Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20141107

How the president and Incoming Congress can Work Together. Where do you see areas of compromise in which leaders are best positioned to find Common Ground . Our phone lines are open. Host and if you are outside the u. S. You can also catch up with us on your favorite social media pages twitter, facebook, and cspan. Org. Takes on the press conferences that have happened in the last couple days to on the Republican Press conferences, this is from the editorialy board. It was good news to hear Mitch Mcconnell say there would be no more government shutdowns and no more default on the national debt. There are ominous signs that the acrimony and still made that have marred most of the past six years will continue for divorce or get worse. Conflict looms over the need to fix the broken immigration system. The other flashpoint is the gop declaration that they remain committed to repealing obamacare rather than working to improve it. The question is whether they will let material from those disagreements contaminate everything else. On the president s recent press conference this week, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich writes in his piece in cnn that president obamas press conference was almost two different events. One was utilitarian and suggested to voters that i hear you. The other was confrontational analyst hostile in stating that he will do what he wants through executive action if republicans dont give him what he wants and legislation. He faces a choice between 2 paths forward, one productive, the other destructive. How can the president and the incoming gop Congress Work together . We want your take on who could lead to compromise and where those areas of compromise are. The conversation is also happening on facebook and twitter as well. A few comments on facebook that have already come in this morning as the conversation happens. That republicans have to get over the temper tantrum they have had the past six years. Kevin writes below that that president obama could resign. Has no interest in working with republicans. He has said that he wants legislation from congress that he can sign. Me what i wantve or i will send anything. no, it Means Congress needs to compromise and put forward bills that actually work for all the American People, not corporations. We start with mike from marietta, georgia, on our line for democrats. Republicans dont have to work with democrats now because democrats just roll over and give republicans whatever they want anyway. Goes, as president obama i would sign on the executive orders i could and play golf or two years. Thank you very much. Host that is my from marietta, georgia. We go to our republican line where jim is waiting in the new castle, delaware. Caller good morning. The first thing that has to be done is restore the American Peoples confidence in the whole concept of congress. There was an article by senator thelee in the federalist other day which was quite interesting which recommended that that be the first step. I believe that restoring regular order to congress would help come even though it would be awful fair to the democrats after what harry reid try for the last couple years, to just turn it into a firewall or rubberstamp of the administration. It has to go back to being a deliberative body. They also have to find enough democrats to dismantle a lot of the unfortunate actions that the president has taken, see if they obamacare,parts of if they can do something on immigration, and they have to have some sort of audit of the fed to figure out what the heck is going on there because all they have been doing is just giving money to the 1 pe rcenters and not doing anything for the middle class. Host jim, you say republicans should reach out to democrats. Who should they reach out to . A lot of moderate democrats lost elections on tuesday. Caller well, they got a find somebody out there. Maybe joe manchin and angus king. Hopefully those guys will caucus with the republicans. That has to be some sensible, nonbolshevik democrats in the senate that will see that all they are doing is destroying the country by promoting the policies. All were doing is propping up the 1 that has the money to give to these crazy groups, like george soros and people like that. Host jim, are you optimistic that gridlock can be overcome . Caller well i dont know if gridlock is actually a bad thing. It is still doing something, gridlock. But what i think the american iting rushted 4 c limbaugh, they voted to stop obama. The people who didnt vote didnt care and the people who with howwere fed up this country is in a deep trouble. We are seeing record stock market levels and it is sort of a false economy that the government and stock market quotes right now. Host a few suggestions on areas of compromise from twitter. They can Work Together to repeal all the bad law. One area of agreement between the gop and dems, they agreed that they intensely dislike each other. Here is the Washington Times today. Eyes gopouse cooperation after landslide. News usacanada editor, he says president obama says he is prepared to sit down and drink bourbon with kentuckys Mitch Mcconnell and is prepared to allow leader of the house john boehner to win at golf again. But you just have to listen to the two sides and can only come away with one conclusion, antipathy and hostility far outweigh a sense of trust. This is not about politics, it is about what is doing by for the country, john boehner said with absolute sincerity. Barack obama with equal sincerity and passions that the exact same thing. No amount of bourbon or round of golf will solve that. Mike is on our line for republicans. Good morning. How can the president and the incoming republican Congress Work together . Caller good morning, how are you . Host im good, make. Caller i dont know if they can. I obviously identified myself as a republican, i am a conservative. I firmly believe that president obama, with all due respect, he has never worked with republicans, and im not saying that to be meanspirited. Im saying that because where he came from come out of the illinois legislature, what he has done as a Community Activist , and i dont say that in the disparagingly in a comeraging way, he did not from a governorship, put in a position where he had to work with both sides of the aisle could he has no experience here. He has no experience of politically working with diverse groups and no experience lyrically. An example of a deal, and im not a politician heres a deal they could probably cut fairly easily. President obama and the democrats want a large infrastructure built for roads, highways, bridges. That phrase has been beat to death. They also want to take away the 4 billion a year approximately in tax breaks not subsidies, tax breaks from the will industry. Do the right want and what to 65 of americans want . They want the keystone xl pipeline. There is a deal right there. Host so what is preventing that you from happening . Caller what is preventing that deal from happening, in my humble conservative opinion, is the ideology of president obama and his far left supporters. Host you think that is coming out of the white house . Caller i firmly believe that. You guys do your polling could what is the pulling for support on the keystone xl pipeline . I think it is 65 host i will get one for you, but keep going. Caller ok, so that is a deal right there. Even the all copies are willing to give up 4 billion a year in tax breaks. They put together some type of Infrastructure Spending bill and tied approval of the Keystone Pipeline in, and maybe there is some other trinkets on the christmas tree, whenever. But there is a deal, there is a real easy deal to do, in my humble opinion. But the left will go absolutely thatyou know what crazy [laughter] because they oppose carbon energy, they think it is dirty and stinky and we got to use windmills, and that is fine. But politics is about compromise and there is an example of a compromise good the other example thanks for all the time is there is this whole thing about this lunch today, once again shows president obama and his penchant for politics. He is inviting people up and its a photo up. Politicians are not going to admit to anything in front of their opposition in front of the cameras. If president obama was serious, he would have invited Mitch Mcconnell and Speaker Boehner up for a closeddoor private dinner and not even told the media. That is how Lyndon Johnson got things done, that is how president reagan and speaker tip oneill got things done. Host all right, mike on the pulling question you had, 61 favored the keystone xl pipeline. You bring up president obamas meeting today at the white house. If you stories about who is going to be there. Leader harryty reid, Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell, soontobe majority leader, nancy pelosi will be there. Others expected to attend is House Majority leader kevin mccarthy, new york senator chuck schumer, south dakota senator john thune, House Minority whip steny hoyer. One story out of louisiana noting that the House Majority is noteve scalise expected to attend the white house meeting today. More details on that later in the show when we talk to a reporter aboutl the agenda items and what needs to happen at that meeting. Right now we are taking your taking that question, how can the president and republican Congress Work together . Samantha in akron, ohio good morning. Caller i was thinking that the newly elected candidates as well as the president s staff, or the Democratic Party and the Republican Party committees, could take a survey of the most urgent needs that people have expressed, and really get behind it and find out what the people of america want from them, see as important, and not pander to the wealthy or to the business interests, but really get to what the people want host something the on those polls that we see of the issues that are most important to you, the gallup polls, where the Economic Issues caller well yeah, all those were good, especially, you know, like fracking and the pipeline and all that, but now they are in. This was preelection. They could temper how to run their campaign who do pander to, what interests to pander to. Now they are in their. What do we want them to do now that they are in there . How can they address the needs of their constituencies . Thats it. Host samantha in akron, ohio. On our line for democrats, carol out of kansas city, missouri. Good morning. Caller yes, i voted republican this time even though i am a moderate democrat. Im tired of the bickering, im tired of the stalemate, of not getting anything passed, and just putting the bills and harry reids desk and leaving them, and that angered me as a democrat. I voted republican this time. I urged my family to vote republican this time, because i want to see something done. Am tired of politics it is sickening. And the president could be also more accommodating. He is also adding to the political gridlock. A little bit. Nd he needs to give a little bit. Host and carol, what does that mean . Does he need to spend more time socially with members caller no host on policy issues . Caller nec needs to take a playbook from bill clintons book, and get along with congress,meet with talk to congress, be up there with Congress Like bill clinton was. Bill clinton became a part of the solution when he went up to congress and he talked to the members. He visited members. He listened. Also madengs and he giving as part of his policy. Its my wayt say or the highway and if you dont like it i will use my pen. He gave. He had to give a little bit. Congress agreed to give a little bit. That is what this president needs to do. Host one thing the president said he is not willing to give us more time on some sort of action on immigration. The president said he is prepared to move forward with an executive action on immigration. He was the front page of todays arizona republic. Republican leaders warn against unilateral action. Speaker john baer talked about this issue yesterday in his press conference, warning that unilateral action by the president could poison the well for any kind of Immigration Reform in this congress. Here is a bit of what he had to say yesterday. [video clip] me say starting to years ago yesterday that our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed, but i made clear to the president that if he acts unilaterally on his own outside of his authority, he will poison the well and there will be no chance for Immigration Reform moving in this congress. It is as simple as that. Host Immigration Reform is also the topic of todays New York Times lead editorial. Decision time on immigration. The editorial noting president obama said he would act on his own by the end of the year to improve the immigration system, theng perhaps millions of countrys unauthorized immigrants temporary protection from deportation and permission to work. He has said this before, only to back off in deference to electionyear politics. Now the election is over and the only thing to say the president is do it. Take executive action. Make it big. That is the editorial of the New York Times today. We are asking how the president and the gop congress can Work Together and who do you think is positioned best to lead the compromise . Joe has been waiting in georgia on our line for republicans. Good morning, joe. Caller john, ive been calling your Great Network for 35 years and ive never been so fired up in my life. I was on the air and mcgrady show last night in atlanta and david perdue was just elected, and these champions, and both of them want to come to washington to their Main Objective is reduce the 18 trillion debt that all of us oh, so i really fired up about that, and i tell you what, they are going to be superstars in the house and senate, and im really fired up, and john, ive got a project to paul revere people not to vote for career politicians because career politicians, john, have given us the 18 trillion debt, but you keep your eye on david perdue and very loud or filtered they will be two of the greatest taxpayer champions in American History. Host you trust career politicians, longtime politicians, the leaders of both parties on capitol hill right now, to be able to make these deals, or do you think they will just go back and entrenched in their own two sides . Caller john and Mitch Mcconnell are five people but theyve been there too long. Mcconnell has been there since 1976, john boehner since 1990. We needed new leaders and i say ted cruz would be a great leader in the senate and trey gowdy in the house. Im telling you, people like perdue that have business backgrounds, they will be the future champions in washington. Host that is joe in georgia, a longtime viewer and often caller on the show. Lets go to june in wisconsin on our line for independents. Caller good morning. Well, republicans are finally in the position where they want to be in, and the president in the same position he has always been in. But could Work Together, the congress has to accept the fact that first of all, the dresident has compromise o already so much with republicans. Remember obamacare, the public option . He took it off the table because the republicans didnt want it. People are always like do like bill clinton, blah blah blah. The republicans started long time ago planning the destruction of obama, and as a result of that, no matter what obama wants to do or says he has going to do, there will be Republican Opposition because it is in their dna. Why . Not because of his policies, lets face it. He is a black man could actually come he is only half black. Host you think it is not the policy positions that he has taken that they fundamentally disagree with . , i dont,ll, no because his policies have gotten the stock market way, way high. All the people who claim that the president is against, you know, people doing well, rich people the only people who are doing well thanks to president obama are those who have money in the stock market. It is higher than it has ever been. He gets no credit for that. The people who finally have some kind of Health Insurance, he is getting no credit for that. They still beating over the head about obamacare is so horrible. Ask the people who are benefiting from obamacare. As far as the Keystone Pipeline on obamacarecut in there, too, because that is a topic that Speaker Boehner also brought up in his press conference yesterday. Heres what he said about republican plans when it comes to obamacare. [video clip] obamacare is hurting our economy, it is hurting middleclass families, and it is hurting the ability for employers to create more jobs. And so the house, im sure, some point next year will move to repeal obama care because it should be replaced with commonsense reforms that respect the doctorpatient relationship. Now, whether that can pass the senate, i dont know, but i know in the house it will pass. But we are going to pass that. That doesnt mean we shouldnt do other things. There are bipartisan bills that have passed the house, sitting in the senate, that would in fact make changes to obamacare. There is a bipartisan majority in the house and senate for repealing the medical device tax. I think there is a bipartisan majority in the house and senate for getting rid of the independent payment advisory board, the rationing board in obamacare. How about the individual mandate . Democrats and republicans believe this is unfair. Just because we may not be able to get everything we want doesnt mean we shouldnt try to get what we can. Host and one other quotation from the press conference yesterday in this usa today story talking about immigration, Speaker Boehner saying finding Common Ground is going to be hard work. We are asking our viewers about where the Common Ground can be found, where you think it can be found, and who is best positioned to do it. Teresa is waiting in hatfield, pennsylvania, on our line for democrats. Caller good morning, thank you very much for your show. I just love it. I think what Speaker Boehner left out of his speech yesterday was that republicans also need to rebuild trust, because their plan before to block everything from the president , that hurts the American People as much as the president. So they needed to rebuild trust, too, as well as work on a bipartisan basis with the president , together, to get things done. If they do that and he gets that instead of what he got yesterday, the same stuff, i think they really can. Host what do you say about republicans who looked at the victories that the republicans racked up not just in red states but purple states and some blue states as well, and say that this is a mandate from the republic i from the public that they want republican policies . Caller what i say to that is that the president was elected in 2012 and that was a mandate for democrats and liberals. I think democrats were running away from the president , did a terrible job. And we as voters for democrats, enough of us just didnt get out there, and there is problems when you lose 40 new registrations in georgia and machines dont work in florida. I mean, you know, come on. Not everybody is stupid enough to believe that. But i think we have to move past that and Work Together. There is both parties, and everybody wants something. They can get the right mindset the president should give them a chance to have john boehner put up a bipartisan immigration bill. He knows that will pass that wont pass, and thats why he wont do it. But he should give some time to get their act together and if they dont do it, that he can move on. But he cant let it keep iting it down the kicking down the road. If you look back at 2010, 2011, 2012, that is all they talked about, but nobody does anything. Host theresa in hatfield, pennsylvania, talking about the gridlock on certain issues, also a topic that came up at the White House Press conference yesterday. Press secretary josh earnest taking questions and talking to witt about whose responsibility it is on gridlock in washington. He was what he had to say. [video clip] i think the clear messages sent by voters across the countrys they want to see results in washington dc, that and anybody who has been paying attention to washington dc knows that congress is not in got has not gotten that much done the past two years, and that is something the president has expressed frustration about, and there are members of congress that if i expressed frustration, and clearly the voters are frustrated. And as the most powerful person in washington, d. C. , the president bears greater responsibility and accountability for that than anybody else. He understands that, and part of the reason he has asked the 16 most powerful terms of commerce to come to the white house for a meeting is he wants to start right away. Talking aboutbe that meeting that is happening. Ater in our show we are getting your views how can the president an incoming republican Congress Work together . Andre is waiting on our line for republicans. Caller good morning, cspan3 good morning to the greatest melting pot in the world. That is why i cannot understand why immigration is a problem. We are all immigrants. We did not even asked to come here, but we are here. Ets look at this real clear the problem is the white house, executive branches get along just fine. Simply because we have a Foreign Policy that has gone so awry. You cant serve two masters. You either love the one and hit the other or hate the other and love the one. They pretend not to get along when it comes to the needs of the American People. Andre in chester, pennsylvania, calling in on our line for republicans. Randy is in South Carolina on our line for independents. Caller good morning. I am just curious it seems to me like every time when the democrats get in control, like when they were pushing the aca through, they basically tell the republicans sit down and shut up, weve got this. But every time the republicans get in control, it is all of a sudden you have all got to give an compromise or whatever. The president has got to learn to bend a little bit. The liberal ideology that he has does not work in the real world. The people out here in the ,tates are having a hard time ihese liberals think cannot understand the mindset. It is like, harry reid has had the senate shut down for six thebut now on tv narrative on tv and the politicians is all about the obstruction of the republicans. The house has been doing their job. The senate just refuses to do their job, and harry reid wont get no vote on anything. I think the democrats and the republicans would agree if they were just bring it to the floor and have discussions like they used to have and then vote. Host host were talking about the outcome of the 2014 elections be but some races are still to be decided. Three, specifically in the senate waiting, continuing to wait for the canvassing in virginia to happen and alaska. Two races there, two democrats waiting to see if they will hold their seats. And the louisiana race going to a runoff there. Senator Mary Landrieu waiting to see if she will be able to hang on to her seat. Some news on that race, the louisiana race, coming on from the New York Times noting this morning that the national the Democratic Senatorial Committee of Senate Democrats is pulling 2 million in advertising out of that louisiana runoff. Some news which will be bad news for Mary Landrieu. That story in the first draft politics section out of the New York Times. 2 million worth of Television Ad that is planned to run on landrieus behalf has been pulled from the New York Times and a few other papers as well, tracking that. Thats the latest out of the house races. Were talking with you this morning on how the president and im sorry, the senate race and how the senate and the house can Work Together. But we want to note that there is some Foreign Policy news continuing to go on specifically u. S. Airstrikes happening, that happened yesterday. Here to tell us more about that is missy ryan of the Washington Post with one of the reporters on a front page story on the Syrian Rebels reject a report on airstrikes. Whats the latest on these airstrikes and who specifically was targeted by these strikes in the northwest section of syria . Guest good morning. Well, the u. S. Military said yesterday that american took a number of strikes on targets in northwest syria against a group called the khorasan group. And according to the u. S. , this is a small, sort of obscure Al Qaedalinked group that is affiliated with larger extremist groups in syria and what makes this group interesting from an American Perspective is they are allege to the have been plotting in the past, at least, direct attacks against the United States and europe. And so some american from an American Military perspective, this was an opportunity to target that group that presented a direct threat to the United States and its allies. Host theres a specific person who is one of the targets in that strike. Tell us who he is. Its not certain that he is killed. It appears likely, but not 100 certain that this person was killed. Grew a an extremist who up, became radicalized and joined the al qaeda fight in western pakistan and afghanistan before migrating to the conflict in syria. And he is alleged to have been interested and accomplished in innovations in bomb making, mething related to perhaps making explosives explosives from using clothes and other items that could be affiliated with airports. And were not sure whether he was killed or not. We actually dont know much about him. The last information about who this person is and frank ply who this group is reflex the complexity of the syrian conflict that makes it that harder to understand. Certainly, theres no western military people on the ground. And the number of reporter who is can directly look at whats happening is very few at this point. And the lack of information also contributing to some of the questions about the reports on that airstrike. Explain the headline from your story today, Syrian Rebels reject the reports of an airstrike. Caller yeah. Guest every instance of airstrikes, theres been different allegations about who conducted the airstrikes, what happened and who is killed. In the strikes from wednesday to thursday, there were reports that civilians had been killed. The commander of the u. S. Central command yesterday said that there were no credible reports or they had no concrete information about civilians being killed on the ground. But these strikes threaten to inflame an already complex conflict and an already tennis relationship between the United States and the moderate rebels which the United States is hope will form the core of the force who can fight against the Islamic State. Another very threatening militant group and potentially, eventually the regime. Host the attacks on the khorasan group, does that take away any u. S. Ability to continue its strikes on Islamic State . Guest i dont think so. I mean, these were what happened this week, these were five strikes in northwest syria, you know, far away from the areas that weve been striking Islamic State which is has been on northern and central syria and across the border and iraq. The number of strikes has been fairly low. It doesnt really affect our massive arsenal and our massive capability to be damaged. The question is what is the objective here . The pentagon said this is all about selfdefense from the Islamic State threatening american interests because it hopes to take over a country that weve invested a great deal is and that is iraq and threat tons transform the entire middle east. The khorasan group, on the other hand, was according to u. S. Intelligence, plotting a direct attack on americans or on europeans. These are slightly different threats but certainly in the way that were going about it both with our capability to at least try to deter. Host missy ryan is the pentagon correspondent of the Washington Post. Shes one of the reporters of the front page story about those airstrikes that weve been following and will continue to follow. Thanks for your time this morning, ms. Ryan. Guest thank you. Host on the front page of the wall street journal this morning, obama secretly wrote to the ayotollah in the middle of last month and described a d interest in fighting he stressed any cooperation on the Islamic State was tint on iran reaching a comprehensive agreement with global powers on the nuclear program. The story noting that the october letter marked at least a fourth time that president obama has written irans most powerful politician and religious leaders since taking office in 2009. Back to domestic policy news and specifically to the fallout from the 2014 election. There are several races yet to be called. On the house, theres a dozen races still down by one vote this morning, according to an a. P. News alert just in the past hour. The a. P. Declared democratic u. S. Congressman john delaney the winner in marylands sixth ongressional district. How can theth and the g. O. P. Congress work snegget where are the areas of agreement . Williams been waiting in georgia on our line for democrats. William, thanks for waiting for us. Host caller hello. Actually, its pretty kind of a false equivalent to pretend that both sides are putting the same effort into gridlock. You have a Republican Congress congressmen and Congress Women openly running against president obama. And you have mitch continual who have more filibusters of this president than all president s combined so pretend that both sides are putting the same effort into this grit look, thats not true. Its clearly republicans are the problem. Host where do you see the effort from Congressional Democrats . What are some of the overchures that youve seen that have been rejected. Caller well, they want to raise axes on the wealthy. The republicans say we dont want to raise minimum wage. E dont want clean energy. So, whats left to offer the republicans . Host mimi writes in the legislatures should legitimate if no work for six years, whats two more . And Edwin Christian writes in that the newly elected senators will quickly be put in line when they get to d. C. As we talk about some of the folks who you think could help congress find areas of compromise. Beverlys waiting in fairfield, ohio, on our line for republicans. Beverly, good morning. Caller good morning. My comment is host yes, beverly, im listening. Caller ok. Ive come up with an idea about cooperation. He came in the door for all of the Media Companies to epresent repeal the foreclosures, repeal on creating jobs and Student Loans and i. R. S. And ive never heard a word release as much as i have since this president has been in leadership. How im mesmerized as to often they use this president for every form of government that has always been there. Ive never heard them say linton stamp or ford care. Host beverly, do you remember the term hillary care backed in the back in the Clinton Presidency caller ok, but shes a wife. But i dont associate the name constantly. Everything that comes out is what he did. As far as the bach, obama care i dont think its mr. Obama that came up with the idea that we need a Better Health care system or everybody in the country is entitled to get Better Health care. So how is it that his name is on top of a good idea thats been throughout for about 60 years . That bothers me. On immigration, you have to the people who have been here probably 25 years sat there got work visa cards, they just want the opportunity to get state of the unionship but theyve already passed the work they needed. Its fair to those people who offer immigration to the whole country of people that are coming in legal to give them a high five and let them work for free . Thats totally wrong. Host leon is waiting in hollywood, florida. Leon, good morning. Youre on the washington journal. Caller good morning. First time i called in. Getting real appreciation for john boehner, Mitch Mcconnell for the job that theyre doing, but what i would like to say is in comment to the man, you said the republicans block everything that obamas trying to do, well, and the lady that said that nobody wants obamas idea because hes a black man . That doesnt have anything to do with anything. Thank god the republicans have blocked him because in my opinion, i dont wheee why more people can see this. Some do. Hes never been on our side. Hes never going to be on our side. And people who think anything he does have has the interest of the American Public in their mind, theyre sadly disillusioned. Host do you think there are any areas that the two sides can compromise over the remaining two years of the president s term . Or do you think theres not going to get much done here in these last two years . Caller i think the republicans and democrats could probably find some Common Ground but then you have the Monkey Wrench thats obama and hes not going to let anything go. If its for us, hes not going to be for it. Host freddy from indianapolis, indiana. Freddy, good morning. Caller good morning. I just want to know the lady who just said how did obama care come about . I would like for her to know that it came about from the republican to downgrade obama. They try to make it an ugly term describe health care for all. Now, heres what i wanted to say. And i would like to thank the guy, william, for his comment. It was right on point. When you have a congress that come in and say from the start there would be nothing obama could do that we would approve of and insighting that obama had not remembering obama also had a man data mandate. America have given us a mandate. A mandate to do what . Haven, like the republican blocked obama. They havent put up anything that is of value to anyone who considered themselves as an american. Now, what are they going to do . Theyre going to try to appeal obama care. Theyre going to try and stop anything that has to do with immigration. I mean what, are they going to do that they havent already stopped obama from doing . Host all right, freddy, from indianapolis, indiana, is our last caller in this segment of the washington journal but we will revisit this topic at the end of todays show when we do our open phones. But up next, Jonathan Cowan, the president and founder of third way joins us as we talk about the future of the Democratic Party with just democratic callers. And later, well open up the phone lines to just republican callers to talk about the future of the g. O. P. With republican consultant john fieri. And earlier, we brought up the issue of immigration and its an issue that congress and the white house are certain to nays the coming weeks and months. Yesterday at a roll call conference, former governor ted psychiatric land and tom davis gave their viewpoints on what should happen when it comes to immigration. Heres a bit on what they had to say. This issue has been a troublesome issue for a long, long time. Theres been a lot of talk, a lot of debate. And it seems to me that it may be time to bring this debate to an end. And it wont happen legislatively. I think its highly unlikely that as far as into the future as we can see until, you know, maybe theres a significant change in the makeup of the house of representatives, were not likely to get meaningful immigration legislation passed and thats why i think the president as he said yesterday, will take as much action as he can using his executive authority. I suspect when that happens, i think it will happen. I suspect when this happens, it will cause an explosion within the political world, as that action is debated. But i think from my point of view, its the right thing to do. I think theres been enough talk and i suspect that it will happen and then well have to see what the outcome is. Let me you know, whether thats the right thing to do or not, reasonable people can disagree. And i understand the perspective to lets get this thing over. Youve got 12 million or people there hanging in the shadows and i recognize that and maybe history, if he does Something Like that will treat it well. But you have to look at the other side of it. Republicans view this is very. Ynical the way the election is with. I do think it poises that doesnt mean at some point, go ahead and do this and act if congress is uncapable of action. I think the end result is when congress cant do things, the country has to move ahead sometimes and congressional dysfunction, notwithstanding, no matter which party has it, but i wish he would wait for my perspective and give them a chance to see if the new congress and the new leaders can deal in good faith with this issue. Otherwise, im afraid its going to poise an lot of good things thats going to happen. Washington journal continues. Host and in the days after our 2014 election that saw steep losses for democrats. Were talking about the future of the Democratic Party. To do that, were opening our phones just to democratic callers. Were splitting our lines just regionally. We want to hear your thoughts on the future of the Democratic Party. And to join us for this conversation, were joined by Jonathan Cowan, the president and cofounder of third way. And mr. Cowan, what is third way . Guest third way is a centrist democratic think tank in washington that works from everything from Economic Prosperity to National Security to Climate Change to education. Host and one of the columns in the New York Times that was written in the wake of the results on tuesday night describe the election this way. For republicans, they want control of the senate with room to spare, easy victories in what was supposed to be tight purple space races and unexpected nailbiter in virginia and upset North Carolina where rick scott and scott walker were reelected as well. In light of that, where do democrats go from here . Guest you certainly know how to rub salt in the wound there. That was a good highlight of all the worst things said. A couple of things. Theres no question this is a bad map for democrats, a very bad map. And the mid terms of secondterm president sis are always difficult. And second presidencies are always. However, if democrats do not use this election as a wakeup call and think about not only 2016 but beyond, build and sustain congressional majority, that would be a huge mistake. On the political, its all about moderate. Its moderate stupid. Thats what it boils down to. Democrats had to win in all of these senate races close to two thirds of all the moderates because theres more conservatives in the electorate than liberals. That means that democrats have to overperform among moderates and guess what. Every single democrats who lost red or purple states did not meet the threshold of what they needed to do with moderates. Thats the simple story in this election. Democrats didnt perform well enough with moderates. The substantive side of this election is all those moderate candidates who were excellent candidates and wonderful politician, mark pryor, you can , mark warnere list he will pull it out. Thats for sure. But all of thoid moderates were great candidate who is had the right ideas for the country. They could not overcome the anchor of the Democratic Party brand around their in connection and democrats have worked hard to try to turn themselves into a party thats about economic fairness and what voters are saying in the center is we want ocus on economic protest rosperity. Thats who will dominate politics for the next generation. Host so that first message by the president coming out of the election, was it the right message . Theres been comments from president ial staffers that said the president doesnt feel repudiated. The president said he wants to move with some sort of action with Immigration Reform. How did you take the message of the president in that first speech he gave after the election or First Press Conference . Guest i think at this point on both sides, both from the republicans and a democratic white house, the talk is irrelevant. Whats really going to matter is whether they roll up their leaves and decide to Work Together. And the new reality in washington, and this is different than the 20 st. Century. The new reality is we are in for longterm divided go. Neither party is likely to get a filibusterproof majority any time in the near future. Thats not going to happen. So the reality is whatever the president said to his press conference, whatever mcconnell and boehner wrote in the wall street journal oped, thats all talk right now. After the holidays when they start heading towards a new congress, they going to roll up their leaves and Work Together . And the truth is there are a number of very big issues on which they can and should find Common Ground. Host and that talk happening today bipartisan meeting the white house. We mentioned the president s press conference. I want to play a little bit in which the president talked about what is that he said he could work with the Republican House and senate over the next two years. Heres what he had to say on wednesday. The American People overwhelming little believe that this town doesnt work well and that it is not attentiff to their needs. Attentive to their needs. And as president , they rightly hold me accountable to make it work more properly. Im the guy whos elected by everybody, not just from particular state or particular strict and they want me to push hard to close some of these division, break through some of the gridlock and get stuff done. So the most important thing i can do is just get stuff done and help congress get some things done. In terms of agenda items, though, julie, if you look as i just mentioned to a minimum wage increase, for example. Thats something i talked about a lot during the campaign. Where voters had a chance to vote directly on that agenda item, they voted for it. And so i think it would be hard to suggest that people arent supportive of it. We know that the surveys consist surveys say they want to see that happen. The key is to find areas where the agenda that ive put forward, one that i believe will help strengthen the middle class and create more opportunities for the middle class and improve our tools and make college more affordable to young people and make sure that were growing faster as an economy and we stay competitive. The key is to make sure that those ideas that i have overlap somewhere where some of the ideas that the republicans have. Host those ideas that the president laid out there. Are those the right foundation over the next two years . Guest so the Democratic Party has to think on two tracks. One what is can you do really over the next nine to 12 months before 2016 really hits up . Thats substantive, where you can find Common Ground with republicans. Thats probably not going to be on the minimum wage. It would probably be on energy policy, trade policy. Those are places where there is already well established bipartisan Common Ground and those are the places youre going to see. The second piece of what democrats need to think about goes to the longer term message agenda of the party and our view at third way is very strong, which is you must focus as a party both substantively and in terms of your narrative on prosperity. N 2016, democrats focus on a prosperity message and agenda that is about actually not throwing people a life preserver, but actually fixing the boat and making it go in the direction they want us to go. If thats what they do, their prospects both in 2016 and beyond will be really good. If the party sticks with the same playbook that they used the same economic playbook they used in this cycle, even though a president ial cycle is better for democrats, its still not good enough. Host were talking with jonathon cowan, hes the president of third way. Here to talk with just democratic callers on the future of the Democratic Party. Well start the phone call with colleen from long beach, california. Caller hi. I just want to know what really happened there. Was it because the Democratic Senators and congressman and all the people running doesnt back obamas policies . Because it seems like he had real clear ones for prosperity and the future of people. I mean, some of these republicans sending jobs overseas and their trade policies and not having corporate loopholes, change and stuff. They didnt do anything. We know the whole story. What really happened . And because of the big fox news message missing that they know how to push people up. They know how to groom their candidates. Even though a lot of them were based on just negative rhetoric and things that werent true and trying to fool their own people which they did very well. What can we do . Do we have to be more negative . Do we have to groom our own People Better . Host great questions. T me take in separate parts. First of all, on the question about the president s record. Truthfully, the president has actually done, accomplished some significant things and really dug our economy out of a ditch. Unemployment as well as stock market is high. You know, unemployment steadily coming down. So, his actual economic record has been pretty solid. But there was so much dysfunction in washington, so many things that didnt work that that just didnt break through. The second piece of it is that, you know, actually, a lot of the things the party talked about were things like the minimum wage or reducing Interest Rates on Student Loans, you pay eckty. These are good and important things. We strongly support them at third way, but theyre not remotely sufficient. They really dont add up to restoring longterm middle class prosperity. Youve got to dig in and do big things. Get a much bigger slice in the Asian Pacific market. Really change our schools in ways to prepare us for the 21st century. Bring down Health Care Costs. Solve the climb Climate Crisis. These are the big bold reform ideas that were going to need to do prosperity. One last point on fox news. Look, im a fan of fox news, but they had nothing to do with why this election turned out as it did. Its just not theyre not big enough. Thats not really what happened. What happened was you had very, very good candidates in red and purple States Running against a very difficult electoral tide at a time when the president wasnt popular with a party brand on economic fairness that just does not work. Host we are talking with thethan cowan of third way, future of the Democratic Party, but also looking back so the democrats can look forward. Senator Bernie Sanders joined us and talked about where he thought Democratic Candidates failed in their messages. Here is a bit of what he had to say. [video clip] i think many of the candidates did not run on an agenda that resonated with working people, that said two people it is worthwhile for me to come out and vote. I hope that people regardless of their political views appreciate this. We have a situation, where i believe, some 60 of the American People did not vote, and about 80 of young people and lowincome people did not vote. I would hope that regardless of political views people would see that as a real problem, to say the least, in a democratic society. To answer your question, this is what i think where democrats have been weak and individual candidates have been week, is not really standing up, saying we have to take on the billionaire class. Right now, especially with the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, millionaires are able to spend unlimited amounts of money, and right now what congress is doing, especially republicans, and some democrats, is working to advance the interest of the 1 , and not the 99 . You look at the polls one is totally amazing look at the polls, what do people say . They want to raise the minimum wage to a living wage . Have the democrats take another republicans strongly on that issue . Not enough. Full you can see the interview with senator sanders on our newsmakers program. Of thirdwan the of way, i wanted to give you a chance to comment on senator sanders. Sanders is ar strong politician, and i agree on one point and disagree on another. The place i agree we do not have enough people voting in this country. The greatest democracy thats ever been known, so if you vote. I favor what they do in australia mandatory voting. I think we should do some combination of mandatory voting and make it easier for people to voting, voting on weekends, i do not know why we have voting on tuesday. Why is it not saturday . The disagreement is he is just totally wrong all democrats have talked about for two election cycles is billionaires and the 1 , and the Koch Brothers. If that is what they want to talk about, but he is wrong that that is not what they talked about. That is all they talked about. Americans want prosperity. They want middleclass prosperity. They do not see it as very much connected to some lengthy conversation about billionaires. Very specifically we had a case study in arkansas. Pryor, lost,enator strongly batched back the minimum wage, and his opponent did not. Wage past, which tells you that voters support the minimum wage, but it has no political coattails. Voters say lets give people a raise, that is the right thing to do, but i will not fundamentally alter my and my familys economic trajectory. When will you get around to talking about a trajectory that is about me and my kids and my future in the country . Host from the wall street journal and one other piece in the Washington Post, simply asks what is next for democrats. We are asking democratic callers to call in. Jared is up. Good morning. There are so many things they could tackle. Campaign financing, political butintee systems something more doable would be to tidy up their own house, and by that i mean congress. Look at the rules, and now that swung, them has majority, the minority parties, but look 12, 14 years ahead and say how could things work better . Why dont we have some rule about bills coming to the floor and for how long they can be open for discussion or can the dominant party force it down their throats as the democrats did to republicans recently . Also with the filibuster, i guess we have to keep it. As long as we have mr. Smith goes to washington in the movies, but to do something to modify that where we are not in a position for a governing body to have to listen to dr. Seuss recited by someone. Guest you think these changes will help host you think these changes will help democrats and the entire Congress Work better . Caller that is the point. Theong as someone is in majority or minority now, they cannot do it they have to look at who will be in the majority. Jerrod, greatt point. The filibuster needs to be reformed, no question about it. The two member we have used these rules for over 200 years, we have made it through two world wars, a great depression, and on and on. We need to fix the rules for sure, but what is deeper is politics have changed, and we are faced with a generation or more, or maybe permanently, with divided government, and both parties will have to figure out how to move to the center and govern in a principles, but, ground way. That is the future of progress commong through ground way. That is the future of progress in breaking through. Host what you say to democrats who point out the republicans gave their midterm press conference in front of a sign stop obama, fire read. There is no working with them. That is a view. Jack is right. That was their strategy, and no question of structuralism works. Obstructionism works. To. Crats play tough, the fingerpointing does not solve much. What is actually going to solve it is when you come to govern, and you have divided government, will both hardees actually reject the orthodoxies of their respective bases and come both parties actually reject the orthodoxies of the respective bases and come to the middle. The other will get the message that voters want them to govern from the center in a principled way, but from the center. Whichever party gets that, understands that, and moves in that direction will have the best shot at a longterm majority. Clyde is up next talking about the future of the democratic hardy. He is in new jersey. Good morning, clyde. Caller good morning, gentlemen. I have to say this i know the Republican Party got the house and the senate. I am also afraid that john boehner made the comment they are playing with fire. I do not know what they are up to, but i think they are more partisan toward their party. Thank you for letting me say this. Host on the distrust issue their deep distrust if you look at the obamajohn boehner relationship, they have had some promising moments, and some moments of deep distrust. Clyde, the question will be is there enough trust over the next 12 months that they will get things done. I think there is because it is an interest of the president or his legacy to find Common Ground, and it is in the interest of john boehner and Mitch Mcconnell to show they can be more than obstructionists and govern in a responsible way. The burden will be on them to prove that. Two lines for democratic viewers. We are splitting them up regionally. We are talking with Jonathan Cowan of third way. Next year next. Caller good morning. Watching the coverage of the election, as a lifelong democrat, i am angered and disappointed. First of all, when president obama was elected in 2008 by substantial margin over senator mccain, i do not remember anyone in the public and party saying a National Just won election, lets work with him, lets give his ideas a chance. The first thing out of Mitch Mcconnells mouth was they would make him a oneterm president. Inauguration,he 15 legislatures and republican big deals got in a statehouse and said we are going to obstruct everything he has done. By2, he wins again substantial margin 2012, he wins again by substantial margin. Nowhere did i hear republicans say not once, but twice, this a president ial election, lets give him his mandate. It was never like that. It is only expected of the democrats to do that as though the only elections that matter is when republicans win. Host Jonathan Cowan, why should democrats give . Guest democrats should give for two reasons one is that is the only way they will govern the country, and misbehavior on one party does not justify this behavior misbehavior by another party. I do not agree with the history. 2008, but to quote the president , he got shellacked in 2010. Just two years and voters said we are not comfortable with this and it delivered a shallow and they delivered a shellacking to the president in 2010. I do not think this is a simple story of the president got a mandate that was never contested by voters for the last six years. Host lets go to virginia where kerry is waiting. Good morning. Caller hi. I disagree with your guests analysis. I think for the most part, the democrats ran mediocre, milquetoast candidates like mark pryor from arkansas, even though he has been there forever. Midterm elections are about raising the interest level of the voting populace and the democrats did nothing to do that. Fact, they simply certainly dropped off voting from latinos and blacks, not to mention young people who turned out in droves to vote for obama. The idea of democrats trying to turn into republican light, has been tried since bill clinton. When it has succeeded, it has been given a state like nasa. If you are advocating that, you will be having more problems. Energized, people you have to appeal to what makes a difference in their lives he is correct on that, but what matters to people at the bottom is having a job and a higher minimum wage level. People in the middle it is not having a job outsourced to china and other countries through deals like the pacific trade partnership, which is coming up for a vote, too. Host you might agree with raulman raul drama grijalva who put out this statement talking about the future of the Democratic Party. Jonathan cowan . Tost with all due respect the congress and, that is absurd. We passed the most sweeping the most sweeping reform since the 1960s. We fought to provide citizenship to 10 million plus undocumented immigrants. We made the min wage our centerpiece economic item. I do not know at all what he is talking about. He made the Koch Brothers the tragedies of our politics. The Koch Brothers the centerpiece of our politics. The president , by his own admission, the single biggest thing he ran on was raising taxes on rich people and they need to go up excess they were too low because of bush. We learned that the party moved to a direction of economic populism and fairness, and we got important things done like obamacare, which we fought for and strongly backed, but this election makes very clear it is not a winning formula. Host the people whove suffered the most in the senate were the most moderate democrats. Guest absolutely, because they could not overcome a party brand. When you are running in a state like colorado, or arkansas, you have to try so hard if you are a moderate to rise above a party brand that is eric arrived as liberal economic fairness characterized as liberal economic fairness. All of them tried. They are in condition they were all good caret. Goodey were all candidates. I also disagree with the callers characterization of bill clintons record. We won two politics with politics andrd way revived the democratic band. If the caller would like to go back to the days of Walter Mondale and dukakis, he can do that. I would like to return to the record of bill clinton. His economic record is stunning. There is not a person in the white house who had clintons economic record. On the politics and the substance, i would welcome the day we returned to bill clintons politics and substance. That would be great for the country, great for the Democratic Party, and fantastic for the middle class. Host cap is up next in michigan. How optimistic are you . Caller is the Democratic Party starts acting like democrats, it might help. The republicans have walked the ideas in this country farther and farther and farther to the right. They define what is going on. There is a lot of Common Ground out there already. There is the minimum wage. The common sense gun control the Senate Immigration bill, lowinterest loans for students i mean, all of those things, in the general country of this been United States has approved by over a majority of 60 of americans, and the republicans that won pretended to be moderate, pretended to be for the things the democrats represent, and the democrats ran away from those things. Not know what you mean by the democrats ran away from those things. The democrats all campaign on a minimum wage. It was one of the top items. HadDemocratic Party agenda lower student loan Interest Rates. It was quite the opposite. They ran toward those things. I support those things. Third way supports those things. We need to raise of them wage. But we have to keep in mind, one is those things are good, and they are important, but they do not sufficiently address the economic anxiety that middleclass people feel. The fundamental, the defining issue of our time, is going to be can we find a way to restore and middleclass prosperity. Tinkering with student loan rates is not going to do it. We have too many kids dropping out of school and not getting a good education and the price of it costs too much. I can go down the list of things. We can not, as a party, afford to keep saying the same things about economic fairness. While they are true and policies winnot sufficient to longterm majorities or to rebuild Economic Prosperity. Host were talking with Jonathan Cowan, the president of third way. He spent over 15 years in senior levels. What are some organizations you have worked with . I work in congress. I was the chief of staff to andrew cuomo, the Current Governor of new york, who i will give a shout out to, who just won a second term as new york governor. Organizationd an called americans for gun safety that worked on common sense gun safety, like the previous caller mentioned. So, i have done a lot of advocacy work both inside and outside government, and that worked inside of government. Andrew cuomo,on one overlooked thing in the selections in these elections, the democrat governors who won are all centrist reformers andrew cuomo, jerry brown, tom wolfe, and general mondale. She is one of my heroes. She is a serious pension reform her and she showed you can read reform pension in a way that and publicxpayers employees. She has broken the mold and shown you can have a Democratic Party that has a reformist, longterm agenda that can both govern well, but also is politically popular. The we are talking about future of the Democratic Party with just democratic viewers. In. Ara calling barbara, where you see the Democratic Party on this date in 316 2016 . Caller well, good morning, and im not really sure. People like third way are what is wrong with democrats. Where is the middle on the gnome wage, im gay peoples right to marry, i womens rights to control their own body where is the middle on the minimum wage, gay peoples rights to marry, womens rights to control their own body where is the middle on that . Not having a roof over your head, health care that is what is wrong with third way people. You ignore those that actually need for the sake of trying to get along with republicans. I think the democrats need to come out be democrats, and stop trying to appeal to the socalled middle. So, i really disagree woth you let me just pick t points. First of all, third way was one of the leading organizations in the United States fighting for Marriage Equality for all americans. We spent five or six years working on it. We are one of the top groups that fought for it. So, youre just simply wrong. We are also passionate about protecting a womans right to choose. So, what it means to be a third bill clintonlike means you are highly progressive on social policy, you are centrist on Economic Issues youre for growth and prosperity, you are strong on security, and you want to solve the Climate Crisis. We do not have a disagreement with Court Democratic core Democratic Values at all, but we have a disagreement on how you achieve those in the 21st century and what reform and modernization look like. I spent five years working at department of housing and urban development. I will not take a backseat to anyone for fighting to fight iselessness, and third way passionate about Economic Opportunity for all americans. You have taken a caricature of what it means to be a centrist democrat and completely warped it. What it means to be a centrist democrat is you hold core Democratic Values you are passionate about and acting company or a reformer youre looking for it for the future and youre willing to challenge orthodoxies. Immediately simple example how we better let me give you a simple example how will we better educate kids . It will not be the status quo. We need 3 million new teachers. We the highest quality people. The only way to get millennials to teach is to reform and modernize the teaching profession. What it means to be a third way democrat is you want to enact core Democratic Values in a modern way. I think that could not possibly be more progressive rather than looking backwards, taking an old playbook, and going back to what worked in another century. I am proud, and third way is proud of what democrats account question the 20th century. We a compass amazing things. We build a social safety net. We help to win in the world wars. The question is what you do in the 21st century. You cannot just repeat. That is what third way democrats stand for it will solve the countrys biggest problems. Host in recent cycles we have seen division internally in the Republican Party. Are you worried about division internally in the republic Democratic Party leading up to the 2016 . Election 2016 election . Host i do not. I do not buy the divided parties do not win elections. Good parties that have good ideas, serious agendas, and strong,m agendas have healthy debates. Republicans often have. A test, and if you are not pure enough, you are driven out purity tests. If you do not if youre not. If, you are driven out. That is how you lose. Caller dell, good morning. Host del, good morning. Theer there is more in voting deficiencies that you mention people standing in line for three or four hours to vote is ridiculous. I was an election judge in pennsylvania at one time because of gerrymandering has been so effective in pennsylvania we had 18 counties, 13 of them were republican. The five democrats had 80,000 more votes than the 13 republicans. Is that a democracy . Come on. We are so far up the wall, it is ridiculous. Thank you fort the kind words and the contribution. It is appreciated. As i said earlier, we have to change the dynamics of the everybody votes. Again, why we should have mandatory voting. You should also not way and line for 304 hours. You would not wait in line three or four hours. You would not wait in line for four hours the grocery store. So thatto have reform instead of having a Voting System that is from the 19th century you fill in a card and wait in line, you have a Voting System that is in the 21st century. That is not just the right thing to do, but it is actually, as you said, what you need to do to get more people in the system. Host charles and fort collins, colorado waiting to chat with you. You are on with Jonathan Cowan of third way. Caller hi, jonathan. One thing i noticed about the election cycle obama had some very good victories. But the deficit, it was decreased by two thirds. Obamacare from the reality of the commons hundred saturday 10 aggregate ofrease per year, reality it, instead of a 10 ill get increase, it is down to a 4 increase. All these democrats were distancing themselves from obama. They were not say look at how this works. Look at kansas. The republicans put their dream model in kansas are reducing taxes and increased jobs to do all this and it was an abysmal failure. Why were they not doing that saying obama is in the white house, i do not know about him . Charles, that is a question a lot of people are pondering and will think about a lot for the next couple of years, and historians will think about. Spotuick things you are on. There is a lot about obamas economic record that he and democrats should be very proud of. It does not mean they solve everything, but they dug us out of a ditch and did important things to do that. One of the paradoxes of our current politics is how can a president who presided over a stock market hitting historic highs and unemployment steadily dropping how come his economic record does not sell better . That leads to my second point. There is a profound disconnect, for some reason, between obamas economic record and what voters are feeling. Voters are feeling fairly low things had to satisfy them and why democrats ran from obama. They are feeling that their economic problems are not yet solved. They got us out of a ditch, but there is a long way to go. The second piece is they feel washington is dysfunctional. When you look at things like the v. A. Crisis in the health care rollout, there is a sense that partymocrats are the presiding over government is dysfunctional and inept and voters reject that. Host nancy, california. Good morning. Morning, gentlemen. I think youre going in the wrong direction, mr. Cowan. Host go ahead, nancy. Caller i think that the third is pushing the corporatist way and that will be the demise of the Democratic Party. Mr. Cowan . I know what you got those talking points, it is a label, but it is meaningless. Host where did they get the talking points . Liberal groups. It is the same as calling someone who is a label a socialist. It is empty, meaningless, simply pejorative. If you mean by that, nancy, that we believe in Economic Growth and private sectorled Economic Growth that benefits the middle class, and we believe the Democratic Party needs to be able to work to business with business, not kowtow to businesses, or work with them then guilty as charged. I do not think there is anyway, as bill clinton used to say i do not think you can love the jobs, but hate the people who helped create them. As we said before, we are on Economic Issues, centrists, programs, poor rick proreform. I do not know what could be more democratic or progressive. About nancy to ask pelosi. No threats about losing her job, but ralph nader put out a statement on Election Night saying democratic leadership in the house should step down after three cycles in a row of losing seats. What do you think about the leadership in the house and the senate right now on the democratic side . Guest we work closely with with democrats in a house and the senate. Overo pelosi has raised caller good morning. If this was a facebook threat, thread, i would put a like on those comments. There is absolutely no working with people that come right out and admit that they are not going to work with the other party, so long as they are in office. I just cannot understand how that could possibly work, and they are asking Hillary Clinton to change her brand to move , and i fearenter that is going to be they are finding out that when they start moving away from their positions and trying to garner that sliver , thedependent votes Democratic Party is strong. It is vibrant. I am a Firm Believer in it, and i honestly think that wandering away from their message is going to do more damage than good, and as far as the third parting party having a favorable message for bill clinton, i used to refer to him as a republican and democrats clothing. I voted for ross perot. I just did not trust the guy from the getgo come he proved to be that guy. They get go, and he proved to be that guy. That is my comment. Guest thank you. I happen also to be a ross perot fan even though i did not vote for him. I mean bill clinton fan. Im a bill clinton democrat. He got elected twice. He helped to usher in prosperity. You know, you can be a democrat we are a Big Tent Party you can be a democrat and be very liberal or a democrat and be centrist. Clinical parties that are able to hold longterm majorities and able to come up with the best governing ideas have vigorous debates with both wings of their parties. Parties that lose, have the wrong ideas, that cannot sustain majorities, have purity tests where they try to drive one wing out. That is not effective for effective governing or winning sustained majorities. Some i want to note breaking news that is i the jobs report is out they october jobless rate, 5. 8 , falling from 5. 9 in september. The number of jobs added in october, 214,000 jobs. That news coming out just this morning, a few minutes ago. Been waiting in chicago, illinois. Our last caller. You are on with Jonathan Josh Jonathan Cowan of Jonathan Cowan of third way. Caller good morning. I do not agree with what mr. I do notsaying, and agree because i think that kay hagan ran one of the most third night, andns of the she did not carry it. I believe there is Something Else afoot here. Money hat it is bayer in chicago, we had a here inrace, and chicago, we had a governors race, and i was a democrat that got out, knocked on doors, brought people to the polls, and i know how much money just ridiculous amounts of money. Thedemocrats were outspent, republicans were disingenuous, and as far as the center, i do not see a center anymore because it has moved so far to the right. One of my problems, and other people like me because i believe i am a centrist, but it is kind of like lucy and charlie brown, when you start moving the ball farther and farther to the right, the center becomes somewhere that is not the center anymore. We want to give Jonathan Cowan the last minute of this segment. Guest glad to hear youre a centrist and thank you for stumping hard in chicago. What it means to be a centrist democrat at the dawn of the 21st century is you hold core Democratic Values that you are looking for new ways to enact them new reforms, new ways to modernize, both our electoral governing coalition and our agenda. I do not think the party can move back i do not think winning Political Parties do that. I think you look forward. If you are someone they be this is you, someone that is progressive, socially, want to equality, who believes in Economic Prosperity, wants strong security, wants to fix the Climate Crisis while heine sent harnessing the energy revolution, you are a third way democrat. Whatever kind of democrat you partyhis, the democratic it is what we need to fulfill the dreams of the middleclass. Really look into the discussion of the futures of both parties. Thank you to Jonathan Cowan. Next we will open it up to republican callers with republican consultant john feehery, and later, we will open up phones to our viewers and readers of the question we had a top of the program of how the two parties, congress and the president , can find a middle ground. This weekend on the cspan networks tonight at 8 00 eastern, more reaction to the midterm elections. Set in 8 00 p. M. , a debate on the future of the internet. Tavisevening on q a smiley on his latest book death of a king. Rosbottomuthor ronald , said anna 10 00 p. M. , jeff chang, and sunday night at 10 00 p. M. , what makes us human and different from other species. Tonight 8 00 p. M. On cspan three, medal of honor recipients reflect on their time in world war ii, and afghanistan. And on lectures in history, the social prejudice immigrants faced in the 19th century. Sunday, the fall of the berlin wall. Find our schedule on cspan. Org. Let us know about the programs you are watching. 2026263400. Conversation. N like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. Cspan studentcam video competition is underway, open to High School Middle students to create a documentary on the theme the three branches and how it haswing affected you or your community. There are 200 cash prices prizes. For a list of rules and how to get started, go to studentcam. Org. Washington journal continues. Host to bookend our discussion, we will open our phones to republican callers to talk about the future of the Republican Party, and to do that we are joined by john feehery, republican strategist, longtime staffer on capitol hill. Kerry, the keys to both roberteehery, to quote redford from the candidate, what is the gop go from here . With power comes responsibility. They have a responsibility to do bold oversight of the obama administration, especially its many failures. Theirlso have to push agenda. If they are going to try to appeal obamacare, which is unpopular with Republican Voters if that does not work, they have to figure out how to amend it and make it work better. I have other things on their agenda that they want. John boehner has talked about job creation. The way you create jobs is by creating the conditions to create jobs and one of those things is tax reform. The tax code is completely messed up. In more trade agreements so that we can export more of our product. The message of this election was we need the government to start working again, and john boehner and Mitch Mcconnell have promised to get the government to work again in a more efficient, effective manner. Host are they saying the right things in the press conferences in the days after the 2014 election . Guest i think there are i think they are. There is concern about the , and the overreaching speaker and the majority leader have sent the message we have to fix a broken system the right way, and doing it the wrong way by issuing an executive order is really going to spoil the well and make things more difficult to get things done next year. What about this quote from Haley Barbour in a wall street rnal those quote case journal piece guest i think that is absolutely right. There is widespread dissatisfaction with how the Senate Majority leader harry reid ran the senate, the lack of production from the congress, and widespread dissatisfaction with the president and his leadership. I think theyre giving republicans an opportunity to govern, to show what they can do, to see if they can make this thing work again. With that, the republicans have to produce. The gallup party image polling that has been done their latest poll from back in the end of september had a favorable opinion of the Republican Party by those polled 57 having anth unfavorable opinion of the Republican Party. So, there is still work to do here. Guest is a lot better than he used to be. I think they are making some progress. The thing that they did was make this a referendum on the president , and i think they were successful. Now they have to take the next step and prove that they can produce some things that are consistent with their values, but also that move the ball forward in making government work better. If they can do that, their brand will go up even more. The highs from that party image rating, 61 in 2001 and 2002 for having a favorable opinion of the Republican Party, and just before the end of 1998, just 31 . How do you get back to above the 50 margin . After 9 11, we showed we can govern. After we impeach president clinton, the Approval Ratings went down. Can react to bad circumstances with effective movement. I think the popularity rating of republicans went higher when they were actually working in a bipartisan manner, because you can get more of the pool to support you. The republicans have to expand theirtry to base, appeal to all voters, and, you know, whether it is through fixing a broken immigration system, getting the voting taking onr any big things like reforming the tax code and dealing with our debt crisis. All these things, they have to do, and i think they will do when they take over the majority in january. What is possible for republicans in the face of a potential veto, of opposition not having 60 seats in the senate . Guest i think there will be a method to their madness. It will start out by putting the principles out, getting as much as they can through the house, the senate, and onto the president s desk. They will see what he vetoes, perhaps, and ultimately will find a way to reach an honorable copper mines, which will not be easy. They are coming from different compromise, which will not be easy. Our political system is set up that you have to reach coppermine spat on some things they will simply disagree. Things. Omise on some on some things they will simply disagree. We have to fix the border. We have to make sure we have the ability to know who is in the country, and we have to deal with the 11 Million People that are already here undocumented. We have to figure out a way to get them to a legalized status. We have to make sure we can attract good workers to this to make and we have sure that people who are in this country and committing crimes are taken out of this country. So, i think that if the aspects of a good compromise on immigration. Host the other big issue of the week, the president s healthcare law is there an honorable, Maisano Obamacare . Guest i think we will go through a process of agreeing to disagree. I think republicans will try to repeal the whole law and then pieces of the law once the president vetoes. Even ted cruz said the president is not going to sign a full repeal of the law, there are certain aspects like the medical device tax, for example, sticking to the promise of the president made, if you like your health care, you can keep it. That became inoperative after a while. Maybe we can make sure the president s promises are agreed to. And there are other aspects of obamacare we will have to take a look at and make work better. To john are talking of the about the future Republican Party. We are just talking to republican callers in this segment. The phone lines are split up regionally. They are on the screen. We want to hear your thoughts on the future of the party, who should be leading Going Forward and are you happy with the current leadership. We start with bonnie in ohio. Good morning. Caller good morning, and thank you for letting me on. I want to make two comments about what i think was a victory for the republicans. On sunday night, thousands, if not millions of christians kneeled down before the law lord and they prayed for the election,houston, the and i believe he delivered the republicans to victory. If people are looking to the government for prosperity, they are looking to the wrong place. The only way youre going to be prosperous is to come to jesus christ as your lord and savior, repent from your sense, and he will make you the most prosperous person in the world. He has done that for me, and i give him all the praise and glory. That is my comment. , talkingn feehery about the religious right and social conservatives, their role in the victory that happened tuesday, and also the future and the parting in the party. Extraordinarye part of the party. The buddha go to church regular, they voted for republicans the people that go to church regularly, they voted for republicans by an 18 margin. That willan agenda appeal to all people, but especially christians of all stripes and i think they take that seriously. Host lets go to West Virginia where rhett is waiting. Caller good morning. I think john hit something on the head there as far as appealing to the masses. Whenever we are engaging in tontity politics, it seems divide people and every kind of dichotomy rich, poor, young, old, black, white, democrat, and republican. So, i really think you are onto something there, john. Another thing that we might do is soften our image, and not play into these three types that people have of us, and at the same time, maybe we can do some outreach. But i think it would be a mistake to go after their flagship legislation, obamacare, right away, until we have a chance to soften them up to that idea also. Host john feehery, before you get to the Affordable Care act, on image and outreach that the caller brings up. Guest i think the democrats huge mistake in the election was playing identity politics. There were going through the war on women motive. He did some race baiting, i thought, in North Carolina. They were playing the identity game, and not on issues everyone agrees with. Everyone agrees that we need to do better with our economy, and that did not come up at all during this campaign. If you look at what happened in texas it is extraordinary. The republican running for governor got 47 of the hispanic vote because he went after that vote by asking for their vote. If you look at what happened with republicans, you have tim scott in South Carolina winning, an africanamerican, male love winning, mia love and if were going to be successful in the next election, we need to continue to do that. Host a couple of headlines in todays papers here is Charles Krauthammers piece in the Washington Post. Thether piece in Washington Times we want to talk to you, our of the, about the future Republican Party just republican viewers in this segment as we are talking to john kerry, a gop strategist. Talk about your background john feehery, a gop charges. Talk about your bob your background. For tom delay in 1999, and started with speaker Denny Hastert as the chief spokesman. I have seen democrat republicans with no hopes of taking the majority in the house and i have them gained a majority. I have seen an evolution for the Republican Party. They have become much more of a Congressional Party than a president ial party, and the gold standard, of course, is to have both. That is difficult. In the early 1990s there was the thought that republicans would never take the house, they would only occupy the presidency, and that has become flipped, actually, it is of how these different midterms versus general elections have gone. The goal of a Political Party is to get as much influence as possible, and the system is set up for checks and balances. We are in that period right now of divided government. The republicans will help their brand the most if they can make sure they govern as efficiently as possible. Host mark stone on twitter wants us to stay on the Affordable Care act why repeal the aca if obama will not sign it maybe repeal parts of the law. Way to work on other issues. Guest i agree with that. We spent a lot of time in the last Congress Voting on repeal of obamacare, and i think a lot of members of the house and senate made a promise they will vote on that again. Any to go through the process, but i do not think they should put all of their eggs in the obamacare bucket. They should talk about other issues how to make the economy grow, how to get jobs the American People. Doris is waiting in los angeles, california. Good morning. re on with John Kerry John feehery. Caller good morning. The reason why people voted republicans is because we were angry at obamas policy how he had policy, children and did not deport them. Every time a public official gets in office, they say vote for me, vote for me, and once you get in office, you ignore our wishes because trade when you say trade, that is equal to outsourcing. No one buys hardly anything from us, but you are trading our jobs. Tode is equivalent outsourcing our jobs. Now, you are working for it only a handful of people it is the rich. A few rich people are benefiting by tearing down the economy. Host john feehery, how do republicans make voters feel that they are not being ignored . Guest the trade debate is an important debate. If youre a family farmer or a farmer, trade is really important because you are trying to get your products exported elsewhere. The probl we have with outsourcing is already happening without these trade agreements. We already have a pretty open system and nobody else in the world does. Our goal is to tear down those barriers. I fundamentally disagree with the caller. I know which is saying. There is some outsourcing the comes with trade, the more comes with trade. We live in a globalized economy. We want to tear down trade barriers to create jobs for american workers. On immigration, let me say that i think she is right about why this election hinged a little bit on immigration. The president messed up on immigration. He has been very unclear about what he was going to do. He made a lot of promises, and then did not keep them. There is a lot of thought because of those promises more young people came in from central america. What we need to do is fix the broken system. The system is broken. We need to have a system where the undocumented get documented, and that we secure our borders. That was one of the true messages of this election. We need to secure our borders. Host that he has been waiting. Betty has been waiting. Caller good morning. My concern is the immigration issue why do we have to cut my the people coming into this country illegal compromise with people coming into this country illegal . Basically, black folks. There are a lot of black folks without jobs in this country, and why are we going to allow illegals to come in and demand rights they do not have . It seems to me republicans are caving in, and we do not want you to cave in. The Republican Party is the only hope for this country, and that is the truth. Please, send those folks back. We are spending too much money trying to legalize them and help them. They need to go home. They are here in legal. , how dohn feehery republicans deal with that sentiment from a lot of republicans . Is a very widespread sentiment, and it is a thing we have to grapple with. You have to deal with securing our borders. That is the number one job. There have been 11 Million People here that are undocumented that have been here for a long time, and it is simply not realistic to say we are all we are going to export them all out of here. We have to figure out a way to get a legalization process so that we know what theyre doing and they do did not become a train on public resources. The other thing is and drain on public resources. The other thing actually, immigration has shrunk in the last couple of years, so we need to understand that as we go through this process, immigrants, especially legal immigrants, add so much to this country, so much to Economic Growth. They do a lot of the hard labor in all kinds of fields. You know, there are a lot of immigrants that come in here in hightech fields. I do a wonderful job of giving us the best of their of the they do a wonderful job of giving us the best of their abilities. We have to embrace legal immigration. Everyone benefits when there is a working immigration system. Host we want to talk to just our public and viewers in this segment as we talk about the future of the Republican Party. We want to hear about the issues that we think your party needs to focus on and the leaders of the Republican Party as well who you would like to see lead the party in 2016 in the residential election. Mark is in porch are also, florida. Caller thanks port charles, florida. Taking myanks for call. I would like to suggest a republican start with items that all abide by the aca law,on obamacare, as much as all the rest of us have to. This would be backed by the majority of americans, it would show we have the agenda in a good place. Thank you very much. Congress doesy, have to abide by the Affordable Care act, and i know that because i had of a lot of friends who work on capitol hill, and they are put in these exchanges, so that is a real issue. I think the caller is absolutely right. Going to pass a law, you cannot exempt the congress and the federal government from following that law. That is called a dictatorship. The most important thing for any law, not just the aca, is if you are going to graphic him everybody has got to abide by it. Host this column from two other republican strategists have a piece over the weekend in the Washington Post talking about what a win does and does not mean for the republican spirit of a right to it does not mean the mass problem. They say winning in a nonpresident ial turnout year, when older and white voters make up a larger percent of the electorate, should convince no one that we have fixed our basic shortfalls with key electoral groups. Guest they are absolutely right or 75 of the electorate this time around was white, and what happened in 2010, but in 2012 were much lower percentage. The fact is that we have to appeal a broader base. I think this election actually helped us with that because we had tim scott, we have got these , abbott in texas getting 47 of the hispanic vote. We have to continue the strategy laid out by reince p riebus, the rnc chair. Next. Edwards good morning, edward. Caller good morning. I have been listening to some of your callers, and i have got to admit, yeah, you cant deport everyone, that is true, but what i also look at is this the difference between this election the last election is that i think a lot of the Tea Party Members who were kind of being investigated, looked at really hard by the irs, kind of shrunk gave a 2012, which little bit of a reprieve to the democrats. But with this push on immigration, you know, a lot of black people, like you heard, they know that their kids are going to be competing with illegals. Aint goingt to go and cut it you want to fix the immigration issue . Fine. No education. You are here illegally, that means kids, sorry, but if you are here illegally and you do not have a Social Security card, go back home. If your parents brought you here illegally, you know, hey, find the parents, fine the businesses they work at, given a big ticket, you know. Mean, dont try to deport them all, just say look, we are not going to give you any benefits. Guest let me just kind of focus on what the caller set about the irs scandal. Really, thatian, the irs was investigating these Tea Party Groups and try to suppress them. I think republicans are going to more aggressively investigate this scandal, find out what exact we happened and make sure it does not happen again because irsreally cannot have the getting engaged in Political Activities on behalf of the white house because then people lose faith in the whole system. Host the caller also brought up candidates and candidate selection for the 2014 election on the republican side. I want to play you this from wednesdays press conference with the nrsc chairman. He talked about the types of candidates for republicans recruited this cycle and why they won. [video clip] ask we recruited and encouraged great candidates to run. Those candidates did run. We educated and trained them in their efforts to succeed and they succeeded. There is a clear message to republicans in the future that who are candidates are matter and they need to be people who are capable of appealing to the voters in the states in which they are seeking to represent. Host candidate recruitment has been an issue for republicans in the past where they have run into some problems. Guest candidates do matter because voters they do not just go for a brand or a party they vote for a candidate. If you have a bad canada, you are going to lose. A bad candidate, you are going to lose. The issue is you support the better candidate but you do that in a way that does not alienate the voters back home. You do not want washington did to dictate who the candidates are, but you want to get for support to the candidates who will present the partys platform in the best possible manner and have the best chance of winning. This election cycle, republicans of a masterful job of avoiding bad candidates. Host are they Lessons Learned from here on out . Guest i think there are Lessons Learned here on out. If you have to pass a threshold of being able to appeal, to show that you can win, then you will get the support of not just the washington establishment would also people back home and also the organizations like the chamber of commerce. How do you present the platform . Are you going to say things that are divisive not necessarily divisive and going to hurt the party brand . If that is the case, you will probably not get the nomination. Host carney is up next, woodlawn, tennessee. Good morning, carney. Caller thank you for taking my call. I am disappointed that you do not allow republicans in on your last guy. Some of the things he said, for an example, have mandatory voting to me as unamerican, that sounds pretty extensive when i have to have my government demand that i vote. I am 56 years old. I grew up learning from my n american itas an is my response billy to vote in if i dont vote, i have no right to the plane about what the government has done. It is my responsibility to vote and if i dont vote, i have no right to complain about what the government has done. Host we were talking to democrats in that last segment about the future of the Democratic Party. We are talking to just this segment. John feehery is a republican strategist joining us for that discussion. Atlanta, georgia, you are on next on the washington journal. Caller good morning. As far as the future of the Republican Party goes, this is their last chance. Democratsto make the pay for changing the filibuster rule in the senate. It had nothing to do with filibusters. It had to do with harry reid. The acawo, as far as goes, obamacare, all you have to budgetass a conciliation that says no federal money will begi given, just like the law says, two people for obamacare. Host what is number three, steve . Theer number three, republicans were elected not to who operate not to cooperate. About election were corporation with president obama, we would have elected it budget democrats. Nott this election was necessarily about cooperation, it was about making the system work. Dictate the terms with president obama but to set the agenda and the president can either agree or disagree with it. It is not about cooperation but about making the government function. The previous caller on mandatory voting, that is i think a very, very dangerous government intrusion into peoples lives. When you get into government dictating that you have to vote, it is not that far of a stretch to say who you have to vote for. 1000 e with the caller that mandatory voting is one of the most idiotic ideas. Host a system that has been put in place in australia and other places. Guest it was also put in place and communist countries and also put in place in nazi germany. Differenthas got a history than we have. Mandatory voting i think is a very dangerous precedent, and i am completely against it. Host maria waiting out in sheridan, wyoming. Good morning, maria. Good morning, and thank you for taking my call. Im in wyoming and this is a republican state. Our politicians do not allow a lot of federal funds to come into the state, therefore the up supporting the school system. We are a poor state. We have a lot of retired people in this state, and we have a lot of people from out of state with money coming in and buying all of our real estate. One other thing the republicans need to keep in mind people in the United States did not vote in this election because they did not want to vote for a republican. There are democrats out there that are voting republicans out there voting for democrats only because they are going to cancel their vote and cancel the republican vote. Host more than 40 s not voting this cycle than the number the caller talked about. Guest midterm elections tend to be very low turnout. All the money that both parties spent on get out the vote procedures did not particularly work that well. I think people look at all of these campaign ads, they get all of these phone calls at home, badgering them to vote, and they get sick and tired of it and they do not feel like they have any real faith in any of the politicians on either side of the aisle. So they drop out. Other people just do not really care that much. They feel as if their vote does not really matter. The irony is that their vote does matter and there are plenty of instances, city council elections, mayoral elections, state elections, and even federal elections where the difference of one or two votes, you know, could have turned an election one way or the other. Your vote does matter in when you dont vote, you make a choice. If you decide not to the debate as our caller said, you have no right to complain. Host we also want to ask our viewers in the segment who you think should leave the Republican Party heading into the 2016 president ial election. Joel from new york, who do you think should lead the party . Caller i would love to see rand paul or ted cruz lead the party. One,ree points number my head is about to explode every time i hear that people think obama worked with the other side. He did not, and the republicans need to make that immediately clear. Number two, as far as deporting the illegals, i understand that you cannot deport 12 million illegal people, but you can once they come after your wallets, once they show up at the hospitals and say give me my free health care, once they show up at the schools, so you give me my free education. That is when you deport them is when they come after your wallet. Thet number three, which is most important point, is that republicans, if they ever want to win a national election, have to reward the people who voted for them. Democrats do it. They buy up peoples votes. Republicans need to offer up a selfsufficiency tax credit, give money to those who do not get government services. You need to compete and fight fire with fire. Offer incentives for republicans to vote republican because democrats do it with their voters, and they reward them very well. Host you can pick up on that last point. Guest i disagree with the caller on the last point. I think people have to vote i think people do vote for their own self interest is and own economic interest, but the idea of giving people direct subsidies for a vote is i think a bad idea. Listen, the first point the caller makes is really important, and that is that the president so far has exhibited no interest in working with republicans. He is going to have to change. The president is going to have to change his attitude with this new republican majority in the house and senate. If he does not change his attitude, we are not going to get anything done. He got elected twice, yes, but now two midterm elections, the voters have spoken and said you have got to work with republicans, and he had better start doing it otherwise we are going to have a series of crises going on for the next couple of years. Mentioned a few champions of the tea party when he talked about who he would like to see lead the party in 2016 here here is a tweet from jenny beth martin, eight name well known in tea party circles. Tea party values and enthusiasm pave the way for the gops victory on tuesday. Talk about the future of the tea party within a larger Republican Party. Guest the tea party has to make a decision are there going to be a thirdparty or part of the Republican Coalition . If they are apart, they have to find a way to work constructively with republicans. There are a lot of Tea Party Members who are so frustrated with obama that came out and voted for republicans, and that is a very good thing, but the idea that tea party spent a lot of its money in time attacking republicans. They should think about ways to work constructively with republicans and move a realistic agenda forward. Let me say a little bit about hit cruise and rand paul. They are really different about ted cruz and rand paul. They are different creatures. Rand paul have gone under a strategy of attracting different voters to the party, very smart, especially Younger Voters with stuff on drug legalization, and he is really going after africanAmerican Voters in a very concerted effort. Ted cruz on the other hand is trying to consolidate the public and bass, talk to a very narrow section of the Republican Party, and theyre both kind of tea party, but in many ways they offer different philosophical positions. Host we have a few different minutes left with john feehery, republican strategist. Bill in long beach, california. I do not think he is there appeared we go to regina, apollo, pennsylvania. Talk about try to demonize the republicans, give me a break. It is a shame that you guys just let the weasley little takers allow them to do that, so lets go, lets defined obamacare. I do not have any desire to pay not only be forced to vote but be forced to buy Health Insurance paradigm heard mr. President obama the other day when he was asked by the what you going to let them do here, let them repeal obama care . What about the individual mandate . Oh, well, we did not let them game the system. Wait a minute, and arizona, 30 budget is spent on illegal aliens. These people do not belong here. Why did you have to force me to buy Health Insurance . I have less money to go buy health they really want with an Actual Health doctor so i can subsidize i am not gaming the system. They are because they do not pay the bills. When i go to the hospital, i pay my bills. Host john feehery, do you want to pick up on any point that regina brings up . Guest obamacare is really unpopular with the Republican Base and with a wide swath of American Voters do die personally would like to see it repealed or do i think it is a terrible law. I think it has made the situation worse in many ways. That being said, it has got to is not going to be vetoed in the next few years because obama has the veto ban. But republicans can continue to make the case not only about how they will change or repeal certain parts of obama care but also what they would do to fix the health care system. A good pointkes about people coming here illegally and then being free writers on the health system. We have got to figure out a way to deal with that because that is part of the rotation and anger that people feel because they are for the Health Care Costs of people who should not be here in the first place. Host west chester, pennsylvania is next, john you are on with john feehery. Caller good morning. Thanks for taking my call or do i have a comment on the need for doing something in the economy. It has been discussed over and over, and everybody in washington seems to know and understand that the only way the economy is going to be fixed is if we start working on the infrastructure. The only way we can start working on the infrastructure is to have money in the bank, by reinstating the 34 corporate the private industry is not going to spend any of their money on infrastructure work. E Everybody Knows that that is the only way the economy is going to improve, then it is ti ando bite the bullet reinstate the 34 Corporate Tax. It angers me when i see fedexies like comcast and moreg their ceos 50 times than we pay the president of the United States because they have so much money they do not know what to do with it. Feehery on Corporate Tax rates and where republicans go from here. Guest i think raising the Corporate Tax rate is exactly the wrong solution to this problem. If you talk about infrastructure, there is a general agreement that importantture is an part of having an economic recovery. The thing that kills Economic Growth is when he trucks and trains and things cannot get from point a to point b. Raising the Corporate Tax rate on the other hand is not a smart way to do that. At some point in time we will have to look at raising the gas tax. The gas prices have gone down, not a bad opportunity to raise the gas tax, but we have got to think about ways to get more money into infrastructure. Host something republicans in congress would allow to move forward . Guest i doubt it appeared i cannot think the democrats want to do it, either, but at some point in time you have got to bite the bullet. If gas prices continue to go but down, it might not be about time to do it. That being said, what the caller talked about is ceos being paid a lot more than the average person to your that is part of tot populist kind of anger the wealth, the wealthy that is simmering out there, and we have got to figure out a way to increase wages in this country. A growing economy held scroll wages, but people are not being paid what they should beginning paid, and there is got to be a way to deal with that. Host helen is next in texas. Caller good morning. I have always been a democrat, but this time i voted republican. I voted republican because of all of the mess that is going on up there in washington, d. C. Republicansray that will flood obamas desk with everything that we need done. Summerigration this past invitation, our borders were flooded. Now, what are we going to do with all of those children . How are we going to pay for them to go to school, to eat, to take care of their medical needs when we are having trouble taking care of the people that we have to . Guest that is a very common theme with republicans. Border search, a lot of the undocumented children really angered a lot of voters, especially in texas. Securing the border has got to be one of the first things the republicans passe in this coming session of congress. I think it would be a tremendous mistake if the president would put executive amnesty through executive order on the table because i think it would be very unpopular with a wide swath of American Voters, and including not just republicans but several them a crack bases including africanamericans. Republicans do to keep voters like helen, who voted republican for the first time in the 2014 election, to make sure they bring her back and keep her in the republican column in 2016 . Guest well, they can keep their promises and they can have a democraticooting process, regular order in the house and senate, meaning vote ony is allowed to everything and get the system to work again. What happened in the last couple of years as the Senate Majority leader harry reid tried to protect his members from tough votes so he basically shut down the democratic process. We have that to open up the process again. Let everything work as it is supposed to work and let the votes happen as they will. Let the politicians defend their votes in front of the voters in two years. Host john feehery, republican strategist, you can see some of his work at feeherytheory. Com. Thanks so much as always for your time. Guest my pleasure. Host up next on the washington journal, we open of the phones back to you come our viewers, to talk about can be republicans and the incoming can the president and the Incoming Republican Congress and find a way to Work Together . We will be right back. The 2015 cspan student video competition is underway, open to all middle and High School Students to create a fiveminute to seven minute documentary on the theme of the three branches in you, showing how our policy, law, or action by the executive, legislative, or Judicial Branch of the federal government has affected you or your community. There are 200 cash prizes for students and teachers totaling 100,000. For a list of rules and how to get started, go to studentcam. Org. This week and on the cspan networks, tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan, more reaction to the midterm elections. On saturday night at 8 00, a debate on the future of the internet, and sunday evening i 00 on q a, evening at 8 00 on q a, author david smiley. Tavis smiley. Author ronald ross botto bottom on occupation. Tonight at 8 00 on American History tv on cspan3, medal of honor recipients reflect on their service in world war ii, vietnam, and afghanistan, and saturday at 8 00 on lectures in history, the social prejudice immigrants faced during the 1800s. A sunday night at 8 00, the 25th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall or to find our Television Schedule at cspan. Org, and let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. Call us at 2026263400 or email us at comments cspan. Org. Pan,end us a tweet cs comments. Join the conversation like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. Washington journal continues. Host for the next half hour of our show, we open the phones to you or how can the president and the republican Congress Work together, what is the agreement, and who do you think would lead that agreement on capitol hill and in the white house as well and any president S Administration . Phone lines are open. Democrats can call 202 5853880. Republicans 202 5853881. Independents 202 5853882. Outside the u. S. , it is 202 5853883. As we told you at the top of the show, the president is set to meet with a Bipartisan Group of leaders today at the white house to discuss how they can move forward after the 2014 election. Here to talk more about that on the phone joining us is justin sink, White House Reporter for the hill newspaper. Mr. Sink, good morning to you. Lets talk about the mending that will happen today at the white house. Republicans or democrats after the stories weve seen this week , some anger over the president of the role in the 2014 election. The president honestly has to make an effort to reach out to both sides. I think republicans have complained a lot that they have not had access to the president , that there communications with them, you know in the first six years of the obama presidency, it was only once or twice a they were in the room oneonone with each other, and that probably the president s now famous joke that he wanted to share a glass of bourbon with Mitch Mcconnell. See some outreach to republicans but also the democrats, harry reids chief of staff, kind of an explosive story in the Washington Post right after the Election Results came in, really went after president obama, his role in the midterms, everything from the implementation of the affordable to tensions between the two over access to donors and so, you know, the White House Press secretary said outreach needs to be done with even democrats, but that is something the president is going to be working on. Quotes from harry reids chief of staff, talk a little bit more about them. Were they think and by the Senate Majority leader himself or was the chief of staff talking out of school here . Guest it is hard to know specifically or precisely because harry reid has not said that he did it, but there are a lot of signs that he did. First of all, a senator who really prices loyalty on the staff come in and senator reids communication director when on twitter and started tweeting out the Washington Post or retweeting other peoples tweets about it hours after it came out, so it is something office felt was a blunder or a mistake. They have not done a lot to clean that up, which suggests that there is some sort of underlying tension, or an effort by the majority leader, who sought republicans slide back into shift some blame to the white house for what happened. I do not think harry reid wants what held responsible for by all the tents was a know,ring loss, so, you the president obviously has a ,ot of things he can point to and it is in or hes interest to make that case. It is in reids interest to make the case. There will be a couple of points, the fertile beauty lameduck session coming up. For harry reid, this is a short in the majority coming in the house to have some power, and he really wants to push through a lot of stuff. He wants to confirm dozens of the president s nominees, he wants to get a shortterm spending bill through, he wants provisions, and a moratorium on internet purchases. These are big agenda items he wants to pass before having to hand over power, so the , he has three priorities that he outlined in his press conference. The budget, he wants an authorization, his campaign against isis, and he wants an additional 6 billion of ebola funding. Republicans of course want to talk about things like corporate , any compromises they could possibly accomplish on an infrastructure built. So they will be talking more longterm and down the road. Attendees of this meeting today, who is in, and who will be noticeable by their actions . White house has invited 16 members of congress, sort of Leadership Teams from both the house and the senate, but that is not included a lot of big names. I know john mccain has sort of grumbled about not being involved, but we heard from dennis mcdonough, the white house chief of staff yesterday, in an interview he said he was very open to reaching out to republican levers of congress who are going to start chairmanships and committees in that sort of thing. The one thing the white house is trying to telegraph that they , they want to listen to have conversations, they know that their relationship with congress has not always been great, and in this sort of new reality, they want to work harder to sort of fixed that. Talking about having a better relationship with capitol hill, what about the role of Vice President joe biden . Do we see him stepping up his involvement in this effort . Guest well, the Vice President is obviously a veteran of the senate and have a lot of really good relationships on capitol hill, especially with some of these republicans who are going to be in prominent spots. At the same time, the Vice President s role did contribute to some of those tensions with harry reid during the 2011 debt ceiling negotiations. On top of that, there is a lot of speculation that he might 2016 president ial an of his own, so it is little uncertain what role Vice President biden would play as the dynamic and outreach changes. He will certainly play some significant role in this. This meeting, today a onetime thing or something we will see a lot more of in the future . Guest that is another big question. The white house said they want to hear from republicans what will be useful and constructive. I know that pete rouse, refuse me, bill daley, the former chief of staff, has adjusted this will be something that the white house does daily, not daily, weekly, summing up the white house tries to make a more regular part of the schedule, and make it a substantive change from times before it appeared at the same time, the white house has always , so forittle reluctant a meeting withto leadership, they want to see that the meetings are actually constructive and that these leaders are able to go back and convince their caucus to agree to the things, the deals that are struck in these meetings. The president sort of vented the frustration that that had not been the case in prior years. Host justin sink is a White House Reporter for the hill newspaper. Appreciate your time this morning. Guest thanks for having me. Host how can the president and the gop congress were together after the 2014 election . On our line for democrats. Good morning, hilda. Caller good morning. Thanks for taking my call. Im a person who is a lifelong learner, so i am looking at what actually happened on tuesday and how we can go forward as a sontry in a positive manner, these are my observations because i am also a good listener, and i have listened to cspan for years. Miles evasion is that twothirds my observation is that two thirds of the americans are not vote, 75 of the republicans voted and they voted for republicans. Gerrymandering in republican districts, actually we hurt our democracy. What i heard this morning is that one million more people voted for democrats in 2012 in some areas, and yes, those democrats did not win. Those seats, so what we have learned is it does not matter how may democratic votes they get, they will not win in gerrymandering districts, so therefore we are losing our democracy. What is your solution . E 75 of voters that voted in the election voted, and i heard this this morning, to not work with obama, and your question is how do we Work Together . Well, that is the issue. How do we Work Together when the overwhelming number of republicans who voted for, who people say dislike the most, how do you get those people to work with the president . So the solution is this. We have a media call to her that does not provide indication to the American People, so my solution is that why is it that kentucky does not know that connects care is the same as obamacare . How come Mitch Mcconnell was allowed by the media to get away with not telling their citizens that they have obamacare . They have the aca. We all have it. Also, how come the American People dont know that Congress Actually do have to use the aca . They think there is a limit, that they are exempt they are not. Congress is on the aca. Also, border security. The border is the most secure than it has been ever in the history of the country. Calling itis hilda from lakeside. Lets go to republicans, dan and iron rich, wisconsin. How can the president and the gop Congress Work together . Caller good morning. I have two comments. First, if you are illegally, you should not get citizenship. You should not be eligible for citizenship. Secondly, when it comes to be beamacare, they should there should be a vote whether we wanted or not i will tell the what to do. Host a major issue through a referendum . Caller have a referendum on the issue itself, when it comes to a gridlock, and half the people vote on what should be done, you know, whether they should accept it or deny it. You do not have to do it for everything, just the major topics. Or issues. Host do you think people would turn out for those kind of referendums, dan . There was low voter turnout in the midterms. Guest i believe they would come i really do. Or put it on the ballot. Host dan in wisconsin. Lee is waiting on our line for independents. Caller thank you, sir. Previous to the previous kudos to the previous democratic caller before me appeared i feel like through the media died. Wouldst media person who hold politicians accountable, you could not just come on this show and recite talking points here he would show you previous statements you made and hold your feet to the fire. That does not happen anymore. Lies,s last election, the outright lies that were told over and over on a daily basis but were never challenged astound me. I feel like our media is lazy and have failed the American People, and when it comes to you are talking with the president and republicans working together. That is another thing that amuses me. When obama and democrats have won elections, not once have i heard the pundits saying obama and democrats have won, so republicans need to move to the center and work with them. That did not happen, so you have to respect the people who voted have against, so you still have to respect their ideas. Now that the republicans have are notjority, they saying that the republicans have to respect the people who voted democrat. The republicans are excited to be able to do whatever they want. Host you think the media has a role in Getting Congress caller yes people like me and the people who actually Pay Attention to cspan, we educate ourselves. We watch cspan, we read different materials. The majority of American People do not have the time or interest in doing that, so that is where the media plays a role. If a pundits its right there and tell a blatant lie that you know is a lie, you should be able to challenge that person right there on the spot and not that you are being partisan purity you are advocating for truth, and that way people will not become fused about what is truth and what is not. Right now i feel like we are stuck in an environment where it is ok. Georgia. T is lia from another happening at the white house yesterday with the posthumous award of the medal of honor to a civil war hero, alonzo cushing, who died in july 1853 at the battle of gettysburg while standing his ground at picketts charge. There is a picture of president obama a warning that medal posthumously to alonzo cushing. Here is a bit from president obama that day. [video clip] it was thousands of unsung soldiers who saved a union and saved a people and reaffirmed our nation as one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I am mindful that i might not be standing here today as president had it not been for the ultimate sacrifices for those creators americans. Today we honor just one of those men, lieutenant alonzo cushing, who as lincoln said gave his last full measure of devotion to her his story is part of our larger american story. The spirits, the courage, the determination that he demonstrated lives on in our great men and women in uniform serving inry day are making sure that they are defending the freedoms that alonzo helped to preserve. It is uncommon up on all of us as americans to uphold the values of a fight for and to continue to honor their service long after they leave the battlefield for decades, even centuries to come. Host that was yesterday at the white house. Today at the white house there will be a bipartisan meeting of the congressional leaders from the house and senate appeared were asking our viewers how can the president and incoming republican Congress Work together . On our line for independents, good morning. Caller a couple of the democratic callers, i have to give them kudos because what they said was coming what i say is listen, the republicans basically shut down the government for two years. They either filibustered or did not do anything. So i dont know why the general public that voted republican voted them back in after they tanked the economy six years ago. They are giving them another chance to tanked it again, and they always talk about obama wont work with them well, they did not work with him for two years to her say never worked with him. They never went along with anything, and we were rewarded them for being negative. I think that is just crazy to her to and one other point, i hate this, and it really is arbs me, but powerful motivator. I am out. Host heres a story from todays Washington Post talking about these efforts and the press conferences that have been happening in the wake of the 2014 election. Top republicans gloat over midterm victories, talking about Speaker Boehners press conference yesterday and his list of legislative proposals that he talks about in his warning, as we have talked about today, to president obama on the issue of immigration. The Washington Post notes that he saw little need to extend an olive branch to democrats. My job is not to get along with the president , just to get along have am although we nice relationship. He said if you want to read more on the story, or you can check out Speaker Boehners entire press covers on her website at cspan. Org. Georgia, onp next, our line for democrats. Good morning, dorothy. Caller good morning. Basically want to say with the last caller and i agree with everything that he said. I think separate obama has been i think that president obama has been given a bad deal, especially when it comes to the republicans are at they put a stigma there where if any of the republicans are seen talking with him or trying to see if they can negotiate on a bill or goodness, that oh, my you befriended, you were nice, you were kind to the president , so there is a stigma that has been put there by the republicans for no one to want to talk to him from the Republican Party. Host how do you break the stigma . Does it come down to leaders having meetings like are happening today . Does it come down to president obama making more of an effort to socialize with members of the house and senate . Caller i think that it does, but the important point about and meetingsoday in the future is for the republicans, and some democrats, kinder,re nice, more and more open to negotiating with the president and to remove the stigma that he is somebody that you should not deal with because he is a democrat. Host all right, and dave is on our line for republicans calling in from ohio. Yes, that is outside of cincinnati. Host go for it. Caller ok. Harry reid used a Nuclear Option on judicial nominees. I heard on cspan the other day that one of the things theyre going to do in this lameduck is push through as many judicial nominees as possible before the new senate comes in. That is going to poison the well. If they really want to work with republicans, a really need to step back and look at that for a moment. Host so david, this is a sign thatust that you think, democrats should extend to hold off on those nominees . Caller i would say so. They are not going to work with the congress or are not going to work with the republicans by going ahead in trying to pack as many as they can. They have already been doing that for the last six months, seven months. Host all right, david in ohio. I also want to keep you updated on those new jobs numbers from october that were released earlier this morning. Here is the story from the Associated Press noting that three days after the voters registered their sourness with the economy, the government said a solid 214,000 jobs were added in october. The Labor Department says 31,000 more jobs were added in august and september than had previously been estimated. Employers have now added at least 200,000 jobs for nine straight months, the largest sub stretch since 1995. The burst of hiring lowered to the Unemployment Rate from 5. 8 since 5. 9 , its lowest july 2008. Im sure you will see that today in the papers tomorrow. With the 10 minutes we have left, we want to talk but have the president and the Incoming Republican Congress can Work Together. Robert waiting in california on our line for independents. Thanks for getting up with us, robert. Caller good morning. Yes, i listen to this program and not just this one, cspan quite often in the mornings when i get ready to go to work or whatnot in the morning. What i hear a lot, and i think congress and the president and everyone, is reflecting what the viewers are stating, and that is a lot of emotional statements, rhetoric, and just talking bits and soundbites. I think people one caller earlier mentioned that people are being lazy, they do not want to do research or be informed on these issues, and that is the way our congress and our president seems to be because they are playing to their political base. I am of the idea that you always have got to follow the bouncing benjamin p are to be bouncing benjamin, which is the dollar, will tell you exactly what the motivations are in many of the key decisions and why they make certain stands, whether they be republicans or democrats or independents, whoever, it is all about allocation of resources. Host robert, where to you go to get informed on the issues you talk about . What are your trusted Media Outlets . Use cspan, i use economybased sites and resources. The reason for my perspective, and im trying to learn more and more everyday, is about taxes, and that is the one thing i really missed in the conversations. Nobody talks about taxes. About risingng taxes or lowering taxes, i am talking about tax reform. Point i am studying to become more knowledgeable about is offshore. The money they get sent offshore. Those tax rates for the corporations, if that money could be maintained in the United States or some of it brought back, some more of it being brought back, i think we would not be having these conversations because there would be enough allocations, enough resources to pacify all those folks that are desiring more action in one part, more on one side of the concerns or on the other. Host all right, that is robert coming in from california. In theer story headlines, bans on gay marriage upheld, the headline from usa today, the story noting that the future of samesex marriage appears headed for a Supreme Court showdown after all. A federal Appeals Court upheld the marriage bans in michigan, ohio, kentucky, and tennessee, creating a split among the nations circuit courts of that all but assures the justices review. They note a rare defeat for proponents of samesex marriag. that story played out in the front pages of several papers. Here are a few of them. The headlines from miami story, you can see the over to the detroit free press, leaving their paper today with that story, and in the Atlanta Journalconstitution as well. Those are some of the papers around the country with that as their lead story today. Lets go to charlottesville, virginia next on our line for independents. Good morning. Caller good morning. My question is that i am independent from charlotte. I have a question for republicans and a question for democrats. Why every time we have circumstances, why americans feel offended to people who do not have health care . Hypocrisy that americans want to help people fight in a war, to help ebola, but why do they feel really offended to offer their own People Health care . Brings up theer issue of ebola there. Another story from the front page of usa today. Safety of lab equipment. If you want to read more on that, that is in todays usa today. Is up next, fairmont, West Virginia on our line for democrats. Good morning. Caller thank god for cspan. Cspan should be used for the federal government to have all of their negotiations and everything out in the open so that the American People can see what is going on p or do i mean, the president , congress, the senate, and all should be right out there on the air for people to see what is going on. Host so we should get as may lawmakers to, on and talk about the issues that they are working back inwhen members get town here for this lame duck session, im sure we will be getting several of them on as well. Go ahead with your comment. Caller the other day when the elections were over never thing in the president came out and gave his speech and everything, i think he is the one who put the ball in the wrong direction when he said that he was going to do what he wanted to do if they did not come up and get some kind of an immigration thing together or Something Like that. That he would use his pen. I think he has used his pen too often and he has overuse has power. He has got to watch his step. He is trying to get the republicans to impeach him. That is what he is try to do, but the republicans are too smart. They are smart enough not to go for that bait. Is the thing mr. Reid one who was caused all of these problems because 225 or 335 bills sitting in the drawer that he did not bring up on the floor to get one vote. That is his problem. He is the one responsible for all of this in the federal government. Reid, because the bills are passed by bipartisan, what do you call coming in the house, and he put them in a drawer and left them there. That is the man that is responsible for everything. Him and mr. Holder gave the president a free hand to do whatever he wanted, not to govern but to do what he wanted to do. Host george brings up the issue of immigration. The president said he plans to have some sort of executive the end of thee year, something that Speaker Boehner said yesterday would poison the well for action on Immigration Reform in congress. Stop this poisoning the well nonsense. The gop has never planned to work with obama in good faith. Lets go to nick waiting in corpus christi, texas on our line for republicans. Nick, how can the president and the incoming public and Congress Work together . Caller and the incoming republican Congress Work together . Caller i do not think they can. Like the last and him and who spoke on the phone, he made it a point that obama uses his pen, that is what he said, so if he uses his pen so much, then why does he need to look to congress , to republicans for help . He does it all himself anyway. Why do see even listen to the American People . Sure, he has fix a lot of things in the United States and i am only 19 come on man, i have got a long way to the way i see it, he has not done much. , like i said, he has fix little by little and he is approaching the problem with ebola and all this other stuff, but yet he still does things that is hurting america directly. Host nick, at 19 years old, what are the issues that are most important to you . What do you want to see congress and the president Work Together to move some thing on over the next two years . Caller host i think we lost nick there, but we go to kathy waiting in lansing, michigan on our line for independents. Good morning. Caller hi. Thank you for having me. Dont you think it is time to stop gloating about who is in power . Arguing is not doing any good. We need to work on what we really need to happen. Did you think that people are desperate for try to get some in constructive done . Actually do toto bring jobs back upgrade our schools . We are tired of the rhetoric. Thank you. Host that is kathy in lansing, michigan, our last caller on todays show, but we will be right back here tomorrow morning at 7 00 eastern time, 4 00 a. M. Pacific. In the meantime, have a great friday. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] the Unemployment Rate has dropped to 5. 8 , that is the lowest it has been since july of 2008. Employers added at least 200,000 jobs for nine straight months, the longest stretch since 19 a five, and the president is likely to bring that up today when he meets with 16 of the top ranking lawmakers at the white house. Some wayto look for for democrats and republicans to Work Together. Houston republican Mitch Mcconnell is going to her new efforts to chip away the president S Health Care law, and House Speaker john weiner yesterday said the new congress will vote on repealing the health care law. You can see briefings by both Republican Leaders on cspan. Org. And you and ambassador smith the power will talk today about potential and you in ambassador Samantha Power will talk today about potential peacekeeping to the same time, veteran Affairs Secretary Ronald Mcdonald will talk about other veterans services. Cspan2 will be live with that also at 1 00 p. M. Eastern. This week and on the cspan networks, tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan, more reaction to the midterm elections. On saturday night at 8 00 am a debate on the future of the internet, and sunday evening at 8 00 on q a, author and Television Host tavis smiley and his newest book, death of aching. Saturday night at 10 00 on book tvs afterwards, jeff chang on racial progress in america. Wilson on what makes us different than other species. Medal of honor recipients reflect on their service on vietnam, world war ii and afghanistan. And on lectures and history, the social prejudice immigrants face