network c-span3 or c-span.org or listen with the tree c-span radio app. looking at the u.s. capitol here in washington where the u.s. house is in session today working on the farm bill, a five-year extension of subsidy and nutrition programs. right now members are debating a series of amendments. just a few remain. then we're expecting votes on some of thosements and passage, all expected today. you can watch live coverage of the house on our companion network, c-span. this weekend c-span cities tour takes you to selma, alabama. with the help of our spectrum cable partners we'll cross the iconic edmund pettus bridge with a town known for its involvement in the civil war and civil rights movement. saturday, 5:30 p.m. eastern on booktv we'll visit the home of martin luther king, jr. used in the headquarters. it is featured in the book, the

house by the side of the road. >> there was a photograph here who worked for "life" magazine who was embedded in the house. he wanted to capture dr. king's emotions as he watched on television president johnson committing to signing the voting rights act. this is the chair that dr. king was sitting in that night watching that television. president johnson addressed the nation. >> we'll meet the first african-american fire chief in the city, chief henry allen, talking about his book, "marching through the flame." on sunday, 1:30 p.m. eastern on american history tv we'll look at the voting rights movement that started in the 1930s and visit several locations around the town that were integral to the movement. then a visit to the edmund pettis bridge, looking at the royal the bridge played in selma before and after the battle for civil rights. >> they go over the bridge and see this name.

what is evoked past and present come together. you have a modern bridge stamped with the name of a key voice of white supremacy here in the south. >> watch c-span cities tour of selma, alabama at 5:30 p.m. eastern on c-span2's booktv. sunday at 1:30 p.m. on american history tv on c-span3. working with our cable affiliates as we explore america >> sunday on "q&a," university of virginia history professor william hitchcock on his book, "the age of eisenhower, america and the world in the 1950s." >> i call it the disciplined presidency. eisenhower in the way he carried himself and the man that he was a disciplined man, a great athlete when he was young, an organized man in every respect, very methodical. that is how he ran the white house too. he was extremely organized and a lot of people, especially the

young senator, future president john kennedy kind of criticized eisenhower's stodginess and being disciplined, organized predictable. for eisenhower when crises came he had a plan, he knew how to respond who knew to turn to. he said plans are worthless but plan something everything. what is over the hill. crisis is might erupt. he was systemic the way he governed. he met the press every week. he met congressional leaders every week. he did, he chaired the national security council every week. and he was, he had his thumb on the government. he trusted the process. he believed the federal government could work well if it was well-led. >> q&a, sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span. >> president trump is expected to take part in a forum looking at prison reform in the u.s. he is scheduled to speak at about

11:30 eastern. we'll take you live to the east room when he starts here on c-span2. right now a discussion from this morning's "washington journal." >> host: at our table jeff fortenberry, sub be from negative. on the appropriations committee, in charge of the purse strings on capitol hill. you introduced the world health insurance act. why is it important? >> guest: one of the things we're struggling with across the country the real need for health care repair, particularly in the rural communities that i represent, one health care provider people are completely priced out of the individual insurance market. this is affecting millions and millions of americans. so, for instance a farmer writes me, he is telling me the price of corn hovering around $3, his property taxes are x, but he is having to pay up to $40,000 for health insurance premiums combined with he deductibles.

it can't be done. people aren' facing horrific choices going bare without insurance or a member of the farm family has to leave the farm to seek employment at a job they don't want to do, disrupting the farm operation simply because they need the health care benefit. some cases people are just shifting that cost to the government out of necessity by goingop on medicaid. we think thisrong trying to provide a better atmosphere particularly in rural communities where there is more health care choice, affordable insurance products is the purpose of the bill. i'm very happy to say that it, the contents of the bill are embedded in the farm bill as, component of the entire farm bill. so what this is going to do -- >> we will leave the discussion from this morning a es "washington journal" on rural health insurance. see it in its entirety on our website, c-span.org. we'll go live to the white house this is a picture from the east room. jared kushner is speaking. president trump will join him shortly to talk about prisons

and the criminal justice system. this is again taking place at the white house this morning, live on c-span2. >> i'm very pleased the vice president will join us to discuss some of those issues. i will leave it to hannah who is the real star today so. [applause] >> good morning. thank you. it's an honor to be here today with all of you. words can not describe how grateful i am to see every one here talking about a topic that is so close to my heart. i used to have a dream, that i watts with my dad but we were surrounded by metal fences and metal tables. it wasn't until i was nine that my mom told me that my dad had gone to prison t wasn't a dream. it was a childhood memory. turns out i'm not the only one with memories having to visit a mom or dad in prison. there are 10 million other kids in america who have had the same memory. all these kids want is to come home from school, eat a snack and talk about their day.

to have a mom or a dad at their ballgame or hear them read a bedtime story and get a good night kiss. incarceration has many negative impacts for children and families and they often kicks off a vicious cycle. children who grew up with parents behind bars are six times more likely to be incarcerated as adults. children whose parents suffer from addiction are eight times more likely to become addicted when they're adults. you're also much more likely to go up in poverty. makes you wonder, how can we break the cycle? as a kid it is all very confusing to watch grown-ups fight over politics instead of helping people and solving these problems. and that is exactly why it is so meaningful that we are all here today to focus on the solutions. so we can break these cycles. people can get help they need and kids can be reunited with

moms and dads. to continue the conversation it is my honor to introduce to the stage the vice president of the united states, mike pence. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> well, thank you, hannah, for that amazing, amazing introduction. and for your courage and your bravery and being such an extraordinary voice for positive change in america. we're proud of you, we really

are. [applause] i just am, i was deeply moved, as i know you all were by hanna's reflection and corn she and her mother have shown and willingness to lend their voice and experience to this enormously important national debate. before i begin allow me to address a shooting that took place this morning in santa fe high school, texas. the president and i have been briefed. we'll continue to monitor the situation. we will make all federal resources available to first-responders and school officials in the wake of this incident. but we say to the students, families, teachers of santa fe high school and all of those affected in the entire community we're with you. you're in our prayers and i know you're in the prayers of the american people.

to members of the cabinet, governor fallon, governor martinez, members of congress, state leaders gathered here, to all those working with faith and compassion and conviction, all across this country it is my great honor to join you here today at this first-ever prison reform summit at the white house. [applause] let me take a moment specifically also, to thank jared kushner. for all you have done to advance this issue this administration and across the country. jared, you shine ad spotlight on national prison reform as never before. you brought together people from across the political spectrum because of your tireless work and inspiring commitment, i'm

confident, this will be the white house that reforms the american prison system for the betterment of all the american people. would you join me in thanking jared kushner for his great compassion and his great work on this issue? [applause] as you will hear from president trump in just a few minutes, prison reform is a national priority for the trump administration the president made this clear in his state of the union address, when he said that we are fully committed in his words to help former inmates who have served their time to get a second chance. during this national police week and every week, we will always stand with the men and women of

law enforcement as they work to keep our streets and cities safe. but we also stand for the principle that once you have served your time and paid your debt to society you deserve a chance to make a difference in your life and in the life of this nation. [applause] the president's already taken action on this issue. earlier this year he brought prison reform experts and governors to the white house to listen to their thoughts and discuss proposals and successes at the state level. in march the president signed an executive order as all of you know to establish the federal inneragency counsel on crime prevention, improving reentry which brings together leaders in our cabinet, across the administration to craft recommendations for prison reform. the president also declared april second chance month, to in

his words, celebrated those who exited the prison system and successfully reentered he is sight and encourage expanded opportunities for those that worked to overcome bad decisions earlier in life and willing to work hard to turn their lives around. failing to offer effective pathways to personal reform, the truth is, our current prison system too often misses an opportunity to help people lead productive and fulfilling lives once they walk through the prison gates and return to their communities. this makes our nation less safe. it drains public resources, and too often ruins too many lives. the statistics are really astounding. you heard hannah recite some of them. but the statistics that are most heart-breaking, to millions of americans are that every year while 650,000 people leave america's prisons, within three years, 2/3 of them are arrested

again. more than half will be convicted. 40% will find themselves back where they started behind bars. it is a cycle of criminality. it is a cycle of failure. this is truly a crisis. it's also a crisis of public safety. it's driven by poor choices. let's be clear but i believe as the president does, that it is also compounded by a lack of opportunity. we will continue to support law enforcement and hold accountable those who break the law, make no mistake about it, but we will also recognize that too many ex-offenders feel they have nowhere else it turn but back to a life of crime once they leave our prison system. recognizing this, is why our administration is working tirelessly to identify and promote the reforms that will give current prisoners training and skills they need to choose and chart a path of self-sufficiency and success.

we're looking for programs that are grounded in evidence, proven to work, and as the experts in the room here know, there is remarkable range ever possibilities in that category. they include programs that address mental health and drug addiction and those that provide job training and mentorship. some are run by government agencies. some are run by community groups, northern profit organizations and faith-based organizations. president trump already called on federal, state and local prison systems to move forward with the best reforms whatever they may be and whatever the source, public or private or faith based. our administration has been inspired by states like kentucky and kansas that already shown how reform can improve public safety and prisoners lives. we'll continue to work with leaders in both political parties in congress, house and senate, to advance prison reforms to make our country safer by offering better choices

to those behind bars and to former offenders. as i close, and jared reflected on this a moment ago, let me just say that prison reformatters deeply to millions of americans. and, even in my little family and in my life experience i've seen the impact of prison reform can have. it is about public safety, first and foremost. it's about stopping repeat offenders and getting crime off of our streets. it's about fiscal responsibility and saving taxpayer dollars currently spent on a prison system that costs too much and delivers too little. above all else as i have seen first-hand, prison reform is about changing lives. and changing communities. about people who made mistakes, who at toned for them, learned from them, who got a second chance, and a shot at a better life. a few years ago when i was governor of indiana i saw the

difference prison reform can make. it was at a branchville correctional facility in southern indiana. where as we speak, the majority of inmates at branchville correctional participate in favorite-based or curriculum-based programs every single day. it is making a difference in their lives. working at local churches i saw the impact these ministries were having in the lives of offenders. with workforce training in the sail facility, we were not only creating the tools for their hearts to change but we were giving them the ability to reenter communities and have the kind of relationships in the communities that created pathways for gainful employment. truthfully it, it was remarkable to watch.

the symmetry, the relationships that would be built through these programs through volunteers coming alongside offenders, pouring themselves into the lives of these offenders, building relationships. as offenders developed new skills and new abilities, they would leave the branchville correctional facility, reenters the community, often times evansville, indiana, those relationships would open doors for gainful employment and a fresh start in life. i witnessed in our prisons what i've known throughout my life. changed hearts mean changed lives. [applause] i also saw the impact of faith and mentorship at at the plainfd we established first time ever,

a first-time offender program in the state of indiana. many of the volunteers and workers with ex-offenders, turned over a new leaf after they put their faith in god. they are answering call of ministry with men and women caught up in life of crime often very same facilities. these inspire the nation but these programs are making a difference in the lives of individuals, and in communities every single day. of the truth is, these programs are making america safer. by opening doors to second chances to tens of thousands of those who made wrong choices earlier in life. and i can assure you, we are determined in this administration with president trump's leadership to seek ways to expand these opportunities to more offenders. for the benefit of the nation. that's what president trump and our entire administration are committed to do.

i hope today's sum isn't gives evidence to that. with all of your help, with the continued creative leadership of the great governors who are gathered here today and other state officials, with the extraordinary compassion and faith and innovation of those of you who poured yourselves into the lives of offenders across this country and facilities across this country, with bipartisan support in the congress and with the strong leadership of president donald trump, i know we will open pathways to second chances for more americans, and we will make america safer than ever before. thank you for the opportunity to address you today. thank you for your involvement in this vital issue. in the life of the nation. god bless you all. [applause]

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ladies and gentlemen, secretary rick perry, jared kushner, topeka sams and jessica jackson sloan. [applause] [applause] >> it's an honor to be here. i want to say a couple things right up front. i am not here as a journalist.

i would have to ask a whole bunch of questions about a bunch of topics. i am here as a father of two little boys who have to drop in this country. i am here is a concerned citizen and the president of the dream corporate we have a short period of time to talk and some of the best brains in the country to talk about prison reform. you have stepped out on this issue in a way that has been surprising, inspirational. what are you doing and why are you doing it? >> thank you for being here and for all your advocacy and leadership on this issue. it's been great working together with you. i also want think a lot of the people in this room who have been some of the great advocates for the work from around the country.

i'm inspired by all the work you do and you are making a big difference for a lot of familie families. what i'm finding is you have given a lot of hope to the people who say we can't change the recidivism rates. i see in all your programs that we really can make a difference and were committed to doing it. thank you to all of you today. we have just a short time so i will be quick. this was not an issue that was part of the campaign. one of the reasons i was excited about this president was that i saw he had potential to be a president for all americans and he didn't come from traditional governing our government background. i saw someone who would take on all these issues that would impact all these people. this is an issue i have personal expense was so i spent some time thinking about what can be done. we started looking at

businesses and coming up with a plan to draft solutions. i found there are a lot of people in this government who are very passionate about this issue and really want to drive change. i think we started doing that and we have a lot more effort that will be able to come. we have to take it to the president. this has to be the presidents initiative or we wouldn't be able to work on it here. we gathered a bunch of experts to meet with the president and explained to him the situation was 650,000 people leaving prison every year and how a lot of these people become future criminals are victims and often how the people are more disadvantaged than when they got into prison and it makes them more likely to commit future offenses than to have opportunities and live a second chance after they paid their debt to society. his response was a remarkable.

one person said you campaigned you are going to work for the forgotten men and women of this country and there's no one more forgotten than the people in prison. he said we have to do something about the spread since then he's been all into push this initiative and has empowered his team and led his team to drive solutions. we are working on this date and federal level and with a lot of you who are in the field. we believe we can make a lot of progress. >> what are some of things are focused on making happen? what are you moving forward? >> the first thing were doing is focusing on the people. how do we help these people have the best chance of living a productive life. the first thing is we spoke to a lot of people and we saw it

had to be a holistic solution. if you just help someone get a job or whatever it is it's less likely of achieving the right outcome compared to if you do them altogether. want make sure that the best practices altogether. we are also making sure all the programs are evidence-based. were working on legislation in congress which just got out of the judiciary committee on a 25 - 5 vote which is very partisan for this climate and we are quite pleased and we are working on the reentry commission where the new director of the bureau of prisons, general lynch has been working with general sessions to look at all the different changes we can make in the prisons were working with all the community and advocates around the country to go into state and local prisons. the single thing we want to do is define the purpose of the

present. i think it's undefined right now in the country. what is the purpose to rehabilitate. our view is that a lot of people are imprisoned today in the beginning out at some point so we feel we have a duty to try to help them figure out how to make themselves better so when they reenter society they have a higher probability of getting jobs and being productive citizens. why not do everything? you're doing prison reform, some people say when i do also criminal justice reform and citizen reform. why not take on the whole system instead of starting so narrow. >> reform is something some people thought the opinions on. what we've seen of their trying to do it at the federal

level for several years and what they've done is nothing because i haven't been able to pass it through. i'm very impressed by their efforts and they've started the dialogue and discussion among the great things about our democracy is that you keep debating and then when you can finally build consensus is when these things are supposed to become law. people say the system is broken. from the time i've been here i think it works very well because you have to stick with it and win the argument and figure out how to build the coalition in consensus if you really want to change the laws of the land. that's why we have the best system in the world. why assess from coming into thi this, my observation was that the reason why this thing was stuck was because of the sentencing reform. as an administration we said let's focus on the prison

reform and if we can start showing we can make them more purposeful and effective that lowering the rate over time than that may help the people who are trying to make the argument that sentencing reform has the ability to go over time. i think it's something that needs more debate but there is very strong arguments on both sides and a lot of good arguments that people make. right now i think there's a big consensus around the fact that we need to reform our prisons. we are not here to debate, we are here to do. if we can move this forward we will make our community safer in impact a lot of lives and help their families and communities. [applause] >> to be cussing him is here. you been an advocate for women behind bars.

that is part of this push trying to make things better for women. why is that important. >> thank you having me. thank you for being here. i first want to list off some of the women in the room who were formerly incarcerated who are advocates and activists were doing the work. i would like you to stand and be acknowledged because it's a tremendous feat every day after experiencing trauma, to continue to use that trauma to change lives. [applause] >> thank you. we all have experienced incarceration, myself being incarcerated in federal prison for three years. i went in with privilege as an educated woman with two parents who were franchise business owners, who went to college and what made choices. when i made those choices i

ended up with conspiracy drug charges in federal prison. what i saw was all the women were impacted not only by the system that i even contributed to but where people were put into these because of poverty and race. we need to start thinking about the people who are most impacted and rectally affected. those are the people who are expressing poverty in our country. there are 80% of women who are incarcerated who are mothers. 86% of women have experienced sexual trauma or abuse and those are just the ones were actually reported because everyone doesn't tell and share the story. then we think about the fact that there are two-point to million people incarcerated, 4.6 million who are on pretrial probation and 70 million people in this country who presently have a criminal conviction. that's one in three adults which means it's not only the women who stood up or have been impacted by the system, there's a lot more people in

this room. i think it's important for all of us to look at what we've been doing in this country. look at what's happening to our women and our mothers. look at the things that happened for decades to come. we don't care about whether or not it's bipartisan, it's red and blue, it's black or white, are people just want to be free. >> what happens to women in prison? >> women are victimized and traumatized over and over again. we've experienced sexual violence and abuse and we have to be subject subjected to having male guards watch us undress. there's no threat. we have to asks for pads or tampons. when we have to pay for them

for the same amount we do in the street at their jobs are only being paid for $5.25 a month. when you have children who have to decide whether or not they're going to call their children at home or by toothpaste and how do you expect the children not to be impacted in a way when these things are happening. i'm a person who just gets graphic to give details, and as a woman myself, i had uterine fibroids and i had to go through a procedure. the fact that i had to quantify my cycle which meant that i had to give a paper bag of pads to a guard, a male guard in order for him to see that i was actually using them so he would issue more. i had resources. i had family support. have to think of the hundreds of thousands of women who don't and how this impacts their children. yes, when you think about public safety and you think about these things, you have to think about this is safety for everyone. every single person and there are women who will die in

priso prison, women like alice johnson who will die in prison if she doesn't receive clemency. first-time nonviolent offender. >> i have heard your story many times and i think you'd have to have a heart of stone not to be moved and i appreciate your great work. give her an applause for her courage. [applause] thank you for your courage. [applause] jessica jackson has said about this issue is a one-to-one conversion when people hear some of the things that are happening and some of the stuff that should be fixed tomorrow. i don't know whether i should call you secretary, governor,

or serve, but most people don't think this is a fixable problem. is this a fixable problem based on your experience. >> absolutely. thank you for being here. this isn't a democrat or republican issue. this is truly a bipartisan issue and jared, i want to say to you and ivanka, thank you both for taking this on because this may be the issue of our generation. we are seeing places across the country, and i'm going to take it a step further and i think you're absolutely correct in thinking that narrow victory and that narrow place to focus so that we could put the marker in the ground with the victory and it was a resounding one. what i think is the next obvious step, and it's the one i share with the president, this is real conservatism and that is criminal justice reform. that is being able to clearly make sure that people like you

never get there to be cut, that's the real victory. yes, you made some poor choices. you made a bad choice somewhere in your life just like all of us have made. but what we were doing in the state of texas, we were putting young people in prison for really long time. you and susanna are neighboring states and you all know what we were doing in the state of texas and it was a national issue. started here in the white house in the early '90s with the mandatory settings and i think by god were to be hard on crime. and we were. but the result was that we were ruining a lot of lives. lives that we didn't have to ru run. i had a democrat district judge come to me in the early 2000's and said hey, how about this. talk to me about drug force. we pass that in the mid- 2000 spread that we had