did not leap up and start to do simple things, like advertising in those home countries, saying this is dangerous, you do not get asylum if you come across the border, you do not get permission. Its heartbreaking because im blessed to have a neighbor who is a volunteer consulate for el salvador. I seen now publications from his home country, saying literally Advertising Services to bring family members, particularly under 18 children, across the border. Its open. Its notorious. This isnt some underground railroad. It may be a 100 million a year business now. Host there are stories in the New York Times and others about changes that the administration wants to make to the court system, new procedures that would put migrants and families to the front of the line. Is that a good step . It may be mechanically necessary, depending on if the court system and the legislation is designed that speedings up in the processing is about reunifying these particularly unaccompanied minors with their families back in their home countries. Theres a math problem, from what i was able to look at early, early this morning, that the additional amount of money might deal with about 55,000 to 75,000 additional administrative hearing. Currently were approaching over 400,000 in the backlog for administrative hearing. The reality, majority of those folks dont actually show up for their hearings. There is a structural problem, you can almost call it a structural crisis in the way this is being administered. Host other republicans say this is one of the president s own making. Would you take that position . I would. If the world works on incentive and disincentives, if you communicate to the world that you can get across the border there is this reprieve what did you think would happen . Host what did you think about the 2008 law signed by the administration, that dealt with trafficking, as far as the taking in of migrant, should that be reconsidered . Absolutely. That 2008 piece of legislation that i believe came through a Democratic Congress and the Bush Administration, supported it, was for sexual exploitation, particularly exploitation of minors. Whats happened is the initial intention of the amendments in that legislation are being broadened to deal with the accompanied minors. Host is there talk in congress to change those . Yes. And whats interesting is last night we had a resup shun that was bipartisian, and they understand that this is being used, exploited, and we need to take away the sort of incentive, the system that if you can get across the border you get to stay. And understand, where this cascades, and this is one of the tough things in immigration policy, were one of the only countries, and i think the only major industrialized country, it still has family sponsor ship. You become a u. S. Glint tomorrow if you actually look at our current statues, you have 67 family sponsor ships, and thats actually what sort of drives much of this, is i can get you across the border, i can get you legalized standard, i can get you to be a u. S. Citizen, you can sponsor the rest of the family. It may be a decade. That is the real chain were going to have to break down and rebuild. Host you had your own bill that took a look at southwest border protections. It was to refocus Border Security programs. The Border Patrol to focus on illegal smuggling of drugs. It would deploy 10,000 National Guards men to the border, as well. That was substantially to shore up whats happening on the Border Patrol. Understand its not my piece of legislation isnt a solution, its basically a stopgap. I think it was in 2006 to 2008, we had operation jump start on our southwest border, where several thousand National Guard came in and provided support services so more national so the National Guard was doing support services, so the Border Patrol could actually do their jobs because someone needs to repair the vehicles and do all the other things that happen. Now were being told that large numbers of our Border Patrol arent on the border. Theyre actually providing day care services. How do we shore up our Border Patrol so they can do the job . And my understanding is the speaker in a memo, a discussion, a couple weeks ago, also talked now about moving National Guard as the support services. So its getting some momentum. Host our guest joining us to talk about the border his take on it, you heard his perspective in his bill proposal. You can ask him questions directly. 202 5853880 for democrats, 202 5853881 for republicans. 202 5853882 for independents. For those of you on the southern border, 202 5853883. Well start with janice in san diego, california, democrats line. Youre on with the representative. Caller hi. Im calling because if theres already a law for the border, why then dont they just enforce it . Why do they need the president to do Something Else to in order for them to take care of the laws that are already on the books . I dont quite understand what the problem is, why they cant just go ahead and enforce the law. I think its a fair question. For many of us, the problem is how this administration and how the bureaucracies are using the statues and particularly the discrash theiry portion of the statues. Good example we were just discussing the 2008 Child Exploitation legislation. Now is being used to automatically grant a hearing status, and some of the hearings arent going to happen for a couple years. I dont think thats what it was ever meant by that legislation. So what were finding now particularly on immigration issues, for those on the republican side, if we move any immigration legislation, we need to tighten it up so this administration cant play games with the language. Host you dont see immigration legislation moving, do you . No. No. But youre seeing a good example here for many of us who said do individual issues. And its much broader discussion, but many people come on your show and say well, you know, Immigration Reform. You sit them down and ask them what it is, and every individual has these dramatically different visions of what Immigration Reform really is. Hightech businesses are concerned about talent. Certain activists are concerned about, you know, ethnic sponsor ships. Others are where folks come from the world. Its a very the language of Immigration Reform is sort of used as a catch all phrase. But when you sit down with activists on the issue, theyre all speaking very different languages. Host georgia is next. Jim, on the republican line. Hi. Jim from franklin, georgia. Caller good morning, congressman. Good morning. Caller i got just a comment and then a question. Im 59yearsold, sir. And a youngster. Caller i took an oath back in 1972, and i think you and the president take about the same oath when i went into the army, one of the very few volunteers in 72, to defend the constitution of the United States of america. Now my question is, since you took that same oath along with that individual thats in charge right now, who doesnt do very much except go to parties and fundraisers and play golf, why cant we just not enforce our laws like every other country in the world does, turn them around at the border . There aint no crisis right now. Turn them around at the border with the marines, whatever else we got. Thats all you got to do. The laws are on the books. Couple mechanical issues. If youre a mexican national, that is the current law. So if youre mexican national, you can be actually turned around and escorted back across the border. Current law is if youre from other than mexican national, you end up in this appeal system, and having judicial review, administrative review. Those are some of the mechanics that we never thought would be exploited at this scale. So its a great example of having to fix the current statues, and also tightening them up because this administration for many of us we believe they take it almost to levels of absurdity, the president s specifically executive orders in regards to immigration, beyond what the intense intent was, and the statues. Host from texas, tom is up next. Independent line, hi. Caller good morning, representative schweikert. Im glad we have a senator from arizona. I was going to make a comment and i would like to about the 3. 7 billion, arizona had the Supreme Court ruled that, arizona, some of their laws could try to deal with border crossing, was ruled unconstitutional. The 3. 7 billion, i just happened to catch a further representative, talking about funding for alzheimers, and the funding currently is half a billion dollars, and this is alzheimers, destined to impact millions of americans, and theyre asking 3. 7 billion. Is this to address this Current Border crisis, could you comment about both of those things . Sure. Actually youre heading down a very important discussion, so you are doing good here. Go back and take a look at the Supreme Court rulings on a couple arizona statutes. Parts that were upheld. The parts that were not upheld were basically the Supreme Court came back and said that is actually in the purview and responsibility of the federal government. Federal government is not doing their job. Other things like arizonas employer sanctions law was upheld. It has been sort of a mixed bag there. You have a fast that iting discussion. If youre going to be honest is about the explosion in entitlement costs. Last year 34 of all spending was what we call discrush knee hary. Nine budget years you go from 34 to 23 . Basically meaning medicare, medicaid, Social Security, interest on the debt, obamacare, Veterans Benefits are consuming every dime of our future revenues. So what are your priority is ls . Do you today spend 3. 7 billion to shore up the borders . Will you have other dediseases such as alzheimers which are going to explode cost wise . Then you get into something more complicated. And we actually experience this with aides research, where lots and lots of money was throne at it, but at a certain point you have only so many researchers. You have only so many labs that are prepared to actually do the high end quality research. So the test is, sometimes not how much money you throw at it, its how much pennsylvania capacity there is to actually go down another line of research. So when you hear people giving speeches up we should spend this much money on a disease, thats actually not the right discussion. Its we have this much more capacity to research these other lines of winey. We should fund those. Sometimes throwing money at Disease Research you find Research Labs across the country researching the exam same thing. Host the federal Appeals Court overturned something concerning drivers license. What did they do. Do they qualify to receive state benefits . And thats actually what that court ruling was about. Host the editors of the New York Times responded saying it seems puzzles that any group would want to punish veterans, and prevent them from drawing illegally. I actually saw that, and the New York Times has been a bit looney on many of these discussions. We actually carry so much of the financial impact. There is the concept of transfer costs. So if you have illegal undocumented populations in your schools, who pays for is . Arizona citizens. A in our health care system, arizona citizens. How as a state can you push back and say stop creating this transfer cost for your political agenda and sticking it on the residents of my state. And just as we had the discussion earlier about sort of incentives and disincentives, how is a state can you sort of disincentive this bad behavior . I think thats all the state was trying to do. Host robert from louisiana is next. Democrats line. Hello. Caller hello. How are you doing this morning . Mr. Representative, i see your last name seems like its german or something. Thats what they tell me. Im an adopted kid. I was born in an unwe had mothers home and left to be adopted by a family in arizona. Caller what im trying to say is you all going to let me talk . Host go ahead, caller. You have to stop listening to the tv. Go ahead. Caller a lot of people here come from overseas. What if this country turned them around and told them to go back . The mexicans, they have to walk across the border. Black people were brought over here on slave ships. We deserve everybody wants to spend money on afghanistan and all those other countries, but you cant spend a time in this country. I live in one of these states dont want to take obamacare. Im disabled. I need help. Host when it comes to the border issue what do you want our guest to address . Caller just let the people alone, just take care of them, do as best you can for them, because everybody wants to come to the richest caller i countryn the world. This is one i havent got enemy head around from some of my friends on the left. Open up the borders, but we want more social entityelment benefits. And understanding there is a cost to both sides of that. So how much money are you willing to spend over here for illegal immigrant, migrant populations, and understand that is going to cause a spending pressure on the very things youre asking for. It seems to this duplicity in the arguments and debate. Also, the gentleman missed one of the points from earlier. If youre a mexican national, the current law is you can be escorted right back across the border. What were finding now is because of some things in our statues, that if youre a nonmexican national, youre treated differently. Host will that expanded . I hope we can come up with a more unifieds status trials or hearings do not show up. , theythey do not show up should automatically be deported since they had their chance. They broke two laws we know of. There is no reason for them to get a third chance. They have already proven they citizens, and any of these Illegal Immigrants that shouldany type of crime automatically be deported, no exceptions. Period. Border should definitely be secured. If they can make television shows, a shell on drugs being brought into the country, and our Border Patrol trying to stop this, this is ludicrous they let them get away with it. If our government is doing it, somebody in washington is getting kickbacks as far as im concerned. Several things there. One more time, understand we believe the backlog for administrative hearings is well over 400,000 individual hearings. The majority of individuals do not show up for their hearing date. In some ways, it borders on political theater. We will give them a date to appear and demand they appear and then they will disappear in and never heard of again. Is not working and it has been exploited. You have just given me legal status and that is what you have just heard having provided drivers licenses. I have legal status for that time. That is what we believe is being pushed. On Border Security, i am a big can to do everything you lock the border. If you have an administrative wallace e that says, if you can get your foot on the side, all of a sudden, come, common and we will process you and give you an order to appear a couple years from now, even the most rigid order enforcement does not work when you have that type of management policy. It, that probably does not work because she needs the Border Patrol to help them provide the auxiliary and support services. Patrol, we keep seeing how politicized it is, saying, understand the truth going on having met with the Border Patrol union members, it way rip your heart out, the they have an ability force free speech. From florida, we are joined on our independent line for our guest, David Schweikert of arizona. Caller good morning. I have been following some of the terminology. Maybe you can help me and i have a suggestion. I think the for you gave us a sanctuary cities map with some of the representatives. I am also a little nervous. The hhs hearings that have been on cspan confirm people that are coming from other countries are people who are already here at citizens who are in foster care. We see on their exit when they are 17 or 18 is automatic for theized enrollment obamacare. If they are foster care and they age out, and they get to be released, whatever the terms are , but they are enrolled automatically under the obamacare program, for america plan. , if younctuary cities could explain how these children will goes these places with their parents, how their immunization will be tracked. Ok. A couple of mechanical issues in your question. Lets take the last one first. If placed into a foster mechanic, they are not actually with parents and immediate relatives, a whole other discussion we are having. We believe theyre making a systematic representation of Family Matters because of scale, and i will not harbor any resentment, but the scale is so fast and massive, we are hearing stories that someone shows up this persons relative. If theyne is aging out, are a citizen, there is that mechanic to sign them up for obamacare. You are a nonus citizen, it is a whole different category. That is a separate linking. Host what about immunization . Concern. Is a huge i sat down a couple of days ago and theyre telling me we are starting to see the orugresistant tube t. Uberculosis popping up it is a big deal. It is very expensive to treat. If we are starting to have waves of this and asked dozing a lot more americans and our Border Patrol and even our minors are being exposed, secular lead to tuberculosis, it is one more layer of why we need to get ahead of this, if such a thing can be done, and stop it in our home country. Need to step up our relationships with mexico and they, you have got to stop providing passage. To believe within our mechanics, the obligation of mexico would be providing state passage. We have all seen the pictures of trains, it to mexico city with thousands of people writing up on top. Cannot seeike you the population and their migration pattern. So it is, once again, a crisis that i believe has been brought upon us by the neglect from the administration. Up next, richard, democrat line. Good morning. Good morning. Ok. Yes. The problem host you cannot listen to the tv. Just go ahead and talk. Caller ok. I dont hear good. Im 77. The problem is this. Republicans, democrats, independents, tea parties, this and that organization fighting each other, let us join together and fight the cause. By letting people who want life better for their children to stay in the country where they are at, build factories and things over there, and trading back and forth. There is money in it. And then we will not have to spend billions and billions of dollars trying to stop them. I am not sure i completely understand the question but let me take part of what you said. Lets be honest. As long as you have a social entitlements dr. Where there are accesses to housing subsidies and different kinds of subsidies and support systems in a country, you create a magnet, a vacuum. I am someone who believes we wed immigration, but should do with canada and australia and new zealand and Great Britain do, which you are trying to the world . Credit policy is as, do not care what gender, race, religion you are, but help us grow the u. S. Economy. We have an entitlement crisis that will crush us in about 1015 years. The avoidance of it is bizarre. It is there. Every policy we engage in right now should be about Economic Growth. We have got to have an honest discussion. If you were to say, lets bring five many people into the United States, what immigration pattern would maximize Economic Growth for the future . What we have to do it. Florida is up next, republican line. Good morning. I have a couple of comments here and one is on the appropriation. Me, there is some conspiracy going on to fund the children all the way from their to our country. Someone is paying the bill and i wonder who that might be. The other point i have is if congress appropriate money for this problem, i would like to see them think that money by. Tate, texas, arizona i do not think it is appropriate to give 3. 7 billion to the fed and they have not proven so far they are capable of spending that money to the best interests of the country. There is something to that. We have seen how the federal government spends money and we just shake our heads. There are things in the legislation that are troublesome. Is money to build new Detention Centers in texas and arizona, which is basically an example of the administration throwing its hands up and saying, this is a permanent problem instead of saying, we will do something to stem the tide there the way the is, giveon looks to me us 3. 7 billion dollars, we will put more money toward judicial. Eviews by the way, most of the money will actually be there just to build up the bureaucracy and. Nfrastructure if you will build a new detention facility in arizona for unaccompanied minors, how long does that take . A couple years . That gives you a window into what is the administrations mind, that this is a permanent problem now. It is be will drain because solutions are actually fairly simple. To medication and the home countries that youd do not get asylum, you do not get permanent residency. Change the law so we treat all populations the same as we do with mexican nationals. You also have to step up and within the infrastructure find a way to appeal in a hearing process. It takes years. That is maybe a rational place or the resources to go. Set up a line for those who live in border states like yourself. Bernadette, democrats line. Caller i have three suggestions. I am an educator myself, retired. Leader of hold every countries accountable. My suggestion would be to get all of the United States allies and apply pressure to Central America and say, clean up your act. We will help you but clean up your act. I do not see each country to bully the United States. But the u. S. Needs to get their allies together and say, we are to theg pressure country. We can fight wars in afghanistan and all over the world and trillions of dollars spent on that. Come on. Spend it few trillion dollars getting mexico responsible in getting someone to be held accountable and say, we have got to do something here. Bernadette, youre brilliant and i believe you are heading down the right. We have an old family saying that everything in the world runs on money, power, and vanity. A lot of this is about money. If you look at remittances, the amount of cash that goes back into mexico, guatemala, el from people working in the United States legally and illegally, it is a stunning amount of money. Many of these countries are incentivized to have much of their domestic population immigrated into the United States to send the cash back to the home country. Even though you and i want to go look, the money, the programs we provide you and the government are going to be cut off if you do not help us this humanitarian crisis. At the same time, they will have to do a calculation say, we have dramatically more money for folks in the United States going back. There is a math problem here. Linennsylvania, republican. David, good morning. Klesko morning. I have a question on two things. Being a conservative republican, i think we should spend more money on our own country and not spend money overseas as much as we can. I was listening to a couple of your comments earlier and i really like them. I was wondering why both parties down anduld not sit. Ut the blame on each other i was probably 10 when both parties i was amazed in the reagan years and that is why i became a republican. The way he was able to crossover and not put the blame on everybody. What happened to that . Thank you. Opened up aave just can of worms. , and ility of it is think some of this might be the culture of cable news, where everyone has to go on and give their two minutes, and conservative cable news and leftwing cable news, and folks playing to their bases, the one thing i can show to you, you probably get it because of all the interviews you do, we refer to it as the elevator issue here the conversations between the left and the right are actually much more constructive than most folks would ever imagine, even on this issue there it i would make the argument that the single greatest barrier for republicans and democrats in congress is the administration. You will hear this from democrats as well. The administration is all about politics all the time. If the administration stepped in and said, we need to do this because were doing something that borders on inhumane of , theing this vacuum encouragement to take this incredibly dangerous travel, we will hear her thick stories of children exploited who lost their lives making this trek. That is our fault for allowing this. But what happens when you have an administration that makes it clear, saying, we are defying executive order the way we want, but in a way that maximizes our Political Base instead of solving the issue . The story is in the paper, a proposal to take a look at a water rule coming up. What is the rule and what is the concern . Guest this is one im shocked has not gotten more attention across the country. Extended the common time. I believe it was going to end july 21 and they have added a couple of months to it now. Rules for aen u. S. While now and they are updating them now. There is an intense concern that if you actually read through i plant hva the back of my house alongside a watch and i kick some dirt in that wash, erratically i may have needed a permit from the corps of engineers to plant a desert tree alongside beside my home. This is how pervasive and extensive, when we sit down with our lawyers, theyre saying these rules are. Control manmade, natural, movement of waters that had any migration into their stream. The Washington Post had an editorial on it as well. They say guest yes. There are mechanical problems. We have been turning and saying, here is your data set. Not sure of your analysis. We want the raw data set and they smile at us and say no. That there is more flexibility. There is not. If you read through some of the theynics in the rule set, will have discussions like this. If our culture is in constant use, it does not fall into these for a seasoning because youre trying to do good soil management and put it back into production. All of a sudden now, if you are using types of era geisha, you wont now use a permit you will now make a permit and it will take a couple years. If youre going to tear down a building that is over half an acre, build on that is over half an acre. The water retention may all fall under water retention. I love the editorial like that and i would love to know if the editorial writer actually sat down with lawyers and read the rule. We still to find out in newspapers of records. Host representative David Schweikert. This is John Independent line. For taking myyou call. Representative, with all due respect, drastic times require drastic measures. I want to know what you in congress are doing right now to repeal this 2008 law. Are you there . Caller i am. To takee leave wherever them back to el salvador wherever. Why not take a ship . A cargo ship, a cruise liner . Guest a couple of mechanics theory were seen numbers that were saying, for unaccompanied minors, it was costing 250 a day to keep them in detention in arizona. Think of that. After 2. 5 days, you could cover that airline ticket. The president s money, the 3. 7 billion he is asking for, the best math we have been able to come up with is somewhere around 37,000 per unaccompanied minor. In some ways, it is absurd, the approach were taking here. Tests, one of the real particularly of those of us, republican side are, is, as the supplemental stars to move cleand, will we attach a up in the statues . It is more than just a 2008 that was meant to do with the exploitation of minors, but to clean up several points where the president has exercised his discretion in a way we believe has made the problem worse there if we would tighten up those loopholes, i think that will be an example of us stepping up and moving toward a solution. Will it be resolved before summer break and if it does not, what will it mean . Question, i have no answer. The speaker needs to make it clear it has to go through the standards of the appropriation process. Which is appropriate. We often learn in big appropriation mechanics, you dig into them and find out unintended consequences and try to get ahead of them. How often do we hear about process trying to get pass at a high rate of speed and then there was something in it we did not know about . We need to dig through this and find out about externality. Are the things we could also attach in this legislation that will help us express problem change the incentive for families in america to take their children, pay a smuggler to bring their children up on an incredibly dangerous journey, we way wherex this in a it is a permanent fix and not just a patch over. , thankavid schweikert you for your time. We will continue on our conversation under with doris meissner. Spotlight ont magazines, we will talk about a recent piece talking about income inequality. First, a news update from cspan radio. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] international news. North korea launched two projectiles in its waters in an apparent continuation of auxiliary tests. Launch was thought to be missiles. A protest against the chinese president becoming the beijings first leader to visit the south before the north. Angry over a u. S. South Korean Military drill. Ambassador to the United Nations to inform the secretary was general that the Islamic Extremist Group isis has taken control of a former chemical weapons facility northwest of tag dad, where 2500 chemical water rockets were stored. Iraqs ambassador said in a letter yesterday that terrorist 11up entered the site june and seized weapons and equipment that also contained sodium shells and artillery contaminated with mustard gas. Arean authorities investigating a second in the United States. Its area in activity is a quote. The u. S. Ambassador in berlin was summoned to the foreign ministry. Those are some of the latest headlines on cspan radio. You can now keep in touch with Current Events using any phone at any time with cspan radio. Simply call to hear congressional coverage and todays washington journal program. You can also hear audio of the five Network Sunday Public Affairs programs beginning sunday at noon eastern. All 202, 66, 888 offering complete gavel to gavel coverage of the u. S. House, all as a Public Service of five industry. We are cspan, created 35 years ago and brought to you by your public as a Public Service. Watch us in hd, like us on twitter. Washington journal continues. Host joining us now to continue our conversation is doris meissner. Previously, among her many background experiences, she was the former commissioner of u. S. Immigration service from 19932000. The president wants almost 4 billion to be put to issues along the border. What do you think about the dollar request . It is a large amount of money, but money that is needed in terms of the migration emergency taking place on the southwest border. It has most of the money in the request going for facilities to provide housing and shelter and care for these young people who have been crossing the border. I think the most important part that actually leads to a longer Term Solution and response to this beyond the immediate needs of caring for people is the request for a substantial increase in the number of immigration this request includes 64 million which would plus up the immigration judge capacity at the border significantly and that really is the beginning of the reasons age lot of these children are coming to the country. Theyre coming because we have not had the capacity to give them the hearings the law requires so while they are waiting for their hearings, which can be as many as several and withey are release generally family members. That has created a wordofmouth flow of information back and forth into the region that basically served in many peoples minds as an invitation to come. If we had those hearings, if we were able to decide those cases upfront, when people first arrive in the country, know who it is who actually has a valid asylum complaint, who ought to remain in the country, but also know who does not, and be able to send this people back, of their with cooperation of governments and under safe conditions, i think it would be able to change the dynamic in play now. Foroes it indicate a tone these judges in deportation policy . A change in tone as far as how many folks get back . Well, the policy has been set by the congress in a law that passed in 2008. It was signed by president bush, strongly supported on a bipartisan basis. It is known as the trafficking victims protection act. Who come tot people the country who are not adults, under 18, if they are not from mexico or canada, have a right to a full immigration hearing. That has come about for very good reasons over time in over experience. These are vulnerable migrants and they should get their hearings. The application in this case with the numbers we are going through . We could definitely comply with the law if we had the resources and procedures in as soon give hearings as people arrive. But we have not invested in our inigration judge capacity any way proportionate to the investments we have made in 10 years on our Border Patrol for instance. It just like our criminal Justice System in that way. If you do not have magistrates and judges in the courtroom, the system gets bottled up. That is taken place in the where youngsystem people are concerned. There is a german is bottleneck where the judicial rock chest process the judicial is concerned, and that needs to be in a way that allows to issues to be made readily. And the decisions stand in terms of who is able to come to the country and who goes at home. Back home a lot needs to be done in this together situation with them going home. There is no question but that these people are coming from desperate conditions and these countries need to step up and we need to step up and the region needs to step up in resolving and addressing these problems of crime and violence and endemic poverty. Those are longerterm answers that are doable. We need to change the dynamic right now of people believing they can come to the United States and stay. , our guest meissner to talk about issues along the border. Her current position with the migration policy institute. Wanda, you are up first from california, democrats line. Good morning. I awakened in california and i have in listening to various comments for a while. I want to make a few statements if you give me time. First of all, it appears individuals on both sides of the aisle, but mainly on the republican side do not understand or except the fact that congress is the one that creates laws. They establish legislation. It is voted on. It is said to the president for his signature. That congresslaw beated for there not to executing, which is what obama is supposed to do, oversee the if theon of that law, law is wrong, then congress itself needs to come back to the table who are not doing anything but getting paid to do nothing, and fix the law. The caller points out the idea we have been talking about a little bit, which is that there are special provisions which apply to people under the age of 18. The corporate vision that is really relevant here is that young people have a right to a hearing before an immigration judge. It is certainly the case that the executive branch has been complying with that mandate and those requirements. But i think everyone agrees the way in which the executive branch has been complying needs to be accelerated. This is not a situation where procedures should be abandoned. Sensible essential standards. But they need to be accelerated so there meaningful at this point. Caller i just have a few suggestions. Why dont obama take his pan and turn this around, that people cannot come here . This is a crisis. We of people here who need help. We do not have any jobs and he can solve this real quick. A little babies are different, the toddlers. But i would send all those people back with that money he wants and have the parents or whoever brought them to the train to come here to come and take their children up. Solve it. At would he has signed other things. Was thewhat bush meant children had been in the United States since they were born, that they would be able to stay here. At the time. I do not think he meant that we should just have people pouring over the border. Can give the people 500 apiece. When they go home and meet their ,arents or whoever brought them and take them home. Administration has been clear about the fact that it is prepared to send people home, that it is looking for the funding to do that. The request includes about 1. 1 billion dollars for the Agency Responsible for deportation. It also is recognizing in the request that before you can do that, there are special requirements that apply to this population. What you want to do is to be certain to make those provisions those decisions Immigration Judges may, based on whether or to somebody has a claim asylum in the United States, or, any other form of relief under the Immigration Laws. Those decisions can be made in a timely fashion and they do not need to take years the way they are now. The way i read the supplemental requests that have gone up is that is what it is asking for. Judges, what the if there are qualifications, how are they elected . They are somewhat like a minister at of law judges. They are not a separate branch of government. They are part of the executive branch. They are generally trained they are certainly trained, but generally come from the immigration legal background. Many of them have worked in other Government Agencies on immigration issues before they became Immigration Judges. But they apply from all over the country. They are experienced lawyers and are trained in immigration legal procedures. Host illinois, ray, independent line. Caller hello. A couple of ideas. Some years ago, they came up with a chip you can put under your medicalhave records on, that way when these people do not show up for court, they know where to find them. Money, we should take it from usa instead of congress, and it will not go on the pockets of a corrupt government, and house them in camps, so that is a real good option as well. Guest actually, fema has been drawn into managing and helping to manage this response. It is responsible overall for the coordination the executive ranch is providing. They are developing and procuring facilities all over the country. There are these facilities and expertise being brought here. Forth, thes and so immigration system has for some while used ankle bracelets, being able tom of monitor people and be sure they are available for hearings without the high cost of being in a detention setting. I think the ankle bracelet option is one that is not only in place, but one we will see more use of in responding to this particular situation. Here is patricia, democrats line. Caller good morning. I want to convey all the immigrants on the south order ,re considered refugees pertaining to the perilous predicament from their nation of indicative is for all of them, and not just a immigrating to the nation. It is also quite evident for the need for you to facilitate with the congressman pertaining to legislationnitiate pertainingnstituents to proper date that is synonymous to refugees and immigrants to be able to have the assistance and accordance as well. Both of those particular legislations can be quite effective and implemented very expectedly into the system. Actually, these people are not all considered refugees. A point of debate. Some people believe they should, but this is a mixed flow. There are people in this group and population that might receive refugee status, interchangeable with asylum status, and so the issue really who in thishrough population is eligible for making atatus, by claim for asylum in the United States, and who is not and therefore does not have a right to be in the country, and would torequired to be returned their home nation. That is the issue, how they decide where there is a legitimate claim for protection in the United States and where there is a situation that calls for repatriation. Gary, good morning, republican line. Good morning. If she like to ask believes the borders should be , and thenediately have arbitrators instead of judges taking care of this situation, and what about all being brought upon us in the u. S. From these people coming from Central America . Basically, the borders are closed. There is an enormous amount of enforcement that takes place along the borders. But people do come up to the , and turn themselves over. The unusual they about this particular migration is that, by and large, people are turning themselves into the Border Patrol, as compared with trying to evade them and sneaking into the country. They are turning themselves over because there is a system in place whereby those under 18 have the opportunity and the a hearing before an immigration judge to determine whether or not they have any basis for being in the United States. Sorting through that and making those decisions, and the delays that have been in place for too many years, the time it takes to make those decisions is what the challenge to overcome is at the present time. Thatses, among the reasons these young people are in the custody of the federal government and turned over quickly to health and Human Services is for processing. A lot of what takes place in the processing has to do with health , soening and Health Issues that, under the circumstances where people might be released to relatives, they are not released unless they are healthy. Think the screening systems in place and the experience u. S. Government agencies with these responsibilities have for dealing with health and his these issues are really well developed. I think this is not something we should be alarmed about. Host have you handled anything ,s far as the influx problem anything similar to what is going on now . Guest yes. We have had emergencies like this throughout. It is a phenomenon that lends itself to emergencies. We have had emergencies from Central America in the 1980s and when i was in the office in the 1990s. In the 1990s, we had several serious emergencies, from haiti, basicwe had other bottlenecks in our immigration system that have required dramatic features to ensure decisions are made in a timely way so we do not create incentives. The lessons from all those emergencies are basically the lessons we are talking about here. We need to have an immediate, nearterm, and longterm response. Peoplee and shelter of so there are issues like Health Screenings and so forth. Then you have to tackle the are leadinghat people to take these very dangerous journeys. One thing we have not mentioned in conversation this morning is that part of the incentives here are being exploited by smugglers. There has been a welldeveloped Smuggling Network in Central America coming through new mexico in the United States. Smugglers are passing on information that, if you get to the United States, your hearing will be delayed for possibly or 6,000,ay a 5000 we will take your children and deliver them. These responses to smuggling, these efforts to work with the countries people are from, all of those issues are part of a solution. But we have to start as the. Apacity is available we have to start making decisions quickly on who gets to stay and who gets to go back. Formerly the head of the National Immigration service. Florida, independent line, scott, hello. Caller first of all, i would like to thank cspan for giving the common american voice on this subject, one that president obama will never hear. On a daily basis, the United States government is breaking laws. And letbreak another our returning military go down to the border and help out Border Agents . Ours against the law to use own military in our own country. Why not repeal that one . Soldiers are getting paid anyway. That would save us a lot of money. My other problem is i am currently disabled and i live on 1300 a month. , theygure they gave out said it cost 350,000 a day. In four days time, they are getting more help than i get to live on for a whole month. Where the military going to the border is concerned, the military has been asked to go to the border many times over the emergencytime, in situations as well as ongoing enforcement operations. I think the congress and the tocutive branch feel free ask the military to take on a responsibility like this if they think they need that help. Time, nobody has asked for the military to go to the border. It is not a situation where the border enforcement itself, that is going to change by the border enforcement being strengthened. Where peopletion are turning themselves over. The real task and a real resource investments that need to be made are in handling these large numbers of people and then getting the decisions made to either send them home or bring them into the United States, where many have family members. Line. Maryland, democrats caller i have compassion but it is wearing thin. We help everybody but the American People. Disabled, Homeless Veterans unemployed who cannot find work. We have Homeless People in this country and he will make the statement they are fully involved. What about inner cities . If chicago last weekend, 82 people were shot and 14 died. Maybe these people need to declare themselves refugees and they can get some help. People in detroit have been without water for over a month. City is owed 80,000 in water bills. They still have water. I am sick and tired. These people need to be sent at home. Whatdo not think that is we are talking about here. Anre talking about putting efficient, timely system into place that sent people home who have a claim to be the in dash in the United States and those who do, figuring out , they, under our laws, should be in the United States. It is an important issue because you point to the fact that violence exists in many places. That is right here in violence exists in this country and in many parts of the world. It also exists in the countries where the children are coming from. Violence alone is not under our a reason to be admitted into the United States. That goes again to the importance of judges making the based on what the real information is they are being presented with. The information on immigration relief, based on violence, it is very difficult to grant an asylum claim based simply on the fact people are fleeing violence. Efficient decision system into place early on when people arrived rather than years down the road, those decisions can be made in a timely fashion and also in accordance with our laws and values. That is something we can stand for in this country. All of the president s senior people have been at the border. Secretary kerry has met with the president s of the countries, Vice President went two weeks ago, the secretary of homeland security, the policy adviser has been to the border, should he go . Maybe you would like to. I do not know he can learn anything more than he he can lee than he already knows. Teresa, missouri, republican line, hello there. Caller hi, i have something to say to ms. Meissner about the law. First of all, the law should be changed. They would not have to have an appropriation for these judges that come from the executive branch, from her own mouth. What do you think they will do with these people if they are under the executive branch . They wont need the judges. Law,se if they change the they can turn them around just like they have to with the mexicans and send them home. These people need to go. Thet you know, changing law is changing the law. Congress can certainly do that. Congress has been absolutely paralyzed on the issue of immigration and Immigration Law acrosstheboard. So, until congress decides to it is. The law, it is as this is a question of implementing the law in an and under these circumstances it is going to require more resources in order to do that in a way that changes the dynamic that brings these people here. These people on twitter mentioned the alien Child Protection act of two thousand seven, legislation from senator feinstein the dope with people who came from countries other than mexico. Can you add anything about how that law that works out in the modern day . That is what we are talking about. The way that that works out today, the way that it has worked out, people who have come to the country because of a bottleneck in immigration hearings, those people have been released in the United States. Most of them have family members here. Theyre hearing is at least one year away. Sometimes two years and three years away. That has fed the incentives, fed the basic experience that people gethaving, which is that to here they will be in a safe place and theyre hearing will be delayed. What we are talking about is changing those delays so that those decisions can be made early on and, therefore, you can avoid that release into the country and the fact some the ground that just getting here is all you need to do. Host independent line, rod, go ahead. Ask a would like to while ago she said that these people are needy and poor and come from poverty. And then she quoted all of these , 5,000, 6,000. Where are they getting that money if they are needy and poor . Look at the tv and these millions and millions of taxpaying families who are working, paying their bills from paycheck to paycheck and dont have a couple of thousand dollars in the bank. Why should they keep on paying their tax money for all of these people . That order needs to be locked down good. Border . Make it to the go back. You are not setting foot over here. Lees tell these poor taxpaying people that caller called a while ago who is only getting so much money per month and in four days these people are getting it . Screened . Eally where are they getting this money to come up. If it costs that much money and they are so needy and poor when our people are working paycheck to paycheck. So many people starving and poverty. Please tell our taxpayers. The money being paid to smugglers is very high and that is a very good question. That people turn over deeds to their land to the smugglers. People in denture themselves into the future as debt to the smugglers to pay off these fees for years into the future. From withinmoney their communities and families in order to pull together the amount of money for the smugglers. This is everything about this situation is not only dangerous, it is inhumane. And difficult, not only for the people that are involved in doing it, but for those people who are exploiting the situation. Reason whyone more we have got to put this on a different feel different footing. Everything about it is negative and destructive. Host what is the message to other countries about this issue . What is the message from the administration . Or what should he . The administration has been making very aggressive efforts to work with mexico and the countries in the region. There are a number of messages. One of them is to attack the smuggling. To have a much longer Law Enforcement response, that is one of the immediate steps that needs to be taken. Another message is that the corruption and the violence that feeds this kind of traffic needs to have a much higher priority in the region, as well as between the United States and the region. I think another message to the Central American countries is that they need to be prepared to accept the return of people who have left the country under these circumstances, who dont have a claim to be in the United States. And that involves much more effort at Effective Governance in these countries, at rule of law, at anticorruption in their own Law Enforcement. The institutions so that people can, in fact, be protected in their countries. Over the longer term i think it does mean that we all need to Work Together much more effect of lead to raise standards of living in the region. Because this is our neighborhood and there is no better example than this of how it is that we are affected as a country by what it is that goes on in our neighborhood. Texas, border state, this is where benjamin lives, democrat. Hello. These problems with the immigration, is it going to affect or slow down the system for those who are here with applications for immigration . Will it slow down or what . I dont think that we know that until we see what happens with this supplemental appropriation. Theof the reasons for supplemental appropriation is two plus the resources that can be directed at this problem so that the rest of the immigration system can continue to move along the way that it ought to. But i do think that realistically if the appropriation is not granted, there will be an affect on the rest of the immigration system because just in the example of judges, we have too few judges. We have had too few judges for years. So, not only have we had a chronic efficiency where judges deciding cases totally apart from this emergency has been concerned, but if you are now directed many of the judges to working on that work, which is essential if we are going to change the change the nature of the law, then other parts of the caseload will suffer. So, it is important to make these investments. These investments and judges, as i have said, they have been long needed. This is not in any way a waste of resources. Russellville, arkansas, republican line. Caller what i wanted to know this morning was we have had so much it into the economy. From taxpayers. I want to know where all the money goes. Because apparently there are a lot of rich, rich people running around and we are suffering because we are the taxpayers and we have to pay for people that phones,illacs and new new everything while we taxpayers are paying the money for this to happen and they say there is a crisis . Come on, get real. Thank you. I dont know that with this particular problem we can tackle the overall issue of income inequality in this country. I think that is a bigger issue. Believe that where this emergency is concerned, we can turn it around. We can turn it around reasonably takely, but it is going to a very effective effort and mobilization of resources and we do need additional help from the congress. How has the border fence changed since you were the head of ins . Host the actual fence. Guest the fence that was there in the 1990s, we had a couple of we had several tens of miles of fencing. Fencing has always been an important part of the Border Patrols ability to close off areas that are heavily crossed. But fencing, really, came into its fullness in the mid2000 posse. Congress enacted a law called 2006,cure fence act in 2000 seven, which mandated 700 miles 800 miles of fence. Aboutnce often built is one third of the border. I think that every Border Patrol agent will tell you that fencing is an important part of what , but where people go on this is just fencing the entire border and things will be taking care of, the response to that is however high you build a fence, someone will build a ladder that is two feet higher. Fencing by itself is not the answer to border enforcement. It is part of an answer. The Bush Administration put a lot of technology on the border. Has that been effective . It has. It has been very effective. Until this crisis, which really came about for different reasons, until this crisis we were at historic lows for 40 years. The border until two years ago had steadily gone down until it hit the level that was less than when this whole illegal immigration wave of the early 1970s began. The Border Patrol knows how to do border enforcement, but adults crossing the border are treated differently from young people crossing the border. Young people crossing the border is what is going on now. It is entirely possible that young people, coming alone, crossing to the border is an adaptation to how effective the border enforcement has become. That that sounds counterintuitive, but smuggling and trafficking of people always adapts to the enforcement measures in place. Thatnforcement measures have been in place have been sufficiently effective and smugglers have had to find other ways of carrying out their business. They hit upon young people coming without adults, because young people coming without adults are treated differently. So, we need to treat them differently in an accelerated fashion in order to overcome that. Illinois,dy, chicago, the last call on the independent line. Good morning. Caller i would like to say one thing. The law is the law. Once these people cross our line, cross our border, they are automatically illegal. One more question the president has asked for 3. 7 million, almost 4 billion. We have 3 million legal, working americans in our country that are waiting for a bill to be passed by john boehner, who wont pass it. Longterm unemployment for legal americans. John boehner is a legal american. So, i think that 4 billion ought to be given to longterm unemployment he for we give to any illegal people coming into this country. That is my opinion on that. Thank you very much. Well, the congress will have to work its will on this appropriation. There are surely many items of a distillation that have been hung up in the congress. Whether the congress can sort through its various issues is a much bigger issue than we can resolve over the immigration question. Where the immigration question is concerned with its appropriation, if we expect to turn around the problems that crisis, weg this itd to put some resources to and get it behind us. Does this crisis overshadow any congressional attempts on immigration . Or at least the ability to pass something . I think that the ability to pass something was dead before this came about, but this does not help and it certainly does allow for all of the same old arguments to be raised that have been raised before. It is creating a situation where there is a lot more heat than light the new shed. But the congress has been at such cross purposes on immigration that even if we didnt have this crisis, i would be surprised if we saw Immigration Reform this year. [indiscernible] www. Cspan. Org host doris meissner, thank you very much. In our next segment we will be joined by nick hanauer, easily called a rich guy. He has a piece in politico magazine, calling for an increase in the minimum wage. First, an update from news on cspan radio. , edwardr nsa analyst snowden, wants to extend his stay in russia. The news is breaking this hour. His lawyer says that he has a pride to root applied to russian migration authorities before his arm it expires at the end of the month. He fled from the u. S. For hong kong last year before revealing nsa phone tapping programs. He is on his way to cuba that she was on his way to cuba and became stranded in the moscow airport. The federal government says that they made about 100 billion in payments last year to people who may not have been entitled to receive them. Tax credits went to families that did not qualify. Unemployment benefits went to people who had jobs. Medical payments were made that may not have been necessary. Congressional investigators say the figure could be even higher. The oversight subcommittee is holding a hearing on this issue this afternoon. The senior congressional reporter and Supreme Court correspondent or tpm online, he writes this morning that Senate Democrats are introducing legislation to reverse the Supreme Courts hobby lobby ruling, which exempted forprofit corporations with religious owners from healthcare law mandate to cover emergency contraceptives in their insurance programs. The legislation will be sponsored by patty murray, a Washington State democrat, and mark udall, a colorado democrat. According to a summary it prohibits employers from refusing to provide health services, including contraception, to their employees if required by federal law, clarifying that the religious freedom restoration act, the basis for the ruling against the mandate, and all other federal laws, do not permit businesses to opt out. The senators are holding a News Conference this morning. Those are some of the latest headlines on cspan radio. [video clip] years ago, the watergate scandal led to the only resignation of an american president. Throughout this month and early august, American History tv revisits 1974 and the final weeks of the nixon administration. This weekend here the supreme thet oral argument as Watergate Special prosecutor contests the president s claim of executive privilege over his oval office recordings. Readswrites and how he the constitution, but he may be wrong. If he is wrong, who is there to tell him so . One, then the president , of course, is free to his course of a roni us interpretations. Becomes of our constitutional form of government . Watergate, 40 years later, American History tv on cspan three. Washington journal continues. Regularme for the spotlight on magazine section. A rate a recent piece from nick hanauer, called the pitchforks are coming from the coming for the plutocrats. Mr. Hanauer, we are looking at your piece, but before we start can you tell us about your business background and, frankly, about your wealth . In a familyw up business, a manufacturing business, but in my early 20s i started starting other companies. I have either founded or helped finance and get off the ground i think, now, 35 Companies Across a range of industries. I have had a series of fortunate things happen to me. I had a very early interest in the internet and by good fortune had a friend who shared the interest, his name was jeff the firstecame nonfamily investor and amazon. Com. Jeff sent the stuff from new york to my house in seattle and started that here. And then i also founded a company that essentially became the largest independent Internet Advertising Company in the world. Microsoft bought that for 6. 4 billion dollars in 2007. I have started literally dozens of other companies, you know, banks, health care, internet, retailing across a range of industries. Robotics. My partners and i helped to finance a company that makes drones for surveillance and combat, of all things. We sold that to bowling a few years ago. A really broad range of business experiences. I am very, very wealthy, although less than 1 billion, so i would object to being called a billionaire, but hundreds of hundreds of millions of dollars. The redo the title, the pitchforks are coming for us political at. What is the message you are sending . Host the basic guest the basic message, there is a saying pigse investment is ms. , get fat, hogs get slaughtered. I am a bigger us capitalist capitalist. I think it is one of the greatest programs to create prosperity. Some economic inequality is an essential part of a high functioning capital system. But runaway economic inequality is a disaster. A death spiral of falling demand. The problem faced by the country is that, you know, it is not that it is unequal, it is that it is getting more and more unequal every day, going from rich guys like me controlling eight percent of National Income 30 years ago when reagan was elected to now it is in the low 24 , 23 , and at current speed in another 30 years it will be 37 . That is untenable. That is not a capital system anymore, it is a feudal system. When you look at history you find that an economy that concentrates wealth and power that way ends badly for everybody, particularly people like me. I am just saying to my people lets use some common sense, really it is in, not kill the goose that laid the old leg, which is the american middle class. Host as far as how to change that america that inequality, you are saying a higher minimum wage or living wage . Guest there are all sorts of options available if you want to build a high functioning, highgrowth capitalist economy. The basic proposition is that the orthodox economic view held by people on the right and left is essentially the trickledown idea. That prosperity and capitalistic societies is a consequence of making rich people richer. If you give tax cuts to someone like me that somehow trickles down. You pour money into us like an ingredient and prosperity and jobs trickle out of us like doughnuts. It is categorically untrue and a profound misunderstanding of how economies work. Prosperity capitalist economies are always built from the middle out. The true sources of prosperity are thriving middle class. Investments in the middle class are what work. Tax cuts for rich people absolutely, expressly do not. So, there are a variety. The last 30 years of policy have done nothing but eviscerate the middle class and make rich people richer in the service of this ridiculous idea that if you make rich people richer it will somehow benefit everybody. Of course, it hasnt. If there was a shred of truth to that he would be drowning in jobs today and we are of course not. Raising the middle raising the minimum wage is a great way of bringing, essentially, the needsfor workers and the of businesses for customers back into balance. I am a big advocate for raising the minimum wage back into balance with the rest of the economy. As you must know, if the minimum wage was tracking with inflation it would be 10. 50 today and if it had tracked root activity gains it would be in the range of 21. If it had tracked of the wages of people like me, it would be 28. Yeah. It is idiotic to keep it as low as it is. Host some of the thoughts from nick hanauer is our guest, and if you want to ask them questions here is your chance to do so. Host how would you describe your political stripe . Certainly in the context of our environment today politically i am centerleft, but i dont i dont consider myself a lefty. I dont consider rejecting trickledown economics the sign of a lefty. I think it is just sensible. Left are the far anticapitalism. I am very much procapitalism. But the truth is that capitalism can take many forms. It can either be managed to benefit the few in the near term or everyone in the long term. My view is that it is stupid not to do the latter. The fundamental law of capitalism is that when workers have more money, businesses have more customers. A thriving middle class is the source of gross of growth and prosperity and a capitalist economy, it is not the consequence. Again, i am just saying not to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. When the middle class does great, everybody does great. Host first call for you this morning is from robert, san jose, california. Independent line, go ahead. Caller good morning. Here, i did not get what your background is. Do you hire people . Yes, i have helped to start or found 35 companies. Caller first of all, i have to say i am retired and am getting into dire straits these days because of low interest and inflation. Because of the government, of course. What i want to know is if the , the highorker school, summer employee, maybe drops out of high school and stays on next year is making 15 per hour, is his supervisor that was making 15 per hour, do you expect this wage increase to restgate out through the of the scale . By the way, the middle class, the middle 3 5 i dont know that that is ever going to change. Host thank you. Addressirst, i want to the first few sentences of what you said, this idea that minimumwage workers are teenagers, this is simply not true. It was true when you grew up and when i grew up, but today the average age of a fast food worker in this country is on the eight years old. Our economy has changed. It is mostly creating lowwage service jobs. 80 of the jobs and the Economy Today are those jobs. So, we have a problem in our economy that extends far beyond the challenges of teenagers. Americans in their 20s and 30s are trying to get by and raise families and we have to find a way to make sure that the jobs that they get pay them enough so that you and i, sir, dont have to make up the difference in food stamps, medicaid, and rent assistance. With respect to your second question, do i expect the wage increases to ripple upwards . I absolutely do. And they will. That is good for everyone. We want wages for everyone in the country to go up. With the exception of people like me, who make tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars per year that dont need wages to go up. We have to find a way to more successfully balance the income of all americans so that we end up with a thriving economy. Park, high. Eter caller congratulations on being wealthy. I am not. I did not even have a high school edge asian. Lets say when i was 17 or 18, i lived in texas. I went to work for texas instruments. I went to work for cellular mobile phones. Is thatle of the story i got a trade education through being naive. As i went up the no latter for bluecollar workers, you see a change in the legislation. Not allow you to go up. I could sit here and point out complaints, but that is not the problem. The problem is that when you get into sales and people making six figures, they see that there is no need for the bottom. And then they eliminate it. Like mitt romney. What we need his trades. We need to teach people plumbing. We need to teach people hvac, airconditioning. Yourgain, now you have legislators. What did they do . They turned around and the jacked up school to make it like a tool to get rich. Here is the deal open the borders, let people train, jack up the middle, put trade schools, let them do it in two years. I have a broke back from how hard i work. I am not bragging. Host thank you. Therespan. Org guest was a lot there. But i heartily concur that we need to have better trade schools, better apprenticeship programs, better ways of teaching people skills that the economy needs. There are certainly huge gaps between what we need and what we have. But all of this comes back to the same issue of economic polity. When you concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a few people you wind up with a system that benefits only them and no one else. That mayfield did to the people at the top for a minute but eventually it wont work out for anybody. You know, school is super important today. College, theo university of washington, a world class school, cost 260 dollars per quarter. Today it costs 18,000. That is because in my state rich people have stopped paying taxes and it is just ridiculous and silly. Byron, alaska, republican line. Caller good morning, congratulation on your new position. My deepest regret, looking at your background, i know you are in 1990 when back they were only a . 12 per share i could have bought 2000 shares of all three of them. [laughter] i am ataive person that the time i listened to a corporate attorney who talked me into buying 100 shares of Washington Energy because he said that seattle was growing. I agree that seattle is growing, but that is besides the point. If i did not listen to him, imagine where i would have been today. Question of the on all three branches of the government, in all the states throughout the United States, i am going to use alaska as one primary example alaska is in fact the republican state, ok . In all three branches of the government there are some documents i am sure that are available throughout all the states in the United States. An agreement that is made between all three branches of the government. There will in fact to be an equally shared decisionmaking system in place that will be made available to all parties involved in all three branches of the government. So, what good is any of our modern technology if we do not each the young people what the government originally intended . , what aboutnauer your views on the government and what it does as far as this congress, this white house, and advancing the idea of a higher minimum wage . I think that not a lot of americans believe our federal government is functioning in a super effective way today. I think that there are there are a whole bunch of reasons for that. Let me be somewhat optimistic and say that one of the reasons i think it doesnt function very well is that we are trapped, by a couple of ideologies. One on the left, one on the right, which are bankrupt and fairly useless. We are having the same, dumb arguments again and again about how to move the country forward, Less Government or more government, higher taxes or lower taxes. That stupid set of old and boring arguments is a consequence of looking at the world in a very similar way as we have for a long time and i think that there is an opportunity that is beginning to present itself that allows us to look at the world in a very different way, in a more sophisticated way, and imagine the economy, for instance, rather than as this sort of mechanistic, linear equilibrium , essentially as an ecosystem. When you look at it in a new way, it makes a big difference in terms of how you might think about proceeding. That we areis entering a place where we can start to think about our problems and in new and better way and make some progress. Up next, fromis illinois. Independent line. Caller short comment, to read cap two brief questions. I have the utmost respect for esther hanauer. I think it is a sign of high intelligence and character to know when you are in a system that benefits you, but you can see that it is not in a fitting the rest of us and it needs to be adjusted. My first question is i have heard people, the bought and paid congress of the plutocracy, comments and say that taxation is wealth redistribution. It seems to me that the first transaction, a willing buyer and a willing seller, when that takes place there is wealth transfer right there. I would like your comment on that. Secondly, what do you think of capital by of the book capital, where he talks about basically the same thing. Thanks, i will take my question off the air. Host thank you for the quick guest thank you for the question. I think that that word, i actually hate that word, i think it does not actually describe how an economy actually works. The best way to think about an economy, essentially, is as a circulation system. The heart does not redistribute the blood from the hand from the hand to the leg. It simply moves it around the system. That is something that is extraordinarily important. Depending on how you want to look at it, everybody is redistributing everything in the economy at all times. Taxes that allow the economy to redistribute, essentially money, the lifeblood of the economy in useful ways, that is an essential role in the economy, which is why all high functioning economies have governments that do that. Look, here is one way to think about what works and what doesnt. There are 200 five companies unearthed all running a simultaneous experiment and how to create prosperity. 15 or 20 of them are working. You can name those countries, right . In every single case, those countries have high rates of progressive taxation, activist governments and high amounts of regulation. In every place on earth where you dont have that, you have a povertystricken hellhole. That are the things required for a high functioning capitalist economy. As you put it, redistribution is a really important part of that. With respect to pick it he i am 500 pages into the book, i am not finished. , i dontcketty think it is so much and economic achievement as it is historical. He has gathered together the best set of data the world has ever had about the accumulation of wealth and what he can show, quite authoritatively, is that the concentration of wealth is any marketle part of system. I think that he misidentified the causes. Think the causes are greater than the rate of return over capital versus growth. The simple fact is that an economy is a complex system which is, technically speaking, multiplicative in nature, meaning that the advantages and disadvantages compound. If you dont take steps to make sure that they dont compound infinitely, they will compound infinitely. ,ost our guest is nick hanauer who wrote a piece taking a look at minimum wage issues, the pitchforks are coming for us pluto cut plutocrats. Seattle is now in the middle of adopting a 15 minimum wage . Guest yes. It will be implemented at the spring and implement over seven years. I know that for many of the listeners and viewers it sounds like this insane departure, but heres the thing Washington State already has the highest minimum wage in the country, 9. 32. That is 28 higher than the federal minimum wage. Particularly, tipped workers make up a big portion of the lowwage workforce and also make 9. 32, versus the 2. 13 tip manyt rate that workers in other states earn. That is a 427 difference. ,f Speaker Boehner was correct that if wages go up, employment will go down, Washington State would have slid into the ocean. And yet the Small Business job growth in Washington State is the highest in the country. Seattle, washington, with the second highest minimum wage of any city in the country is the fastestgrowing metro in the country. Country,place in the the only major city in the country with more Small Business job growth then seattle is san francisco, with an even higher minimum wage that we have then we have. This is because when restaurants pay workers enough so that they can actually afford to also eat in restaurants, that is not bad for the restaurant is this, it is good for the restaurant someess, despite what Restaurant Owners may tell you. When workers have more money, businesses have more customers. You know, raising the minimum sensible and fair way is an extremely effective way of generating prosperity for everyone and growth for business. Host in Forbes Magazine there is a columnist guest he loves me. [laughter] writes about you and the seattle minimum wage. The first and foremost obvious effect of the 15 minimum wage is job losses. Guest of course he says that. That is the orthodox view. It is not just him, whatever his name is, it is also Speaker Boehner. You raise the price of employment, guess what happens . You get less of it. Here is the odd thing, since 1980 the wages of ceos have gone up from 30 times minimum wage to 500 times. Since 1950 they have gone up 1000 . Knowledge, we have not one company in america that has outsourced their ceo jobs to china or automated their jobs. We have more ceos and senior managers than ever before. So, too, for technology workers. For Financial Services workers who earn multiples of the median wage. If higher wages created less employment, then these industries cannot be growing. Silicon valley has the highest wages in the country. Unemployment there is essentially zero. It is simply not true that when wages go up, employment goes down. It is of course true that as costs increase, businesses seek to pull them down and in some cases they will shed workers, but that is the third order affect. What overwhelms the effect is the fact that when people are paid enough money to shop in stores from businesses, they can, which generates the need for those businesses to hire more workers. This is why high wage places around the world have low unemployment,low and lowwage places have high unemployment. A condo is a place of very high unemployment the congo is a place of high unemployment, switzerland is a place of low unemployment. It is obvious. If workers dont have any money, businesses dont have any customers. Copland, oklahoma, david, go ahead, please. I find it very refreshing to find someone of his wealth and with so much common sense. That being said, i would just like to mention that during the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s, one breadwinner could go out and make a living and one could stay home with the kids. Guest absolutely. Caller and bring them up and teach them. You had one guy that could be a clerk at a Hardware Store and afford to buy a house and get his kids through college and have a middleclass life. The thing is, during those years, during the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, Union Membership was at its height. Wages was at its highest. That was as a portion of the economy. Are being killed with right to work. Guest right. Caller people are not getting out and learning trades. They are not learning how to keep our economy going. It is the dumbing down of america. Anyway, i will let you go and give it to you. Thank you very much. Guest i could not agree more. We used to have an economy where fairly. D people they were able to have a family, raise children, lead a decent life. That look, heres the thing. The 1950s,ers from 1960s, 1970s who earned a good livings, they did not create more value than a breeze to at starbucks. At starbucks. Those companies were not more profitable than these are today. Worked in those factories were not better trained. The simple fact is that they negotiated a fairer share of the value of the enterprise that they created because they had power. There is simply no reason, no economic reason, why people like of the value most and the people who work in the factories and in the stores should get none of it. A marvelous example is walmart. This is a company that is the andest supplier of workers earns 27 billion in pretax profit each year, and yet the Largest Group of food stamp recipients in the country are walmart workers. It is ridiculous. There is no reason on earth that 10,000could not pay more per year to the millions of their workers that are lowest paid, raise them all out of poverty, make them all better customers for both walmart and people like mes and you, listeners dont have to make up the difference in rent assistants. Walmart is still going to earned 7 billion in pretax profit. Prices to consumers dont have to go up one penny. Valuest have to share the and everyone will be better off. Eventually even the shareholders from walmart. We have just forgotten that it makes common sense to keep these things in balance. I am droning on. If the wages of workers had tracked productivity gains for the last 30 years, instead of the median wage being 50,000 per family, it would be close to 75,000 for family. And now you dont have the debts and can afford to send your kids to college and are paying more taxes. Again, everyone is better off. It does not make any sense. Host david, kansas, republican line. Caller thanks for cspan. Thanks for being on cspan. I am calling into dispute some of the metrics you are using. I am not going to get into the metrics, just going to speak generally so that we can all have a discussion. I wont speak to the example that if ceo pay is rising and we are not getting fewer ceos, then clearly the rising minimum wage is not going to create fewer minimumwage jobs. Mouth is rising ceo wages are the problem with minimumwage jobs. It does not comport. The idea that gm mineworkers are not at her trained than marie says . They get better pay because they are union members. Fruit. Re low hanging what i want to talk about is why the focus it is not just you, it is the whole moment that whole movement. Why the focus and i know the answer, it is a loaded question. Why the focus on paychecks . Wages . This one single metric. You are absolutely correct, if we apply linear thinking and extrapolate out words, if wages had grown by whatever, the cost of this and that, then of course wages should be a million times higher, pick your number. You can get the data to support all ofthe same time, those other items that go into our Living Standards . The quality of our Living Standards . If the cost of a computer, the cost of communications the latest snow cell phone,martphone, the nicest car transportation, if those costs had risen at the same rate, or even close to it, then of course they would be substantially higher. In many cases they are substantially lower. The point is that Living Standards for the United States classification of poverty is substantially higher than anything reasonably comparable. Host we believe that there. Mr. Hanauer . Guest well, where to start . You are of course correct, Living Standards in the United States have improved over the last 30 years. But if that is your metric, that is a very low bar. The question should be have the Living Standards for the typical family grown faster than any place on earth . Which should be our goal. And the answer to that question is definitively know. Is that 30truth years ago, the american middle class was undeniably the most affluent middle class on earth. Today that is no longer the case. The canadian middleclass people are better off than the american middle class people. Swedish middleclass people are better off than american middle class people. Australia and new zealand middleclass people are better off than ours. That is because they have created economies that benefit most people rather than just an economy that benefits a few of us. The problem with the way in which we measure these things is that of course people like me, jeff bezos, bill gates, we are all doing some super well, but the typical family is not. Although the cost and the power and computing of a phone have gone down, which has of course improved Living Standards, the price of health care has skyrocketed against stagnant wages. The cost of educating your kids has skyrocketed against stagnating wages. The cost of owning a home has skyrocketed. So, for most of the key things that defined the good life or a typical middleclass family, they have become increasingly out of reach as wages have stagnated on a relative basis. Iphone, but an iphone does not make a life. A good College Education for your kids makes a life. If it costs you 200,000 dollars to do that and you only earn 35,000, that is a big problem. Way tohave to find a bring our economy back into some sort of reasonable balance where typical middleclass families can afford to live in a reasonable way and build a decent life for them and their children. Host our guest coauthored two books. Clintonu is a former speechwriter . Guest yes. And i think he has a new book out today, china mints chance chinamans chance, a book about ethnicity. Stuff like that. To havei am so happy you on. I wish we could run you for president or secretary of treasury. Guest [laughter] i pulled myself up by my bootstraps, retired worker in baltimore, i was there for it. You took your shoes off in the summer because you could not afford them. Guest [laughter] caller that is great. Thate had times guest is great. Caller i have had time to think about these things. Why not have the robots or the Automated Systems paying the Social Security trust fund . The paychecks . In it was less than the contribution to the security trust. I think that the other thing that you said was that the american middle class market is necessary, but i think that the american businessman has shifted overseas because the chinese, indian, african markets are creating a middle class. Even so, they are making more cars in china. Even germany is suffering. Bmw owns a plant in mexico because the make wages are 20 lower. They sell the bmw here. How do we make up the difference . They expect us to make up the full cost. I love that phrase, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps without shoes. That is great. My basic message is, you know, markets and economies are constructions. People make them. Is not surprising is that the people that make them make them to benefit them. My message to the American People is that we need to make the economy in a way that benefits everybody, not just a few people at the tiptop. Interest of this ridiculous idea that if you help people let the very tippy top, it will help everyone . Please stop believing that. It is simply untrue. You know, we have to have an economy that benefits everyone and is not designed around the needs of Corporate Executives and shareholders of giant corporations only. I amnot antibusiness, radically probusiness. But policies that benefit a few capitalists narrowly are often completely different from policies that benefit capitalism generally. To believe otherwise is to believe that anything that is good for donald trump is good for new york, too. That is simply not true. He have to find a new find a way that builds an economy that works for everyone or eventually it will be an economy that works for no one. Families ceo of your tell a business is joe crawford. He said this about your ideas. If someone were to force us to move the base salary to 15 per hour, we would be out of business in six months. St joe at is a fabulous joe crawford is a fabulous ceo, a good friend, and he is dead wrong. Here is why he is wrong. It is difficult for joe, as it is for every business person, to balance the risks and costs of higher wages and benefits. Let me give you a silly example. I have a 13yearold son. Actually, he just turned 14. If you ever have children, particularly a boy in that age range, you will somewhat identify. What i can tell you from having a 13yearold son is that 99 of 13yearold noise agree that homework is a useless and costly obliteration of their liberties. That is because 13yearold boys can very easily calculate the costs of doing homework but cannot calculate the benefits of doing homework, even though the benefits overwhelm the cost. The same is true for Business People. Any businessperson, from a Small Businessperson to the ceo of a giant corporation can quickly calculate the cost and risk of but theyrkers more, cannot calculate the benefits of operating in an economy where everyone earns higher wages. They cannot mitigate the risk in their head of everyone having to pay that new wage. Understandabley that many, many Business People look at things like that and see only negatives and not positives. If i said to the Business People, the people running restaurants here in seattle that i was going to double their rent , all of them would tell me that they were going to go out of business and that it would be impossible to operate a restaurant paying that kind of rent. Yet new york city is filled with those kinds of restaurants, possibly more density than in seattle, but those folks a two times, three times, four times as much as we do. It is clearly possible to operate playing while paying a higher rent. To do have struggled this. If all of the Companies Pay 15, not only would we survive but now twice as many people in the country would be forced to buy pillows every year and a business would be far better. What i have often said is look, the problem with our economy is that even though i earn 1000 times the median wage buy 1000 i do not kilos per year. My head, no matter how rich i get, continues to only need one pillow. An economy in which one pillow can afford to buy a pillow every year is good, even for me, the guy who owns the pillow business. It is just common sense. Host the house of representatives is just about in. If you want to read our guests writing it is on political magazine. You can find it on our cspan website as well. The pitchforks are coming for us plutocrats. Guest thank you for having me. Host that is it for our program. The house of representatives is setting up to meet for session. The next program for washington journal comes your way tomorrow morning. See you then. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]