host: good morning. today is friday, june 26. president barack obama meet with german chancellor angela merkel. the house is in session with energy and climate change bills. in "the new york times," obama and congress clash on how to pay for health care. and immigration reform returned. "the washington times" headlines, pushing for action. the federal reserve chairman ben bernanke appears thursday in a contentious. -- a contentious hearing on capitol hill. on the republican line, you can call 202-737-0001. on the democratic line, 202-737- 0002.

and on the independent line, 202-628-0205. you can also send as a comment on twitter. we start this morning with the front page of "the wall street journal," "bernanke blasted in house." "setting aside the deferential tone usually reserved for fed chairmen, members of the house committee on oversight and government reform repeatedly interrupted mr. bernanke at thursday's hearing to review the fed's role in engineering and government aid package. for bankamerica corp. it was the harshest public grilling since the late 1990's. also in "the washington post," the headline, "bernanke holds firm in hot seat." some of the broadest criticism in its modern history over its failure to prevent the financial crisis and its central role in the government response.

the incision is provided more than $1 trillion to prop up what in for injured financial firms. members of both parties increase in one of the fed subjected to greater congressional oversight, and there is broad skepticism about an administration proposal to expand the fed responsibilities." in the financial times today, they discuss bernanke, whether or not president barack obama will reappoint him to another term as fed reserve chief. he writes, "barack obama should to now this noise when deciding to reappoint mr. bernanke when his term despite -- expires in january. for now the u.s. central bank deserves praise. it often lead from the front globally in tackling the escalating financial crisis. if mr. bernanke ends up on one term, it should be on the basis of his handling of the economy and that alone. the consequences of the reality -- of the various moves by the fed will not be known for years. following up, more from "the

wall street journal." they talk about his defenders in the right, "the fed chairman defenders, there are still many, argued mr. bernanke took the steps that were necessary to protect an economy on the brink of failure. thursday's economic data underscore that point. congress should be thanking him and operating income said alan blinder, a princeton professor. if not for what he did, we might have fallen off an even bigger cliff and we did." let's take our first call from betsy on the independent line from stockbridge, massachusetts. caller: yes, i watched the hearings yesterday. ben bernanke has done everything he can. i only wish that -- i think if the american people realize that every pension fund in the world, in the world was tied up in all of these derivatives and this

whole mess. i have followed this for the last 2 1/2 years and lost a fortune in this mess. they would come to understand what is going on. but the people that got us in this with their policy, since 1994, which are the republicans, are the ones that made the biggest fools of themselves, especially darrell issa of california. and the other one is the other buffoon, dan burton of indiana. these are people who are all about capitalism, yet they know nothing. they are absolutely ignorant when it comes to monetary policy. the person that should have been in that seat was alan greenspan, who got us in this mess. and these republicans sat there and green light and all of those policies because they were in charge and they did no oversight.

as a result, business people and the very people that they claim they are ousoul in favor of, are the very people that they have screwed. >>host: 00 " inflation is the bg threat to a sustained recovery." "i see inflation as the greater challenge. inflation is the greater concern giving beat pending avalanche of government debt about to be unloaded on the financial markets." it could lead to political pressure on the central banks to print money on the newly issued debt. let's go to our next call. jason, silver spring, maryland. caller: good morning, c-span. thanks for everything you are doing. i just wanted to mention that it is really not one federal

reserve chairman. the whole history of the federal reserve is not a bright one. it is pretty murky. it has been around less than 100 years, and it was brought about to avoid the things that we are going through right now, this economic major downturn crisis. i just wanted to, you know, -- i do not believe the fed represents the people of's interest. it is a conglomeration of banks, and i am really happy to see that congress is finally starting to do something positive by looking into the federal reserve. i mean, that is the first thing i have seen in a long time, that they are representing the people's interest. we have a big problem in this country with the welfare and warfare state. we are spending way too much money on things we do not need, and i guess i would just like to ask the audience to look into the federal reserve. they are not subject to audits. they do not have to disclose

their information. they have probably trillions of off-balance sheet transactions that do not -- that congress does not have access to, and where is this money going? they are sharing money between each other, so i do not think it is a conspiracy theory, but this is a murky organization and it really needs to get looked into. one last thing -- people that are interested in sound money theory, like ron paul, if you want to avoid what the central banks are doing to you, printing all these dollars and borrowing all these dollars, invest in gold and silver, because that rides the wave of inflation, and it will keep you from scrapping for pieces of paper. thank you very much. host: karrow on the democratic line from ohio. caller: hello. thank goodness for c-span. i have to disagree a little bit

with the last caller. i do not think is -- i do not think it is murky, i think it is outright criminal what the central bank is doing. ben bernanke is trying to make himself look like he did not know or anything. any time they say, "i cannot recall," i do not believe a word they say because of they are in this position and i cannot recall anything, they do not need to be in this position. so i am hoping he does not get another term. host: ok, thank you. on the republican line, have read from phoenix arizona. caller: thank you for taking my call this morning. i just got finished watching the inquisition with chairman ben bernanke. it is fascinating watching c- span. i appreciate the information you give us. i have a little problem with the deviant behavior and the back and forth which hunts that the

government and business get into while the american people suffer. just to point to the american people that may be listening to this, we need to start making better choices of who we put into these positions because obviously -- we are suffering the results. thank you. host: we have larry from honolulu, hawaii. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just finished watching this program is ben bernanke, and the way he moves his eyes, the way he moves his mouth, i do not trust this man based on -- he cannot make eye contact continually. but my main question is, why don't they implement john f. kennedy's bill to deregulate or get into the fed? i think it was something like

built 00001, one of the first things he did. that would have allowed us to get into the fed and start to dismantle it. why don't they do something seriously so that we can get in and look at these people? they do not deserve the freedom of the law that they have been enjoying since 1913. host: also in "the financial times toda," today, 0 deficit disorder." the public mood may change. they're right about the u.s. deficit. the congressional budget office will -- even on its optimistic assumptions for economic growth, the cbo predicts national debt will double to 82% of gdp in the next decade, a level not seen since the second world war. let's go to the republican line,

naperville, illinois. caller: i am calling to refute what the first caller said. he is way off base. this whole thing is the result of democrat policies. the reinvestment act starting with jimmy carter, strengthened in the clinton administration, resulting in the irresponsible behavior of fannie mae and freddie mac. it is not a republican phenomenon. the man is off base. furthermore, this problem is the result of the fear of obama's socialistic policies that kick in before the election as the rich -- as we realized he was going to be elected. this needs to be emphasized. this whole focus on ben bernanke is off base. we need to look at these policies and realize what we have done and what the democrats with their social leftist policies are doing to this country. host: on the independent line, we have ritchie. caller: how are you today? on ben bernanke,, i believe with

the woman who said that when these people say they cannot recall and -- you know they are lying through their teeth. we should be careful who we put in, but we have no say. the american worker like myself, we have no said. they can put in who they want. no matter who you vote for, that will put in who they want, not to the public wants. i do not trust bernanke as long as i could throw him. have a nice day, now. host: you, too. on the democrat line, robert from san antonio, tx. caller: how're you doing? just a comment. the people involved in this situation -- alan greenspan, andrea mitchell, dianne feinstein, and even rupert murdoch. these people are taking their cue from a pack.

host: on the democratic line, philadelphia, pennsylvania. caller: i echo what the first caller said. i think this is the pot calling the kettle black. let's face it -- who is a problem here? it is the congress. they have a lot of nerve. they set up this sham. we know it, with the deregulation. i am not going to blame it on mr. burton, but let's face it, the problem belongs to congress. they create the monster, then they call mr. bernanke on the hot seat and all he is doing -- he is running the show here. the financial show. but he is not responsible for what the bankers on wall street did, taking their cues from the deregulation of the congress. host: do you think there needs to be more regulation? is that what you think congress needs to do? caller: definitely caputo --

heavily. know that the bankers are still fighting it. we all know it, but they do not want it because it is a good scam going. i think mr. bernanke is doing a heck of a job. it was mr. paulson who told him basically what to do. you know, how is he going to blame this on bernanke when it was mr. paulson and other people in the room trying to save the financial system from collapse, the second great depression, and now they're blaming the guy? come on, hindsight is 20/20. i do not know what the agenda is here. somebody has an ax to grind against him or the federal reserve or whatever, and he is just setting up to be the fall guy. host: on the republican line, we have mark from phoenix, arizona. are you there? caller: yes, i am. hi. first of all, thank you for c- span. it is a wonderful program. i do not know what i would do without it.

so that nobody thinks i am just talking of my head here, i do hold a bachelor's degree in both economics and business management. as a former employee of bank of america, from the mortgage department, i was actually in florida when the market collapsed. that said, i do not think that mr. bernanke is to be blamed for this. while i cannot reveal any specifics, i can tell you that bank of america, along with many, many mortgage companies, were pushing its people to process mortgages that many of us did not believe deserved credit, i guess, is the way to say it, ok?

we must remember that the chairman and secretary of the treasury, and the chairman of the reserve, ok, they are political appointees. if you are going to blame somebody, you know, as a republican, a lot of republicans cannot believe i am saying this, but i think maybe we should look at the lobbyists that control our government, ok? we do not control the government anymore. no, i am not a conspiracy theorist, but see in what i have seen over the last 30 years probably, the control of our financial stability is controlled more by congress and the senate, both democrat and republican, and they are of course controlled by the lobbyists. host: ok, let's leave it there. let's go to bishop, louisiana, david on the independent line.

caller: thank you for c-span. thank you for getting me on. the federal reserve system, back when richard nixon was president, he had a fellow by the name of charles burns, and he instituted some programs and the way to pay for them was to use the federal reserve because you could use inflation. that is when high inflation got started and continued on through ronald reagan -- i mean, through jimmy carter. it got so out of control with inflation, that jimmy carter tried to control it. basically, he was in the reagan years before -- you squeeze the equity out and it took different things to bring it back down. the government has used these systems, and that is the way our economy has run in the last few years.

thank you. host: thank you. on the independent line, we have carlos from atlanta, georgia. caller: good morning, how are you doing? host: how are you? caller: i am good, thank you for asking. i think c-span for giving us -- i thank c-span for giving us the latest news and everything. one of the things that i have been hearing that the colors have interviews, and i understand all that. what i would like to point out is that if we are in the "united states," we should be united on many things because there are also republicans that helped president obama become president obama. i say that to say that even with ben bernanke, who is also from chicago -- and chicago has a history of politics and

everything, but they have been coming through to make a great change. now we see the united states and abroad and everything and i say that to say that we should be aware of the people that we put in office -- not just in office, but all of the parties that " governor" the united states. does that make sense? host: yes. caller: i think you very much for your time and not -- i thank you very much for your time and all of the c-span audience. host: next call from tennessee. caller: the problem with our financial system is it started back with president carter after the vietnam war, and when people fail to realize, the republicans put ronald reagan in there and called him degree as president of united states.

but they say he was doing good. when reagan left, he left a big debt, and that is when big business started taking over. outsourcing all their jobs, and republicans started getting all these cpac and stuff going on, taking all of our health care and jobs and sending them overseas. they are doing so good, i turn around and look at how they are fending for themselves, and people did not realize what is going on. president obama is a onetime president. thank you. host: in other headlines today, we will be talking about this later in the show. the energy bill that is expected to be up for vote in the house today. yesterday democratic leaders said they had gathered enough votes to pass the bill, which could be voted on today or tomorrow. you never know until you take

the vote, but i am very pleased, said house speaker nancy pelosi. the bill has been very partisan and contentious, and an opinion column in "the washington times" today -- "despite all the pressure that can be exerted on democrats to make a suitable number of democratic congressman who know better and their constituents are learning better every day, are reluctant to walk the plank. they do not look forward to explain to the home folks later why the congressmen voted to squeeze out of the committees with the largest tax increase in history picked up from "the new york times," "the bill has shortcomings but we believe it is an important beginning to the urgent task of averting the worst damage from climate change. rejection could mean more wasted years and more damage to the planet." let's go now to tom on the democratic line from san diego, california. caller: yes, hello. i do not know very much about what is going on with chairman bernanke, but i would like to

comment on the federal reserve. a lot of people in this country feel that it is a very controversial organization. i just recently saw a documentary that was broadcast here in california that claims the federal reserve had a lot to do with the great depression. they deliberately flooded the country with money causing a financial crisis. i think these are dangerous people, and i think congress should look into what they are doing. they have not been audited, and people should look at what they are doing carefully. host: there is a bill in the house right now has over 200 kokesh sponsors that i believe are spot -- co-sponsors.

let's go to the democratic line from peoria, illinois. caller: yes, how're you doing? host: good, how are you? caller: just fine. just to comment on the fed -- if you look at the system, it is entirely done. let's put it into perspective. why would you merge with somebody already failing for increase? that is not going to happen. it is like somebody who has a job who lose their house and moves in with you. it is going to hurt who he is living with next financially or any other way. so that was retarded. host: ok. we have frank from minnesota on the republican line. caller: i like your c-span show. the stuff i walked between c- span and fox, if half of it is even true, america is in some serious trouble.

the fraud and criminal activities at our federal level -- well, actually, city, state, federal, and so forth -- is out of control, and us americans have got to start waking up and watching what is going on. it is not a democrat or republican deal, it has just plain gone criminal. and we, the people, need to start addressing it because our children are going to suffer damage that will never be able to recover because they are coming out of school stupid and lazy. how are they going to overcome all these troubles that are coming down on us because of the corruption and incompetence , whatever goes on at the government level? host: on the independent like, we have more reseal from chantilly, virginia. are you there? caller: actually, that is not me, but my name is harvey and i am from kentucky.

caller: how do you do? -- host: how do you do? caller: good. everybody is knocking the federal reserve because of ron paul. ron paul as a smart guy, i respect him. he has been involved in politics for many years. i was a reform party candidate for president in 2000, have a finance degree. ron paul wants to go back to the gold standard. what is everybody going to do, carry around a will barrel -- carry around a wheelbarrow full of gold? the federal reserve is basically a government bank that will allow people or allow the government to print money, put it out there to make things easier for everybody. is real simple. realistically, you can go about it anywhere and they can print

out a promissory note and create money like the federal reserve. the only thing is, they regulate it much better, and it is designed to structure the economy well. host: i think we are going to have to leave it there because we have to go to the phone, pearl davenport, an energy reporter who will catch us up to speed on what is happening in the u.s. house on it and the energy and climate change bill. are you there? guest: good morning. host: where are they in the house? guest: well, it looks like they are going to bring it up for today for debate. it looks like the rules they have set up for debate means that we may get a vote today. this is something that the white house has been depressing incredibly hard for -- has been pressing incredibly hard for to get a vote on it before congress

leaves for the fourth of july recess. they have been working as hard as they can to get the votes to push it over the edge. host: it seems like there have been a lot of regional concerns with this bill. have they been able to get back more conservative democrats on board? guest: it seems like they have. one of the dynamics that has been going on all week -- throughout the week, they have had the kind of left-wing environmentalists blocked locked down for a long time, but as they try to sort of drive home all the -- drive home and get all the votes they need, they have had the farm democrats, the southeastern democrats, democrats on the ways and means committee -- all these different blocks to kind of pumped up, and they have been really scrambling to nail down -- you know, to put in amendments to get them. they may just have squeaked by. i do have to say one sort of

interesting last minute dynamic on this is the role that the president has taken. last night he hosted a luau on the white house lawn for lawmakers and their families, which may have been sort of considered a last-minute push for some of those members who are still undecided. host: what about his senior advisers. i believe david axelrod was on the hill yesterday. have they been helpful? guest: they have been out in full force. david axelrod was on the hill yesterday. rahm emanuel met -- the white house chief of staff -- met with several of the undecided members. carol browner, the senior adviser on the -- a lot of the secretaries have been calling in meeting directly with members. the energy secretary has been active in this. so really the white house has

just fully deployed be forces to try to push this over the edge. host: what about republicans? do you expect to get any house republicans on this bill today? guest: well, there is a group, a lobby -- overall, republicans are adamantly opposed to this, but because the vote looks like it will be so tight, the democrats -- there is a group, a group called the independent 11, 11 moderate republicans, most of whom have not declared their results -- have not declared their votes. they may get just a handful of moderate republicans, and they will be grateful to have them. host: if this bill passes today in the house, or maybe it early saturday morning, what are the prospects in the senate? guest: is a really hard lis