unfiltered view of government. >> fridays at 8:00 p.m. eastern c-span brings you afterwards, for book tv, programmer nonfiction authors interviewed journalists, legislatures and more other latest books at this week, science journals angela amy exported the origins of three rp and how it spread to the societies were otherworldly, the book of the patriarch she's interviewed by author women's media center director, soraya chumley and watch afterwards, every friday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> american history tv, saturdays on "c-span2" exporting the people and events that tell the emergent story at 7:00 p.m. eastern will feature c-span's washington journal segment, looking back at the senate

watergate hearings 50 years ago, the associate historian, kate scott, and a 9:30 p.m. eastern on the presidency come historian richard norton smith mike has met his latest book, an ordinary man from his decade-long book the life of the president gerald ford in discussing the demands of his presidency. explain the emergent story, watching her in history tv, saturdays on "c-span2" full schedule newroam guide, or watch online, anytime at cspan.org/history. >> 2024, presidential candidateh arkansas thank you for being here. >> it is always good to be back on c-span and remember when c-span came to arkansas while i was governor and especially near 5050 say tour to host you and is good to be back. >> thank you very much and let's talk about the latest candidate who is entered the race and this is from cnn and i, glitches and

echoes ml think the servers, plasty santos campaign launch, on twitter and your reaction. >> it was upper vacant patio that ron is probably disappointed that he did not get more the message out yesterday but is the very beginning parts of the campaign is going to be a long slog for all of us and so, you pick up and you move on and i'm excited that this phase right now is to have candidates entering the race we entered about a month ago, and probably going to have a couple of more the perhaps will enter the race and then you push toward the debates in august, is whenever you can really show some differences between the candidates that were often running and welcome governor desantis to the race i think it's way to be a good one. >> avenue headlines for the governor entering the race have compared him with the former

president donald trump and it appears that this is a two men race, the way that is being portrayed in the media. how do youdo cut through it. >> will first of all, i don't see it as a two men race at all you have donald trump that is very high in the polls, and you have ron desantis, that has dropped significantly over the last two months. he is in a second place and then you have another tear and candidates including myself, this in the single digits who are moving in the right direction, we are moving up. so i think that it's a question as to who surfaces that will be the number one in the number two in the number three challenger to to donald trump and you are looking at iowa next presumably in january and february timeframe with their caucus narrow the field as a historically deal and narrowth down maybe to five read anyone

to new hampshire and south carolina and abetted someone asthma gradually narrows the media tries to make this a two man race now well who knows what is when youou look like a month from now. so there's long way to go. and i think that the job of the voters on the field and time will tell on that. >> what you need to be what are your metrics for staying in the race in the iowa caucus and in the primary. >> will first of all, the goal is to be in the race on super tuesday and that is when arkansas will voted any of the southern states will vote so i expect to be alive and well competing then and that is why i waswa in south carolina this lat week and even though we have nikki haley and tim scott from there, tony college there in south carolina hundreds there and these are important in territories to meet in a great opportunity so sure you focus on

which we far new hampshire: going back to next week. but in the end, i want to be enthere long-term. so you asked about metrics, i do believe the candidates will self evaluate is the time goes on and if you are building support, your raising money that you need to keep in the game and keep a life, then you going to go to actually with the votes count and so, don't expect people to be making decisions in the next two or threemo months as to whether they are viable or not, this is when be up to the voters the money, nikki headaches also the race race around 8 million in her first few weeks and according to desantis' camp they raised $1 million out of the announcement yesterday what is your cash will be like in your numbers look like. >> will i am not in the league of donald trump braided and weru are raising money and proud of the responsibly are getting i think it first report is due in july and so stay tuned on that

circuit are going to show the number. >> no nagarjuna number, we are raising money and is at 2024 . calm and us get onto the debate stage. >> how you differentiate yourself or how are you different from the florida governor ronnie santos. >> oversaw, i think that governor desantis is following the model of donald trump and you know, is the same futuristic style and it is creating a little chaos and we all as governors are problem solvers but there's ways that you do that and s so, i believe that we need to be a fighter for values and consistent conservative principles about the same time to solve the problems and not to create unnecessary conflict and for example, i disagree with the way the governor desantis is making undertake honestly i with

what disney said. but since when does use the power of government to punish her business because they exercised free speech to me that is not america or conservative principal for this weekend is a great and we getting about his consumer seminar not going to go there to use the power of government to go after your largest employer or significant employer in the state, does not make sense to me. so there is a disagreement as to what a conservative is when you use the power of government, to accomplish a goal. >> what are some other two - three other policies differences between year of florida governor and the former president. >> well, another one that i will point out though is the wdifferences on their support f ukraine card and governor desantis of course, diminished it as more of an isolation view of the world.

president trump i believe that the united states leadership is important it in supporting ukraine and bringing european allies together to help us oppose russia and their aggression enter we need to have a capitol funds we do have audits and controls over it. but it's really important that we support them and both, governor desantis former president trump has diminished thatis support. so that is a different and we are not trying to focus on those differences because we have many more differences with president biden and his policies that took at the wrong direction for those are a couple of clear thanks will come out in the debates. had a disagreement whether they had about. >> before we get to the calls here, how would you handle adapt talk happening between speaker mccarthy and president biden brightened now and do you agree with the republicans on the spinning cuts.

>> i agree with the republicans that the president should agree to a framework for bringing the raexcessive federalist and spinning under control and that is imported president biden should simply say yes to that for guests, we are going to work together and reduce the spinning down thehe road because it is in an uncontrollable state right now and you can negotiate the terms of the framework but it is important to they establish that framework for reducing spending. >> will good you agree with his artwork the white house yesterday, which was to freeze spending for two years, the nonpartisan group estimates that could cut the defenses by as much as 1 trillion of the next decade and when you take that offer. >> while not going to get into the nuances of that negotiation now. i think the republicans look at that and they say will is is the right framework for controlling

federalsp spending and so let's give them the flexibility to negotiate that is what is important is that one we have to extend to legitimate that the united states and secondly, we needed to have a framework, some convoys overspending in the future just what happened during the obama years as is not perfect at all whatever they treated two, is going to have some difficult challenges for our logic but it's necessary belt tightening and so to me is to start earlier let's try to avoid the brinksmanship in his presidency, i would try to work with congress to make sure that they pass their budgets they do the work early on in that the president submits a budget on time as well. you said that example then and were not going to leave it into the end in terms of hurting a reputation across the globe and

the question is whether or not reported pay her debt, that's on a good question to even to ask her to be in the newspapers and in the media. ... we will go to gregory in annapolis, maryland, first caller, a republican. go ahead. caller: good morning, mr. hutchinson. glad i got a chance to talk to you. how are you? guest: i am good. glad to talk to you. caller: i'm a lifelong republican. i've never voted for a democrat, but i really feel like joe biden is, i followed his career. not quite as old as you but i'm up at there, and he's so, he's almost a conservative. this idea that he's some crazy leftist is laughable when you look at his history. and what a wonder is why would you guys all be trying to make this fight over the debt ceiling

when the democrats, they gave trump, they raise kids that ceiling. like let's get through this and we can talk about fiscal conservatives and another time but why would we risk all this damage? and i'll tell you what -- >> host: can i jump in? do you think republicans will get the blame if there is a default dreadful of course. i'll tell you what, if my 401(k) crasheses or if, if the economy crashes, i will be voting with my grandson as a far lefty in the next election because of course everyone knows it's the republicans holding this up. raise it and you can talk about, we can talk about budgets on the next round. and also why do we cut the military? we just got out of 20 years of war and were given the military more. i'mt third-generation army but that sounds crazy to me. >> host: two issues that you

probably three. but first is why take on biden? i've known president biden for many years and he was more conservative in terms of law enforcement, in terms of security issues. but something happened that whenever he got elected president and he shifted to the left and he yielded to the progressive left of the democratic party in governance. and so now we see is energy policy is weak. it's an all green energy policy that he started with. i believe we've got to produce more energy. he's got a weak border security policy thatt i disagree with. he was weak and coming out of afghanistan, that showed weakness and gave russia and china a reason to be more aggressive. and so on and on down the list i have disagreement and i think he's demonstrated that he is governing to the left.

and so those are the reasons that i'm fighting hard for a republican alternative to the left-leaning anti-growth policies that we see in president biden. and i do believe excessive federal spending is a part of the problem. to your point on the budget impasse right now, as i said this should start earlier. you have to use what leverage youu can to control federal spending which is a serious national issue, and this is the same thing that happened during the obama administration, president obama agreed to spending constraints. this is exactly what president biden should agreera to. i trust that there will work it out. they need to do that but a framework t for spending is appropriate. >> host: cutting the military spending, that was at the thing he brought up. >> guest: well know, and i don't think that is good although there is an impact even in the republican proposal that

will impact defense spending. now, but we are not spending at the level that we did during the cold war. we have need to make sure that we have particularly the sobs, submarines, that we need our naval ships are not as robust as we need to protect our interests inte the pacific. and so we have to invest continued in our military. that's the best these dividend you can have. that's the best prevention of war. war is expensive, so let's invest to keep peace. >> host: governor asa hutchinson with us, our second presidential candidate here on "washington journal." we are taking your calls come also take your text messages. you can texas with your first name, city and state to 202-748-8003. send us a tweet withme the hande ces band wj. here's asp tweet, you serve in e

w. bush of administration. how did your previous experience and federal administration help you as ani presidential candida? >> guest: it helps tremendously because when if you look atat my experience as headf u.s. drug enforcement administration, i understand the challenge of fentanyl in our communities and what needsds toe done. i understand what it takes to work with mexico to go after the cartels that are bringing in the fentanyl and causing the human suffering along the border. whenever you look at my service as undersecretary for border security, but also transportation security, i understand what it takes to protect our country from terrorists. it's a big responsibility. that experience was very tough post 9/11. a continues to be a large responsibility but that experience makes me suitable to meet the challenges that we face

today. i will also at i was a federal prosecutor, and so whenever you look at crime in our streets, when you look at the challenge of federal law enforcement and the need tow reorganize federal law enforcement to be more effective and accountable, my experience yields effective results that i can bring. >> host: headlines in the "wall street journal" on the border. children trek to the u.s. by the thousands. many thing dire straits without pay or, in hopes of the sun. what would you do but the kids coming to the border? >> guest: well, it's a human tragedy again, and whenever you have children come across the border, you've got to take care of them. you're to take care of the mess children and if they are accompanied by. parents you don't want to n separate those but you have to deal with the children inre a way that, first of all, determines whether they have a

legal presence, whether it be safe to return them to their home country if they do not have a legal reason to be in the united states. so it depends upon the unique circumstances. u the bottom line is they are children. of course he was abusing those children? may be the parents let them go, but also maybe the cartel was hired to bring them in. a lot depends upon their age as to exactly what would happen, but you have to protect the children. they areil uniquely vulnerable d you have to show great deal of compassion, even though the children are really being misused by the cartels and those who want to trafficking human beings. is next inaron minnesota, democratic caller. >> caller: good morning, greta. thanks for having me on. mr. hutchinson, thank you for your time. back to the military and the budget.

every time we go through this you republican staffer want to cut a dang thing from that military but yet you want to make a sound like every single penny that is spent on the military is actually spent to protect t us. but now i've done my research and i don't like $85 million annuallymi is spent on the military on viagra. that isn't to protect me, , is ? and then my second question, i hope you will talk about the first one though, is i make $12,000 a year. that's it. it. i'm a single person on disability. i am legally blind. i can't drive aon car. i'm stuck. i'm literally stuck. i make $12,000 a year. i can barely make it. you make $175,000 a year, and i know every time you guys come on and not just the republicans but the democrats say the same thing, that yes, wet make 175,0 but we have not had a pay increase in years and years and

years and years. but i look at my pay. i look at your pay, and a look at, it up on june third i might not get a paycheck. i'm looking at what, and mike would have to commit suicide? and i'm serious here because i cannot afford to live anymore. so you guys playing this game withau a budget and all the stuf going on, you guys think it's a game. out here in the real world where i make12 $12,000 a year and i cn barely afford to pay my bills and eat a decent meal. and i'm asking you, what the hell am i going to do on june 3 if you guys continue to play this crazy game and i don't get the paycheck? >> host: we will have the governor respond tranter well, first of all, those are difficult circumstances, and your first point was about defense spending. absolutely we should always be looking at anyways, whether it's

defense defense department or other programs. you want to make sure that the money that the taxpayers invest in our military programs is wisely used, effectively used. that's always a challenge and we need to have congressional oversight and make sure we are aggressive in appropriate spin and appropriate controls as well. you mentioned, and secondly in terms of jeopardizing your income, that's exactly the reason that the debt needs to be extended. noen one's income whether it's social security or medicare or disability should bene jeopardized. that's why we have to be able to extend the debt, and that's the first obligation of the united states of america. i would say that i'm not in congress so i don't get a congressional paycheck. i'm out in the private sector now and working for a living, but obviously whenever you look

at disability income we want to make sure that you are taking care of and i hope that you contact your congressional office or your social security administration making sure you're getting the benefits you are entitled to. >> host: i would say she sounded desperate, and what you said about taking your own life, i would just encourage you to reach out to the suicide hotline if that is a series of thing that you are contemplating, get help and we hope that you do. in florida, independent caller. >> caller: yes. how are you doing today? you arere just as beautiful as u work years and years and years and years ago. i would like to just say that everything i hear is a bunch of crap, only for the reason that if i walked into a bank and i rob a bank i go to jail. if the people in the bank robbed

me, they have no problems. back in the reagan days i recall going up to the reagan days and after the reagan days we were promised all these things are going to get less expensive, everything is going to get cheaper. the only thing that was the trickle down effect is us americans and ones that are retired today and your stock market, , you want to stick everything in the stock market that has destroyed retirees because of the prices. now come on, this is capitalism at its finest. the rich getet richer and the greedier get greedier, and we sit here and just have to suck it up after putting all the money in there and then that giving enough to survive. thank you. >> host: governor hutchinson. >> guest: he's addressing the issues of the economy, and to me that is one of the most important issuess of 2024 as to how we're going to strengthen the economy, which is reducing

the inflationary growth, the interest rates is hurting the average family. one study showed just because the increase in interest on credit card bills and car loans that the average family could be paying more than $300r more a month here it all starts with again the excessive federal spending because that's what led to the inflation and that's what led to the federal reserve putting in higher interest rates. so we've got to be able to control the federal spending. secondly we have to produce energy in this country so we can't have a pro-growth economy that can lift all the boats, can lift americans so that they can make sure that jobs are secure for the future. a a good income comes their direction, and there's a lot of employment opportunities. we have got to make sure people are properly trained for those and have those opportunities. i believe in the spirit of work

and self-sufficiency with an appropriate safety net, and people are hurting out there. we ought to have a a good safy net because we are america. whenever they have the ability to work, let's increase the training. let's increase the opportunity and try to match those who want to workch with good-paying jobs. if you're in a low-paying job let's see if we can't upscale your trading c can get a better job and compete. that to me is to help the governmentat can give that realy calls upon americans to move up the ladder, and that should always be our dream. >> host: eva is in colombia mississippi a republican. >> caller: good morning. mr. hutchinson, i was like to ask you, i did not hear your announcement when you made it to run. i assume you have an wife, i don't know, and if you do what will be her platform is she a

lawyer, doctor teacher? window in the last 35 years some of the first wives, ladies have tried to overshadow their husband.e what role would your wife play in your presidency? >> guest: it's good from mississippi and thanks for asking for my wife is susan, we have been married for 49 years, so i'm very proud of her, and as first lady of arkansas she did have a platform and that was to really push the emphasis on protecting abused children. we have children advocates centers in arkansas and andw you have those in mississippi. she raised a lot of money for them. she supported them.th she's on the state board, and that continues to be her mission. as she looks at opportunities, we're blessed to be in the white house and she is firstly, i think should be the first one to say she wants to continue her work with the children, making sure those that are abused or

struggling in life come have the support that they need.d. very proud of her, proud of our relationship. we come from a blue-collar background. our parents both at high school educations and worked hard, blue-collar jobs, farming, and we've been blessed in our life to more opportunities but we actually my wife and i met in college, and and i dated her hitchhiking back h and forth to memphis where she taught school. i don't recommend that as a dating pattern but it just showcases that we understand struggles in life and hard work and also the opportunities that our country brings drama what was her reaction when you're first discussed with her a potential bid for the white house? >> guest: : well, she's all in on this because she believes as i do that as long as god gives us breath on this plan we're

here for purpose and make a difference, and as you pointed out earlier one of your callers did and i've a lot of experience. when you see, your country indd and you see your country that wants to get back on track and lead, i think i've got a lot to offer there. she's supportive of that, and he gives her an opportunity to impact children's lives. she right now is back in arkansas but she will be on the campaign trail with me. she's actually from georgia and so i'm going to be speaking to the georgia republican convention coming up n and susan is going to join me. she was born in atlanta so she is very supportive and abroad excited to offer out there with me. >> host: pat in pennsylvania democratic color you are next. >> caller: hello. i just want asked mr. hutchins, is he where the donald trump raise the debt more than anyone else before him? and when he was out there

raising, hitting gigantic tax cuts to himself and his, you know, of the very wealthy people, where was the cry from the republicans event about the spending? and on the military, you know, we really ought to watch, , how can we watch what is being spent when there iswi no audit being done? last auditor that we had was never replaced. how in the world can we know that money iss being spent properly when there is no audit? thank you. >> guest: first, your point is well taken that the current debt that we have of over $31 trillion is the result of bothio democrat and republican administrations including the administration of donald trump, and the was a lot of spending in their. the borrowing capacity increased

during that time, and so you are right, and that's something that will be pointed out during the course of thise campaign. we all spent too much. while we went through a pandemic and we had to have some stimulus packages it went far overboard and that's got, part of the problem we havebl today. in terms of, i'll just say a couple things i want to do in terms of the spending side. as part of my platform i will reduce the federal nondefense workforce in the government by 10%. when i was was governor of arkansas i reduced state employment, state employees by 14% that's 3000 fewer workers in state government from the time i started to whenever i ended. so that's one way of tightening the belt and making our government more efficient and

responsive in utilizing technology in our delivery of services as well. finally, on the military, we have an inspector general. i don't know whether that slot is still right now but there will be somebody acting in a capacity. congress has oversight responsibilities. they should be, i'm sure they'rt having hearings looking at the spending side by the military. if not, that's response to the both the auditors havesi as long as congress. >> host: we are talking with former governor of arkansas, president a candidate asa hutchinson. is with us until the top of the hour so keep dialing in. governor i want to bring up another topic, and that is gun policy. yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of that school shooting in uvalde taxes. the president called on congress to act. do you share that sentiment? what you think needs to be done? >> guest: actually it was incredible tragedy for a lot of

different perspectives as to what happened in uvalde. the tragedy gratisdy of course t withth the children. and then secondly the law enforcement response was not what it shouldit have been. but what came out of that also is a bipartisan bill that was enacted. senator cornyn of texas as will i think it was senator murphy joined together, and they tightened up some of the background checks for juveniles to make sure that whenever they became adults and so you could look deeper into the records. our country did come together and produce a result that hopefully will make a difference. i'm a second amendment advocate. i may second amendment believer and the right of our citizens to protect themselves but to bear arms whenever you can have a commonsense solution that makes a difference we ought too

consider that. that's what happened after uvalde and i applaud those senators andud the change that s made. >> host: do you disagree with republicans who are pushing to repeal that gun law? >> guest: well, i haven't seen the reasons for wanting to repeal it. myin understanding is that law, that it allowed a more comprehensive check, and so if someone seeking a firearm as you become of legal age then you can have expanded time in order to make sure that any adverse or violent actions in a juvenile record would be discovered, any reasons that they should not receive that firearm. and to me that's a reasonable approach after what happened in uvalde. so unless there are some technical deficiency in the law that i'm not aware of to me it

made sense andd i applauded thr bipartisan work on that. >> host: tony in long island, new york, independent. >> caller: hi, y'all. i first want to start off by saying i have questions about immigration and abortion, particularly your record, governor hutchinson. first, i just want to say i think that your record on this issue is very dangerous and i question whether or not you should even be running at this point. arkansas has the highest mortality rate, maternal mortality rate in the united states. to my knowledge in 2019 you signed arkansas is most restrictive abortion ban that is currently leading to other abortion restrictions as well. it's also to my knowledge as well that when you serve your role in dhs that most of the deportations that you oversaw were actually noncriminal. so the whole point about

migrants bringing all these things in life crimes, drugs, is really in racism. i really want to know why you think you're qualified to run based on like these legacies and why those things are bragging points rather than things that you have in your social circle? thank you thank you, thank you, tony, for theha question. there are about three issues there. one of them is about the maternal health and the mortality rate, and you are correct that in arkansas we have historic legacy in generational poverty, and that impacts the welfare of the mom's and their healthcare. we worked hard to expand health care into our rural communities. arkansas was one of the southern states that had the medicaid expansion, , which i kept as governor. and then we actually got a

waiver a in which we expanded specifically in our rural communities additional care c fr mom's asor well as the infants p to one year after the birth. and so we wanted to expand the care of both the mom in the child in our rural areas, and we did that. that should have an impact on birthrates and survivability but also on maternal care. in terms of the abortion restrictions in arkansas, there was a law passed that if roe v. wade was reversed, then abortion would be prohibited except in the case of the life of the mother. i expressed my belief that there should be three exceptions, which is life of the mother and in the cases of rape and incest, but that was the will of the people of arkansas and that law was passed. from a w national perspective im

pro-life. i believe that life is represented in the world and that there is deserving of protection and, but there should be some exceptions. and again to me the public is generally approval, approving of exceptions of rape, incest and when the life of the mother is at risk. so hopefully we can come together in a broader national stance on this issue but right now that's left up to the states, and arkansas determined its rules and i know that the other states, michigan, pennsylvania will be able to determine its health policy in thatha regard. you did mention one other thing, which is my record at homeland security in deportations. and i believe in the enforcement of the law, and that if the courts determine that somebody is in the country illegally, then they are subject to

deportation. there's a lot of appeals involved in that but that is the responsibility of thef law. we generally focused on those who have criminal record in a countryal which is the right, highest priority but there are other instances that when someone exhaust there if you can't have an appropriate asylum claim here in this country, and are not entitled to legally be here, that are enforcement officers have to remove them from theom country. that's the law of the land, and my job as an executive branch is to enforce the law. >> host: let's go to jonesboro arkansas, carol, republican, good morning, governor hutchinson. how are you today? i hope you doing great. >> guest: i'm doing great and it's great toan hear from arkansas. arkansas. jonesboro. >> caller: we're doing just fine. we learned how to budget money for one. several topics, no time at all,

unfortunately. one topic is our military. without our military we wouldn't be able to call into the show. for me i feel like our military members don't get paid enough because they have family that are left at home and they need their pay up higher to be able to support their family members that are left at home. and another thing is, because their family also serves. when they are a family member that has been transported to go somewhere to serve, then their families have left behind they also serve. another thing is our budgets. when we get an income, it doesn't matter what we draw each month. we need to learn how to budget our money.

it doesn't matter. another thing is we all need to give a little grace in this world. and if you see someone hurting, then you need to lend a helping hand in this world and stop learning to putar people down. >> host: all right, carol. governor? >> guest: great comments and probably the last, is most important that we do need to give each other grace, and i think that grace is probably appropriate whether you are in social media of whether you are speaking in the public and you are whether you're working with your neighbors. we have to have more understanding and more t appreciation as the struggles that peopleia go through. thanks for your support of the military. that's what we've doneprou in arkansas, both by providing licensure, easy access to licensure from military families when they follow a spouse that's in theth military.

we have supported our military installations. little rock air force base close by, you know, we have a number of those that are in arkansas. the most important point is also about the budget, and in arkansas we balance the budget for eight years in a roe here as government we do that every year. year. we tighten the belt when needed and we make the adjustments that are required to balance the budget. families do that. i think that we sure . and the governments have to do that as well. the look of it has to have a little more flexibility but we have been loosening that belt for a long time, and we're going to have to tighten it. >> host: here's the text from marie in maryland. what is the gop doing about its racist rhetoric, canceling african-american history, asic and rapist, china virus? are many people of caller and to support moderate republican positions but who are turned off by the acceptance of racism.

>> guest: well, of course that's a a very broad brush ad all i can speak to is why was the united i states attorney, i prosecute a violent extremist group that, were black supremacist our lock them up put them in jail. in arkansas we passed a version of a hate crime law to further punish those that have racially motivated crimes. in arkansas under my leadership i didn't like the idea, didn't seem appropriate that we recognize robert e. lee day on the same day that we recognize dr. martin luther king. and so we separated that the drd have his own day of celebration in honor in our society. and so i think it is very important that the party of lincoln, the party that has made

mistakes as the democratic party has done in the past, we need to be a party of equal opportunity. i had onene of the most diverse administrations while governor of arkansas of anyone in history, and very proud of that. we need to make sure that everyone understands him is not just economic message, the defense messageo but it is also the fundamental message of equal opportunity and equal treatment under the law that is important and what for those who may have missed it, how would you describe what happened on january 6th at the u.s. capitol? >> guest: well, i described ingenuous six as a terrible day for our democracy. it was an attack on our democracy and are institutions of government. it hurt us globally, that people look at the united states as a country that historically has transferred power from one administration to the other without violence, without controversy, and peacefully, and they disrupted that.

there's a a responsibility tht goes with what happens on january 6th. >> host: was it ann insurrection? >> guest: well, and insurrection, it's sedition and people have been convicted of sedition on that. it was an attempt to disrupt the lawful flow of government of the united states is what it was, by violence. >> host: michael, mount vernon new york democratic caller. >> caller: good morning, governor. how are you today? >> guest: good. >> caller: i really don't believe anything that you're saying because of the simple fact that all politicians do the same thing. they have this spiel about what they're going to do about when they're given in office, and went to get elected you don't even go back to the same thing that you said. i understand that, you know, you

want to be president and all that by the state of affairs in this country and the way the congress and the senate act is totally unacceptable. you can't get together on debt ceiling. you have allon this conflict between each other. when the american people are the ones really at risk. i meanck you guys go back to yor home and do whatever you do, but as small people the ones that really pay the taxes and make the country work, we are the ones that get stuck. it's terrible, , let's have governor respond, michael. >> guest: that's what we have to do is to build a greater trust between elected leaders and the voters, the people of america. we have to trust our institutions. we have to build that trust. and you're right that the most important element is to do what you say you were going to do.

when i ran for governor i made if your promises. i said i going to lower taxes. $100 billion a year. we wound up lowering taxes over the course of time by $700 million a year putting more money in taxpayers pockets and in the government treasury. whenever i promise that we put up a computer science in every high school in arkansas, we did that and went from 1100 students taking computer science to over 23,000 students taking computer science. i said i i said i was going to make government more efficient. as i mentioned we reduced state employees, government employee 53,000. we make it more efficient. the result was we left a $2 billion surplus when i was termed termed limited and left office last january. i hope you will look at record and say at least when i was governor i did exactly what i said i was going to do and it is important as you look at candidates for president.

first of all you should ask is what they are promising or say they're going to do feasible and doable and are they being honest about that and saying what is your plan to accomplish that works i hope you will follow us and make that determination. >> host: have a little bit more than two minutes left here with governor asa hutchinson, 2024 presidential candidate. clark in jupiter, florida, and independent. >> caller: hello. how are you doing? >> host: good morning. >> caller: good morning, mr. hutchinson. >> guest: good morning. >> caller: you're from arkansas so don't take it personal if i don't particularly understand why a republican from arkansas who is now running for president again if we had one president from arkansas. so don't takee it personal because he applied very good standards. you didn't happen to be a republican, and you left the government in good shape. arkansas people are very smart

and confident about looking at budget and economy of the u.s. government, unlike arkansas, here in florida we are spending more money, great. spend more money, spend more money, spend more money. we even got election please to protect the elections.ec all 15 million are to protect theti election. please explain to your audience why the economy's of arkansas will work better than what the republicans and democrats -- i'm an independent in don't see either one of you guys reducing anything in federal government. okay? explain how you -- >> host: i think he's got it. >> guest: thank you. first of all, you're right to

acknowledge that we hadno a forr president i was elected from arkansas, bill clinton, and he was in the presidency. i was in congress in the united states at the time, and between clinton and bush that was the last time our federal government balance the budget. i was in congress. clinton was there and bush was up there in 2000 had a balanced budget and that was over 20 years ago. we've got to return to that kind of more disciplined effort in our spending and in our budgeting. in arkansas we have created 100,000 100,000 jobs. i just have to say whenever you look at some of the leading entrepreneurs in the world from sam walton that created walmart to don tyson in tyson foods, j. b. hunt, j. b. hunt trucking and dillards on down the list with incredible entrepreneurs in a state that grow business not because the governments help but because they believe in the free enterprise system and hard work and having a product that the consumers want.

so i am very proud of that. there is a plan to do better in washington, as i said, from reducing federal civilian employment or nondefense employment to being able to be more disciplined and a budgeting process. i want to put people to work. one thingwo i haven't said is those people who are age 62 and want to take social security and retire, they shouldn't be penalized by the government for working. i could add 1 million people back into our workforce who want to work and they could get their social security benefit and they could work at the same time. those are the kind of changes that to me makes sense that will help our economy and help our budgeting. >> host: we h would go to newport, kentucky, republican. you are talking with the former governor of arkansas 2024 presidential candidate asa hutchinson. go ahead. >> caller: good day, sir. when i see you running for

president, i actually saw hope at the end of the tunnel. joe biden on his inaugural address, he promised my partisanship. i watched thero little clip from the house before the c-span played, and it looked like a bunch of third graders on the schoolyard. tell me where the all went. >> guest: well, i can't address the picture on the screen in congress, but i can obviously right now, you've got a partisan divide. hopefully they can come together on the debt extension. but it is important that we not only use the rhetoric of trying to work together to accomplish something good but we actually try to do that. i mentioned the bipartisan bill that, a couple of them have been passed this year.

the infrastructure bill that was bipartisan. you had come together on the bill that was mentioned with senator cornyn on strengthening background checks. so there's some things that have been done but a lot of it is the rhetoric and i think that we can fight really hard for our principles and for our party and campaigning and finding, obviously showcasing differences but also to do it anymore civil discourse, to be able to respect the other side. i think about ronald reagan. i know a lot of listeners probably don't like some of that history but the fact is he worked with tip o'neill to get some budget passed that was good for our country and he was able to work across the aisle and get things done. we need to get back to that. i hope that under my leadership that can happen but we will certainly strive to make that happen. >> host: we would go to

st. paul, minnesota, eight is a democrat. good morning, david commack good morningon. i'm not sure why you go by asa hutchinson when you're not quite as the shirt you vetoed house bill 1370 and arkansas but it's still weird that you picked a name instead of using the given when such as people think people should do with pronouns. also want to ask you why the u.s. military keeps needing more money? after the recent 60 minutes thing the oil pressure switch cost $328 to make the they were charged over $10,000. the average item they're selling to us in making 40% profit margin. is it not possible we could cut the defense spending and then put that moneypu into things lie veterans benefits?

you are making this veterans, we are serving your catholic agenda and then you're cutting benefits away from us. >> host:be okay. we will take those two issues. >> guest: let's start with veterans and first of all we need to express our gratitude to those that have served our country. we look for ways to do that. we strengthen veteran service is arkansas. we put a prioritys on that, military retirees if we exempted military income from state income tax and so those are steps that we talk just to show appreciation for those that are served in the military. the biggest thing and actually come in iowa that with an incredible veterans support group. as i talk to the veterans they really want to improve healthcare to our veterans administration come something they count on and the mental

health services are a big part of that. so there's more to be done to show our appreciation and improve our policy towards the veterans. on the military spinella just say again that waste should be unacceptable whether you're talking about domestic benefit program, education or whether it's the military. even great generals such as general eisenhower understood g the dangers of military-industrial complex and that we need to have watchdogs, high-level oversight over them. i don't disagree with any of that. that's why we have audits. that's what we have inspector generals. that's why we have congress that has the hearings that are aggressively looking at that kind of waste. and we have whistleblowers that can call in whenever you see

abuse, and thank goodness we've got protections for them as well. >> host: the caller mentioned a bill that you would vetoed, a transgender bill. you vetoed legislation that would have prohibited doctors from providing gender confirming hormone treatment to anyone under 18. why did you vetoed the bill? >> guest: because it didn't have a grandfather clause primarily which means that if a parent made a decision for treatment for their minor that that would be disrupted because there was no protective clause in their pick secondly, i would have signed a bill that prohibited surgery for minors, for transgender purposes. and but the bill went much further than that. it was a poorly drafted bill, too extreme. i vetoed it. it was overwritten. and so it's one of those tough issues.th arkansas is a state they came up first on that topic. i think it shows my, i don't

engage in groupthink. i think through these things myself. i look at my obligation to the constitution try to make the right judgment climate let's talk about presidential debates. debate scheduled in august in milwaukee. "time" magazine reporting the rnc slowing the requirement of polling at 1% or higher and has have had at least $40,000. would you meet that criteria to get on the debate stage? >> guest: transit i will. first of all i'm'm glad we have met the polling criteria. our numbers have moved up so that should be well handled. the 40,000 donors is a little bit more of a child is because i come from a small state when i ran for governor i i had 3000 donors i've got to 37,000 more donors, and that's whereve you o to a 6124.com. but we will make it. we just eat up a lot of participation in order to make that goal, which are campaign headed next?

>> guest: the early primary and caucus dates of course. this next week i will be in new york city for some media. be in new hampshire and iowa all next week. very excited about being in those states and then headed to georgia to their state convention for breakfast. so it's a a very full schedule. looking forward to be in the states and at this stage we are actually moving beyond simply being in the early states, anticipating super tuesday and some of the western states. i will be going into colorado this next month as well, and so expand the opportunities. >> host: what does your ground game look like? >> guest: ground game looks good. the ground game is made. it's got a great field director in iowa. we're going to be adding a a d a director of the new hampshire building that ground game as you say it we've got some doorknocking going on. i understand, so very pleased

with where we are. >> host: governor hutchinson we appreciate you coming on the "washington journal" this morning talking to our viewers. thank you very much. >> guest: great to be with you. thank you. >> if you are enjoying american history tv then sign-up for our newsletter using the qr code on the screen to receive the weekly schedule of upcoming programs like lectures in history, the presidency and more. sign up for the american history tv newsletter today and we should watch american history tv every saturday for anytime online at c-span.org/history. >> american history tv saturdays on c-span2 exploring the people and events that tell the american story. at 7 p.m. eastern we will feature c-span's "washington journal" segment looking back at the senate watergate hearings 50 years ago with associate senate historian hate scott. at 9:30 p.m. eastern on the

presidency historian richard norton smith talks about his latest book an ordinary man and his decade-long look at the life of president gerald ford and his assessment of the man and his presidency. exploring the american story watch american history t saturdays on c-span2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org/history. >> 23 marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the vietnam war and sunday night on q&a we will discuss the warwick metropolitan museum of art president and ceo daniel weiss. his book in that time tells the story of poet and musician michael o'donnell who and wt missing in action during the war after the helicopter he was piloting was shot down over cambodia. >> because there was no one else there and had to be done he made the decision immediately he would rescue these men. so we went down into the landing

zone area and hovered on the ground for four minutes waiting for the recon into steam to arrive. which is an about condition and in eternity. it's a very long time to be sitting vulnerable to the enemy. that he waited. reconnaissance team arrived injured but safe. they board the helicopter all of them and o'donnell began to pull helicopter up above the tree line and radioed i have everyone, i'm coming out. >> daniel weiss with his book in that time this memorial day weekend sunday night at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a. you can listen to q&a and all of our podcasts on our free c-span now. >> and now is a free mobile app featuring their unfiltered view of what's happening in washington live and on-demand. keep up with today's biggest events with live streams of